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A Publication of the Science Fiction Research Association in This Issue 289 Summer 2009 Editors Karen Hellekson SFRA 16 Rolling Rdg. A publication of the Science Fiction Research Association Jay, ME 04239 Review [email protected] [email protected] In This Issue SFRA Review Business Term Limits 2 Craig Jacobsen SFRA Business English Department SFRA 2009 Conference Wrap-up 2 Mesa Community College 1833 West Southern Ave. Update and Request for Help 3 Mesa, AZ 85202 Changes to the SFRA Web Site 3 [email protected] SFRA Announces New Grants 4 [email protected] 2009–2010 Award Committee Personnel 4 Meeting Minutes 4 Managing Editor Meeting Minutes 5 Janice M. Bogstad 2008–2009 SFRA AWARDS Remarks for Pilgrim Award 7 McIntyre Library-CD University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Remarks for Pilgrim Award 7 105 Garfield Ave. Pilgrim Award Acceptance Speech 7 Eau Claire, WI 54702-5010 Remarks for Pioneer Award 10 [email protected] Pioneer Award Acceptance Speec h 11 Remarks for Clareson Award 11 Nonfiction Editor Clareson Award Acceptance Speech 12 Ed McKnight Remarks for Mary Kay Bray Award 12 113 Cannon Lane Mary Kay Bray Award Acceptance Speech 12 Taylors, SC 29687 Remarks for the GraduateStudent Paper Award 12 [email protected] Graduate Student Paper Award Acceptance Speech 13 Feature: 101 Mundane SF 101 13 Fiction Editor Fiction Reviews Edward Carmien Rift in the Sky 16 Wireless 18 29 Sterling Rd. Cyberabad Days 16 The Best of Gene Wolf 20 Princeton, NJ 08540 Conspirator 17 [email protected] Nonfiction Reviews Black Space 20 Undead TV 26 Media Editor Bram Stoker’s Notes for Dracula 22 Metamorphoses of the Werewolf 27 Ritch Calvin Everyone Loves Dick 22 16A Erland Rd. A Hideous Bit of Morbidity 23 Stony Brook, NY 11790-1114 Savage Perils 24 [email protected] Tech-Noir 25 Media Reviews The SFRA Review (ISSN 1068-395X) is “Anybody heard the name ‘John Connor?’” 28 Escape Pod 35 published four times a year by the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA), and Moonlight 29 The Sandman: Brief Lives 36 distributed to SFRA members. Individual is- Terminator: Salvation 30 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century 37 sues are not for sale; however, all issues after Star Trek 31 256 are published to SFRA’s Web site (http:// What Burns Also Breathes in Stardust 32 www.sfra.org/) no fewer than 10 weeks after paper publication. For information about Monsters vs. Aliens 33 SFRA and membership, see the back cover. The Gamers: Dorkness Rising 34 SFRA thanks the University of Space Chimps 34 Wisconsin–Eau Claire for its assistance in producing the SFRA Review. Calls for Papers 38 SUBMISSIONS The SFRA Review encourages submissions of reviews, review essays that cover several related texts, interviews, and feature articles. Submis- sion guidelines are available at http://www.sfra.org/ or by inquiry to the appropriate editor. Contact the Editors for other submissions or for cor- respondence. gets and the second great depression, guests came from as far as South America and were as young as four months of age. The conference featured 21 panels of academic papers, a large book room with four independent dealers, a day-long stream of SFRA Review Business creative readings by seven guest authors, and an southern buffet awards banquet. We tried out several new initiatives at this year’s conference: all of our guest authors served as respondents for EDITORS’ MESSAGE each of the conference’s 21 panels; we featured two film screen- Term Limits ings by local independent filmmakers; the “Sci Fi Lab” podcast interviewed each of our guest authors; Georgia Tech and WREK Karen Hellekson and Craig Jacobsen radio filmed and taped much of the conference presentations; and the SFRA joined forces with the SFWA to hold the first open Alert readers of the SFRA meeting minutes that appear in mike reading night by SFWA members. this issue will find that there is already discussion about replac- Those who didn’t make it to Atlanta this year can soon see ing the two of us as editors of the Review. When we came on several of the panels and hear all of the interviews and readings board, we agreed with each other that we would do the job for and awards ceremony speeches online—we will send out details three years, and we are now midway through the second year. to the SFRA e-mail list as soon as they are available. The confer- If you have an interest in editing the Review, feel free to contact ence venue, the hotel midtown, was a welcoming and comfort- us ([email protected]) and ask questions. We’ll print a job able place, conveniently located in midtown Atlanta amidst a description when it’s time to actually fill the job. We also hasten variety of eateries and attractions. The hotel’s steep discount to stress that the three-year limit is one we made up, for our own on rooms, the generous financial support of Georgia Tech and sanity and to permit long-term planning. There is no term limit Gordon College, and a larger than expected number of walk-in set by SFRA bylaws, and successful candidates may serve as long as they like at the Board’s discretion. conference registrants all helped us bring in the conference un- We are foreseeing an era of transition: we are not sure how der budget, leaving the SFRA with a nest egg for the forthcom- much longer the print version can be sustained, but sustain it ing conferences in Arizona and Poland. we will, in part because the membership likes the print version. As usual, SFRA conference participants explored a wide We anticipate that some content will begin to migrate online, array of issues related to teaching, reading, and researching SF particularly for sections of the Review that are particularly time- across media. As conference hosts, we did not get to attend near- sensitive, such as calls for papers, many of which are obsolete by ly as many panels as we might have liked, but were delighted the time we go to print. We’re looking forward to exploring and to hear the many lively conversations they provoked afterward. exploiting the full capabilities of our new Web architecture. (And our students continue to reference these panels and con- Meanwhile, you’re not getting rid of us that fast. We continue versations in their class discussions this summer.) We were also working behind the scenes to bring you interesting, relevant delighted to see so many conference participants engage the con- content. As always, we encourage all SFRA members to sub- ference themes of engineering the future and southern-fried sci- mit content to us. We are always on the lookout for people to ence fiction and fantasy in their presentations. The latter theme research and compile the calls for papers. We have some 101s was particularly fruitful for those scholars who explored how in the works, including one in the New Weird, and this issue the complex and often contradictory history of race relations in features Ritch Calvin’s Mundane SF 101. We would love to see the American south inform the unique storytelling tradition that some One Course features and particularly invite teachers to Mark Dery, Alondra Nelson, and others call “Afrofuturism.” In- send us theirs. Those who wish to contribute reviews should deed, as many of the scholars exploring this subject made clear, contact the respective review editors, whose contact information it is precisely by working within new storytelling traditions that is listed on the masthead. science fiction writers begin to engineer new futures for their chosen genre as well. Of course, we cannot take sole credit for the success of SFRA 2009. Instead, we hope you will all join us in thanking Susan George, Mary Pharr and Patrick Sharp for preconference sup- SFRA Business port, and then in thanking Susan and Mary again for running the registration table. We also want to thank Susan, Joshua Cuneo, Craig Jaconsen, Shelly Rodrigo, Jason Embry, Joseph Brown, CONFERENCE COORDINATOR MESSAGE and Jason Ellis for serving as our author liaisons: as one author put it, “I felt safe and cuddled!” by all the careful attention. SFRA 2009 Conference Wrap-up Thanks also to Ed Carmien for hosting Open Mike Night, Paul Lisa Yaszek and Doug Davis Clifton for organizing the WREK interviews; and last but abso- lutely not least, our good friend who organized the conference Over 100 people attended SFRA’s 2009 annual conference program, oversaw the multimedia room, supervised the graduate in Atlanta, GA at hotel midtown this past June. Braving floods, student ice and beer brigade to the Windsor Suite, and made all airport closings, all-night interstate drives, frozen travel bud- the clocks run on time: Jason Ellis. 2 SFRA Review 289 Summer 2009 HISTORICAL PRESERVATION PROJECT WEB DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE Update and Request for Help Changes to the SFRA Web Site Leslie Kay Swigart Matthew Holtmeier As reported in the Summer 2008 Review (#285: 5), the There have been quite a few new changes to the SFRA SFRA, in partnership with the University of South Florida site, and, as you might have noticed, it is still constantly going Libraries Digital Collections (Dr. Mark I. Greenberg, Director, through changes. With all of the possibilities now available to Special Collections and Florida Studies Center), is engaged in a us, it is difficult to choose what features will serve our organi- project to digitize the complete run of the SFRA Review (origi- nally the SFRA Newsletter) from issue #1, 15 January 1971. Just zation best. So far, we’ve had a few suggestions from members before the 2009 Conference, Mark’s colleague Richard Bernardy that we’ve been able to implement.
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