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Foundation The International Review of Science Fiction Foundation 118 The International Review of Science Fiction In this issue: Tony Keen introduces a special section on ‘Fantastika and the Greek and Roman Worlds’ 43 No.118 Autumn 2014 Foundation Vol: with articles by Liz Bourke, Scott Brand, Frances Foster, Maríano Martín Rodriguez, Cara Sheldrake and Andrew J. Wilson Michael Swanwick and Tony Wolk examine inspiration in sf Tony Venezia uncovers Comics Unmasked at the British Library Conference reports by Katherine Boyce-Jacino, Jacob Huntley and Mark P. Williams, Rhianon Jones and Charul Patel In addition, there are reviews by: Bodhissatva Chattopadhyay, Lesley A. Hall, Dan Hartland, Paul Kincaid, Sandor Klapcsik, Andy Sawyer, Maureen Speller and Jo L. Walton. Of books by: Margaret Atwood, Anindita Banerjee, Mark Bould, Valerie Estelle Frankel, Peter F. Hamilton, Dianne Newell and Victoria Lamont, Tara Prescott and Aaron Drucker, and Christopher Priest. Cover: William Strang,‘Spiders of Mighty Bigness’, Lucian’s True History (1894) Credit: Project Gutenberg. Fantastika and the Greek and Roman Worlds Foundation is published three times a year by the Science Fiction Foundation (Registered Charity no. 1041052). It is typeset and printed by The Lavenham Press Ltd., 47 Water Street, Lavenham, Suffolk, CO10 9RD. Foundation is a peer-reviewed journal. Subscription rates for 2014 Individuals (three numbers) United Kingdom £20.00 Europe (inc. Eire) £22.00 Rest of the world £25.00 / $42.00 (U.S.A.) Student discount £14.00 / $23.00 (U.S.A.) Institutions (three numbers) Anywhere £42.00 / $75.00 (U.S.A.) Airmail surcharge £7.00 / $12.00 (U.S.A.) Single issues of Foundation can also be bought for £7.00 / $15.00 (U.S.A.). All cheques should be made payable to The Science Fiction Foundation. All subscriptions are for one calendar year; please specify year of commencement. Address for subscriptions: The Science Fiction Foundation, c/o 75 Rosslyn Avenue, Harold Wood, Essex, RM3 0RG, U.K. Email: Roger Robinson, [email protected] – all messages should include ‘SFF’ in the subject line. Back issues can be obtained from Andy Sawyer – see contact details below. Editorial address (for submissions, correspondence, advertising): Dr Paul March-Russell, [email protected] Articles should be up to 6000 words in length, double-spaced and written in accordance with the style sheet available at the SF Foundation website (www.sf-foundation.org). Books for review: Please send to Andy Sawyer, Science Fiction Foundation Collection, Sydney Jones Library, University of Liverpool, PO Box 123, Liverpool, L69 4DA, UK. Please clearly mark ‘For Review’. Reviews (up to 1500 words in length) should be sent to [email protected] All contents copyright © 2014 by the Science Fiction Foundation on behalf of the original contributors ISSN 0306-4964258 Foundation The International Review of Science Fiction Editor: Paul March-Russell Guest Editor: Tony Keen Book Reviews Editor: Andy Sawyer Editorial Team: Cait Coker, Dean Conrad, Andrew Ferguson, Maureen Speller, Heather Osborne Contents Volume 43, number 118 Autumn 2014 Editorial 3 Special Section: Fantastika and the Greek and Roman Worlds Tony Keen 5 Foreword Liz Bourke 9 The Image of the Minoan in Science Fiction Scott Brand 19 A Gordian Knot: Classical Elements in Watchmen Frances Foster 32 Lands of the Dead: Homer’s Hades and Le Guin’s Dry Land Mariano Martín 45 From Stapledon’s Star Maker to Cicero’s Rodriguez Dream of Scipio: The Visionary Cosmic Voyage as a Speculative Genre Cara Sheldrake 59 Time Travel to Roman Britain Andrew J. Wilson 74 Lost as Atlantis Now: Classical Influences in the Work of C.L. Moore Review-Essays Michael Swanwick 87 The Creative and the Critical: On Inspiration and Tony Wolk Tony Venezia 92 Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK 1 Conference Reports Katherine Boyce- 96 Embattled Heavens: The Militarization of Jacino Space in Science, Fiction and Politics Mark P. Williams 100 The Science Fiction ‘New Wave’ at 50 and Jacob Huntley Charul Patel 104 CRSF 2014 Rhianon Jones 106 Visualizing Fantastika Book Reviews Bodhissatva 110 Anindita Banerjee, We Modern People: Chattopadhyay Science Fiction and the Making of Russian Modernity Lesley A. Hall 114 Valerie Estelle Frankel, From Girl to Goddess: The Heroine’s Journey Through Myth and Legend Paul Kincaid 117 Mark Bould, Science Fiction Sandor Klapcsik 120 Tara Prescott and Aaron Drucker, eds. Feminism in the Worlds of Neil Gaiman Andy Sawyer 123 Dianne Newell and Victoria Lamont, Judith Merrill: A Critical Study Maureen Speller 127 Margaret Atwood, In Other Worlds: Science Fiction and the Human Imagination Dan Hartland 132 Christopher Priest, The Adjacent Jo L. Walton 135 Peter F. Hamilton, Great North Road 2 Editorial Paul March-Russell Foundation 118 is a little later than anticipated but editing it during August – especially this August – was always going to be an uphill task. With 10,833 registrations and 7951 people in attendance, Loncon 3 was one of the largest Worldcons ever, but bare statistics cannot describe the overwhelmingly positive vibe of the convention. Although there were some complaints from convention-goers, they cannot detract from the excellent organisation, superb communications and meticulous planning that made the five-day event a resounding success. With such a large event, every attendee will have his/her own story so mine will also be partial. What struck me, though, was the friendly atmosphere despite the austere surroundings of the Docklands ExCel. This feeling was embodied by the Fan Village, cleverly orchestrated around a village green that played host to family activities, and neighbouring library area that encouraged browsing and a quiet read. The achievement of this relaxed atmosphere, despite a packed programme of events, was central to Loncon 3’s success. The Exhibits Hall and dealers’ room, superbly coordinated by, amongst others, Farah Mendlesohn and Shana Worthen, were outstanding: highlights included the Guests of Honour displays, Edward James’ affecting tribute to sf/f writers and the Great War, Andy Sawyer’s account of London apocalypses, and rare items from the SF Foundation Collection, such as John Sladek’s poetry magazine, the brilliantly titled Ronald Reagan. As a programme participant with a busy weekend schedule, I was especially grateful to the staff of the Green Room for providing an oasis of calm. Although there is much to celebrate about Loncon 3, including generally positive and even affectionate representation in such media outlets as The Guardian and Private Eye, one thing to note was the lack of nationalistic cheer. As the panel on ‘The State of British SF’ indicated, the British Boom, which was still echoing at the time of the Glasgow Worldcon in 2005, has now receded, to be replaced by a sense of transition as the rise of electronic media affects traditional publishing. Instead, as the series of panels on ‘The World at Worldcon’ implied, British sf has to take its place as part of an international genre. One would go further and suggest that, whereas current political discourse is filled with nationalistic rhetoric, Loncon 3 displayed not only an active engagement with internationalism but also a notion of cosmopolitanism as something other than a mass- produced consensus. To be sure, the Hugos were weighted towards US products but within that gravitational pull, the successes of Ann Leckie, an 3 award-winning novelist at the age of 48, John Chu, Kameron Hurley and Sofia Samatar are to be welcomed. In future issues, there will be more from Loncon 3, including Foundation 121 which will feature a selection of articles from the academic strand. Loncon 3 was prefigured, though, by Nine Worlds 2014, rapidly acquiring a strong reputation of its own, and by the annual SFF Masterclass. As noted previously, the Worldcon also galvanized a number of academic events in August, including a conference on Lois McMaster Bujold at Anglia Ruskin and a double-whammy at Warwick: a one-day celebration of M. John Harrison and a two-day conference, SF/F Now. Reports on all these activities will feature in Foundation 119. This issue, though, we cast our minds back to last year’s SFF conference – Swords, Sorcery, Sandals and Space: The Fantastika and the Classical World – as the organiser, Tony Keen, introduces a selection of six articles on sf, fantasy and the classical world. I am also happy to feature two related pieces on inspiration from Michael Swanwick and Tony Wolk. Foundation has always had a strong commitment to the relationship between creative and critical practice, and – beginning with this piece – I am reasserting it as one of our strengths. 4 Foreword: Fantastika and the Greek and Roman Worlds Tony Keen (Open University) The six articles included in this issue of Foundation are taken from over sixty papers delivered at the SF Foundation’s conference, Swords, Sorcery, Sandals and Space: The Fantastika and the Classical World, which took place in the University of Liverpool’s Foresight Centre from 29 June to 1 July 2013. The speakers focused on the influence in modern science fiction and fantasy of the Mediterranean world of Greece and Rome, from approximately the ninth century BCE to the fifth century CE. Rather than provide an overview on sf and Classics (cf. Rogers and Stevens 2012; Provini and Bost-Fiévet 2014), what I would like to do here is introduce the six articles and, first, briefly discuss some of the methodological issues. What is described as ‘Reception Studies’, the study of how Greece and Rome are received in later cultures, forms a significant part of scholarship in Classical Studies (cf. Martindale and Hardwick 2012). The study of Reception in popular culture is an important strand in this, particularly in relation to cinema (Lowe 2012; Michelakis 2012). However, Classical Reception Studies can sometimes be a little insular.