University of South Florida Scholar Commons Digital Collection - Science Fiction & Fantasy Digital Collection - Science Fiction & Fantasy Publications 4-1-2008 SFRA ewN sletter 284 Science Fiction Research Association Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/scifistud_pub Part of the Fiction Commons Scholar Commons Citation Science Fiction Research Association, "SFRA eN wsletter 284 " (2008). Digital Collection - Science Fiction & Fantasy Publications. Paper 98. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/scifistud_pub/98 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Digital Collection - Science Fiction & Fantasy at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digital Collection - Science Fiction & Fantasy Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. • Spring 2008 Editors I Karen Hellekson 16 Rolling Rdg. Jay, ME 04239 [email protected] [email protected] SFRA Review Business SFRA Review Institutes New Feature 2 Craig Jacobsen English Department SFRA Business Mesa Community College SFRA in Transition 2 1833 West Southern Ave. SFRA Executive Board Meeting 2 Mesa, AZ 85202 2008 Program Committee Update 3 [email protected] 2008 Clareson Award 3 [email protected] 2008 Pilgrim Award 4 2008 Pioneer Award 4 Feature Article: 101 Managing Editor Comics Studies 101 4 Janice M. Bogstad Feature Article: One Course McIntyre Library-CD PKD Lit and Film 7 University ofWisconsin-Eau Claire 105 Garfield Ave. Nonfiction Reviews Eau Claire, WI 54702-5010 Charles Williams 8 [email protected] Two Approaches to Fantasy and SF Film 9 Playing the Universe 11 Universal Horrors-The Studio's Classic Films, 1931-1946 12 Nonfiction Editor Forthcoming Nonfiction 13 Ed McKnight Fiction Reviews 113 Cannon Lane The Martian General's Daughter 13 Taylors, SC 29687 Of Love and Other Monsters 14 [email protected] Rewired 15 Rolling Thunder 16 Fiction Editor The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy 17 Edward Carmien Mariah Mundi: The Midas Box 19 29 Sterling Rd. Out of the Wild 19 Princeton, NJ 08540 Media Reviews [email protected] Beowulf 20 Bioshock 20 Devi 22 Media Editor Somewhere, a Cog Turns 23 Ritch Calvin News 16A Erland Rd. Calls for Papers 24 Stony Brook, NY 11790-1114 Announcement 27 [email protected] The SFRA Review (ISSN 1068-395X) is published four times a year by the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA), and dis­ tributed to SFRA members. Individual issues are not for sale; however, all issues after 256 are published to SFRA's Web site (http:// www.sfra.org/) no fewer than 10 weeks after paper publication. For information about SFRA and membership, see the back cover. SFRA thanks the University ofWisconsin-Eau Claire for its assistance in producing the SFRA Review. SUBMISSIONS The SFRA Review encourages submissions of reviews, review essays that cover several related texts, interviews, and feature articles. Submission guidelines are available at http://www.sfra.org/ or by inquiry to the appropriate editor. Contact the Editors for other submissions or for correspondence. be president! But thanks to some help from Jim Gunn and his Kansas friends, this summer's speedily relocated conference in Lawrence is turning into one of the more academically interest­ ing and generative meetings in my memory. Program director Karen Hellekson quickly had an abundance of proposals to work with, although the date for abstract accep­ tances has now closed. Author guests include Karen Joy Fowler, EDITORS'MESSAGE Joan Slonczewski, and James Van Pelt. Meanwhile, SFRA's various awards committees have chosen a powerful group of dis­ SFRA Review Institutes tinguished winners, almost all of whom plan on being in Kansas New Feature to thank SFRA personally. Meanwhile, SFRA has started getting a whole lot of new Karen Hellekson and Craig Jacobsen memberships from young academics who seem to have tons of innovative ideas and boundless energy, and more and more Our last issue introduced a new feature: the 101 series, brief, former members are renewing their memberships-to the point pointed overviews of topics we think will interest the SFRA where Treasurer Mack Hassler believes our 2008 membership membership. Our second feature, Comics 101, by Joe Sutliff roster will set a record. Sanders, provides useful insight into the world of comics and Meanwhile, Karen Hellekson and Craig Jacobsen are trans­ graphic novels. forming the SFRA Review into a wonderful periodical that's To this new feature we add another: One Course, which har­ a lot of fun to read through. And the 2009 Atlanta conference kens back to our Approaching ... series, which longtime readers being put together by SFRA VP Lisa Yaszek promises to be even will remember ran during our previous tenure as editors. Just richer than our Lawrence experience. So it looks like the bad-est as the Approaching series focused on a single text or author, the year even might tum into one of the good-est, and that SFRA One Course feature will focus on the construction of a single will continue to grow as an exciting organization that will make class, with particular attention to how the course addresses its some kind of difference in the crazy future toward which all of contcxt. Shelley Rodrigo launches this new feature with her us seem to be hurtling headlong. Wouldn't that be nice? And description of teaching texts by and adapted from Philip K. Dick meanwhile, what a time to be SFRA president! to students in a community college occupational program. These features (and one more we have up our sleeves for next issue) reflect our desire to make this publication an indispensible SECRETARY'S MESSAGE resource [or science fiction scholars and teachers. Their contin­ ued usefulness depends upon contributions from SFRA mem­ SFRA Executive Board Meeting bers. Those interested in sharing their experiences and expertise Rochelle Rodrigo through these features should e-mail us at sfrareview@gmail. com. The meeting was held January 15-ApriI15, 2008, via e-mail discussions. This update was written April 15, 2008. ERRATUM Attending: In the last issue (SFRA Review 283), the anthology The Future • Adam Frisch, President We Wish We Had was incorrectly identified as The Way The • Lisa, Yaszek, Vice President Future Was. We regret the error. • Shelley Rodrigo, Secretary • Donald M. Hassler, Treasurer • David G. Mead, Immediate Past President 1. Motion to approve minutes from July 5, 2007, meet­ DODD ing; motion passed. 2. Officer Reports ~~~ 1. President 1. With the exception of the Pilgrim award, has received names for the 2008 awardees from all PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE the award committees. Invited award recipients SFRA in Transition to attend 2008 conference. 2. Vice President Adam Frisch I. Contacted other organizations to announce the "opening" of the SFRA listserv to non-SFRA When Farah Mendlesohn informed me last November that the members. dollar's plunge against the euro had undercut the feasibility of 3. Secretary holding our July conference in Dublin, I figured 2008 was going 1. Revised and submitted minutes of the July to be one of the "bad-cst" years ever for SFRA. What a time to 2007 executive board meeting. 2 SFRA Review 284 Spring 2008 SFRA 2008 2. Sent 2008 renewal letters in September and 2008 Program November 2007 and March 2008. 3. Sent a letter about the 2008 conference reloca­ Committee Update tion in November 2008 and a registration form about the new conference in March 2008. Karen Hellekson 4. Updated addresses with Treasurer. The academic programming committee-me, Craig Jacob­ 4. Treasurer sen, Patrick Sharp, and Lisa Yaszek-have been hard at work 1. 329 members for the 2008 calendar year as of creating the program, along with the advice of the Board and Aprilll,2008. the general oversight 5. Immediate Past President of Ritch Calvin, the conference director. Because of the late change in venue, we had to work extraordi­ 1. Will be working on developing slate of candi­ narily fast to craft a schedule, although the task has been made dates at the 2008 conference. 3. Convention Updates much easier by the support and help of the Campbell Conference folks, particularly James Gunn, Chris McKitterick, Lydia Ash, 1. 2008 Lawrence and Kevin Curry. 1. Due to the changing exchange rate, the 2008 The program committee is no longer accepting abstracts. A conference location has been moved from Dublin schedule is up at the SFRA Web site (http://sfra.org/); it will be Ireland, to Lawrence, Kansas. The conference is ' periodically updated. We're pleased to announce the following now currently running currently with the Campbell special guests: Karen Joy Fowler, Paul Kincaid, Joan Sloncze­ Conference. wski, Maureen Kincaid Speller, and James Van Pelt. 2. Karen Hellekson is program chairperson, has The schedule this year is very full. We are happy that there collected proposals, and is currently putting the was quite a bit of interest from Campbell Conference attendees program together. to also attend SFRA. This resulted in more paper proposals, 3. For more information about the conference and! particularly in teaching SF (part of the conference theme). In or to register, visit the Web site at: http://wiz.cath. addition, we can expect papers from grad students new to the vt.edu/sfra/conferences.html. conference circuit, and from scientists. To expedite cross-polli­ 2. 2009 Atlanta (Lisa Yaszek and Doug Davis)--plan­ nation with the Campbell Conference, we've instituted a shared ning on track! fee. People interested in attending events for both SFRA and 3. 2010-PhoenixiTempe (Craig Jacobsen and Shelley Campbell Conference should sign up for SFRA only. Rodrigo)--planning to do a lot of planning, sched­ uling, etc. in June 2008. 4. Old Business AWARD 1. SFRA Listserv: The board voted to open the listserv to nonmembers of SFRA in hopes to gain more pay­ 2008 Clareson Award ing members.