HWA Academics

Deadline: July 31, 2018
Contact: andrea.braithwaite@uoit.ca

Horror stories speak of our fears.  In doing so, horror stories also speak of our everyday, our “normal,” as this ordinariness is quickly thrown into disarray.  Things That Go Bump in the North will look at Canadian horror across media – from fiction, film, and television to games, graphic novels, and web series.  This edited collection considers what Canadian horror texts can tell us about Canadian culture, media, history, and politics.  Things That Go Bump in the North aims to see horror stories as stories about nation, as sites for critical reflection on the meanings and uses of “Canada” in this genre – and what we are terrified to lose, or perhaps keep.

This collection deliberately uses “Canadian” and of “horror” loosely in order to more fully explore the cultural work of horror stories.  By “Canadian,” we seek texts that are by, in, and/or about Canada or Canadians; “horror” includes inflections like the gothic and the grotesque, the silly and the supernatural.  We encourage diverse submissions from a range of critical approaches and research methods; we are particularly excited about work that addresses Indigenous, diasporic, and other underrepresented productions and perspectives.


Topics may include and are not limited to:

 
-A specific creator or creative team
-A singular media form, text, or series
-Adaptations and transformations
-Generic hybrids
-Regional or community-specific horror stories
-Studies of fans, audiences, and reception contexts
-Historical horror tales and texts
-Co-productions and international ventures
-Alternate histories and horrifying futures
-Industry and/or policy analysis
-Transmedia texts and storytelling
-True crime texts

Proposals of not more than 250 words will be due by July 31 2018.  Final essays of approximately 6000-8000 words, including all notes and references in Chicago author-date style will be due by April 30 2019.  Please direct inquiries and proposals to: andrea.braithwaite@uoit.ca and p.greenhill@uwinnipeg.ca.

Deadline: July 15, 2018
Email: lcraig1@luc.edu
Conference: Loyola University Chicago, Lake Shore Campus, Klarcheck Information Commons, 4th floor, 27 October 2018, 8:30am-5:30pm

Introductory Speaker: Alison Booth, University of Virginia
Keynote Speaker: Suzy Anger, University of British Columbia

“And now, once again, I bid my hideous progeny go forth and prosper.”
Mary Shelley, 1831 Introduction to Frankenstein

In this truly Gothic year, we celebrate both the bicentennial of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and the birth of Emily Brontë, author of Wuthering Heights (1847), two famous Gothic novels which sparked questions regarding the potential of human connections across social classes, time, and death itself. Subsequent authors of Gothic fiction similarly employed this genre to interrogate the breakdown of patriarchal family structures, systems of power and reproduction, sexual, religious, and socio-political taboos and norms, reinterpret previous literatures, and reject contemporary notions of the limits of reality, scientific possibility, and human progress. Given the 19th-century recognition of the Gothic as an unstable, versatile space that can function as a surprising and subversive mechanism for social critique, we ask what are the possibilities, values, narrative strategies, ideas, versions, mutations, and adaptations of the nineteenth century Gothic? Over the course of the nineteenth century, what endured, progressed, and morphed in this genre, and why?

The Loyola University Chicago Victorian Society solicits paper proposals addressing Gothic questionings of texts, bodies, and the supernatural. Possible CFP categories include but are not limited to the following:

• textual studies and digital humanities
• narrative theory
• adaptations
• history of science,
• queer theory
• women and gender studies,
• art and architecture
• post-colonial studies
• the gothic and the neo-gothic
• mutations, perversions, and disability studies

Please send abstracts no longer than 300 words to Lydia Craig at lucvictoriansociety@gmail.com or lcraig1@luc.edu no later than 15 July 2018.

The Vastarien Literary Journal has an ongoing call for non-fiction submissions. Info can be found at their submissions page here:

https://vastarien-journal.com/submission-guidelines/

And here is the short of it:

They Wan: "Nonfiction from 2,000 to 7,500 words. Scholarly and/or critical articles pertaining to Ligotti or associated authors (see below) or the kind of thematic and topical issues in which we’re interested. As for contemporary authors to add to this list, Livia Llewellyn, S. P. Miskowski, Junji Ito, Matthew M. Bartlett, T. E. D. Klein, Kelly Link, Helen Marshall, Gemma Files, Ramsey Campbell, Allyson Bird, Laird Barron, Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan, Nicole Cushing, Victor LaValle, Mark Samuels, and many more have produced work that we would love to see subjected to intelligent critical analysis and discussion.

The following authors and their work are of especial interest to Vastarien:

Charles Baudelaire
Thomas Bernhard
Aloysius Bertrand
Jorge Luis Borges
William S. Burroughs
Angela Carter
Louis Ferdinand Celine
E. M. Cioran
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Douglas Harding
Shirley Jackson
U. G. Krishnamurti
H. P. Lovecraft
Vladimir Nabokov
Emile Nelligan
Michael Persinger
Edgar Allan Poe
Maurice Rollinat
Arthur Schopenhauer
Bruno Schulz
Paul Valery
Peter Wessel Zapffe

Deadline: May 23, 2018
Contact: frankensteinat200@gmail.com

2018 sees a flourishing crop of events commemorating, one way or another, the bicentenary of Frankenstein’s publication. The Fates of Frankenstein is a two-day conference about adaptations and appropriations of Shelley’s novel.

The fate of Frankenstein and his monstrous creation has been to outlive their original context. Indeed, Frankenstein almost immediately escaped its book covers into Richard Brinsley Peake’s 1823 stage adaptation, Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein. Two hundred years later, Shelley’s compelling tale has given rise to what Audrey Fisch describes as a ‘panoply of manifestations and permutations’ in popular culture.

This conference explores Frankenstein’s myriad cultural fates, in which it not only inspires new narratives and creative works but is also widely invoked by the media and in a range of social and scientific contexts. Over two anything-but-dreary days in November, the conference will take stock of the ways in which Frankenstein remains very much alive in 2018, and of trends and innovations in its adaptations, retellings, and reuses in the last two centuries.

Confirmed speakers: Nick Dear, playwright; Professor Catherine Spooner, Lancaster University; Dr Daniel Cook, University of Dundee.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

-       Frankenstein on television, in films, on stage

-       Frankenstein for young readers and viewers, in children’s literature, in YA

-       Frankenstein art, craft, fashion

-       Fandom, fan studies, fan fiction

-       Genre treatments: Gothic, horror, weird, SF, comedy, romance

-       Interdisciplinary Frankensteins: medical humanities, environmental humanities, digital humanities

-       Frankenstein and the social sciences

-       Frankenstein and the life sciences

-       Frankenstein in technology, robotics, AI

-       Frankenstein metaphors

-       Frankenstein in the news, in politics, in social media

-       Frankenstein in science communication

-       Graphic novels

-       Cartoons, animations

-       Creative writing

-       Music, soundtracks, performance

We welcome proposals for traditional 20-minute papers, and also encourage pre-formed panels, round tables, performances, workshops (or other appropriate format).

Please send proposals of around 250 words plus a short biography to the conference organisers Sarah Artt and Emily Alder at frankensteinat200@gmail.com by 23 May 2018

Deadline: April 30, 2018
Contact: Gina Wisker (University of Brighton) and Anya Heise-von der Lippe (Universität Tübingen)
Email: anya.heise-von-der-lippe@uni-tuebingen.de

The Gothic is a "negative aesthetic" (Botting 2014, 1). It influences a plethora of cultural phenomena from literature and other media to fashion and music. It is also an ever-shifting framework of creative expressions and critical approaches, which has a tendency to reinvent itself and adapt to new cultural circumstances. The Gothic troubles the familiar, replaces complacency with dis-ease, offering rich opportunities for new explorations and expressions of seeming fixities, interpretations of history, certainties of gendered identity. Gothic texts across various cultural and medial platforms are interested in exploring the depths and undersides usually avoided and repressed by mainstream culture, and, consequently offer ample possibilities to problematize concepts of normality and inevitability (among them gender binaries and dominant historical narratives) while providing a platform for writers and ideas from various cultural contexts and margins.

As a literary mode emerging in the late eighteenth century the Gothic has its roots in the period's nostalgic exploration of a glorified historical past. Early examples envisioned an imaginary medieval culture full of secret ancestral guilt and illicit desires while multi-layered Gothic narratives created a space for the exploration of non-binary or non-normative constructions of gender and sexuality.

As a popular form of literary production, occasionally frowned upon from more elevated cultural positions, the Gothic has also offered a home to writers from the margins, and provided a space for formal and aesthetic experiments, which have found expression in a number of hybrid and structurally innovative forms, such as, for example, historical novels, Steampunk graphic novels, Gothic film and television series, games, music and fashion, but also in a complex and historically rooted critical discussion.

For this special issue of Humanities, we invite proposals for essays which reframe the Gothic and its connections to gender and history, initially by problematizing these terms. These could be discussions of either individual texts (including film and other media) or comparisons of a range of texts across time, across space, to identify common themes or structural similarities.

We particularly welcome critical readings of recent texts which use the Gothic to subvert, reframe or undermine traditional figurations of "gender" and "history", as well as explorations of intersectional narratives that arise out of explorations of gender, history and, for instance, race, sexual orientation, disability, or non-normative forms of embodiment that could shed new lights on the critical discussion of the Gothic.

We are interested both in essays which focus on reinventions and contestations in the contemporary period, and those which link and engage with texts across historical periods, and /or cultural contexts. (‘Text’ refers to fiction, poetry, film, graphic novels, game etc.).

Essays could explore, but are not limited to the following questions and issues:

• How do recent texts use the Gothic to subvert, reframe or undermine traditional figurations of "gender" and "history"?
• How do Gothic texts problematize notions of history and or gender in specific historical and or cultural moments and /or contexts?
• How does the Gothic reinvent itself and its concerns and adapt to new cultural circumstances, contexts and issues?
• How do Gothic texts offer explorations of intersectional narratives that arise out of explorations of gender, history and, for instance, race, sexual orientation, disability, or non-normative forms of embodiment that could shed new lights on the critical discussion of the Gothic.
• How do Gothic narratives create a space for the exploration of non-binary or non-normative constructions of gender and sexuality?
• How do Gothic texts deal with nostalgia, historical guilt, hauntings of the past in the present?
• How do Gothic narratives and texts offer opportunities for expression from hidden places, perspectives, from the margins (gender, culture, history) which fundamentally question established norms and offer new views, new readings?

Please send abstracts of no more than 500 words accompanied by a short bibliography of primary and critical texts to both Gina Wisker and Anya Heise-von der Lippe at g.wisker@brighton.ac.uk and anya.heise-von-der-lippe@uni-tuebingen.de by 30 April 2018. Finished articles of around 6000 words will be due by 30 November 2018.

More information on the journal and the special issue can be found on the journal's website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/humanities/special_issues/gothic.

In recent years, there has been increasing attention within both ecocriticism and horror studies to the intersections between the two fields. The country/city split and the civilized person’s fear of the wilderness and rural spaces, key issues for ecocritics, also loom large over the horror genre.

Furthermore, there are entire horror subgenres dedicated to the revenge of wild nature and its denizens upon humanity. As Rust and Soles write, ecohorror studies “assumes that environmental disruption is haunting humanity’s relationship to the non-human world” as well as that ecohorror in some form can be found in all texts grappling with ecocritical matters.

There have been some critical examinations of this intersection – e.g., Ecogothic, edited by Andrew Smith and William Hughes (2013); an ecohorror special cluster in ISLE, edited by Stephen A. Rust and Carter Soles (2014); Monstrous Nature: Environment and Horror on the Big Screen by Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann (2016); and Plant Horror: Approaches to the Monstrous Vegetal in Fiction and Film, edited by Dawn Keetley and Angela Tenga (2017) – but we feel that it is time for a fuller examination of ecohorror as a genre. To that end, we invite submissions of approximately 6000-7000 words to be included in the first edited collection devoted exclusively to ecohorror. Because our interest is in the genre as a whole, there is no limit on time period or medium; we want this collection to explore the range of ecohorror texts and ideas.

Book cover for The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. Shows man being covered by plant tendrils. Book cover for J. G. Ballard's The Drought. Shows a ship run aground.
Chapters may consider the following:

• How is human violence against the natural world represented in such texts? Or, vice-versa, how is violence against humanity by the natural world represented?
• What effect does this violence have on the relationship between human and nonhuman?
• How do ecohorror texts blur human/nonhuman distinctions in order to generate fear, horror, or dread?
• What fears of, about, or for nature are expressed in ecohorror? How do these expressions of fear influence environmental rhetoric and/or action more broadly?
• How are ecohorror texts and tropes used to promote ecological awareness or represent ecological crises?

Submit completed chapters to Christy Tidwell (christy.tidwell@gmail.com) and Carter Soles (csoles@brockport.edu) by May 14, 2018. We are requesting submissions of completed chapter drafts (6000-7000 words) to be considered for this project rather than abstracts. Please feel free to reach out with questions and/or ideas before submitting a completed chapter, however; we would be happy to provide feedback or guidance.

Global TV Horror – edited collection call for abstracts ed. Stacey Abbott and Lorna Jowett
When Stacey Abbott and Lorna Jowett hatched the idea for a book on TV Horror in the early 2000s, they had only a sense that by the time the book was published in 2012 there would be many more horror TV series to watch, write about, and discuss. In this follow up to TV Horror, the first full-length examination of horror on television, they take aim at global TV horror.

Television audiences and horror fans across the world may be most familiar with the latest big brands in TV horror such as The Walking Dead (US, 2010-), yet horror has always had a truly international reach. From anthology series to children’s drama, Belphegor [Phantom of the Louvre] (France, 1965), Historias para no dormir [Stories to Keep You Awake] (Spain, 1966–82), Children of the Stones (UK, 1977), Riget [The Kingdom] (Denmark, 1994-1997) and Goosebumps (Canada, 1995-98) terrified viewers, imprinted themselves on memories, and influenced the contemporary boom in horror on TV. With the expansion of TV channels, view on demand and streaming services, more and more content is needed, and niche productions with distinctive characteristics are more welcome than ever. The last five years have given us the moody and atmospheric Les Revenants [The Returned] (France, 2012-), adaptations of novel series like Bitten (Canada, 2014-16), contemporary reimaginings of queer horror classics in web series Carmilla (Canada, 2014), cross-genre Scandi series Fortitude (UK, 2015-) and Jordskott (Sweden, 2015-), films remade as TV, such as Wolf Creek (Australia, 2016-), original Amazon series like Tokyo Vampire Hotel (Japan, 2017-), one-off miniseries such as Au-delà des Murs [Beyond The Walls] (France/ Belgium, 2016), and American Netflix animated series Castlevania (US, 2017-) based on a series of Japanese video games. Horror on television shows no signs of abating, and more and more global productions are reaching audiences as national boundaries are eroded by digital technologies.

We seek proposals that address the full range and scope of ‘horror’ and ‘television’ in a global context, historical and contemporary. Chapters may engage with, though are not restricted to, the areas below.

• Global production and co-production, commissioning

• Distribution and global circulation via import/ export or illegal downloading

• Platforms and delivery: VoD, streaming, inter/national branding

• Translation, subbing, and dubbing

• Adaptations and remakes

• Forms and formats: serial drama, webisodes, webseries, miniseries, TV movies, long and short forms, non-fiction horror TV

• Aesthetics: visual and aural style, FX and make up; music and soundscapes

• Crossing over: international stars and creators

• Consumption and reception: global audiences and fandoms

• Cultural and national horrors: reimagining horror tropes in inter/national markets

• Inter/national representations and identities

• Horror v. terror

• Genre splicing and global TV trends

• Children’s international horror television

• Global transmedia horror: paratexts, overflow, narrative extensions

Proposals of 300 words, along with a short biography, should be submitted to both editors (s.abbott@roehampton.ac.uk and lorna.jowett@northampton.ac.uk) by 28 February 2018.

deadline for submissions: January 25, 2018
Contact: Dr. Christie Rinck, University of South Florida, crinck@usf.edu

The portrayal of women warriors in literature and popular culture is a subject of study in history, literary studies, film studies, folklore, and mythology.  In 2011, Rebecca Stringer noted the archetypal figure of the woman warrior is an example of a normal thing that happens in some cultures, while also being a counter stereotype, opporing the normal construction of war, violence and agression as masculine.  This convention-defying position makes the female warrior (or, shero, heroine, hero) a prominent topic of investigation for discourses surrounding female power and gender roles in society.

Judith Newton has described Alien as "a utopian fantasy of women's liberation, a fantasy of economic and social equality, friendship, and collectivity between middle-class women and men."  The first Underworld film was a female-driven action movie in an era long before Fury Road and The Force Awakens, when there was a scarcity of women in complex, interesting lead roles in the genre.  Noting the similarities and differences in these series leads us to question cinema's heriones and wonder if these really are feminist films.  We ponder topics like the woman's right to assume authority is not an issue; authority and power are ceded to persons irrespective of sex, solely in regard to their position and function.  The way these films take for granted the hero's assumption of command, and her right to order and shove "the men" around.

Rebecca Bell-Meterneau describes the drastic differences between Ripley and the cinema's heroines prior to Alien by noting that most science fiction and fantasy films depict women as the helpmate to man.  She is more often than not a hindrance at the crucial moment when the protagonist is trying to escape from or defeat the villians, aliens, or monsters.

Jeffrey Weinstock reaches beyond initial feminist readings of these films, discovering evidence for a view that includes queering, linkages back to lesbian vampire movies of the 1970s (the "other" as the monster), and the idealization of hyperbolic heterosexual gender norms.

We invite essays that explore the following themes as they relate to the film series of Alien and Underworld, individually, as a collection, or as a series-to-series contrast.

Sheroes/heroines vs. female heroes vs. simply heroes
Horror/slasher film technique
Xenophobia
Villian as "other"
LGBTQ/GSD representation, gender policing and bashing
Technology, robots, drones
Disability, body type, ageism
Human vs. non-human
Privilege of whilte, middle-class women
Becoming a hero, expectations of the hero
Fantasy of economic and social equality
The woman as demon trope
Interstitiality
Feminist anxiety
Assimiliation or annihilation of women towards masculinity
Gender insubordination
Capitalist power in monster/alien world (who is really the "boss" behind the scenes)
Monster/alien as representation or "passing"
Homoeroticism
Other related topics are encouraged!
We anticipate that this anthology will include 16-20 essays and, as a working guide, the essays should be 4000-4500 words.  Essays must adhere to the most current MLA format.

Submission Guidelines: Send a 500-word abstract in Word, followed by a short bibliography showing the paper's scholarly and theoretical context.  Also include a brief bio and full CV.  Send to Christie Rinck at crinck@usf.edu no later than January 25, 2018. Acceptance announcements will be emailed in February with final drafts due by April 30, 2018.