New publication: Asterix & Anomalies!

Full launch: April 2, 2024

What: Asterisks and Anomalies is a new publishing possibility for PCA/ACA (and regional PCA) presenters who research anything fantastical:

from sci-fi to fantasy, from horror to action/adventure, from cryptozoology to conspiracies. We are interested in any media these research forms may address: from novels and short stories to poems, from social media to fanfiction, from films to streaming serials, from tabletop games to video games.

Each 2,500 word article is presented on two sites with its own infographic/poster, designed by our in-house design team.

Who: Of the 24 people involved in Asterisks and Anomalies (12 people on the Board and 12 staff members), 8 of our Board has some connection with PCA; of the 12 staff members, 11 have presented at, or are currently accepted to present, at PCA.

You can see, and may recognize, many of our staff and board members here: https://asterisksandanomalies.org/staff/index.html

Where: We have a website and a Medium.com publication

https://asterisksandanomalies.org/ (While the site is up and running, we currently only have four articles displayed : Phil Simpson, Matt Hudson, Amber Bixby and Warren Jones)

https://medium.com/asterisks-anomalies (this site is still in development.  Until April 2nd, simple placeholder information will be on the Medium site.)

Instead of creating a peer reviewed journal, we have opted to more easily help academics with their careers by publishing their 2,500 word (max) articles, written for an academically diverse (across disciplines) audience, concerning their PCA research. However, we do have other, smaller, publishing opportunities for non-PCA research, see below concerning “on the other hands”

How: Complete submission guidelines can be found here: https://asterisksandanomalies.org/submissions.html

Why: Many positions, from editors to teaching posts, request to see a longevity of work, based on the web (and not just sample writings one keeps on their PC). Our aim is to aid those students, grad students, college lecturers, college instructors and professors to discuss their research and help them achieve that longevity of professional, web-based writing. Also, we miss more than we see at PCA. By offering a space for people’s PCA research, what we do miss at PCA, we might then find on A&A.

One aspect of publishing with A&A is not only do we only use a one-time rights for publishing (reverting all ownership back to the researcher), but we also call back to the early internet that utilized offsite links, which grants any of our writers the choice to connect their writing to not only sources and other discussions of their subject but also allows them to display their email, website, cv, social media, and if applicable, the larger, more academic writing of the same research.

We are currently accepting submissions.

We are also open to people submitting to “On the Other Hands,” 250 word blurbs that cover some new idea, concept, or artefact across all disciplines, including science. Submission guidelines can be found on that same submissions page.

We are registered with the State of Florida as a non-profit, and are currently filing for a 501(c) 3 status with the IRS.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact either of us.

Sincerely

Dr. Warren Jones

Executive Director, A&A

New Podcast!!!!!

Thomas Parham’s Podcast!

Screen Thom is a podcast hosted by Dr. Thomas Parham–pop culture pundit and professor of Communication and Media Studies at Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida. A connoisseur of movies, television series, comic books, and an occasional gamer, Screen Thom will kick off episodes with an entertainment industry news roundup, followed by a feature story.

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/screen-thom/id1641612559

Spotify:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/…/Episode-24-Toxic…

CFP Roundtable on Science Fiction Erotica, deadline 30 Sep 2023

CFP: Science Fiction Erotica (Roundtable Discussion), PCA/ACA 2024, Chicago, IL We are seeking participants for an academic roundtable discussion on science fiction erotica in any medium, to be held at PCA/ACA 2024 in Chicago, IL. Participants will be expected to discuss some area of SF erotica for approximately 5 minutes and then engage in a broader discussion of the themes, tropes, and cultural value of the subgenre. Areas for exploration might include fan fiction, the erotic alien other, “subversive” sex and sexualities, erotic imagery in SF video games/film/television, the intersection of science and sex/gender, erotica and science fiction as kitsch, etc.

Please contact Liz W Faber at efaber@dean.edu by September 30 with a brief (100 words max) description of your interest in participating in the roundtable.

CFP – PCA National Conference 2024

SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY AREA

Conference of the Popular and American Culture Association (PCA/ACA)

27 April – 30 March 2024 – Chicago, IL

One of the largest and most vibrant of the association, the Science Fiction and Fantasy (SF/F) Area invites proposals for its 2024 national conference to be held at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile. The goals of our area are (1) to share and support research, scholarship, and publication and (2) to mentor emerging scholars. As a result, we invite proposals from professors, independent scholars, graduate students, and undergraduates (with the approval / guidance of their professors).

PCA/ACA SFF welcomes any theoretical or (inter)disciplinary approach to any topic related to SFF:  art; literature; radio; film; television; comics and graphic novels; video, role-playing, and multi-player online games.  

Submission Guidelines:  In Word (.doc/.docx), Rich Text Format (.rtf), or PDF, 250-word proposals for individual papers should be submitted through the PCA website and only through the PCA website. If you wish to submit a panel for the conference, all presenters must submit individually through the website, and then notify the Area Chairs of their intention to present together. Please do not include panel colleagues on the electronic submission as this confuses the program.  Instructions for submission can be found at https://pcaaca.org/page/submissionguidelines and submissions made at https://pcaaca.org/. You will have to create an account with PCA/ACA if you do not already have one.

Submissions can be made on the site after 1 September 2023.

You will need the following information for submission.

• Name of presenter—indicate main contact person if submitting a multi-authored paper
• Institutional affiliation—if applicable
• Name and contact information of supervising professor—undergraduates only
• Address(es), telephone number(s), and current email address(es) of presenter(s)
• Title of paper — we understand that paper titles may change between submission and presentation, but the topic of the presentation should not change
• 250-word proposal(s)

The proposal will be acknowledged within 2 days of its receipt, and the sender will be notified of the submission’s status no later than 10 December 2023.  Please be aware that acknowledgement of receipt does not automatically denote acceptance.  Deadlines for submission are firm, and we cannot accept any papers made after the deadline.  Earlier submission is appreciated – nay, celebrated!  Be sure to read all correspondence from us and from PCA thoroughly as important information with respect to registration, scheduling, accommodations, etc. is provided via email. Note that you must pay your PCA membership dues when submitting a proposal for the conference. Registration fees must be paid in advance, by 10 February 2024, in order to be included in the program. You may not register on site.

You may not simultaneously submit proposals to multiple areas. Not only is that a discourtesy to area chairs, but the master program will not accept a second proposal. Per PCA/ACA guidelines, a person may present only one paper at the annual meeting, regardless of subject area.

Submission Deadline:  30 November 2023

Each year the SF/F Area hosts a fundraising event that includes a film, snacks, and a prize raffle of DVDs, novels, academic books, action figures, etc.—thousands of dollars in merchandise. Come enjoy the food, friendship, and fun! This year’s movie is tbd.  Fundraising supports area activities, such as speakers, a cash award to the best student paper, and travel awards for students and faculty/independent scholars. We do accept donations of items for the raffle, so if your shelves are starting to bulge under the weight of your SFF memorabilia, ask yourself if you really need 3 Thor action figures. If not, then donate that stuff to us.

Please be aware that the PCA offers several (highly competitive) travel bursaries and deadlines for them are 15 December 2023.  Check the PCA website www.pcaaca.org for more information. SFF also offers several travel awards for people presenting in the area; these awards are also highly competitive. Anyone applying for funding, whether through the PCA or SFF area, should be aware that funds awarded are unlikely to offset all the expenses associated with attending the conference. More details about the SFF awards can be found at the area’s website: www.pcasff.wordpress.com.

Hope to see you in Chicago!

PCA/ACA SF/F Area Chairs           

Gillian I Leitch, Heather M. Porter and Edward Ardeneaux

Direct all enquiries to our email address. Gillian responds to email via this address:   pcasff@gmail.com

NOTE: While the PCA/ACA welcomes fresh approaches to subjects, serious commitment to scholarship and to presenting at the conference is expected.

Please note that this is a professional conference and once you are accepted, your presentation becomes integral to the success of the event.  If you must cancel, please notify the Area Chairs of your withdrawal as soon as you know.  Failure to do so will impact future opportunities to present at this conference.

The conference will commence early Wednesday morning. Be advised that your panel will be assigned a time randomly by the master scheduler. We cannot change the schedule after it is completed, so please ensure that you will be able to attend the entire conference before you submit your proposal. In other words, clear your schedule from Wednesday through Saturday. We will notify you of your exact presentation time as soon as we can, but the final program is not likely to be completed before 20 January 2024. You must register for the conference by 10 February 2024; your paper will be dropped from the schedule if you do not.  Make your hotel reservations as soon as possible. The number of reserved rate hotel rooms is limited; you can always cancel a reservation (by the date dictated by the hotel) but you cannot make a reservation after the room block is full.

Please consult our handy guide for proposing here:

A Guide to Academic and Professional Conferences….

Call for Papers: Toxic Masculinity in the Whedonverses, 1 June 2023

Co-editors Heather M. Porter and Michael Starr invite proposals or completed essays for an edited

collection of scholarly works that aims to address issues of toxic masculinity in the Whedonverses.

Toxic masculinity has become an increasingly prevalent term in contemporary popular and political

discourse, used to describe a range of behaviours and performances of masculinity that cause harm

to society and men themselves. Manifestations of Toxic masculinity can of course be found in all

facets of popular culture, and the Whedonverses—in narrative, aesthetic and industrial terms—

occupy a particularly contentious space in this regard and hence are ripe for further investigation.

Proposals should demonstrate not only a clear methodology and strong thesis but also a familiarity

with prior and current conversations and publications concerning the Whedonverses; but also be

prepared to debate and refute prior readings. The anticipated collection seeks to showcase a range

of theoretical lenses; we are hence interested in a variety of topics as well as diverse disciplinary

approaches. Though not prescriptive, it may be productive to consider the following list of possible

topics:

– Toxic masculinity in Whedonverse TV/films/comics etc (Buffy TVS/Angel/Firefly/Dollhouse/The

Nevers/Avengers etc).

– Toxic masculinity in the Whedonverse and associated representational/intersectional issues.

(e.g., gender/sexuality/race/disability).

– Whedon and toxicity (issues of auteurism/celebrity/cult of personality/brand).

– Toxic fandom.

– Reappraising Whedonverse characters (e.g., Xander Harris/Topher Brink/ Dr. Horrible).

– The responsibilities of academia/fandom in confronting issues of toxicity.

Queries and Submissions:

Please send queries and abstracts (350-500 words) for proposed chapter-length original work to

Toxicmasculinitybook@gmail.com. Proposals should be submitted no later than June 1, 2023.

Selected contributors will be notified by July 15, 2023. We suggest but do not require that proposals

include a working bibliography. Please provide in a separate document or in the body of the email a

brief author biography and selected list of prior publications/conference presentations. We are

currently discussing the book proposal with a publisher who is very interested in the collection,

hence are working on a production timeline which would tentatively allow for a late 2024

publication date.

Faculty and Student Paper Awards, 2023

Congratulations to our winners for this year’s PCA

Faculty:

Heather Urbanski

“Finding Beauty in the Pieces: Interpretive Gaps in the MCU”

Student:

Matthais de Bondt

“(Speculative) Fiction as a Source of Knowledge in Contemporary Conspiracy Culture”

Reminder – deadlines coming up

Just a reminder for everyone that every year the area has a Best Paper Prize, and the deadline for submissions is coming soon – Feb 15^th. We offer a prize for the best paper by faculty or independent scholars and a prize for graduate students.  Both prizes come with a very cool trophy, and the student prize comes with a cash award.  For more details – https://pcasff.wordpress.com/paper-awards/

Another prize offered by the area is the Early Faculty/Independent Scholar award, which is available to independent scholars or early career faculty.  This is a cash prize.  Deadline for submission is Feb 28^th.  Details of the criteria and submission process is found here – https://pcasff.wordpress.com/early-faculty-independent-scholar-award/

The Pierian Literary and Visual Arts Journal, 2023

Deadline Fast Approaching

The deadline for the 2023 National Conference is fast approaching – send in your proposals soon!

National Conference Call for Papers, 2024

CFP – Time Travel in Media, deadline extended to Feb 28th, 2023

We are seeking additional contributors for our edited collection of scholarly essays
on these recent changes in the complexity of time-travel media (film, television,
gaming, music media, or literature). The primary argument framing for this
collection emphasizes the increasing narrative complexity within recent time-travel
media. Submissions that are interdisciplinary in theory and method are welcome,
especially those in popular culture, science fiction, fantasy, genre studies, critical
media studies, narratology, etc. Abstracts and papers discussing recent time-travel
media, approximately within the last decade, may include but are not limited to
research concerning narrative structure, theme, genre, reception, comprehension,
and other relevant topics. Additional context noted below editors’ signature.

Those interested in submitting works from this following list or similar are of
special interest:
 Stranger Things
 Everything Everywhere All at Once
 Avengers: Endgame
 Loki (TV series)
 The Adam Project
 The Umbrella Academy
 Doctor Who (2005 – onward)

Abstracts, up to 300 words, should present research intentions, the research’s
original contribution, and how the focus aligns with the main “theme” of narrative
complexity in this collection. All papers should be approximately 10-25 double-
spaced pages following the current 9th ed. MLA style with in-text citations and
Works Cited page at the end. We are currently in conversations with leading
publishers and will provide more concrete publication deadline information as
those decisions are finalized.

Please submit abstracts (or draft papers) by the new deadline, Feb. 28th, 2023.
Final paper drafts deadline has been tentatively extended until January 31st, 2024. 
Please direct all abstracts, papers, and inquiries
to TimeTravelCFP@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you and
learning more about your contributions. 

Liz Trepanier (Eastern Florida State College), Luke Leonard (Eastern Florida State
College), and Emory O’Malley, editors 

Additional Context:
Historically, time-travel films and television (TV) shows relied on science-fiction
(sci-fi) tropes and storytelling devices to convey atemporal narratives. More
recently, an increasing number of time-travel media have begun incorporating a
variety of non-sci-fi elements to create new, increasingly complicated spins on
well-worn tropes. The rapidly evolving landscape of technological advancements
in our world today have made narratives dealing with the exclusive
science/mechanics of time travel less of an imaginative possibility. Many viewers
today seem receptive to the recycling of science-fiction time-travel tropes in many
of these more traditional sci-fi narratives. However, more authors have begun
creating unique adaptations on tropes such as time travel to engage audiences’
narrative understanding in new ways, and the audiences want to see and be
entertained by them. Whether this is seen as a component of hybrid genre or
structural complexity, more recent time-travel media have purposefully
complicated their narratives by reconditioning audiences to expect the unexpected
and require audiences to learn how to engage with the story to better understand
the narrative on multiple levels. 

This edited collection will demonstrate that time-travel media is more complicated
now than ever before, but also that newer time-travel media has expanded into the
“mainstream” of multiple narrative genres that, prior to, were predominantly
superhero, fantasy, thriller, etc. Time travel now has grown into a tried and true
crossover of these genres and many more, taking the necessity of “science” out of
time travel, thus constructing a fresh cultural trope that can be used by any author
writing in any genre. This exploration of how a staple trope strongly tied to a
single genre, like time travel was to science-fiction media, can successfully
become mainstream adds to the current conversation surrounding interdisciplinary
studies in areas such as critical media, genre, narrativity, and more. This
exploration also aims to reveal the interdependent relationship of the time-travel
trope and its malleability, the authors and their ability to make said trope
believable, and the audience and their ability to suspend their disbelief and accept
the use of the trope in new media and genres.