Forgive me for I have sinned. It has been far too long since I blogged at this site. And there are things you need to know (and not just that Atlantis is back …)
First off, there will be another conference on Classics and Science Fiction, this time in the US, organized by Brett Rogers and Ben Stevens. The Once and Future Antiquity: Classical Traditions in Science Fiction takes place 27-29 March 2015. The deadline for the call for papers is 15 December 2015.
Speaking of Brett and Ben, their collection Classical Traditions in Science Fiction should be out by the end of the year (the OUP website says October 2015, but that seems to be wrong). This will be followed by Classical Tradtions in Fantasy. Meanwhile, the proceedings of the 2012 Paris-Rouen conference have come out: L’Antiquité dans l’imaginaire contemporain – Fantasy, science-fiction, fantastique, edited by Mélanie Bost-Fievet and Sandra Provini. This is an important volume, not least because it demonstrates that not all important works on Classical Reception are anglophone. Some pieces from Swords … are also starting to appear. Liz Gloyn’s and Stephe Harrop’s papers from the Hadrian’s Wall session are on Strange Horizons. And Foundation 118 is mostly devoted to a special issue reprinting six papers from the conference. Fantasy author Juliet McKenna, a Classics graduate herself, has written about this issue.
I’m very pleased that there is now more material appearing in print discussing the intersection of Classics and SFF. For too long these have been conversations going around – now finally the products of these conversations are starting to appear, and we can point people making enquiries of us at actual bibliography.
There are a few reports of the conference that I haven’t mentioned: Liz Bourke in Strange Horizons, Chris Pak in the SFRA Review, and myself and Cat Wilson in Foundation 116. I also talked about the conference on Classics Confidential.
Back in October there was a talk in Leeds on Greece and Rome in Star Trek. The audio should become available soon. Other interesting pieces on this blog include Malcolm Heath on the location of Atlantis, Bev Scott on George Lucas (not yet uploaded), and Eleanor OKell on The Hunger Games.
I shall leave you with notice of a conference that may be of interest to readers of this blog: Sideways in Time: Alternate History and Counterfactual Narratives. The CFP for this also closes on 15 December.
Swords, Sorcery, Sandals and Space 