CFP Fairy Tale Monsters / Monstrous Fairy Tales (Spec Issue of Monsters and the Monstrous Journal) (6/26/15)

From H-Announce:

https://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=220419

The Monsters and the Monstrous Journal Current Call for Submissions
Location: United Kingdom
Call for Papers Date: 2015-06-26
Date Submitted: 2015-02-14
Announcement ID: 220419
The Monsters and the Monstrous Journal Current Call for Submissions:

Volume 5, Number 1 (Summer 2015), Fairy Tale Monsters / Monstrous Fairy Tales

This special issue of the Monsters and the Monstrous Journal proposes to discuss the ideas of fairy tale monsters and monstrous fairy tales and explore how fairy tale monsters are defined, (re)created and (re)visioned.

Contemporary popular culture has seen the fairy tale genre expand to include elements of paranormal romance by mixing with more traditional supernatural monsters (eg. vampires, werewolves, etc.), become re-energized with teenaged iterations of classic characters (Monster High, Ever After High), and perseverate as a space of both invention and intervention.

Indeed, 2015 marks the 150th anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which has often been categorised as a fairy tale; Carroll himself specifically identified Through the Looking-Glass as “a fairy-tale” in the poem he wrote as an epigraph for that book.

Possible Topics:

• Redefining, revisioning fairy tale monsters: mashups, redeeming the “monster,” and retellings (Once Upon a Time, Maleficent, Sleepy Hollow; Neil Gaiman, Angela Carter, etc.) 
• (Re)interpretations of fairy tales through the political, socio-cultural, (dis)abilities and sexual canon (eg. Liminality, deviance, inhumanity, witches, etc.) 
• Monstrous fairy tales: violence, cannibalism, rape 
• Disneyfication of the fairy tale: Who is the real villain? 
• New vs. Old fairy tale heroes/heroines 
• New vs. Old fairy tale villains, monsters 
• East vs. West fairy tales (eg. Grimm and the use of non-western storylines; manga) 
• Urban legends and the fairy tale (eg. La Llorona, the boogeyman, the Wolf as pedophile, etc.) 
• Young adult fiction rewriting the fairy tale and its monsters (eg. Jackson Pearce, Lily Archer, Maggie Stiefvater, Francesca Lia Block etc.) 
• Fractured fairy tales,  parodies and mash-ups: monsters revisited (eg. Marissa Meyer, Cornelia Funke, Danielle Page, etc.) 
• Fairy tales, popular romance and erotica: sexual deviance, non-heteromative revisions; challenging the status quo (eg. Anne Rice, Alison Tyler, Eloisa James, etc.) 
• Fairy tales and Hollywood (eg. Tim Burton, Matthew Bright, etc.) 
• Visual fairy tales: opera, ballet, musicals (eg. Wicked) 
• Monstrous teenage legacies: “Monster High” and “Ever After High” 
• The metaliterary use of fairy tales and/or pedagogical uses of fairy tale monsters 

We are also looking for film and book reviews on any theme related to the idea of Monsters and the Monstrous. All materials reviewed should have been published or released within two years of the journal issue they are submitted to. Any queries, please contact the editor at the email below.

Submissions for this Issue are required by Friday 26th June 2015 at the latest. Contributions to the journal should be original and not under consideration for other publications at the same time as they are under consideration for this publication. Submissions are to be made electronically wherever possible using either Microsoft® Word or .rtf format. All images, artworks and photographs need to have the appropriate copyright permissions before being sent in.

We also invite submission to our special features on Non-English Language Book Reviews. Please mark entries for these topics with their respective headings.

All accepted articles, artworks and prose pieces will receive a free electronic version of the journal.

For more information please follow this link:
http://monstersjournal.net/submissions/

Length Requirements:
~ poetry, prose, short stories can be any length but not exceed 7,000 words.
~ articles should be between 4,000 – 7,000 words long
~ reflections, reports and responses should be 1,500 – 3,000 words long
~ book and film reviews should be between 500 and 1,500 words long

Submission Information:
All submissions should include a short biography (100-150 words) that will be included with the to be included submission if accepted. Please send submissions via e-mail using the following Subject Line:

‘Journal: Contribution Type (article/review/…): Author Surname’

Submissions E-Mail Address: monstersjournal@inter-disciplinary.net
Submissions will be acknowledged within 48 hours of receipt.

Style Sheets
All submissions should be formatted in accordance with the journal style sheets. A word template for this may be found here: Download Journal Template File (Word Document).

Proof/Checking
If accepted for publication, you will be provided with one opportunity to see a proof inspection copy of your submission. Only typographical or factual errors may be changed during proof checking stage. Revisions or addition to the text will not be possible.

Copy
All contributors will receive one complimentary PDF copy of the edition in which their submission appears. Camera-ready .pdf of prints will also be made available.

Dr. Rob Fisher
Priory House
149B Wroslyn Road
Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1993 882087
Email: monstersjournal@inter-disciplinary.net
Visit the website at http://monstersjournal.net/submissions/

CfP: Monsters of Film, Fiction, and Fable Collection (4/30/15)

Courtesy the IAFA site:

NOTE EXPIRED DEADLINE

http://www.fantastic-arts.org/2015/cfp-monsters-of-film-fiction-and-fable-edited-collection/

CfP: Monsters of Film, Fiction, and Fable — Edited Collection
Posted on April 4, 2015 by Public Information Officer
Monsters of Film, Fiction, and Fable: The Cultural Links between the Human and Inhuman

This proposed collection will explore the cultural implications of and the societal fears and desires associated with the literal monsters of fiction, television, and movies. Long tied to ideas of the Other, the inhuman have represented societal fears for centuries. While this depiction of inhuman as Other still persists today, postmodern times also saw a radical shift in the portrayals and long-held associations. The postmodern monster is by no means soft and cuddly; nevertheless, its depiction has evolved. Veering from the traditional, “us vs. them” dynamic, many contemporary works illustrate what posthuman theorists refer to as the “them” in “us” correlation. These new monsters, often found in urban fantasy, eradicate the stark separation between human and inhuman as audiences search for the similarities between themselves and their much beloved monster characters. The shifted portrayal also means that these select, postmodern monsters no longer highlight cultural fears, but rather cultural hopes, dreams, desires, and even humanity’s own inhumanity. This does not mean that the pure monsters of horror are eradicated in contemporary renderings. Instead, they too have evolved over the course of the 20th and 21st century, highlighting everything from socioeconomic anxieties to issues related to humanity and human nature.

Given the many and varied implications of the inhuman in media and their long and diverse history, this volume will examine the cultural connotations of the monstrous, focusing specifically on the monsters of modernism and postmodernism.

In particular, we are looking to fill in certain gaps, and welcome articles related to the following monsters:

– Ghosts
– Leviathons/behemoths—anything from Mothra to Dragons
– Science Fiction related monsters such as artificial intelligence and cyborgs

The proposal for this collection is in progress, and will be submitted once selections are made.

Please email the following to Lisa Wenger Bro (lisa.bro@mga.edu) by Thursday, April 30:
– a 300-350 word abstract
– a brief biography
– the estimated length of the full article
– the number of illustrations, if any, you will use (note, it will be up to individual authors to secure rights to images)

Full articles will be due by June 30. All accepted articles will be peer-reviewed.

Reading List: Godzilla on My Mind

Final post for the night:

Godzilla turned 60 last year, yet this event seems to have been largely unacknowledged by the academic world, despite the appearance of a blockbuster film this past summer. His 50th birthday, however, was commemorated by William Tsutsui's Godzilla on My Mind: Fifty Years of the King of Monsters (2004). The book is both a history of the Godzilla franchise and its popularity as well as a personal account of Tsutsui's own fascination and love for the monster. It is an interesting and insightful book.

GODZILLA ON MY MIND: Fifty Years of the King of Monsters
William Tsutsui

St. Martin's Press
Palgrave Macmillan Trade
October 2004
Trade Paperback
ISBN: 9781403964748
ISBN10: 1403964742
5.60 x 8.45 inches, 256 pages
Includes 24 black-and-white illustrations throughout
$ 18.00

This year, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of his first appearance on the screen, the original, uncut version of Godzilla was released in American theaters to the delight of Sci-Fi and B-Movie fans everywhere. Ever since Godzilla (or, Gojira, as he is known in Japan) crawled out of his radioactive birthplace to cut a swath of destruction through Tokyo, he has claimed a place alongside King Kong and others in the movie monster pantheon. He is the third most recognizable Japanese celebrity in the United States, and his fan base continues to grow as children today prove his enduring appeal. Now, Bill Tsutsui, a life-long fan and historian, takes a light-hearted look at the big, green, radioactive lizard, revealing how he was born and how he became a megastar. With humorous anecdotes, Godzilla on My Mind explores his lasting cultural impact on the world. This book is sure to be welcomed by pop culture enthusiasts, fans, and historians alike.

Reading List: TV Horror

Also of definite interest to Monster Studies is the very recent work TV Horror: Investigating the Darker Side of the Small Screen (2013) by Lorna Jewett and Stacy Abbott. The two authors are both experts in monstrous media, and their team-up is a must read for anyone interested in monsters on the small screen and offers a great primer on how television has made use of monsters and other motifs of horror. It is a great book, but it frequently left me wanting more. Aside from the opening chapter, their survey is thematic rather than chronological, and I often wanted to know the bigger picture connecting everything together. Similarly, their discussion is usually limited to a small number of texts, and one wonders how other similar works might fit into their schema. These thoughts aside, the book is well-worth a read and will no doubt open many avenues for further research. 

TV Horror: Investigating the Darker Side of the Small Screen

Lorna Jowett (author), Stacey Abbott (author)

Imprint: I.B.Tauris

Publisher: I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd

Series: Investigating Cult TV Series

Hardback £62.00

ISBN: 9781848856172

Publication Date: 18 Dec 2012

Number of Pages: 256

Height: 216

Width: 134

Paperback £14.99

ISBN: 9781848856189

Publication Date: 18 Dec 2012

Number of Pages: 256

Height: 216

Width: 134

Horror is a universally popular, pervasive TV genre, with shows like True Blood, Being Human, The Walking Dead and American Horror Story making a bloody splash across our television screens. This complete, utterly accessible, sometimes scary new book is the definitive work on TV horror. It shows how this most adaptable of genres has continued to be a part of the broadcast landscape, unsettling audiences and pushing the boundaries of acceptability. The authors demonstrate how TV Horror continues to provoke and terrify audiences by bringing the monstrous and the supernatural into the home, whether through adaptations of Stephen King and classic horror novels, or by reworking the gothic and surrealism in Twin Peaks and Carnivale. They uncover horror in mainstream television from procedural dramas to children's television and, through close analysis of landmark TV auteurs including Rod Serling, Nigel Kneale, Dan Curtis and Stephen Moffat, together with case studies of such shows as Dark Shadows, Dexter, Pushing Daisies, Torchwood, and Supernatural, they explore its evolution on television.

This book is a must-have for those studying TV Genre as well as for anyone with a taste for the gruesome and the macabre.

Contents:

Introduction: Horror Begins at Home

Chapter 1 | The TV in TV Horror: Production and Broadcast Contexts 

Chapter 2 |Mainstreaming Horror 

Chapter 3 | Shaping Horror: From Single Play to Serial Drama 

Chapter 4 | Adaptation: Translating Horror Tales 

Chapter 5 | The Horror Auteur 

Chapter 6 | Revising the Gothic 

Chapter 7 | The Excess of TV Horror 

Chapter 8 | Horror, Art and Disruption 

Chapter 9 | TV as Horror 

Chapter 10 | The Monster in Our Living Room: From Barnabas Collins to Dexter Morgan

Conclusion: The Road So Far

Authors:

Lorna Jowett is a reader in Television Studies at the University of Northampton, UK, where she teaches some of her favourite things, including horror, science fiction, and television, sometimes all at once. Her monograph, Sex and the Slayer: A Gender Studies Primer for the Buffy Fan, was published in 2005 and recent publications cover Angel, Supernatural, Pushing Daisies and representation in cult television.

Stacey Abbott is a reader in Film and Television Studies at the University of Roehampton and is the author of Celluloid Vampires (2007) and the editor of The Cult TV Book (I.B.Tauris, 2010). Recent publications cover many of her favourite television programmes, including Angel, Alias, Supernatural, Dexter, True Blood and Torchwood. She is the general editor for the Investigating Cult TV Series at I.B.Tauris.

Reading List: Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley

Three posts for the new year on suggested reading for Monster Studies. The first up is The Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley (2003) edited by Esther Schor. The collection offers a complete look at Shelley's writings, and I learned a lot about her in reading the various essays.

The Cambridge Companion to Mary Shelley
Part of Cambridge Companions to Literature
EDITOR: Esther Schor
DATE PUBLISHED: January 2004
PaperbackISBN: 9780521007702

Well-known scholars review Mary Shelley's work in several contexts (literary history, aesthetic and literary culture, the legacies of her parents) and also analyze her most famous work-- Frankenstein. The contributors also examine Shelley as a biographer, cultural critic, and travel writer. The text is supplemented by a chronology, guide to further reading and select filmography.

Contents:

Chronology
Preface

Part I. 'The Author of Frankenstein':
1. Making a 'monster': an introduction to Frankenstein Anne K. Mellor
2. Frankenstein, Matilda, and the legacies of Godwin and Wollstonecraft Pamela Clemit
3. Frankenstein, feminism, and literary theory Diane Long Hoeveler
4. Frankenstein on Film Esther Schor
5. Frankenstein's futurity: from replicants to robotics Jay Clayton

Part II. Fictions and Myths:
6. Valperga Stuart Curran
7. The last man Kari E. Lokke
8. Historical novelist Deidre Lynch
9. Falkner and other fictions Kate Ferguson Ellis
10. Stories for the Keepsake Charlotte Sussman
11. Proserpine and Midas Judith Pascoe

Part III. Professional Personae:
12. Mary Shelley, editor Susan J. Wolfson
13. Letters: the public/private self Betty T. Bennett
14. Mary Shelley as biographer Greg Kucich
15. Mary Shelley's travel writing Jeanne Moskal
16. Mary Shelley as cultural critic Timothy Morton

Further reading
Selected filmography.

Madame Frankenstein Preview

Image Comics has posted the first 7 pages of the recent comic book series Madame Frankenstein online. Details at http://imagecomics.tumblr.com/post/106534692041/jazz-age-glamour-and-gothic-horror-in-madame. The series presents the resurrection of a 1920s-era woman as a monster and will be available in a collected edition come March 2015.

CFP Poe Studies Association Panels at the ALA (1/15/15; ALA Boston 5/21-24/15)

Poe Studies Association Panels at the ALA

CFP: “Rethinking Poe’s Sublime: Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, 175 years later”; A Poe Studies Association panel at the 26th Annual American Literature Conference in Boston, MA (May 2015)

Poe abandoned his proposed Tales of the Folio Club sometime after 1835, but still wanted to issue a collected edition of his prose fiction. Dropping the literary club motif, he combined the original tales with additional items from the Southern Literary Messenger. This new collection of 25 stories became Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque (1840). What choices informed Poe’s decisions about what to include? To what extent does the term “grotesque”—especially as it relates to Poe’s notions of the sublime—function as a defining characteristic of the two volumes’ contents? Papers are invited on specific tales as well as on Poe’s discussions of the sublime and/or the grotesque in his reviews, miscellaneous writings, and poetic treatises. Other related topics are welcome as well.

To submit a proposal, send a title and an abstract of no more than 350 words to: William Engel (wengel@sewanee.edu); in the subject line, put “PSA panel 2015.” The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2015 (panelists will be notified shortly thereafter).


CFP: “Teaching Poe and Popular Culture,” a Poe Studies Association panel at the 26th Annual American Literature Conference in Boston, MA (May 21-24, 2015)

Few American writers have enjoyed the posthumous popularity of Poe, whose works inspire adaptations in various genres such as film and graphic novel while lunchboxes and bobblehead figures commemorate the man himself. Such popularity is a boon for teachers of Poe, who can use movies, comic books, and online videos to help students make sense of a nineteenth-century writer whose stories and poems might seem, at first glance, peculiar and puzzling. Contemporary creative reinterpretations of Poe’s writings also provide insight into how we remove Poe from his antebellum milieu and refashion him to suit our tastes. Studying Poe’s nineteenth-century career, students can discern how popular trends shaped his work, for the example of Poe reveals many ways that writers respond to and shape mass culture. The Poe Studies Association solicits proposals for this pedagogical panel. Possible topics include Poe and contemporary Gothicism; The Raven and Poe biography; Poe’s influence on filmmakers such as Corman and Burton; Poe as rock-and-roll icon; popular images of Poe’s body; nineteenth-century sensation fiction and Poe; Poe and death in antebellum popular culture; Stephen Foster, Poe, and the popular lyric in the nineteenth-century. Other related topics are, of course, welcome.

To submit a proposal, send a title and an abstract of no more than 350 words to Travis Montgomery at tdmontgomery2@fhsu.edu. The subject line should read “PSA panel 2015.” The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2015.

CFP Evil Kids in Children’s Literature (1/15/15; ALA Boston 5/21-24/15)

CALL FOR PAPERS
Children’s Literature Society
American Literature Association
26th Annual Conference
May 21-24, 2015
The Westin Copley Place
10 Huntington Avenue
Boston MA 02116-5798

Nobody Understands Me. Evil Kids in Children’s Literature

Do researchers understand evil kid characters? In children’s literature, the evil kid school
of thought changes with history. Authors write the Puritan notion of the sinful kid school,
the Lockean ignorant but educable kid, and the Romantic idealized innocent virtuous
redeeming somewhat helpless kid. Modern, Postmodern, and New Sincerity “evil” kids
range from bullies to baby vampires to misunderstood villains like Gregory Maguire’s
character Elphaba from his book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the
West (1995).

This panel examines evil children in literature. Are we seeing an increase in such
representations in contemporary children’s literature? Are independent rational thinkers
with agency represented as evil? Do evil children have more freedom to color outside of
the lines? Are actions evil, not people? Has the idea of evil changed in children’s
literature?

Please include academic rank and affiliation and AV requests
Please send abstracts or proposals (around 250 words) by Thursday, January 15, 2015 to
Dorothy Clark (Dorothy.g.clark@csun.edu), Linda Salem (Linda.salem@yahoo.com)

CFP Gods and Monsters: Historicizing Ritual, Public Memory, and the Religious Imagination conference (2/13/15; San Francisco 4/18/15)

Of potential interest:

Gods and Monsters: Historicizing Ritual, Public Memory, and the Religious Imagination
Location: California, United States
Conference Date: 2015-04-25
Date Submitted: 2014-10-30
Announcement ID: 217559
https://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=217559

Gods and Monsters:  Historicizing Ritual, Public Memory, and the Religious Imagination
Saturday April 25, 2015 at San Francisco State University

In his seminal essay The Great Cat Massacre, Robert Darnton gave a sage bit of advice to academics who study culture : “When you realize that you are not getting something—a joke, a proverb, a ceremony—that is particularly meaningful to the natives, you can see where to grasp a foreign system of meaning in order to unravel it.”

The monster is a construct and a projection, always interpreting the moment in which it is created. So too we see constructions of self in cultural phenomena as diverse as comic book heroes, ghost stories, fertility rituals, hagiography-even the villainization of the “other” informs the moment in which it enter public consciousness.

It is in this spirit that the 2015 History Students Association Conference at San Francisco State University is seeking papers that explore the intersection between humanity and its constructs.

How does ritual inform mentality? What can the supernatural tell us about historic truth and memory? How can we interpret stories so as to better understand the storyteller? How does politicization shape religious experience? How does the demonization of the other inform cultural fear? What do the fantastic elements interwoven with oral histories help us to discover about cultural norms?

Cross disciplinary submissions from film studies, literature, religious and ethnic studies, art history, and anthropology are encouraged.

Submission Guidelines: Please submit abstracts of 300 words or less to hsa@mail.sfsu.edu. Please include the title of the submitted paper, your name, affiliated institution, field of study, and contact information. The deadline for submissions is February 13, 2015. If selected, final papers will be due to your panel chair no later than March 20, 2015. Conference will be held Saturday April 18, 2015 at San Francisco State University.

Recent works that resonate with the spirit of the conference include :

Louise White’s monograph published in 2000, Speaking with Vampires: Rumor and History in Colonial Africa serves as a cogent example of how tales of the fantastic can be examined and interpreted to allow us to better understand the mentalities of discursive or liminal groups.

Stefan Goeble’s brilliant book on medievalism published in 2007, The Great War and Medieval Memory: War, Remembrance and Medievalism in Britain and Germany, 1914-1940, looks at how elements of medieval chivalric culture were interpreted in war memorials, interpreting iconography to uncover how communal memory functions in the search for historical continuity in the face of such horrific events.

Kelly Boylan
President, History Students Association,
San Francisco State University,
hsa@mail.sfsu.edu.
Email: hsa@mail.sfsu.edu.
Visit the website at http://history.sfsu.edu/content/hsa-2015-conference

CFP The Supernatural Revamped collection (2/1/15)

Sorry to have forgotten about this:

CFP: The Supernatural Revamped (collection of essays)
Posted on October 28, 2014 by Public Information Officer
CFP: The Supernatural Revamped (collection of essays)
http://www.fantastic-arts.org/2014/cfp-the-supernatural-revamped-collection-of-essays/

The Supernatural Revamped: From Timeworn Legends to 21st Century Chic
Editors: Barbara Brodman and James E. Doan, Nova Southeastern University

Project Overview
Editors Brodman and Doan are seeking original essays for their third of a series of books on legends and images of the supernatural in film, literature and lore from early to modern times and from peoples and cultures around the world. Their first two volumes, The Universal Vampire: Origins and Evolution of a Legend (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2013) and Images of the Modern Vampire: The Hip and the Atavistic (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2013), finalist for a prestigious Bram Stoker book award, dealt exclusively with the vampire legend. This volume is more inclusive, with emphasis placed on the evolution of a broad spectrum of timeworn images of the supernatural into their more modern—even chic—forms.

Each chapter in the collection will focus on one of the following categories of supernaturals:
1. Revenants (vampires, ghosts, zombies, etc.)
2. Demons and Angels
3. Shape Shifters
4. Earthbound Supernaturals (trolls, dwarves, yetis, chupacabras, etc.)
5. Fairy Folk (elves, fairies, leprechauns, etc.)

Abstract Due Dates
Preference will be given to abstracts received before February 1, 2015. Late submissions will be accepted until April 1, 2015. Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words.
Final manuscripts of 3,000-4,000 words should be submitted in Chicago Style.
Contact us and send abstracts to: brodman@nova.edu or doan@nova.edu

CFP Screening Animals and the Inhuman (1/11/15; UK 6/26-28/15)

Of possible interest (courtesy of H-Film):

From: Screen Editorial (Glasgow) <screen@arts.gla.ac.uk>

The theme of the forthcoming Screen Studies Conference, organised by the journal Screen and programmed by Screen editor Karen Lury, will be “Screening Animals and the Inhuman”.

Chiming with the increasing interest in the representation and agency of animals and non-human others in film, television and other audio-visual texts, we invite papers that address questions, representations and the performativity of the animal and of the ‘inhuman’ on and with screen based media.  Presentations and papers on wider aspects of film and television will also be considered. Panel submissions will be considered but not prioritised.

Confirmed keynote speakers are Michael Lawrence (University of Sussex), Susan McHugh (University of New England) and Anat Pick (Queen Mary, University of London).

This year we would also like to invite poster presentations. Selected posters will be displayed in the central reception area of the conference, with a scheduled session for delegates to discuss content and ideas with presenters. The editors will also award a small prize for the best poster of the conference, to be announced at the final plenary session. Delegates may submit proposals for a paper and a poster but the editors will select only one mode of presentation per delegate.

The deadline for submissions is midnight (GMT), Sunday, 11 January 2015.  Notifications of the outcome will be sent before end February.

To submit your proposal, please visit the link for further instructions: http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/screen/conference2015/


Screen
Gilmorehill Centre
University of Glasgow
Glasgow
G12 8QQ
www.screen.arts.gla.ac.uk
+44 (0)141 330 5035
screen@arts.gla.ac.uk
Screen available online at http://screen.oxfordjournals.org



From the Conference Website (http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/screen/conference2015/):

Call for papers: "Screening Animals and the Inhuman"
25th Annual Screen Studies Conference
26-28 June 2015, University of Glasgow, Scotland

The theme of the forthcoming Screen Studies Conference, organised by the journal Screen and programmed by Screen editor Karen Lury, is “Screening Animals and the Inhuman”.
Chiming with the increasing interest in the representation and agency of animals and non-human others in film, television and other audio-visual texts, we invite papers that address questions, representations and the performativity of the animal and of the ‘inhuman’ on and with screen based media.  Presentations and papers on wider aspects of film and television will also be considered. Panel submissions will be considered but not prioritised.
The keynote speakers are Michael Lawrence (University of Sussex), Susan McHugh (University of New England) and Anat Pick (Queen Mary, University of London).
This year we would also like to invite poster presentations. Selected posters will be displayed in the central reception area of the conference, with a scheduled session for delegates to discuss content and ideas with presenters. The editors will also award a small prize for the best poster of the conference, to be announced at the final plenary session. Delegates may submit proposals for a paper and a poster but the editors will select only one mode of presentation per delegate.
The deadline for submissions is midnight (GMT), Sunday, 11 January 2015.  Notifications of the outcome will be sent before end February.
Please download the appropriate template (see links at right), to submit your proposal.  Please note that abstracts exceeding the 200-word limit will be returned for editing and resubmission.
Registration
Registration for the conference will open in March/April; an alert and booking link will be sent to all speakers and members of Screen's mailing list. Publishers on the mailing list will receive a similar alert enabling them to book stands and inserts.
Both speakers and non-speakers pay the same fee: £176 (full)/£95 (student). This fee includes lunches and refreshments on Saturday and Sunday and a wine reception on Friday evening. The conference dinner, and accommodation in student halls of residence can be booked during registration for an additional fee.

Dracula Session Information

Details regarding the Area's upcoming Dracula-themed panel have been posted to the NEPCA Fantastic site and can be accessed at http://nepcafantastic.blogspot.com/2014/11/dracula-panel-details.html.

CFP Daughter of Fangdom Conference (12/15/14; UK 4/18/15)

Daughter of Fangdom
Location: United Kingdom
Call for Papers Date: 2014-12-15
Date Submitted: 2014-10-13
Announcement ID: 217102
https://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=217102

Daughter of Fangdom: A Conference on Women and the Television Vampire
18 April 2015
The University of Roehampton

Following the success of TV Fangdom: A Conference on Television Vampires in 2013, the organisers announce a follow-up one-day conference, Daughter of Fangdom: A Conference on Women and the Television Vampire. Though Dracula remains the iconic image, female vampires have been around at least as long, if not longer, than their male counterparts and now they play a pivotal role within the ever expanding world of the TV vampire, often undermining or challenging the male vampires that so often dominate these shows. Women have also long been involved in the creation and the representation of vampires both male and female. The fiction of female writers such as Charlaine Harris and L.J. Smith has served as core course material for the televisual conception and re-conception of the reluctant vampire, while TV writers and producers such as Marti Noxon (Buffy) and Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries and The Originals) have played a significant role in shaping the development of the genre for television.

Since vampires are not technically human, the terms male and female may apply, but representation of gender has the potential to be more fluid if vampires exist outside of human society. Given the ubiquity of the vampire in popular culture and particularly on TV, how is the female represented in vampire television? What roles do women have in bringing female vampires to the small screen? In what ways has the female vampire been remade for different eras of television, different TV genres, or different national contexts? Is the vampire on TV addressed specifically to female audiences and how do female viewers engage with TV vampires? What spaces exist on television for evading the gender binary and abandoning categories of male and female vampires altogether?


Proposals are invited on (but not limited to) the following topics:

• TV’s development of the female vampire
• Negotiation of gender and sexuality
• Evading binaries
• Female writers/ directors/ producers/ actors in vampire TV
• Adaptation and authorship
• Genre hybridity
• Female vampires in TV advertising
• New media, ancillary materials, extended and transmedia narratives
• Intersection with other media (novels, films, comics, video games, music)
• Audience and consumption (including fandom)
• The female and children’s vampire television
• Inter/national variants
• Translation and dubbing

We will be particularly interested in proposals on older TV shows, on those that have rarely been considered as vampire fictions, and on analysis of international vampire TV. The conference organisers welcome contributions from scholars within and outside universities, including research students, and perspectives are invited from different disciplines.

Please send proposals (250 words) for 20 minute papers plus a brief biography (100 words) to all three organisers by 15th December 2014.

s.abbott@roehampton.ac.uk

lorna.jowett@northampton.ac.uk

mike.starr@northampton.ac.uk



Conference Website: http://tvfangdom.wordpress.com/2014/10/13/daughter-of-fangdom-a-conference-on-women-and-the-television-vampire/


Lorna Jowett
University of Northampton
Email: lorna.jowett@northampton.ac.uk
Visit the website at http://tvfangdom.wordpress.com/2014/10/13/daughter-of-fangdom-a-conference-on-women-and-the-television-vampire/

CFP The Horror Classics (Spec. Issue of Journal of Dracula Studies) (1/1/15)

Special Edition 2015 Journal of Dracula Studies (Jan 1, 2015)
full name / name of organization:
Journal of Dracula Studies
contact email:
journalofdraculastudies@kutztown.edu
http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/59087

In 2015 we will be publishing a special edition of the Journal of Dracula Studies to mark the 20th anniversary of our Chapter. The theme of this edition will be The Horror Classics.

We invite manuscripts of scholarly, reader-friendly, articles of 3000 words or less for The Horror Classics. We are looking for articles which explore the classic horror monsters of literature, film, comics from the
Golden Age of horror (Tales From the Crypt etc), and TV: The Mummy, Ghosts, The Witch, Mad Scientists, Swamp Monsters, Zombies, The Haunted House, The Werewolf, Aliens, Edward Gory etc. (For this special edition, we are not publishing material on the Vampire). Material is not limited to any historical era.

We require that articles be free of jargon and over-dependence on literary criticism.

Send submissions (electronic only) to Curt Herr (journalofdraculastudies@kutztown.edu). Please put “Special Edition: Horror Classics” in the subject line.

Deadline: Jan. 1, 2015

By web submission at 10/24/2014 - 16:10

CFP Zombie Culture Area (SWPCA/ACA) (11/1/14; 2/11-14/15)

I hope these papers get collected somewhere:

Zombie Culture-CFP-Southwest Popular Culture Association 2015
Location: New Mexico, United States
Conference Date: 2015-02-11
Date Submitted: 2014-10-12
Announcement ID: 217079
https://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=217079

Call for Papers/Presentations: Zombie Culture

Southwest Popular Culture and American Culture Association 2015

http://southwestpca.org/

http://conference2015.southwestpca.org

Make plans to join the Southwest PCA/ACA for our 36th annual conference, February 11-14th
2015, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Conference Center in beautiful Albuquerque, New Mexico

Hyatt Regency Albuquerque

330 Tijeras NW

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA 87102

Tel: +1 505 842 1234 or 888-421-1442


The area chair for Zombie Culture seeks papers and presentations on any aspect of the zombie in popular culture and history. It seems as though the world has gone “zombie crazy.” There are zombie walks, games on college campuses like “Humans Vs. Zombies,” zombie children’s books, zombie poetry, fiction, video games, zombie ammunition and guns, and zombie running contests. Almost anything can be “zombified” and society and fans all over the world are literally “eating it up.” The zombie has come to represent the chaotic world we live in, and courses continue to pop up on college and university campuses all over the world. This is due in large part to the success of films like Night of the Living Dead, Zombie Flesh Eaters (Zombi 2), Dawn  of the Dead, 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, and most recently Warm Bodies, World War Z, and the television program The Walking Dead.

Any aspect of Zombie Culture will be given consideration. What is distinctively American (if anything) in the zombie in film, literature, and popular culture  in general? How does the zombie influence American Culture in a way that resonates in our transmedia world?

Some topics to consider:

Directors: George Romero, Lucio Fulci, Umberto Lenzi, Todd Sheets, Danny Boyle, Sam Rami, Peter Jackson, Amando de Ossorio…

Specific zombie films: White Zombie, King of the Zombies, Dawn of the Dead, Tombs of the Blind Dead, Dead Alive, Evil Dead, Zombies on Broadway, World War Z…..

Specific books/zombie literature: Zombie Bake Off, World War Z, Book of All Flesh, Case of Charles Dexter Ward…

Zombie writers’ fiction and non-fiction: Stephen Graham Jones, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Kirkman, Steve Niles, Max Brooks, Matt Mogk, Jovanka Vuckovic, Stephen King…..

The Walking Dead

Zombie comics (any aspect: history, cultural impact, storytelling…)

Zombies since 9/11

Zombie children’s books

Zombie running

Fast vs. slow zombies

Zombie gore

Teaching the zombie (zombie pedagogy)

Zombie cos-play

Zombie brains-food

Zombie video games

Zombie ants

Can a real zombie outbreak happen?

The voodoo zombie-the historical roots of the zombie

The Euro-zombie

Nazi–zombies

Viking zombies

Marvel zombies

What exactly is a zombie?

Humans vs. zombies

Zombies across the world (Ro-langs…)

Zombies’ roots in cinema

Are mummies/Frankenstein’s monster zombies?

What does the rise in the zombie’s popularity tell us about society?


These are just a few of the topics that could be discussed.


Please submit your paper title and 100- to 300-word abstract by November 1, 2014, through our database, which can be accessed at:

http://conference2015.southwestpca.org

Please note there are monetary awards for the best graduate student papers in a variety of categories.

See http://southwestpca.org/conference/graduate-student-awards

The organization also has a new open access peer reviewed journal that encourages you to submit your work.

See: Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy: http://journaldialogue.org/


Area Chair: Rob Weiner

Humanities Librarian, Texas Tech University Library

rweiner5@sbcglobal.net

http://southwestpca.org/


Rob Weiner
Texas Tech University Library
Box 40002
Lubbock Texas
79409
Email: rweiner5@sbcglobal.net

CFP The Place of the Preternatural (12/15/14)

Some calls for papers before calling it a night:

Thanks to the mearcstapa list for the head's up on this one.

CALL FOR PAPERS: ISSUE 5:1: THE PLACE OF THE PRETERNATURAL
http://preternature.org/index.php/PN/announcement/view/15

Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural, invites submissions Issue 5:1: The Place of the Preternatural

For Issue 5:1 we welcome a variety of topics that represent original research on any topic relating to the appearance of the preternatural or closely related topics (magic, esotericism, demonology, the occult), from
any academic discipline and theoretical approach. We are especially interested on essays that touch on the appearance of magic, prophecy, demonology, monstrophy, the occult, and related topics that stand in the
liminal space between the natural world and the preternatural.

Contributions should usually be 8,000 - 12,000 words, including all documentation and critical apparatus. If accepted for publication, manuscripts will be required to adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (style 1, employing endnotes).



Preternature also welcomes original editions or translations of texts related to the topic that have not otherwise been made available in recent editions or in English.

Complete papers must be submitted through Preternature's Content Management System at http://preternature.org by December 15, 2014.

Queries about submissions, queries concerning books to be reviewed, or requests to review individual titles may be made to the Editors:

Kirsten C. Uszkalo
Kirsten@uszkalo.com

CFP Animal Horror/Animal Gothic Film Collection (expired)

Ran across this last month. Sorry to have missed posting it sooner:

Animal Horror/Gothic Horror Film (Book Project)
Event: 01/01/2015
Abstract: 01/30/2014
Categories: American, 20th & 21st Century, British, 20th & 21st Century, Comparative, Gender & Sexuality, Interdisciplinary, Cultural Studies, Film, TV, & Media, Popular Culture
Location: Publication
Organization: Umeå University, Sweden, Linnaeus University, Sweden
http://www.cfplist.com/CFP.aspx?CID=2113

Animal Horror/Animal Gothic Film

We invite proposals for the first book-length collection that explores the confrontation between the human and the animal in horror, gothic and survival film. From Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) via The Edge (1997) to Piranha 3D (2010), animal horror has charted the transformation of the domestic to the monstrous and uncanny, told stories of invasion and counter-invasion, collapsed and erected sexual and racial borders and explored the increasingly fraught relationship between human culture, human society and nature/Nature.

We are interested in contributions that explore animal horror films in the light of the ethics of the war on terror, ecological collapse, and biopolitics with an emphasis on sex, gender, race and post-/neo-/decolonial issues. In particular, we are interested in papers that address the following concerns:

• How can the understanding of animal horror be channelled through the perspectives of gender, feminist and queer studies? What forms of sexuality does the genre explore, encourage or disrupt?

• How does animal horror engage questions of terror and torture, especially in the “state of exception” that has followed in the wake of 9/11 and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan?

• How does animal horror negotiate questions of race and ethnicity? How is race inscribed into animal horror films through portrayals of bodies, blood and the relation between human and animal worlds?

• How does animal horror explore, encourage or disturb discourses on ecology and environmental pollution? How can animal horror be understood in the light of the Anthropocene?

• Animal horror is often characterized by elements of comedy and humour. How does this complicate and subvert the conservative or progressive discourses that saturate the genre?

• How are animal horror films financed, how has the genre developed over time, and what is its relation to the entertainment industry and to the increasingly ubiquitous Military entertainment complex?

For purposes of limitation, this collection will deal only with actual (and possibly genetically enhanced) animals, but not with monsters, supernatural or mythological creatures. In other words, gigantic anacondas, sharks or crocodiles are fine, but werewolves, unicorns, Godzilla or space aliens fall outside the scope of the collection.

The editors are Johan Höglund, Katarina Gregersdotter and Nicklas Hållén. Johan Höglund (Linnaeus
University) is author of The American Imperial Gothic: Popular Culture, Empire, Violence (forthcoming Ashgate, 2014), and co-editor of Transnational and Postcolonial Vampires: Dark Blood (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). Nicklas Hållén (Linnaeus University and University of York) and Katarina Gregersdotter (Umeå University) are co-editors of the anthology Femininities and Masculinities in Action: Theory and Practice in a Moving Field (ID Press, 2012). Gregersdotter is also co-editor of Rape in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy and Beyond. Contemporary Scandinavian and Anglophone Crime Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)

Please send abstracts of no more than 400 words to Johan Höglund (johan.hoglund@lnu.se), Nicklas

Hållén (nicklas.hallen@lnu.se), and Katarina Gregersdotter (katarina.gregersdotter@engelska.umu.se)

before the deadline Jan 30, 2014. Full articles will be due mid to late 2014.



Contact Email: katarina.gregersdotter@engelska.umu.se

CFP In the Blood (Themed Issue of Monsters and the Monstrous Journal) (11/28/14)

CFP: Monsters and the Monstrous Journal Themed Issue: "In The Blood": Volume 4, Number 2 (Winter 2014/15)
Publication Date: 2014-11-28
Date Submitted: 2014-09-06
Announcement ID: 216156
https://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=216156

Monsters and the Monstrous Journal: Volume 4, Number 2 (Winter 2014/15), Themed Issue: In The Blood

Call for Submissions:
This themed issue on the Monsters and Monstrosity Journal focuses on the connections between monsters, monstrosity and blood. In terms of the nature and physicality of blood itself, as a carrier of disease and contagion but also a conduit of genetic, ideological and memorial encoding.

Possible themes or points of departure:
Hot blood, in cold blood, blue blood, blood passion, bad blood, blood monsters, life blood,  blood lines, blood relations, bloodshed, wire in the blood, pure blood, full blooded, blood disease, blood drinkers, blood suckers, true blood, false blood, blood art, blood addictions, menstrual blood, blood divination and written in blood, to name but a few.

This call for articles, artworks, poetry and prose considers  all forms of the monsters of miscegenation, contamination, tradition, generations, revenge and rejuvenation. All and any ways that the very stuff of life becomes, and can be configured as, monstrous, threatening, deviant, mischievous and malignant.

We are also looking for film and book reviews on any theme related to the idea of Monsters and the Monstrous. All materials reviewed should have been published or released within two years of the journal issue they are submitted to. Any queries, please contact the editor at the email below.

Submissions for this Issue are required by Friday 28th November 2014 at the latest. Contributions to the journal should be original and not under consideration for other publications at the same time as they are under consideration for this publication. Submissions are to be made electronically wherever possible using either Microsoft® Word or .rtf format. All images, artworks and photographs need to have the appropriate copyright permissions before being sent in.

We also invite submission to our special features on Non-English Language Book Reviews. Please mark entries for these topics with their respective headings.

All accepted articles, artworks and prose pieces will receive a free electronic version of the journal.

Length Requirements:
~ poetry, prose, short stories can be any length but not exceed 7,000 words.
~ articles should be between 4,000 – 7,000 words long
~ reflections, reports and responses should be 1,500 – 3,000 words long
~ book and film reviews should be between 500 and 1,500 words long

Submission Information:
All submissions should include a short biography (100-150 words) that will be included with the to be included submission if accepted. Please send submissions via e-mail using the following Subject Line:

‘Journal: Contribution Type (article/review/…): Author Surname’

Submissions E-Mail Address: monstersjournal@inter-disciplinary.net
Submissions will be acknowledged within 48 hours of receipt.

For further details of the journal, please visit:
http://monstersjournal.net/submissions/

Priory House
149B Wroslyn Road
Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1993 882087
Fax: +44 (0)870 4601132
Email: monstersjournal@inter-disciplinary.net
Visit the website at http://monstersjournal.net/submissions/

Minnie Mouse Witch?

Continuing from the previous post, here are the details on Hallmark's witchy Minnie Mouse.

As with Count Mickey, Minnie the Witch is depicted in 2 plush versions (in addition to her role, with Mickey, on the water globe). "Halloween Minnie Mouse" is up first. She is part of the itty bittys line (selling in stores, only, for $6.95) and is described as " the sweetest treat this Halloween". Clearly, we're not supposed to be afraid of this mouse.

Next, is the "Minnie Mouse the Witch" plush. She sells for $19.95 (though is now sold out online). As with her male counterpart, the artificiality of her costume is the highlight of her product description: "Everyone's favorite glamour mouse is all dressed up for Halloween as a beguiling and lovable witch. Minnie will cast a spell of fun over your holiday and help you get in the spirit of fun."

Given the descriptions that accompany these products, it is no surprise that the "Mickey and Minnie Mouse Water Globe" is so tame. Obviously for Disney, brand identity trumps Halloween.

Playing Dress-Up with Hallmark for Halloween 2014

I've been working intermittently on my NEPCA paper on the re-castings of Frankenstein, and I'm trying to categorize some of the appropriations I see. One common type is when familiar characterize (like Garfield and crew, the Smurfs, the Peanuts gang, the Archie gang, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) take upon the appearance of one of the characters of the Frankenstein story (usually inspired by Universal's versions rather than Shelley's original) for humorous or whimsical  purposes. I'm calling this "playing dress-up" and thought I'd share some of the other monster-related examples I've come across this season.

Vampires continue to be popular, and Hallmark has a number of examples of fan-favorite characters in Bela Lugosi-inspired costumes.

The cheapest this season is a Winnie the Pooh card for $3.75 with a vampire Piglet wearing fangs and a cape.

There are also a series of items featuring a vampiric Mickey Mouse. The cutest is part of Hallmarks's itty bittys line sold (in stores only) for $6.95. The product page details that this "Count Mickey" just " 'vants' to be yours this Halloween," in a play on Lugosi's famous accent. He is presented as the most "real", but his deformed appearance lessens the impact of Mickey's transformation and the cuteness of its humor greatly reduces his scariness.

A larger version (at 7" W x 9.25" H x 7" D) of this undead incarnation of Mickey is labelled "Count Mickey Mouse". He sells for $19.95 and is now sold out online. In an attempt to further separate appearance from potential action, his description focuses on the artificiality of his costume, explaining, "Fresh from Transylvania, this elegant vampire is none other than our friend Mickey! But never fear—this plush pushover won't really bite."

Vampire Mickey reappears as part of the Mickey and Minnie Mouse Water Globe collectible, which includes Minnie dressed as a witch (more of this to follow). The water globe (retailing at $39.95) is also now sold out online; like the plush Count Mickey Mouse, it, too, highlights the fake-ness of Mickey and Minnie's monstrous appearances, rather than the potentially more sinister connotations of two creatures of the night gazing at two small, innocent chipmunks.

Notice that this Mickey has been de-fanged, a detail that de-emphasizes any possibility of horror (or even delight) here. The description is likewise brightened, noting "This decoration will add a fun and festive touch to your mantel or party table. Dressed for trick-or-treating, Mickey and Minnie peer into a jack-o'-lantern water globe at a fall scene where two furry friends are frolicking" (and not, we should note, being spied upon as a potential meal).

My final example here presents vampiric versions of Charles Schulz's Snoopy and Woodstock. Titled "Hangin' With Count Snoopy," the item is part of the ongoing Peanuts series of Keepsake Ornaments and sells for $24.95 (though it is now, also, sold out online). The product and its description offers a better blend of horror and play than the larger Mickeys. First, the description reads, "Snoopy's doghouse is all decked out for the season of screams. Press the button on the ornament to hear spooky Halloween music play. Trick or treat—if you dare!" The item presents Snoopy (dressed partly as a vampire and partly as a witch) with arms outstretched and a group of vampiric Woodstocks (bird wings replaced with bat wings) in attendance apparently guarding their vampiric overlord.

Playing the accompanying music clip creates a chilling effect. The sample begins with a excerpt from Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, a theme closely associated with Halloween ever since its use in the opening credits for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) (thanks Wikipedia!). Interspersed with the music track is the sound of Snoopy's voice, but it is anything but familiar. Instead, Snoopy seems to relish his new role as the undead and utters a series of menacing laughs better pronounced by megalomaniacal monsters (like Victor Frankenstein or Count Dracula) than lovable old Snoopy. Here is a triumph of Halloween over brand identity.