Center for the Study of Science Fiction News

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Lawrence, KS - April 8, 2012

Several area authors whose stories appear in the upcoming anthology, Aftermaths, will read from and discuss the new book, including James Gunn, Christopher McKitterick, M.C. Chambers, Karin Rita Gastreich, and Hadley Rille Books editor Eric T. Reynolds. Just in time for Earth Day!

There's also a Facebook event, "Down to Earth 2012," where you can join.

Details:

When:
Friday, April 13, 2012

Where:
Jayhawk Ink Bookstore
Kansas Union level 2
1301 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence, KS

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Lawrence, KS - March 20, 2012

Local comic-book and gaming store, Astrokitty Comics and More, has made AboutSF its charity recipient for its bimonthly Super Nerd Night for all of 2012. Local music venue The Bottleneck hosts the event, which includes an art contest with story prompts ("Drink and Draw"), vintage-console gaming, table games, live music by area bands, a burlesque show, silent movies, and much more. See which of your Facebook friends are already planning to go on the Super Nerd Night Facebook event page.

Details:

When:
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
7:00pm - bar close (about 2:00am)

Where:
The Bottleneck
737 New Hampshire
Lawrence, KS

Lawrence, KS - March 14, 2012

Writer and educator John Tibbetts examines two of Burroughs' enduring creations in "From Africa to Mars! 100 Years of Tarzan and John Carter." Details:

When:
Sunday, March 18, 2012
2:00pm

Where:
Kansas City Public Library
Plaza Branch
4801 Main St.
Kansas City

Wichita, KS - February 20, 2012

Cory Doctorow will speak at this year's Kansas Library Association conference in Wichita, KS. Doctorow's "Evening with an Author" talk is entitled, "Copyrights and Human Rights."

When:
Wednesday, April 11
7:30pm to 8:30pm

Where:
Hyatt Regency Wichita in Wichita, Kansas

Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger - the co-editor of Boing Boing - and the author of the 2009 Campbell Award-winning novel Little Brother. 

Lawrence, KS - February 12, 2012

Nöel Sturgeon gave this year's Richard W. Gunn Memorial Lecture, "Avatar and Activism: Ecological Indians, Disabling Militarism, and Science Fiction Imaginaries."

Nöel is Theodore Sturgeon's daughter and trustee of his literary estate; Professor of Critical Cultures, Gender, and Race Studies at Washington State University; and a juror for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award.

When:
Monday, March 5
7:00pm - 8:00pm

Where:
Malott Room in the University of Kansas Student Union
Lawrence, Kansas

The Gunn Lecture, endowed by Dr. Richard W. Gunn, James Gunn's brother, has featured several science-fiction scholars. Although it has also sponsored speakers on Shakespeare and Ralph Ellison, it often brings distinguished science-fiction scholars to the campus beginning with scholar Fredric Jameson, William A. Lane Professor at Duke University; and continuing with Bill Brown, Edgar Carson Waller Professor at the University of Chicago; and China Miville, British author of what has become known as the New Weird. Michael Chabon, prize-winning science-fiction and mainstream author and editor, also recently presented a Humanities lecture at KU.

CSSF Director Chris McKitterick presented this year's keynote address, "Science Fiction: Mythologies for a Changing Age," at the University of Central Oklahoma's annual Liberal Arts Symposium XXIV, which runs from 9:00am to 3:00pm, February 29.

The Symposium offers students the opportunity to present their exemplary writing and research and to participate in other academic and creative activities. "The symposium allows our upper-level students who might be headed for graduate or professional school an opportunity to attend something that closely resembles the experience of participating in an academic conference, without having to bear the expense and inconvenience of travel," said Professor Mark Silcox, chair of the Liberal Arts Symposium Committee and SF Writing Workshop alum. "It also helps students within our college prepare for the marketplace, gives them the opportunity to hear the ideas of scholars from outside the University, and helps provoke lively arguments about provocative subjects."

When:
Wednesday, February 29, 9:00am - 3:00pm
Keynote talk is noon - 1:00pm

Where:
Pegasus Theater of the Liberal Arts Building
University of Central Oklahoma
Edmond, OK

The February 5, 2012, issue of WIRED magazine has a useful article, "102 Essential Science Fiction Books for Your Kindle." If you're looking to expand your understanding of the genre or build a solid library but haven't yet seen our Basic Science Fiction Library, check it out!

Kij Johnson Reading at KU Monday, January 23, 2012

Lawrence, KS Author Kij Johnson will visit the University of Kansas for a whirlwind tour starting this Sunday through Tuesday, and she'll give a reading in the Jayhawk Room of the Kansas Union on Monday at 4:00pm, courtesy of the English Department (she is here as candidate for a fiction-writing associate professor position in the Department). Kij has won the Sturgeon, World Fantasy, Locus, and Nebula awards, and has been nominated multiple times for the Hugo and others. Kij is Associate Director of CSSF and teaches the summer Speculative Fiction Novel Writing Workshop. After the reading there's time for a Q&A, and a reception is planned starting at 5:15pm. Come hear Kij read and talk about writing! Click the image to the right to see the full-resolution version of the flyer.

Sheila Williams Article about the Center Appears in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine

New York, NY December issue, 2011

For the December issues of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, editor Sheila Williams wrote a lovely article, "Sliding Doors" (click here to read), about her visit to the Campbell Conference in July, 2011, and reminisces about what could have been if she had come to KU to study SF. Thanks, Sheila! Part Two appears next month in the January, 2012, issue.

"The Gothic Imagination" Event Monday, Oct. 31

Kij Johnson Reading and Signing on Oct. 18 at Jayhawk Ink Bookstore

Lawrence, KS October 12, 2011 Author Kij Johnson read from "The Man Who Bridged The Mist" and signed books at Jayhawk Ink on Tuesday, October 18, from 1:30pm - 3:00pm. Kij has won the Sturgeon, World Fantasy, Locus, and Nebula awards, and has been nominated multiple times for the Hugo and others. Kij is Associate Director of CSSF and teaches the summer Speculative Fiction Novel Writing Workshop.

Gunn, Healey, and Sturgeon Discuss Theodore Sturgeon Acquisition on NPR

Lawrence, KS July 26, 2011

CSSF Founding Director James Gunn, KU Special Collections Librarian Elspeth Healey, and Sturgeon Trustee Noel Sturgeon appeared on KCURs Central Standard show tomorrow, Thursday, July 27, from 10:00am to 10:30am to discuss our newly acquired Sturgeon collection. The show aired on 89.3 FM; to listen to the NPR interview with James Gunn, Nol Sturgeon, and Elspeth Healey about the acquisition, see the AboutSF audio archive here.

Theodore Sturgeon Award and John W. Campbell Award Winners Announced

Lawrence, KS July 8, 2011

Irish author Ian McDonalds The Dervish House won the Campbell Award for the best science-fiction novel of the year and Geoffrey A. Landiss The Sultan of the Clouds won the Sturgeon Award for the best short science fiction of the year in a ceremony Friday at the University of Kansas.

The Campbell Award was presented to McDonald by Campbell Award juror Elizabeth Anne Hull. The Sturgeon Award was presented to Landis by Nol Sturgeon, Theodore Sturgeons daughter, trustee of his literary estate, and a member of the Sturgeon Award jury.

McDonald was born in Scotland in 1960 but was moved to Northern Ireland when he was five, and lived through the troubled years. He was turned on to science fiction by childhood television programs and began writing at the age of nine. He sold his first story at twenty-two and became a full-time writer in 1987. Much of his writing has focused on the developing nations of Africa, India, and South America, and one commentator has suggested that his life in Northern Ireland led him to consider that country a developing-world society. The Dervish House is set in Turkey, specifically Istanbul, five years after Turkey has been admitted to the European Union and offers, one reviewer said, a coalescence of order out of interacting possibilities.

Landis came to science fiction through science. He was born in Detroit in 1955 but moved regularly throughout his childhood. He is a NASA scientist with a Ph.D. in physics from Brown University after undergraduate studies at M.I.T. in physics and electrical engineering. He has worked on several space missions, including Mars Pathfinder and the long-lived Mars Exploration Rovers. He began publishing science fiction in 1984 and attended Clarion in 1985, where he met his wife, writer Mary Turzillo. Landis has won two Hugo Awards and a Nebula Award for his short fiction. He is known as a writer of hard science fiction, and The Sultan of the Clouds describes a possible way of living on Venusor, rather, living in floating cities in the upper atmosphere of Venus.

This is McDonald's second trip to the Awards ceremony. His Tendeleos Story won the Sturgeon Award in 2001.

Campbell Award second place went to How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, by Charles Yu; Chris McKitterick presented the award. Third place went to The Quantum Thief, Hannu Rajaniemi; Jen Green presented the award.

Sturgeon Award second place went to "The Maiden Flight of McCauleys Bellerophon," by Elizabeth Hand; Nathaniel Williams presented the award. Third place went to "The Things," by Peter Watts; Benjamin Cartwright presented the award.

The Awards are presented by the Center for the Study of Science Fiction during the Campbell Conference, a four-day event held annually at the University of Kansas. The Campbell Award is selected, from nominations by publishers, by a jury composed of seven writers and academics. The Sturgeon Award is selected, from nominations by reviewers and editors, by a jury composed of five writers and academics.

Theodore Sturgeon's Papers Donated to the Science Fiction Special Collection
at KU's Spencer Research Library

LAWRENCE, Kansas July 8, 2011

A treasure trove of private letters, manuscripts and other papers by one of the most influential writers of the "golden age" of science fiction whos credited with inventing with Leonard Nimoy the live long and prosper Vulcan phrase for Star Trek has been donated to the University of Kansas.

The definitive collection of late author Theodore Sturgeons books, papers, manuscripts, and correspondence have been established at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at KU, home to the Center for the Study of Science Fiction. The Sturgeon Award for the best short science fiction is given annually at the centers Campbell Conference, this year on July 7-10.

The collection includes:

• Original manuscript and multiple film script treatments of More Than Human, Sturgeons best-known novel
• Sturgeons notes and outline for Amok Time, one of two Star Trek episodes he wrote. In Amok Time, Spock returns to Vulcan to meet his intended future wife.
• Correspondence, story ideas and drafts shared with noted science fiction editors and authors, including John W. Campbell, Robert Heinlein, Edgar Pangborn, Harlan Ellison, Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut, Gene Roddenberry, and T.H. White.
• Sturgeons rewrite of a L. Ron Hubbard article submitted to Amazing Stories magazine titled Dianetics: Supermen in 1950 AD.
• His adoption papers, in which his name was changed.
• And much, much more, to be increasingly catalogued and accessible over the next several months.

Best known for transforming the pulp magazine short story into an art form, Sturgeons writing had a strong influence on 60s counterculture, including the Grateful Dead and Crosby, Stills, and Nash. His lyrical and varied style represented a turn from the hard science fiction of the 1940s to the socially conscious topics more common in contemporary science fiction, including sexuality, gender, pacifism, and the individual cost of social conventions. His short stories ranged from science fiction and fantasy to comedy and horror.

Sturgeon was also known for coining Sturgeons Law, which states that 90 percent of everything is crud, and the credo Ask the next question.

During his career, Sturgeon (1918-85) won virtually every major award in his field, including the Hugo, the Nebula, the World Fantasy Achievement Award, and the Gaylactica/Spectrum Award for his groundbreaking story about homosexuality, The World Well Lost. He also was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

The Sturgeon collection, valued at $600,000, had been privately held in two parts: the Woodstock collection, from his widow, Marion, and the Sturgeon Literary Trust collection managed by daughter Nol. Additional support came from KUs Center for the Study of Science Fiction, English department, and Spencer Research Library.

In making the donation, Nol Sturgeon credits the work of CSSF Founding Director James Gunn.

Jims long dedication to the teaching and scholarship of science fiction, and his particular interest in and support of my fathers work, was the main impetus behind our choice of the Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas as the home for Sturgeons collection of papers, she said.

Beth Whittaker, head of Spencer Research Library, said, This extraordinary gift ensures that Sturgeons profound literary and cultural legacy will be available to new generations of scholars, writers and readers.

Keith Stokes, well-known fan and photographer, posted a wonderful photo-essay of the event here.

To listen to the NPR interview with James Gunn, Nol Sturgeon, and Elspeth Healey about the acquisition, see the AboutSF audio archive here.

For more information about Sturgeon, stories, readings of his work, and more, see the Sturgeon Literary Trust website. You can also follow Sturgeon news on Facebook.

In the news elsewhere:

6 News Lawrence: "Private papers of 'Star Trek' writer donated to KU"
Fox 4 News: "Papers of Legendary 'Star Trek' Writer Donated to KU"
Guardian UK: "Theodore Sturgeon's archive to live long and prosper in university archive"
I09: "University Library gets Theodore Sturgeons original notes for More than Human and "Amok Time"
Kansas City Star: "KU gets sci-fi author Theodore Sturgeons papers"
KU Libraries: "Gift establishes world's largest collection of author Theodore Sturgeon's materials at Kenneth Spencer Research Library"
L.A. Times: "Theodore Sturgeon's papers will live long and prosper at University of Kansas"
Locus: "Sturgeon Papers Go to University of Kansas"
Preternatural Post: "Sturgeon's papers will 'live long and prosper' at the University of Kansas Library"
SF Scope: "Theodore Sturgeon's papers to be united at the University of Kansas"
SF Signal: "Sturgeon Papers Donated"

Bradley Denton Joins CSSF Science Fiction Writers Workshop for 2011

Lawrence, KS

The Center for the Study of Science Fiction will again offer the Science Fiction Writers Workshop on short-fiction writing in 2011. SFWA Science Fiction Grand Master James Gunn, who has led this workshop since 1985, is stepping back a little and will participate during the second week; he will also join us for lunch each day.

Starting this year, author Christopher McKitterick, who has co-taught the workshop since 1996, will lead the first week, and guest author Bradley Denton - another former Gunn student - will lead the second week. Denton's novel Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede, won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1992, and is now in production to become a film. His two-volume story collection The Calvin Coolidge Home for Dead Comedians / A Conflagration Artist won the World Fantasy Award in 1995. In July 2005, his novella "Sergeant Chip" won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. Denton's music stylings have become a popular feature at SF events around the country.

Multiple-award-winner Kij Johnson is also now accepting pplications for her SF/F/H Novel Writing Workshop, which runs concurrently with the short-SF workshop.

The workshops usually fill up, so if you're interested in applying, please contact as soon as practical, and we can let you know about openings.

Percival's Planet

Lawrence, KS

Tuesday April 19
6:30pm - 9:30pm
University of Kansas Student Union Ballroom, Level 5

Click the image to see more about Pluto.

Here's a don't-miss event tomorrow night at KU: Author Michael Byers discusses his novel, Percival's Planet, which was inspired by the true story of Kansan and noted astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto. Byers talk will be introduced by Steven A. Hawley, KU Professor of Physics and Astronomy and former NASA astronaut. The Ballroom event will also feature a guided astronomy display including Tombaugh artifacts, presented from 6:30 p.m. by the KU Department of Physics and Astronomy. Following the talk, Michael Byers will sign his books. Click here to read a sample from his book, published in the New York Times. The event will conclude with a telescope viewing session on the Kansas Union 6th floor deck (weather permitting).

New Video: James Gunn on "Isaac Asimov: Science Fiction to Science Fact"
Keynote Talk from West Virginia University's Festival of Ideas

December 2010 James Gunn gave the 2010 Festival of Ideas keynote talk on Isaac Asimov to help celebrate WVU's recent acquisition of a large collection of Asimov's work. Now available: full 50-minute video of Gunn's talk.

Charles Beaumont Film Event: The Twilight Zone's Magic Man

Lawrence, KS

Tuesday November 9, 2010
6:00pm - 9:00pm
KU student union, Alderson Auditorium

Charles Beaumont was a principal writer for the Twilight Zone, mainstay of 1960s TV, wrote for Playboy and Esquire, and began a promising movie career. As the only child of an obsessed mother with an explosive temper, he endured hardships such as being dressed as a girl and seeing his pets tortured. Beaumont was the charismatic nucleus of a group of California writers including Richard Matheson, William F. Nolan, Harlan Ellison, and Ray Bradbury. His intensity and need to confront controversy influenced TV and science fiction; he understood the human condition, living at the edge in everything he did and created. At the height of his career, Beaumont exhibited strange and frightening symptoms: slurred words, balance problems, memory lapses. Was it alcohol abuse? Leftovers from childhood meningitis? Stress? He began to age, looking more like a man of 70 than one in his 30s. Beaumont seemed trapped in one of his own Twilight Zone stories. Whatever the cause, he would not live to see his 39th birthday.

The films "The Intruder" and "Charles Beaumont: The Twilight Zone's Magic Man" are followed by discussion with Jason and Sunni Brock and author William F. Nolan. Reception and autographing follow, and the book "The Bleeding Edge" and DVD will be available for sale in the KU Union Traditions Lounge.

Contact: cmckit@ku.edu
Ticket Cost:Free

Chris McKitterick Book Launch Event at KU

Lawrence, KS

Friday November 5, 2010
4:00pm - 5:30pm
KU student union, Jayhawk Ink Bookstore

Local author and CSSF Director Chris McKitterick's debut novel, TRANSCENDENCE, comes out today, and Jayhawk Ink is hosting the release party. McKitterick will read from the book and sign copies, and will host an off-campus reception afterward. If you can't make the event but would like a copy of the novel, publisher Hadley Rille Books is also taking pre-orders at a substantial discount here.

James Gunn Keynote Talk: "Isaac Asimov: Science Fiction to Science Fact"
at West Virginia University's Festival of Ideas

MORGANTOWN, WV - October 26, 2010 James Gunn gave the 2010 Festival of Ideas keynote talk on Isaac Asimov to help celebrate WVU's recent acquisition of a large collection of Asimov's work. Read WVU's Daily Athenaeum story on the event here. Click here to see the full 50-minute video of Gunn's talk.

Call for Applications: AboutSF Coordinator Student Position

LAWRENCE, KS - August 17, 2010

We are now looking for a new AboutSF Coordinator: Could that be you? Click here to read the job description.

To apply, send us a resume and letter (to Chris McKitterick at cmckit@ku.edu) describing how you fit our vision and why you're passionate about science fiction. Tell us how you understand the AboutSF mission and how you feel you can extend our reach. Applications must arrive by 4:00pm on Monday, August 30.

2010 Campbell and Sturgeon Award Winners Announced

LAWRENCE, KS - July 9, 2010

A dystopian novel about a near-future of energy shortages and bioengineering, and a long satirical story that mixes the beginning of nuclear destruction with the tradition of the Japanese monster films have won the 2010 Campbell and Sturgeon Awards to be presented at the University of Kansas on Friday, July 16, as part of the Centers annual Campbell Conference.

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi has won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science fiction novel of the year. Bacigalupi is no stranger to the awards, his story The Calorie Man having won the Sturgeon Award for the best SF short of the year in 2006. The Windup Girl, like The Calorie Man, is set in a world in which energy shortages have forced a return to mechanical work translated into springs, and genetic manipulation has produced gigantic beasts of labor as well as invisible cats and artificial humans. The Windup Girl has the additional distinctions of having won the Nebula Award and the Compton Crook Award and being nominated for the Hugo Award (winner yet to be announced), and being Bacigalupis first novel.

Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James Morrow has won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for the best SF short story of the year. The story is a satire about a plan to end World War II with the production of gigantic iguanas who breathe fire and the production of a film that features an actor as a Godzilla-like monster in a rubber suit pretending to destroy a miniature Japan in an effort to persuade the Japanese to surrender. Shambling Towards Hiroshima was written by a master satirist who describes himself as a scientific humanist. His best-known novels are his Godhead trilogy composed of Towing Jehovah (1994; Blameless in Abaddon (1996); and The Eternal Footman (1999). His most recent novels are The Last Witchfinder (2006) and The Philosophers Apprentice (2008). Morrows Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge won the Nebula Award for 1988 and his City of Truth, for 1991.

Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America by Robert Charles Wilson was chosen second by the seven-person jury in the Campbell novel competition. The City & the City by China Miville was chosen in third place. In the Sturgeon short-story competition, there was a three-way tie for second and third places voted by the five-person jury: Things Undone by John Barnes, This Wind Blowing, and This Tide by Damien Broderick, and As Women Fight by Sara Genge.

Both Bacigalupi and Morrow will attend the Awards dinner. They pair a short-story writer who has won the novel award for his first novel, and a veteran novelist who won the short-story award. Both will participate in the Campbell Conference on July 17-18, and the autographing session and the featured readings of Theodore Sturgeons short stories in Oread Books on July 17. 

Click here to see the finalists for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award.

Click here to see the finalists for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. 

World Literature Today "International Science Fiction" Issue:
Now Online

World Literature Today has published a special science fiction issue for May/June 2010, edited by the Center's Director, Chris McKitterick.

The May/June issue is a first-time tribute to science fiction, and the companion website that contains a lot of exclusive content is also a first for this award-winning literary magazine.

Contributors to the print and Web issue include Paul Di Filippo, James Gunn, Grady Hendrix, Kij Johnson, Paul Kincaid, China Miville, Frederik Pohl, Pamela Sargent, Tom Shippey, George Zebrowski, and many more. The website also includes a number of references especially for teachers.

Check it out!

"Alien Hunter" Speaks at KU, May 9

Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute and author of Confessions of an Alien Hunter [Amazon|Powell's], will discuss the possibility of contact and what it would mean to the world in "The Scientific Search for ET" at 7pm this Sunday, May 9, at Alderson Auditorium in the KU Kansas Union. It's free. Shostak was on the Cobert Report last week. Check it out! Also, he and Sara Seager (Associate Professor of Physics at MIT) were on KCUR's (Kansas City's public radio station) "Up to Date" program yesterday; go to the website if you want to listen to the podcast!