* Here are two new Calls for Papers from Mythopoeic Press. I've worked with the press (and editor Janet B. Croft, who is wonderful) multiple times in the past, and I know these collections will be terrific.
--- Call for Papers: Women in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien
The place of women in Tolkien's world is a perennially troublesome topic. On the surface, Tolkien's major works seem to ignore women or place them on unattainable pedestals, and popular criticism of Tolkien often focuses on this issue. But a closer look can be quite revealing; the deeper one delves into the legendarium and other works, the more prevalent, complex, and powerful the female characters turn out to be. Additionally, male characters often exhibit and are valued for what might be seen as feminine characteristics, and characters who balance feminine and masculine traits are held up as ideals. This collection will bring together several classic essays on Tolkien's portrayal of women and the feminine with new takes on the topic.
Projected publication date: Spring 2014
Deadline for abstracts: May 30, 2013
Deadline for finished papers: September 1, 2013
Please contact Janet Croft at Mythlore@mythsoc.org .
--- Call for Papers: Baptism of Fire: The Birth of Modern British Fantasy in World War I
In Great Britain, the post-World War I years saw a flowering of fantasy written by authors who had lived through its horrors. Tom Shippey observed in Tolkien: Author of the Century that the originators of what we would consider the "late twentieth-century fantastic mode" were in many cases "traumatized authors" who had survived combat and other experiences of the war. Janet Croft, in War and the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien, notes psychiatrist W.H.R. Rivers's observations that his Great War patients processed their experiences through both dreams and writing. This essay collection will examine the fantasy fiction, poetry, and potentially art of authors affected in one way or another by the Great War and its lasting legacy.
Some authors we may consider are: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, E.R. Eddison, Kenneth Grahame, A.A. Milne, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Mervyn Peake, James Stephens, David Jones, G.K. Chesterton, Rudyard Kipling; see http://www.firstworldwar.com/poetsandprose/index.htm for more possibilities.
Projected publication date: Fall 2014
Deadline for abstracts: September 1, 2013
Deadline for finished papers: April 1, 2014
Please contact Janet Croft at Mythlore@mythsoc.org .
* I have a new book giveaway on Goodreads! It's for Star Trek and History, which is due out later this month. It includes an essay by Yours Truly ["If This Is the (Final) Frontier, Where Are the Natives?"]. Here are all the details.
