The Science Fiction Research I Didn’t Present This Weekend
As many of you know, the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA) has been cancelled. I am a regular attendee and have presented my research there several times. This year, I was set to moderate a panel and present an essay entitled “Postcolonial Thought, Decolonizing the Anthropocene, and Tobias S. Buckell’s Climate Change Novels.” That project is now on hold until I can find the time to put in edits and submit it somewhere. However, I will talk a bit about the research that went into this project. Strap in!
Five Faves: Space Opera Books — #MonthofJoy
It’s Five Faves time! Throughout the month of June, I’ll be diverting attention away from the things I’m supposed to be doing in order to spend a little time babbling about the things that I love. This feature will do exactly what it says: list five of my favorite things in a category. Most of the lists will be “on topic,” which is to say “related to SF/F in some way,” but some lists will be on my other ancillary interests, such as reptiles, books of theory, pies, and…wait…pie? Oh my god, I love pie! Anywho…today’s post, as the title suggests, will list 5 of my favorite space operas. I will use the following criteria for this list: Books will be taken to mean “narrative fiction at novel length” rather than the broader definition we use today. Comics and graphic novels deserve their own list anyway. That means no movies either. I’m using my personal definition of space opera. I’m happy to talk about that definition at another time, but for now, I just want to share some things I love! Here we go:
Adventures in Teaching: The Space Opera Syllabus Reading List
As most of you are aware by now, I’m teaching an upper division literature course in fall. The theme: American space opera. A few weeks ago, the department approved my syllabus, so come the end of next month, I will be teaching a whole lot of really interesting works. Here’s what my students will be reading: