Welcome to the official blog of Speculative Fiction Studies!
Here's what that means for you, gentle reader:
Here's what that means for you, gentle reader:
The eighty-two students whose writing (or, in one group's case, podcasting) makes up the December 2015 block of postings are the proud and oft-befuddled members of my four Speculative Fiction Studies classes at The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. All of them seniors, all of them self-professed lovers of sf/f (or at least sufficiently curious about it to endure a semester of play in the genres), they spent eighteen weeks reading from H.G. Wells to William Gibson; from H.P. Lovecraft to James Tiptree; Jr., from Asimov to Zelazny and back to Beagle and Tolkien and uncounted points between. They used their knowledge of STEM fields to identify ideas for their own hard or soft sf worlds and write stories set within them. They learned sf history from the Gernsback Ghetto's earliest days. They read literary theory from Samuel R. Delany and Ursula Le Guin.
Their challenge, as a final assignment for the term and a final tribute to the sff reader culture, was to compose a blog post where they responded to one of four questions posed by five different sff professionals working at various points in the creative chain: an author (Chuck Wendig), a literary agent (Bridget Smith), and an editorial team (Lynne and Michael Damian Thomas from Uncanny, and their managing editor, Michi Trota). The prompt I gave the professionals to help them devise a question of their own was:
"Based
on your specific involvement in speculative fiction, what's the thing you'd
most like to ask gifted, high school-aged genre readers? What question could
they answer that could help you do what you do 'better'?"
Here's what the various professionals playing along gave us. Below, you'll find some biographical information from each, and the question asked of the IMSA Speculative Fiction Studies Students:
(Bio excerpted from Mr. Wendig’s Amazon.com
author page, 11/30/15):
“Chuck Wendig is the New York Times bestselling
author of Star Wars: Aftermath, as
well as the Miriam Black thrillers,
the Atlanta Burns books, and the Heartland YA series, alongside other
works across comics, games, film, and more. A finalist for the John W. Campbell
Award for Best New Writer and the cowriter of the Emmy-nominated digital
narrative Collapsus, he is also known
for his popular blog, terribleminds.com, and his books about writing. He lives
in Pennsylvania with his family.”
Now here’s the question Chuck asked of the students:
“…[V]ery simply:
What interests [you], and what troubles [you].
Fiction does well when exploring both of these things (sometimes
in tandem). Exploring what people find cool or exciting but at the same time
confronting fears that dominate.”
“Bridget
Smith is an associate agent at Dunham Literary, Inc, where she's worked since
June 2011. She represents middle grade, YA, and adult novels, with special
interest in fantasy & science fiction, historical fiction, and women’s
fiction. Her tastes run to literary and character-driven novels.
Previously,
she was an intern at Don Congdon Associates, worked at a secondhand book store
in Connecticut, and evaluated short story submissions for Tor.com under Liz
Gorinsky and Patrick Nielsen Hayden. She graduated from Brown University in
2010. While there, she studied anthropology and archaeology, worked as a radio
DJ, fenced on the varsity team, and helped design an experiment that she later
performed in microgravity at NASA. Currently she reads, runs, and watches more
television than is probably good for her.”
Now
here’s Bridget’s question for the students:
“How much emphasis do you, as young readers,
place on the "classic" elements of SFF? What do you find valuable in
a classic work, and what doesn't interest you?”
Three-time Hugo Award winner Lynne M. Thomas is the Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL, where she is responsible for popular culture special collections that include the literary papers of nearly 70 SF/F authors.
She is perhaps best known as the co-editor of the Hugo Award-winning Chicks Dig Time Lords (2010) with Tara O’Shea, Whedonistas: A Celebration of the Worlds of Joss Whedon by the Women Who Love Them (2011) with Deborah Stanish, and the Hugo Award-nominated Chicks Dig Comics (2012) with Sigrid Ellis , all published by Mad Norwegian Press. Along with the Geek Girl Chronicles book series, Lynne is the former Editor-in-Chief (2011-2013) of the Hugo Award-nominated (2012 & 2013) Apex Magazine, an online professional prose and poetry magazine of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mash-ups of all three. She moderates the Hugo Award-winning SF Squeecast, a monthly podcast (with Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Michael Damian Thomas and Catherynne M. Valente) in which a group of SF/F professionals get excited about stuff they like, and contributes to the Verity! podcast (with Erika Ensign, L.M. Myles, Katrina Griffiths, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Deborah Stanish), where a bunch of smart women talk about Doctor Who.
Lynne lives in DeKalb with her husband Michael (a writer and editor), their daughter Caitlin, and a cat named Marie. Caitlin has a rare congenital disorder called Aicardi syndrome, and Michael is her full-time caregiver and an advocate for children with disabilities.
Along with being a two-time Hugo Award nominee as the former Managing Editor of Apex Magazine (2012-2013) Michael Damian Thomas co-edited the Hugo-nominated Queers Dig Time Lords (Mad Norwegian Press, 2013) with Sigrid Ellis and Glitter & Mayhem (Apex Publications, 2013), with John Klima and Lynne M. Thomas. He also has worked as an Associate Editor on numerous books at Mad Norwegian Press, including the Hugo Award-winning Chicks Dig Time Lords (edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea, 2010) and Hugo Award-nominated Chicks Dig Comics (edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Sigrid Ellis, 2012). Michael is also a contributor to the SF Squeecast podcast and the Down and Safe Blake’s 7podcast.
Michael lives in DeKalb with his wife, Lynne, their daughter, Caitlin, and a cat named Marie. Caitlin has a rare congenital disorder called Aicardi syndrome, and Michael works as her primary caregiver.
Here’s Lynne and Michael's question for the students:
“What
do you love about short science fiction & fantasy? What will keep you
reading it once you're out of this class?”
Michi Trota is a writer, editor, speaker,
communications manager and community organizer in Chicago, IL. She is the
managing editor of Uncanny: A
Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy, and is a member of
the Chicago
Nerd Social Club’s Board of Organizers. She
writes about geek culture and fandom, focusing primarily on issues of diversity
and representation, on her blog, Geek Melange, and
has spoken at venues such as the Chicago Humanities Festival, C2E2, the
University of Chicago, WisCon, and DePaul University. Topics guaranteed to
get her talking for hours include comics, Doctor Who, and
food geekery. In her professional life, she is a managing editor with
fifteen years of experience in the publishing industry, currently the Senior
Features Editor at Encyclopedia Britannica. In her spare time, she spins fire
with the fire+bellydance showcase, Raks
Geek, and at the Chicago Full Moon
Jams.
Here’s what Michi asked the students:
“What are the themes and stories that you would like genre
stories to address and how well do you think genre fiction in general reflects
the interests of readers like yourselves? How relevant to your lives and
experiences have the genre stories that you've read - whether for class or on
your own - actually been?”
You may notice me commenting on their posts in critical fashion -- that's just part of my job, I'm afraid. I encourage you to comment on their work as you see fit. . . but remember these are students, bright and well-intentioned, and they deserve our best treatment.
Best regards,
Tracy Townsend
