Georgia Tech’s School of Literature, Communication, and Culture is an important place for the study of science fiction. It began with Bud Foote’s science fiction classes and the donation of his extensive science fiction and fantasy collection, and then it was further developed by Lisa Yaszek through her research, teaching, and organizing events. LCC also includes Kathleen Ann Goonan, the award winning science fiction writer, as a visiting professor.

Later this month, LCC is hosting a one-day science fiction symposium that is open to the public (except for the lunch, which is only for symposium participants). If you are in the Atlanta area, I would highly recommend this opportunity to learn about the strong presence of science fiction research at Georgia Tech and to meet some renowned science fiction authors. I have included the overview and schedule below:

Science
 Fiction 
Symposium
 Hosted 
by 
LCC
 Thursday,
 November 
17,
 2011

On Thursday, November 17, the School of Literature, Communication and Culture will host a day-long symposium spotlighting science fiction as a signature intersection of science, technology, and humanistic studies at Georgia Tech. The symposium will feature a series of scholarly panels involving faculty members from various disciplines, showcasing their involvement in science fiction study across various media, as a cultural phenomenon, and as it relates to issues of scientific and technical development. The symposium will also feature a presentation on the Science Fiction Collection at Georgia Tech (recently cited by Science Fiction Studies as one of the twenty most important such collections in the world), a report on student activities in the Science Fiction Research Lab at Tech, and readings by award-winning and critically-acclaimed 
science 
fiction
authors
 Kathleen 
Ann
 Goonan,
 Eugie
 Foster,
 J.M.
 McDermott
, and
 Chesya
 Burke.
 All
 presentations
 will 
be 
in 
Skiles
 rm.
 002. 
The
 Georgia 
Tech
 and
 Atlanta 
communities 
are 
invited 
to 
attend.*

9:30
am‐10:45
am:

 Science 
Fiction 
and
 Society
Jackie 
Royster 
(IAC/LCC), 
Tom 
Morely 
(MATH), 
Aaron 
Santesso 
(LCC,
 moderator), 
Richard 
Barke
(PubP), 
Kristie 
Champlan
 Gurley
(PubP)

10:45
am‐11:00
am:
Coffee
Break

11:00
am‐12:00
pm: 

Science
 Fiction
 Collection
 Presentation 
and
 Student 
Demos
Ryan
 Speer 
(LIB),
 Joshua
 Cuneo
 (LCC),
 Keith
 Johnson (LCC),
 Adam
 LeDoux
 (LCC),
 Paul 
Zaitsev
(LCC),
Lisa
Yaszek
 (LCC,
moderator)

12:00
pm‐1:30
pm:

 Catered 
Lunch
 for 
Symposium
 Participants 
with 
Author 
Reading
Kathy 
Goonan,
This
 Shared 
Dream
 (LCC)

1:30
pm‐2:45
pm:

 Speculative 
Fiction 
in
 Literary
 and
 Cultural 
History
Peter
 Brecke 
(INTA), 
Carol 
Senf 
(LCC,
moderator),
 Nihad
 Farooq
(LCC), 
Narin
 Hassan 
(LCC)

2:45 pm‐3:00 pm: Coffee Break

3:00 pm‐ 4:15 pm: Science Fiction Across Media
Michael Nitsche (LCC), Jay Telotte (LCC, moderator), Lisa Yaszek
(LCC), Nettrice Gaskins (LCC), Hank Whitson (LCC)

4:30 pm‐6:00 pm: Science Fiction in Atlanta: Author Reading and Book Signing
Kathy Goonan (LCC, moderator), J.M. McDermott, Eugie Foster, Chesya
Burke

*Except lunch, which will take place in Skiles 343 and is only for symposium participants.

Georgia Tech and science fiction are a natural fit, with the campus being a center for cutting-edge research in science and technology. No surprise then that Tech is a perfect setting for Lisa Yaszek, an associate professor and director of undergraduate studies in the School of Literature, Communication and Culture. Yaszek has devoted her career to speculative fiction — literature that examines the frontier of science and society. She has authored three books on the subject, served as president of the Science Fiction Research Association and is an editor of the science fiction studies journal Extrapolation. She shares some of her favorite sci-fi works and her vision of building a science fiction center at the Institute.

via Lisa Yaszek: Sci-fi Sage | Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine.

I’m happy to see Lisa getting props for her work in the Alumni Magazine, and I am also glad to see the Science Fiction Research Association mentioned and linked in the article online (it is also in the print version on pages 26-27). Lisa also reports significant happenings at Tech: a SF reading room at the library and the construction of an online SF encyclopedia and research portal. She says, “Our goal has always been to build on our resources and create a center for sci-fi.”

Georgia Tech is a wonderful place of learning that supports interdisciplinary research and teaching. Science Fiction research is an important part of that cooperation, because SF is at the interstices of science, technology, and culture. Besides the work that Lisa and other professors do there, Tech also features a growing special collection in the library: the Bud Foote Science Fiction Collection. It goes without saying that Georgia Tech is in my top 10 places that I would like to work in the future.

Bram Stoker would be a useful book in gothic literature or Stoker focused classes, because Prof. Senf is a very thorough researcher and the paperback edition of Bram Stoker has a very student-friendly price point. Libraries should also add this to this to their collection on one of the most widely read and enduring works of literature.

Bram Stoker is now available through Amazon.com here.

The School of Literature, Communication, and Culture presents

critically-acclaimed science fiction author

Kathleen Ann Goonan

“Consciousness, Literature, and Science Fiction”

Tuesday, October 12, 2010, 11:00 a.m.

Library East Commons

Meet Kathleen Ann Goonan at a reception and book signing to follow the reading.

The author’s works include:

QUEEN CITY JAZZ

British Science Fiction Award Finalist

MISSISSIPPI BLUES

Hall of Fame Darryl Award Winner

THE BONES OF TIME

Arthur C. Clarke Award Finalist

LIGHT MUSIC

Nebula Award Finalist

CRESCENT CITY RHAPSODY

Nebula Award Finalist

IN WAR TIMES

Campbell Award Winner

ALA Winner, Best SF Novel

THIS SHARED DREAM

Forthcoming from Tor Books, 2011

Kathleen Ann Goonan, presently a Visiting Professor at the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture at Georgia Tech, is an award-winning science fiction writer.  The author of seven novels as well as myriad short stories, talks, essays, and commercial articles, she is interested in and writes about emergent trends in science and technology and their influence on culture.  Her web page is www.goonan.com.

Kathleen Ann Goonan’s lecture is part of the 2010-2011 LCC Distinguished Speaker Series. Visit www.lcc.gatech.edu for more information about Goonan and other Speaker Series events.

First, I am amazed at how much my handwriting has transformed over the years, and even from semester to semester.  In fact, if I did not know that I wrote all of this stuff, there is no way in Hades that I would believe the same person wrote all of these notes.  

Second, it is interesting how my note taking hasn’t changed that much over the years.  Anyone who has taken a class with me knows that I write down everything that I possibly can during class.  As a result, I have volumes of handwritten notes for all of my classes.  However, there are some subtle changes with the way that I cluster information on the page.  For example, my earlier notes are essentially one thought per line, but my later notes contain chunks of information with the first line against the margin and subsequent, related thoughts are listed beneath the first line with a hanging indent.  I’m not sure why I began doing this, but it seems to be a more recent development in grad school.  

Third, I’m surprised at how many notes are missing.  I know that I tossed a lot of material when I left Liverpool, but I’m missing a considerable amount of material from Kent State.  I have moved a couple of times since beginning school here, so it is possible that I accidentally threw some things out that I didn’t want to, or a box of school-related material may have been lost or left behind.  This is of course unfortunate, but there isn’t anything that I can do about it now.

Currently, Babacar’s African-American Literature class has 110 pages, Pendleton’s Semeiotics class is second with 100 pages, and Raja’s Postcolonialism course comes in second at 88 pages.

Another project that I’m working on right now is scanning all of my Star Wars and Star Trek clippings.  I’ve accumulated a small collection of magazine and calendar images of spacecraft that I’m currently assembling into a digital archive.

And, I have a deal for my KSU friends–I will trade you my class notes in exchange for yours.  After I finish scanning all of my class materials, I will let you borrow the scanner to digitize your own notes.  Let me know if you’re interested.

I’m particularly excited about the terrific special author lineup that we have this year.  Our Guest of Honor is Michael Bishop, and the Special Guest Authors are F. Brett Cox, Paul di Filippo, Andy Duncan, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Jack McDevitt, and Warren Rochelle.  

If you haven’t seen one of the ubiquitous emails that I’ve been sending out as SFRA’s Publicity Director, then see the CFP below for more details.  

SFRA 2009: Engineering the Future and Southern-Fried Science Fiction and Fantasy

June 11-14, Atlanta, GA (Wyndham Midtown Hotel)

Guest of Honor: Michael Bishop

Special Guest Authors: F. Brett Cox, Paul di Filippo, Andy Duncan, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Jack McDevitt, and Warren Rochelle.

SFRA is currently accepting individual abstracts and panel proposal for its 2009 conference. We welcome paper and panel submissions that explore any aspect of science fiction across history and media and are particularly interested in those that engage one or both of the conference themes, “Engineering the Future” and “Southern-FriedScience Fiction and Fantasy,” or the work of one or more of the conference’s guest authors.

The 2009 conference’s two themes and its selection of guest authors are inspired by the conference’s location in Atlanta and its co-sponsorship by Georgia Tech’s School of Literature, Communication, and Culture. Atlanta, a storied locale in American history, is also in many ways an international city of the future, home to 21st century information, entertainment, technological and military industries, peopled with 21st century demographics, and prone to 21st century situations.

How is the future engineered in science fiction and how has science fiction already engineered our present? The American south has long been well known for its gothic fiction, but it has increasingly figured in works of science fiction and fantasy too. So it is equally fitting to ask, how has the south been an inspiration of science fiction and fantasy and what will its global future in speculative arts and letters be?

The deadline for proposals is April 1, 2009 at midnight EST. Please submit paper and panel proposals by email to sfra2009@gmail.com. Include all text of the proposal in the body of the email (not as an attachment). Please be sure to include full contact information for all panel members and to make all AV requests within each proposal.

For more information, email sfra2009@gmail.com. And be sure to check out www.sfra2009.com for more details!

At Georgia Tech, I chose the Senior Thesis option to complete my B.S. in Science, Technology, and Culture, instead of the Senior Seminar.  The thesis option was better for me, because I wanted my work to serve as my graduate school writing sample.  Professor, and Chair of the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture, Kenneth Knoespel, Professor Lisa Yaszek, and Professor Doug Davis (at Gordon College) guided me in my research.  The paper that I produced, “Networks of Science, Technology, and Science Fiction During the American Cold War,” went a long way on my initial steps on the SF studies path (that sounds very Tao).  Elements of my thesis made appearances at Georgia Tech’s Monstrous Bodies Symposium, and my first SFRA conference in White Plains, New York.  So, what does that have to do with Paul Newman?  The epigraph that I chose for that paper was delivered by Paul Newman, portraying General Leslie R. Groves in the film about the first two atomic bombs, Fat Man and Little Boy.  In the film, he said to J. Robert Oppenheimer (Dwight Schultz), “Sometimes, just standing here, I keep wondering–Are we working on them, or are they working on us?  Give them dignity doctor, then we can start talking about who can do what and what they mean.”  What better way to begin a paper on the interaction between technology and culture during the Cold War?  Those lines represent the central question to which my thesis was responding.  

I’m not familiar with Paul Newman acting in any SF films, but he certainly had many connections to SF through his fellow actors, as evidenced above by working with Dwight Schultz of Star Trek:  The Next Generation fame.  However, the Guardian says that he began working in television on Tales of Tomorrow in 1952.  It would have been interesting to see Newman in a Science Fiction film, and who knows, I might even draft him in a story that’s yet to be written.

Here’s a transcript of my piece:

Hey everybody. I’m Jason Ellis, formerly of Georgia Tech and the University of Liverpool, and currently a PhD student at Kent State University. I fancy myself a Science Fiction scholar, and tonight, I’m introducing one of my favorite SF authors: Paul di Filippo.

I first met Paul di Filippo in 2005 when he visited Georgia Tech as a guest of honor at the Monstrous Bodies Symposium held by the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture, and organized by Professor Lisa Yaszek. On the first night of the symposium in an already sultry March, a group of us took Paul out to a local bar-be-que joint in the lesser-seen heart of Atlanta. Sitting along the bench tables, elbows sticking to the greasy, checkered tablecloth, we were all having a great time talking between sucking down ribs.

At one point in the conversation, I was telling Paul about my folks in Southeast Georgia. In their lives before I was born, my dad was a regional drag racer, and my mom participated in Scrambles, or what’s now known as motocross, or off-road motorcycle racing. I told Paul that I’m always looking for new stories to engage my family and friends in Science Fiction beyond the big screen blockbusters, and something related to their loves might get them more involved. Paul grinned. His eyes reflected an rpm surge, and his cage-like teeth meshed like Kevlar wrapped around a swiftly rotating tranny. Between combustive rushes of horsepower (was that a Diesel truck engine braking outside the single pane windows of the diner?), he told me about one of his own racing stories called, “Neutrino Drag.”

“Neutrino Drag” is a fantastically extrapolated short story that juxtaposes the origin of 1950s drag racing culture with post-war, nuclear era UFO mania. The central race of “Cosmic Chicken” between the narrator, Obdulio Benitez, and the alien visitor, Spacedog, has vast repercussions. Obdulio’s story is, in part, about a California team of Latin American racers, known as the Bean Bandits, encountering the alien Other out on the race flats. Also, his story is about racism and acceptance of the Other. But most importantly, it’s about blowing the doors off the competition with the most obscene, hazardous, and otherworldly racing hardware ever unleashed by the green light on the starting line Christmas Tree.

The story pits Obdulio, the thirty-ish “old man” of the Bean Bandits, and the unspoken, yet subconsciously acknowledged, alien, and latest addition to the Bandits, Spacedog. Obdulio and Spacedog have a race to the death after Spacedog’s knock-dead main squeeze, Stella Star Eyes, who is described as a “Crypto-speciated quasi-conjugal adjunct. Exteriorized anima and inseminatory receptacle,” finds herself in need of “bonding” with another male in the absence of Spacedog–namely, with Obdulio. Spacedog challenges Obdulio to a race of chicken with our solar system’s primary, or Sun. Spacedog’s alien logic makes an odd kind of sense that results in the most awesome rubber laying in our star’s corona that no one’s ever heard about!

All of Paul’s stories are similarly injected with one half nitro and one half weird. This mixture is injected into a strange supercharger strapped to the most gruesome engine of undulating tissues and vulgar metals. He’s well known for his Steampunk trilogy, and the Ribofunk collection of stories. He’s a prolific short story writer, and you can often find his work in magazines such as Fantasy and Science Fiction and Interzone. If you enjoy authors that push the striated envelop one step further, then you’ll love Paul di Filippo. He’s done it with cyberpunk, steampunk, and the New Weird, and I bet he’s not willing to let off the throttle any time soon.

Here’s the schedule for Robinson’s visit to Georgia Tech:

Thursday, March 6

11AM-12PM – WREK FM 91.1 Interview and Author Q&A in the Library East Commons

4PM-6PM – Lecture on “Representing Climate Change in Science Fiction and the Real World” in the Clary Theater, Bill Moore Student Success Center (reception follows)

Friday, March 7

12PM-1:30PM – Book signing at Barnes and Noble on Spring Street in Tech Square

I’m insanely jealous that I can’t make it to the event since I’m snowed-in up in Kent, Ohio (and that I have a lot of fucking work to do).  Pass along my best to Mr. Robinson!

Mark your calendars that the third Sunday between 7-9PM is the new time slot for the SF Lab Radio Show.  Here’s a sneak peak at the upcoming episodes:

• March 16th – SF and Environmentalism
• April 20th – Gaming
• May 15th – TBD
• June 15th – TBD

Tune-in and enjoy!