Dynamic Subspace

Tag: Science Fiction

  • Star Wars Collection Additions from Emmitt’s Toy Emporium and eBay

    vintage star wars action figures arranged for display on a table

    While I was in Georgia visiting my parents this past month, I acquired a few more Star Wars action figures, playsets, and a vehicle to add to my collection.

    I knew that I needed to drive my mom to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida for tests and doctor’s appointments while I was there. I figured that I could visit comic shops or antique stores to look for Star Wars action figures for my collection.

    During my online research, I stumbled on Emmitt’s Toy Emporium and a photo of a glass product counter with a Kenner Star Wars Rebel Command Center in it. The photo was dated three months ago. I had been trying to find one of these at a fair price on eBay for a long time without any luck. I figured it was worth checking out even if the playset had sold before I arrived. Thankfully, he still had it in stock and the price for the playset sans action figures was $119. Emmitt and I worked out a deal for the playset and some figures.

    While I was there, Emmitt showed me some of his other items for sale, and he let me fire the motorized cannon on a complete Y-Wing Fighter (1983).

    kenner rebel command center playset

    Before the third trip to Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, my dad asked to see the toys that I scored, so I showed how they were setup and explained their release history. I suppose he saw how happy they made me and he acknowledged that I had done a lot of work (and there were still more left to do in the next two weeks), so he gave me his blessing to get a few other things that I had seen at Emmitt’s shop–the complete Y-Wing Fighter with motorized cannon (1983) and the Creature Cantina Action Playset (1979). It was a pleasure dealing with Emmitt, who knows how to bargain fairly.

    kenner creature cantina action adventure playset
    y-wing fighter and box

    I had a $10 off $50 purchase coupon from eBay, which I used to reduce the price on the Rancor monster (1984) from Wheeljack’s Lab. Now, I need the Rancor Keeper action figure (1984).

    rancor monster toy

    I’ve still got a ways to go, but I wonder if I can rebuild my collection to be as robust and interesting as the collection that I had to sell off in the early 2000s.

  • Call for Papers: The Tenth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium on Image in SF

    Call for Papers: Image in Science Fiction: The Tenth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium

    Deadline for CFP: Friday, Oct. 31, 2025

    Date and Time of Event: Tuesday, December 2, 2025, 9:00AM-5:00PM EST

    Location: Academic Building A-105, New York City College of Technology (City Tech), CUNY

    Organizers: Jill Belli, Wanett Clyde, Jason W. Ellis, Leigh Gold, Kel Karpinski, Lucas Kwong, and Vivian Zuluaga Papp

    Science Fiction (SF) is an image driven genre. Whether described in text, see the “dull yellow eye” in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818)); rendered in the two-dimensional art of magazines like Analog; or brought to life in film, TV, and video games, SF imagery continually confirms Gérard Klein’s observation that “science fiction does not proceed directly from science, nor from philosophy, but from the “images (eikons) and representations (eidons)” that these disciplines “unknowingly” produce (“From the Images of Science to Science Fiction,” 2000). SF images abound; how those images are understood and interpreted iterates to infinity.

    The Tenth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium explores the many aspects, configurations, and meanings of the image in SF. We invite proposals for 10-20 minute scholarly paper presentations or 40-60 minute panel discussions related to the topic of image in SF broadly construed. Please send a 250-word abstract with title, brief 100-150-word professional bio, and contact information to Jason Ellis (jellis@citytech.cuny.edu) by Friday, October 31, 2025. 

    Topics with a connection to image in SF might include but certainly are not limited to:

    • image across modalities: textual, visual, interactive, etc.
    • images of race, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexuality, and other aspects of identity
    • images meant to shape understanding of stories and/or sell them (e.g., magazine covers, in-text illustrations, movie posters, trailers)
    • advertising images in and around SF (e.g., advertising to sell SF as well as non-SF advertising around SF ranging from Big Tobacco to the Johnson Smith Co.
    • fandom’s use, adaptation, and transformation of images 
    • image and politics
    • image and meaning
    • image and representation
    • SF and photography
    • SF, simulacra, and simulation
    • Generative AI and SF

    The event will be held in person at the New York City College of Technology (City Tech), CUNY in downtown Brooklyn, New York. 

    This event is free and open to the public as space permits: an RSVP will be included with the program when announced on the Science Fiction at City Tech website (https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sciencefictionatcitytech/). Free registration will be required for participation.

    The event is sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences at the New York City College of Technology, CUNY.

    The Annual City Tech Symposium on Science Fiction is held in celebration of the City Tech Science Fiction Collection, an archival holding of over 600-linear feet of magazines, anthologies, novels, and scholarship. It is in the Archives and Special Collections of the Ursula C. Schwerin Library (Library Building, L543C, New York City College of Technology, 300 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201). More information about the collection and how to access it is available here: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sciencefictionatcitytech/librarycollection/.

  • Crestwood House Monster Series for Children

    a page of search results on archive.org for crestwood house monsters with covers showing Dracula, Frankenstein, Godzilla, and others.

    When I was a kid attending Glyndale Elementary School in Brunswick, Georgia, I must have checked out all of the titles our school library had of the Crestwood House Monster series at least a dozen times. My favorite titles were Dracula, Frankenstein, King Kong, Godzilla, The Invisible Man, The Wolfman, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Thanks to the Internet Archive, scanned versions of these books are available for reading online or download here.

  • BMCC Forum on Generated Text and the Future of College Writing Yesterday Was a Great Success

    Yesterday, about twenty faculty and students gathered in BMCC’s Fiterman Hall room 1304 to discuss the effects of Generative AI on college writing, higher education, and society-in-general for the Spring 2025 Robert Lapides Faculty Forum. I was honored to have been invited to participate.

    From left to right, Lisa Sarti, Professor of Italian Studies at BMCC; me; and Carlos Hernandez, Professor of English at BMCC and SF writer started the discussion, but soon almost everyone in attendance had something to contribute: observations, personal experiences, and questions.

    For my part in the conversation, I came at the issue from four vectors: as a science fiction scholar, a writing instructor, a technical communication instructor, and computer hobbyist. My desire to learn how Generative AI works and to pass on what I have learned to my students is informed by my adherence to William Gibson’s axiom, “the street finds its own use for things,” which is coupled with Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto” and claiming the tools of technology for our own purposes to build the network, community, and world that we want.

    While it was scheduled for only two hours, we ran over by 20 minutes–something the organizers said hadn’t happened before. I think that if time hadn’t been called, we might still be there into the wee hours.

    The BMCC students in attendance demonstrated their engagement and concern about these technologies in the classroom and their everyday lives.

    I closed my comments in response to a question about how we might use Generative AI to fight back against authoritarianism. I offered an assemblage of open source generative AI, a bit of Harlan Ellison’s “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” (1965), and Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game (1985).

    Besides the substance of the discussion, I think meeting colleagues at BMCC might have opened doors for further work on AI matters and the annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium. Stay tuned!

  • Second Reading of Richard Powers’ Galatea 2.2

    Jean-Léon Gérôme’s Pygmalion and Galatea, 1890.

    Before this Wednesday’s upcoming forum discussion, I wanted to revisit Richard Powers’ Galatea 2.2, which I had read 14 years ago for my PhD dissertation titled, “Brains, Minds, and Computers in Literary and Science Fiction Neuronarratives.” On rereading Powers’ novel, I paid more attention to the iterative development of Helen. What I’ve learned about AI and developments in Generative AI in the past three years provided a stronger foundation for considering the technical aspects of the narrative. Lived experience gave me a better understanding of some of the non-technical aspects of the narrative, too.