The George Slusser Conference on Science Fiction and Fantasy
Department: English
Date and Time: April 26, 2018 - April 27, 2018 | 8:00 AM-7:00 PMEvent Location: Humanities Gateway 1030
Event Details
The George Slusser Conference on Science Fiction and Fantasy
Thursday, April 26 – Friday, April 27, 2018
Humanities Gateway 1030
The George Slusser Conference on Science Fiction and Fantasy will be held on April 26, 2018 and April 27, 2018, at Humanities Gateway 1030, the University of California, Irvine. A number of major critics and science fiction writers will gather to address the conference theme of “Science Fiction: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” and honor the legacy of the late George Slusser (1939-2014), an award-winning scholar of science fiction and fantasy. The conference is free, and no pre-registration is required.
The conference’s confirmed guests include science fiction writers Gregory Benford, James P. Blaylock, David Brin, Sheila Finch, Howard V. Hendrix, Larry Niven, Charles Platt, and Tim Powers. Some noted scholars who will be attending are Jonathan Alexander, Stephen W. Potts, Lisa Raphals, Gary Westfahl, and Gary K. Wolfe. The conference’s sixteen paper presentations and three panels will be followed by discussions involving all conference participants.
The conference website, at https://www.sfsite.com/gary/ww-slusser01.htm , is no longer being updated, but it does offer information about parking and nearby hotels and restaurants. For other information, interested individuals may contact one of the conference coordinators, Gary Westfahl, at Gwwestfahl@yahoo.com .
The complete conference schedule is provided below.
Thursday, April 26
8:30 – 9:30 AM Registration
9:30 – 10:40 AM Session 1 (Coordinator: Jonathan Alexander)
Gary Westfahl, “The Homeostatic Culture Machine Revisited: The Contemporary Wordmills of Science Fiction”
Charles Platt, “You Can’t Get There From Here: Unrealistic Expectations among the Practitioners of Science Fiction”
10:50 AM – 12:00 PM Session 2 (Coordinator: Gary Westfahl)
Gregory Benford, “Economics Meets Reality: Space and Beyond”
Steven Postrel, Response
12:00 AM – 1:35 PM Lunch
1:35 – 3:20 PM Session 3 (Coordinator: Howard V. Hendrix)
Stephen W. Potts, “Soviet Utopianism and Post-Soviet Dystopias”
George Slusser (read by Gary Westfahl), “The Strugatskys Under Western Eyes: Science Fiction as Cognition”
Lisa Raphals, “The Several Faces of Chinese Science Fiction”
3:30 – 4:40 PM Session 4 (Coordinator: Stephen W. Potts)
Joey Eschrich, “Complicating the Frankenstein Barrier: Science Fiction Futures and Social Transformation”
Ari Brin, “‘No Such Thing as Night’: Tracing the Origins of Science Fiction in Early California”
4:50 – 5:40 PM First Keynote Speaker (Introduced by Gregory Benford)
Gary K. Wolfe , “From Speculation to Argument to Metaphor: How Science Fiction Tropes become Mainstream Conventions”
Friday, April 27
9:05 – 10:50 AM Session 5 (Coordinator: Gregory Benford)
Bradford Lyau, “Robert A. Heinlein Revisited”
Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, “The Slusser Test for Generic Identity: Reflections on George Slusser’s ‘Reflections on Style in Science Fiction’”
Julia Ree, “Observations on the Early Life of the Eaton Collection and Dr. George Slusser’s Invaluable Contributions”
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM First Panel
Theme: Memories of George Slusser and the Eaton Conferences
Moderator: Gary Westfahl
Panelists: Celeste McConnell Barber, Gregory Benford, Sheila Finch, Howard V. Hendrix, Bradford Lyau
12:00 – 1:30 PM Lunch
1:30 – 2:30 PM Second Panel
Theme: Back to Jules Verne’s Future: Nineteenth-Century Science Fiction and Twenty-First Century Steampunk
Moderator: Gary K. Wolfe
Panelists: James P. Blaylock, Stephen W. Potts, Tim Powers, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro
2:40 – 3:50 PM Session 6 (Coordinator: Bradford Lyau)
Jonathan Alexander, “Utopia and Exhaustion”
Howard V. Hendrix, “Millions Seek The Egg: Replicative Technofuturism in Ready Player One and Armada”
4:00 – 4:50 PM Second Keynote Speaker (Introduced by Howard V. Hendrix)
David Brin, “The Emperor – and Heretic – of Point of View”
5:00 – 6:00 PM Third Panel
Theme: Science Fiction Writers and Scholars: Bridging the Gap?
Moderator: Jonathan Alexander
Panelists: David Brin, Gregory Benford, Sheila Finch, Larry Niven
6:30 – 8:30 PM Closing Reception (Hosted by Jonathan Alexander and Gregory Benford)