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Academic Academic Events Conventions CYMERA Festival Events Workshop worldcon

*UPDATED* CYMERA, GIFCon, Symposium on Fantasy and the Fantastic, TFCAA

With Eastercon over, and term nearly done, you’d be forgiven for thinking I’d be taking a break from now until Dublin Worldcon this August. On the contrary: with CYMERA Festival, GIFCon 2019 and more on the way, it’s shaping up to be a busy summer. Whether you’re into fiction, fantastic academia, or fandom, here’s where you can find me over May and June – and where you can hear me before all that.

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Academic Academic Events Events

GIFCon 2019: Call for Papers and Event Dates

Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations (GIFCon), the creative and academic event for scholars and creators of Fantastic works, has just announced dates for next year’s event and a new call for papers. GIFCon 2019 will take place over 23rd – 24th May 2019 and is looking for abstract submissions on the theme of ‘Mapping the Mythosphere’.

This is my third event for GIFCon, and this time I’m stepping back for workload reasons* to focus on the GIFCon Facebook page, assisting the new Social Media Manager, Marita Arvaniti. I’m really looking forward to reading all your brilliant submissions to our Call for Papers for 2019. And if this is the first time you’ve submitted to an academic event, why not check out our Abstract Submissions Guide?

For more on GIFCon 2019, check out our official website at www.gifcon.org.

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Academic Academic Events Events From Glasgow to Saturn New Column Shoreline of Infinity

Shoreline of Infinity 10, GIFCon 2018, and From Glasgow to Saturn

It’s been a while since I committed bloggery, so let’s get down to some housekeeping.

Firstly, huge congratulations to Shoreline of Infinity, who celebrated their milestone 10th issue recently. It’s testament to the hard work and persistence of Noel Chidwick, Russell Jones, Mark Toner and the rest of the team, who not only put out Scotland’s only SF magazine, but run the celebrated Event Horizon night in Edinburgh. Long may it continue!

A new issue also means a brand new column from me. ‘The Company of Bears’ is about… well, it’s there in the title really, but it gathers some thoughts on genre community that I’ve been considering for a while. You can pick up Issue 10 of Shoreline here.

Secondly, in case you’ve missed my tweets, GIFCon, aka Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations, is back again on 26th – 27th April 2018. Our call for papers is out now, and we’ve got a really thought-provoking topic for you – Escaping Escapism in Fantasy and the Fantastic.

If you’re a researcher in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and related genres, you can check out our call at www.gifcon.org – or follow the links from facebook, twitter, and instagram, where I’ll be doing social media. We’re looking forward to receiving your abstracts!

Finally, last week, the editorial team at From Glasgow to Saturn spent a massive 4.5hrs going through 70+ submissions to our upcoming issue 40. At this point, it’s usual to make noises about the quality of what was received and the difficulty of making choices. Speaking from the inside of the process this time, I have to say, it really was pretty damned tough to choose between submissions at points. We only wish we had room for more. If you submitted to this issue, you should have heard back from us by now. If you haven’t, please get in touch asap via fromglasgowtosaturn@glasgow.ac.uk.