Series:

Alternatives

4 total works

Cover of Storm Warnings

Storm Warnings

by George Edgar Slusser

Published 1 April 1987
These 17 original essays, written for the sixth Eaton Conference on Fantasy and Science Fiction, explore the uses, origins, and forms of future fiction. The contributors are George E. Slusser, Paul Alkon, Marie-Helene Huet, Howard V. Hendrix, Bradford Lyau, Gregory Benford, Jose Manuel Mota, Frederik Pohl, George Hay, Colin Greenland, John Huntington, Elizabeth Maslen, W. M. S. and Claire Russell, T. A. Shippey, Kenneth V. Bailey, Gary Kern, and Frank McConnell.The essays address the question Do we call up images of future societies in order to prepare for them, or to forestall their ever coming into existence? "

Cover of Aliens

Aliens

by George Edgar Slusser

Published 19 December 1987
How and when does there come to be an anthropology of the alien? This set of essays, written for the eighth J. Lloyd Eaton Conference on Fantasy and Science Fiction, is concerned with the significance of that question. [Anthropology] is the science that must designate the alien if it is to redefine a place for itself in the universe, according to the Introduction.The idea of the alien is not new. In the Renaissance, Montaigne s purpose in describing an alien encounter was excorporationmankind was the savage because the artificial devices of nature controlled him. Shakespeare s version of the alien encounter was incorporation; his character of Caliban is brought to the artificial, political world of man and incorporated into the body politic The essays in this volume . . . show, in their general orientation, that the tribe ofShakespeare still, in literary studies at least, outnumbers that of Montaigne. These essays show the interrelation of the excorporating possibilities to the internal soundings of the alien encounter within the human mind and form.This book is divided into three parts: Searchings: The Quest for the Alien includes The Aliens in Our Mind, by Larry Niven; Effing the Ineffable, by Gregory Benford; Border Patrols, by Michael Beehler; Alien Aliens, by Pascal Ducommun; and Metamorphoses of the Dragon, by George E. Slusser. Sightings: The Aliens among Us includes Discriminating among Friends, by John Huntington; Sex, Superman, Sociobiology, by Joseph D. Miller; Cowboys and Telepaths, by Eric S. Rabkin; Robots, by Noel Perrin; Aliens in the Supermarket, by George R. Guffey; and Aliens R U.S., by Zoe Sofia. Soundings: Man as the Alien includes H. G. Wells Familiar Aliens, by John R. Reed; Inspiration and Possession, by Clayton Koelb; Cybernauts in Cyberspace, by David Porush; The Human Alien, by Leighton Brett Cooke; From Astarte to Barbie, by Frank McConnell; and An Indication of Monsters; by Colin Greenland."

Cover of Mindscapes, the Geographies of Imagined Worlds
Eighteen essays plus four examples from the ninth annual J. Lloyd Eaton Conference on Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature at the University of California, Riverside.


The concept of mindscape, Slusser and Rabkin explain, allows critics to focus on a single fundamental problem: The constant need for a relation between mind and some being external to mind.


The essayists are Poul Anderson, Wendy Doniger O' Flaherty, Ronald J. Heckelman, David Brin, Frank McConnell, George E. Slusser, James Romm, Jack G. Voller, Peter Fitting, Michael R. Collings, Pascal J. Thomas, Reinhart Lutz, Joseph D. Miller, Gary Westfahl, Bill Lee, Max P. Belin, William Lomax, and Donald M. Hassler.


The book concludes with four authors discussing examples of mindscape. The participants are Jean-Pierre Barricelli, Gregory Benford, Gary Kern, and David N. Samuelson.

Cover of Intersections

Intersections

by George Edgar Slusser

Published 26 October 1987
These 17 essays from the seventh annual J. Lloyd Eaton Conference examine the relationship between fantasy and science fiction.They propose that fantasy and science fiction are not isolated commercial literary forms, but instead are literary forms worthy of the recognition reserved for traditional literature. Discussion of genre identification ranges from the standard forms of literary criticism embodied in Aristotle s "mimesis "and "poesis "to innovative and possibly controversial points of view such as a theory of humor, a philosophy of time, and a detailed analysis of Dr. Seuss s "Cat in the Hat."The essays provide not only a detailed study of literary elements but also the historical treatment of the material, its commercial use, and its relationship to similar literary forms such as the gothic tale and horror fiction. While few of the essayists agree with one another, they all contribute creative insights to the debate."