Search

A discussion addresses general problems associated with studying science fiction narratives today. What does it take to make a believable illusion of the scientific out of literary fiction? What are the most contemporary views on the genre and its multiple iterations? Is it still a genre? These and many more questions have been tackled below by the leading experts in science fiction studies: Paweł Frelik (University of Warsaw), the most prominent Polish theorist in the field, editor of the „Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds”, and author of Visual Cultures of Science Fiction (2017, reviewed in this issue), as well as the first Polish president of Science Fiction Research Association (2013-2014); Paul Kincaid, renowned science fiction critic, author of A Very British Genre: A Short History of British Fantasy and Science Fiction (1995) and What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction (2000); Lisa Swanstrom (University of Utah), co-editor of „Science Fiction Studies”, and author of Animal, Vegetable, Digital: Experiments in New Media Aesthetics and Environmental Poetics (2016); Sherryl Vint (University of Alberta), also co-editor of „Science Fiction Studies”, director of Science Fiction and Technoculture Studies at University of California, Riverside, and co-editor of The Routlege Companion to Science Fiction (2009); and, finally, „Creatio Fantastica” editors—Krzysztof M. Maj, Mateusz Tokarski, and Barbara Szymczak-Maciejczyk.

Conversation with Katarzyna Mroczkowska-Brand about Prof. Przemysław Mroczkowski and his relations with John R. R. Tolkien.

Reviewed book: Oblicza wampiryzmu, ed. Anna Depta, Szymon Cieśliński i Michał Wolski Wrocław: Stowarzyszenie Badaczy Literatury i Kultury Popularnej „Trickster” 2018, ISBN 978-83-64863-12-7

A discussion Literature of the Unseen—Visions and (Re)visions of Urban Fantasy collects theoretical reflections upon the subgenres of urban fantasy and paranormal romance, along with a brief commentary on the body of text representative for both conventions. Participants include „Creatio Fantasti­ca” editors—Sylwia Borowska-Szerszun, Krzysztof M. Maj, and Barbara Szymczak-Maciejczyk—as well as renowned experts in the field of fantasy studies: Stefan Ekman, author of the first monograph of fantasy map-making, Here Be Dragons. Exploring Fantasy Maps & Settings (2013), and Audrey Taylor, author of Patricia A. McKillip and the Art of Fantasy World-building (2017).

Reviewed book: Michał Cetnarowski, Podwójna tożsamość bogów. O kulturze popularnej w kinie, komiksie i literaturze, Kraków Wydawnictwo SQN 2017, ISBN 978-83-65836-36-6