[ecrea] CfP: Aliens in Popular Culture

This is very long. It is a request for writers for a book about Aliens 
in Popular Culture, originally to be written by Mike Levy.

I need volunteers. Entries are 1000 words or less.


Dear Colleagues

In February 2017 our colleague Michael M. Levy was diagnosed with 
cancer. To our shock and grief he died in the first week of April.

Mike left behind a manuscript— Aliens in Popular Culture—that is in its 
early stages. His wife Sandy Lindow has asked me to steer it to completion.

The manuscript is a Companion. It has 6 introductory essays, around 90 
entries each of 1000 words or less and three survey essays. It is not 
within my field of specialism and I am not an adept “entry” writer. Thus 
I have proposed to the publisher, Greenwood Press, that I compile an 
edited collection this in the way of a memorial volume and they have 
accepted.

The six introductory essays have been commissioned, the entries are open 
submission.


I am seeking for people to either take over and edit entries, or to 
write them from scratch, or in some cases to edit. The key directive is 
that whatever the topic, the focus must be the handing/portrayal/ of or 
argument about aliens in the “text” (some of the first drafts spend too 
much time on the context of a text, or talking about work by an author 
that doesn’t actually contain any aliens) 1000 words per entry.

We will arrange the cover credit for the book so that it is acknowledged 
as Mike’s book. I will be listed as editor and all contributors will be 
listed in the page immediately before the contents list. The original 
contract paid Mike $1000. This means I cannot afford to pay and rather 
than have a situation where I benefit financially to any degree, and you 
do not, Greenwood has agreed that this payment be made to the IAFA in 
memory of Mike for them to use in some appropriate way.

I have uploaded an excel file to google drive.

The link is here: 
https://drive.google.com/…/fo…/0B6NUFP_QHHJoYjI3dWl4VmtTYm8…; 
<https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Fdrive%2Ffolders%2F0B6NUFP_QHHJoYjI3dWl4VmtTYm8%3Fusp%3Dsharing&h=ATMvbxe1I2yB933fVHmkYQ24RucnzeJ3CRMcJ6TUsWHYVyRsdIvtHusWuRlrb52hZVpoiO9h50Zp0AjKifZhM5MeyxNx-FsHIps1UEbNNj09RYJ2PXAThdNccfugzQV6-Gn4Mhkwx9lB709NCKE&enc=AZO7s6TlB3KyUKfpeOj099jyQQUZMJBbpZyLhKdsaANL4yMAkG9tjN7FkXWFIef1KVLr_QA0lVvwzIyrDzYwyio38swxZw5Do8wD8ZJee3Batb_YhO_HdLrMcx_caHPmmnvNzzL6Tqa1EcyKoEn9VmPns98GowtUGKg-DeIX9fiyX4xpCux-DvaRz945OGKKGnc&s=1>

If you would be interested in participating in this project I am asking 
you look at the link and enter your name against one or more entries (to 
a maximum of five) with a 50 word bio. Then send your choices to me at 
(farah.sf /at/ gmail.com)

The deadline is tight so please do not volunteer too enthusiastically ie 
one entry at a time, them volunteer for another if you wish after you 
have submitted.

Deadlines will be according to when you volunteer. I am initially asking 
for submissions by September 1st. Any that do not arrive on time will 
then be sent out again. This is to avoid the problem of lengthy 
deadlines being disrupted by changes in personal circumstances.

If you think I have missed something crucial, please tell me and I will 
add it to the “wait list” in case I have words left over or can make a 
substitution. As I said, this is not my area of expertise.

Please do circulate this to anyone who might be willing and capable. If 
you have PhD students you think would do a good job, I am happy have 
them volunteer. Mike was one of the best mentors in the field and it 
would be utterly appropriate to include them.


The template is below and also at the google drive:

Word count: indicated in the file. It is ok to come under—I have a wait 
list of additional entries. You may not come in over the word count.

Template for Entries: all entries should have an argument about the 
text/author/director/artist etc being discussed. I don’t want you to say 
“x is terrible” but feel free to say if it’s problematic and why.

To a degree I am assuming that the alien is a metaphor. Feel free to 
explore this but do not use “the alien in science fiction is a metaphor” 
as a phrase as it will be edited out.

Title:
Author/Director/Designer
Date or To and From
Country.

Summarise the author or text or material.
Identify most memorable aliens.
Explain how they are depicted
Discuss what role they played in the work/body of work
Discuss what it tells us about the cultural context of those aliens.
Provide up to three recommendations for further reading (if there isn’t 
one don’t worry)

You might consider:
· encounters with an overtone of threat

· first contact / encounters where the tone is really more about 
curiosity and discovery

· alien ecospheres; not necessarily with humans as a focal point

· integrated societies - spaceports and the like

· pure otherness / literally "the alien"

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