Reading Science Fiction

Notes on Contributors.- Introduction.- PART I: MAPPING SCIENCE FICTION.- Introduction to Part I.- Defining Science Fiction; E.S.Rabkin.- What is Science Fiction and How it Grew; H.Franklin.- Narrative Strategies in Science Fiction; B.Stableford.- There is No Such Thing as Science Fiction; M.Bould & S.Vint.- PART II: SCIENCE FICTION AND POPULAR CULTURE.- Introduction to Part II.- Science Fiction Movies: The Fued of Eye and Idea: G.Zebrowski.- The Feedback Loop; M.Cassutt.- Computers in Science Fiction; B.Landon.- Cross-Fertilization or Coincidence? Science Fiction and Video Games; O.S.Card.- PART III: THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO SCIENCE FICTION.- Introduction to Part III.- Gender is a Problem That Can Be Solved: Women's SF and Feminist Theory; J.Donawerth.- Marxism and SF; C.Freedman.- Reading SF with Postcolonial Theory; M.Candelaria.- Encountering International Science Fiction Through a Latin American Lens; R.de Sousa Causo.- PART IV: READING SCIENCE FICTION IN THE CLASSROOM.- Introduction to Part IV.- Reading Science Fiction as Science Fiction; J.Gunn.- Reading Joanna Russ in Context: Science, Utopia and Postmodernity; J.Cortiel.- Reading Science Fiction's Interdisciplinary Conversation with Science and Technology Studies; D.Davis & L.Yaszek.- PART V: SCIENCE FICTION AND DIVERSE DISCIPLINES.- Introduction to Part V.- Neuroscience Fiction Redux; J.D.Miller.- Physics Through Science Fiction; G.Benford.- Science Fiction and Biology; P.Sargent.- Science Fiction and Philosophy; J.Gunn.- Science Fiction and the Internet; B.Sterling.- The Reading Science Fiction Blog.- Bibliography.- Index.

JAMES GUNN is Emeritus Professor of English at K.U. and has published more than a dozen novels and half a dozen collections of stories, and has edited more than a dozen and a half books. His best-known novels are The Immortals, The Dreamers, The Listeners, Kampus and The Joy Makers. The Immortals was filmed as The Immortal and became a TV series. His academic publications include Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction, The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, the six-volume anthology The Road to Science Fiction, The Science of Science-Fiction Writing, Speculations on Speculation: Theories of Science Fiction and Inside Science Fiction.

MARLEEN S BARR is known for her pioneering work in feminist science fiction and teaches in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University. She has won the Science Fiction Research Association Pilgrim Award for lifetime achievement in science fiction criticism. Barr is the author of Alien to Feminity: Speculative Fiction and Feminist Theory, Lost in Space: Probing Feminist Science Fiction and Beyond, Feminist Fabulation: Space/Postmodern Fiction and Genre Fission: A New Discouse Practice for Cultural Studies. Barr has edited many anthologies and co-edited the special science fiction issue of PMLA.

MATTHEW CANDELARIA received his PhD from the University of Kansas and has published articles on science fiction. He is recipient of the 2003 Golden Quill Award from the L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest and co-editor of Speculations on Speculation: Theories of Science Fiction.