Practicing Science Fiction : Critical Essays on Writing, Reading and Teaching the Genre

Drawn from the Science Fiction Research Association conference held in Lawrence, Kansas, in 2008, the essays in this volume address intersections among the reading, writing, and teaching of science fiction. Part 1 studies the teaching of SF, placing analytical and pedagogical research next to each other to reveal how SF can be both an object of study as well as a teaching tool for other disciplines. Part 2 examines SF as a genre of mediation between the sciences and the humanities, using close readings and analyses of the literary-scientific nexus. Part 3 examines SF in the media, using specific television programs, graphic novels, and films as examples of how SF successfully transcends the medium of transmission. Finally, Part 4 features close readings of SF texts by women, including Joanna Russ, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Octavia E. Butler.

Karen Hellekson is a freelance copy editor and independent scholar. She writes book reviews for Publishers Weekly, is coeditor of the Science Fiction Research Association's quarterly SFRA Review, and lives in Jay, Maine. Craig B. Jacobsen is coauthor of the writing textbook Scenarios for Writing, coeditor of SFRA Review, and author of articles on television narrative. He is a part of the English faculty at Mesa Community College in Mesa, Arizona. Patrick B. Sharp is an associate professor in Los Angeles, California. Lisa Yaszek is associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and current president of the Science Fiction Research Association.