Escape Velocity 2017: Full Schedule

10:45am PDT

The History of Science Fiction: Perspectives from the 21st Century

An overview of the genre's history as understood by recent scholarship in the field, including the evolution of many sub-genres and global traditions of SF. Come learn about the origins of SF in scientific narratives of discovery and the long traditions of Afrofuturism, Indigenous futurism, Latina/o SF, and women's SF in this…

Speakers

Patrick Sharp

Professor of Liberal Studies, Cal State Los Angeles

Patrick B. Sharp is Professor of Liberal Studies at California State University, Los Angeles. He has written several articles and two monographs on science fiction, including Savage Perils: Racial Frontiers and Nuclear Apocalypse in American Culture (2007) and Darwinian Feminism... Read More →

Volunteers

Jandy Hanna

Jandy Hanna, PhD, MSB, is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Biomedical Sciences Division at WVSOM. Her PhD is in Biological Anthropology and Anatomy and she currently teaches medical gross anatomy and studies the biomechanics of locomotion. Her Masters is in bioethics, in which... Read More →

Friday September 1, 2017 10:45am - 11:45am PDT
Harding (100)

Lit

Logistics house sound, microphone, Podium, power, Projector, projector screen, projector table, theatre set up
Panel Type Lecture/Solo Presentation

12:00pm PDT

Technology of the Soul and of the Self

As technology pushes the boundaries of the human body and attempts to reimagine cognition through artificial intelligence, our notions of what defines humanity are forced to evolve. In the Cartestian sense, the metaphysical question of the "human soul" as separate from the body raises ontological questions about where to locate the humanity in human beings. As pertaining to questions of identity, the posthuman and transhuman elements of modern reality encourage a reimagining of the self and the subjective experience. Presenters will offer reflections on the ways in which contemporary literature is tackling this blurring of boundaries to question the relationship between technology and the essence of personhood.

Speakers

Alexia Clarke

Presenting “Value and the Soul: Acceleration and Futurism in Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower”Alexia Clarke is lover of all things fantastic. From early childhood, she has been enthralled by the worlds and words of science fiction and fantasy authors. Her work has focused... Read More →

K.M. Ferebee

Presenting "Pain in Someone Else's Body: Plurality of the Self in TV's Stargate: SG-1"K.M. Ferebee is a doctoral candidate in English at The Ohio State University. Her work is located in the field of Environmental Literature, and focuses on narratives of mutation, toxicity, and bodily... Read More →

Jacob Murel

Presenting "The Deconstruction and (Re)Discovery of Human Nature in Recent Planet of the Apes Films"Jacob Murel is a graduate student at the University of Memphis, where he studies comics, film, and literature in both English and German. His research interests are focused on comic... Read More →

Summer Sutton

Summer Sutton is a soon-to-be PhD student at the University of California, Riverside, where she will pursue her research in feminist science studies and the intersections between SF studies and cultural studies. She currently resides in Williamsburg, Virginia but is looking forward... Read More →

Volunteers

Aisha Matthews

Director of Literature Programs at Escape Velocity, Museum of Science Fiction

Aisha Matthews is a Ph.D. student in English Literature at Southern Methodist University, having finished her Master’s Degree at Southern New Hampshire University in early 2017. As an undergraduate at Yale (’13), she studied Young Adult Science Fiction Literature (alongside more... Read More →

Friday September 1, 2017 12:00pm - 1:30pm PDT
Truman (40)

Lit, Paper Panel

Logistics audience microphone, HDMI connect to proj, house sound, microphone x2, Podium, power, Projector, projector screen, projector table, theatre set up
Panel Type Paper Presentation Panel

1:15pm PDT

An Everyday Future: Including Popular Culture in Science Fiction

Science Fiction writers take great pleasure in breaking the Fourth Wall and pepper their Fantasy or Science Fiction worlds with Pop Culture references. It may be a nod to a classic or successful video game. It could be a reference to a favorite movie. Popular Culture can make works more relatable, or even broaden the worldbuilding and technology of their fictional futures, but how will pop culture date your work? And what about removing pop culture from your world? What are the challenges there? (Example: Why haven't survivors in zombie apocalypses never seem to know any zombie lore?) In this panel, writers give their own perspective on the tightrope walk when making pop culture references and creating their own pop culture.

Moderators

Tee Morris

Author

Tee Morris has been writing science fiction, fantasy, horror, and non-fiction for over a decade. His first novel, MOREVI: The Chronicles of Rafe & Askana, became the first novel to be podcast in its entirety, ushering in a new age for authors — podcasting. He went on with... Read More →

Speakers

Catherine Asaro

Two-time Nebula ® award winner Catherine Asaro writes science fiction, fantasy and thrillers, and has over twenty-seven novels, as well as many novellas, short stories and non-fiction. Her acclaimed “Ruby Dynasty series,” also known as “The Skolian Saga,” combines adventure, hard... Read More →

Nick Kelly

Nick Kelly is a veteran musician, trainer, writer, and speaker. His musical travels have taken him all over the United States. He is the author of the Leon “Catwalk” Caliber cyberpunk series, which debuted in the 2001 comic, Independent Voices 3 and continues in novels starting... Read More →

Volunteers

Aisha Matthews

Director of Literature Programs at Escape Velocity, Museum of Science Fiction

Friday September 1, 2017 1:15pm - 2:15pm PDT
Harding (100)

Lit

Logistics microphone x4, Projector, projector screen, table for projector, head table, chairs, power, house sound, theatre set up
Panel Type Roundtable Discussion

2:30pm PDT

Literary Representations of AI and Robotics

Scholars will discuss the role of artificial intelligence and robotics in science and speculative fiction literatures. They will address questions such as: Why do so many texts depict the dangers of AI? Why are we so afraid of our creations gaining sentience and turning against us? What do we stand to lose? To gain? Why does organic humanity need to be the only rational consciousness? And how closely do these texts mirror the reality of today's tech?

Moderators

Despina Kakoudaki

Despina Kakoudaki is Associate Professor of Literature at American University, and director of the Humanities Lab, an interdisciplinary research center in Washington DC. She works on film and media studies, science fiction, cultural studies, literature, and the history of technology... Read More →

Speakers

DB Bauer

DB Bauer is a doctoral student at the University of Maryland. DB’s work explores the relationship between digital technologies and humans, often centralizing speculative material culture, interface and design, and maker practices, specifically 3D printing.

Thaddeus Howze

Attendee, Krypton Radio

Thaddeus Howze is an award-winning writer, editor, podcaster and activist creating speculative fiction, scientific, political and cultural commentary from his office in Hayward, California. Thaddeus works as a writer and editor for two magazines, the Good Men Project, a men's magazine... Read More →

Anastasia Klimchynskaya

Anastasia Klimchynskaya is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute on the Formation of Knowledge at the University of Chicago. Her current book project focuses on articulating how the new technoscientific paradigm brought about by industrialization gave rise to the literary form... Read More →

June Pulliam

At the tender age of eight, June Pulliam was permitted to stay up by herself and watch George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. She was so traumatized by the experience, that she now teaches courses on horror fiction and film at Louisiana State University, where she also teaches... Read More →

Volunteers

Aisha Matthews

Director of Literature Programs at Escape Velocity, Museum of Science Fiction

Friday September 1, 2017 2:30pm - 3:30pm PDT
Harding (100)

Lit

Logistics 5 chairs, audience microphone, head table, house sound, microphone x5, power, Projector, projector screen, projector table, theatre set up
Panel Type Roundtable Discussion

3:45pm PDT

Utopia vs. Dystopia

Scholars discuss the portrayal of utopian (and dystopian) futures in science fiction writings: What are some of the common themes? Have these portrayals changed with time? What are the odds we are heading towards these futures (or trying to move away from them)?

Moderators

Mike Pederson

Fan Guest, RavenCon

Way back in 2004, Mike came up with the crazy idea of hosting a convention in Richmond, VA. He’s been chairing RavenCon ever since.In addition to running RavenCon, Mike published the fanzine Nth Degree for seventeen years, wrote and published the Raven comic book series, and edited... Read More →

Speakers

Meriah Crawford

Thaddeus Howze

Attendee, Krypton Radio

Diane Samuelson

Diane Samuelson has a Master's degree in 20th Century English Literature from the University of Edinburgh. Research interests include Golden Age sf, utopian/dystopian literature, underlying philosophies of sf, and early comics. Diane is also an actor, ballroom dance instructor... Read More →

Volunteers

Jandy Hanna

Friday September 1, 2017 3:45pm - 4:45pm PDT
Harding (100)

Lit

Logistics 5 chairs, audience microphone, house sound, microphone x5, power, Projector, projector screen, projector table, theatre set up
Panel Type Roundtable Discussion

5:00pm PDT

Visions of the Future: Science Fiction Between Science and Scripture

Science fiction, as Ursula LeGuin once argued, often uses the futuristic setting of stories as a way of analyzing and critiquing the present. In that way, science fiction is “about” the present; by showing a future that the present might plausibly develop into, a piece of science fiction can help to highlight those features of the present that are worth strengthening, as well as those that ought to be minimized or left behind. This literary form finds a rather direct parallel in the prophetic stories populating the sacred texts of many different religions — there too, the future is used to critique and analyze the present. The difference is that science fiction *also* insists on fidelity to science, making apparent miracles into occasions to be explained rather than testimonies of faith. Our panel explores these overlaps and tensions, particularly highlighting those works of science fiction that explicitly deal with religion as they advance their purportedly secular visions. Join representatives from a variety of faith traditions for a rousing conversation!

Moderators

Patrick Thaddeus Jackson

Professor and Associate Dean, American University

Patrick Thaddeus Jackson is Professor of International Studies and Associate Dean for Curriculum and Learning in the School of International Service at American University in Washington, DC. In addition to his work in the philosophy of science and the politics of national and transnational... Read More →

Speakers

Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad

President, director, Minaret of Freedom Institute

Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, Ph.D. is an internationally known interdisciplinary scientist of Palestinian descent, born at sea and raised in the United States. He is author of Signs in the Heavens: A Muslim Astronomer's Perspective on Religion and Science and he teaches courses on Islamic... Read More →

Holly Jackson

Pastor, United Church of Christ of Seneca Valley

The Reverend Holly R. Jackson became pastor at UCCSV in August 2016. Previously, she served as the Minister of Christian Education at Hope UCC in Alexandria, VA. As someone who is passionate about children and families, Holly has also spent time a Stay-at-Home Parent and a School... Read More →

Mark Schaefer

University Chaplain, American University

Mark is the tenth University Chaplain in American University's history, appointed to the position in September 2016 after having served for 14 years as AU's United Methodist Chaplain. He is a graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary and is an ordained elder in the Baltimore-Washington... Read More →

Volunteers

Stacy Bruss

Director, Event Programming, Museum of Science Fiction

Stacy Bruss, MS, MSIS, is a reference librarian at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). At NIST, she supports all Physical Measurement Laboratory researchers and manages the Innovation Hub, a center with 3-D printers, technology bar, data visualization tools... Read More →

Friday September 1, 2017 5:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
Harding (100)

Lit

Logistics chairs, head table, house sound, microphone x4, power, Projector, projector screen, table for projector, theatre set up

6:15pm PDT

An Eternal Optimist: Arthur C. Clarke and the Search for What’s Next

Arthur C. Clarke, famed for co-writing “2001: A Space Odyssey,” based on one of his own much earlier short stories, was above all else an optimist who eagerly embraced not only what was coming next but what was coming after that. While his own long life story featured heavy involvement in the Second World War, where he was close to the cutting edge of implementing a new key technology, radar, he remained an optimist about technology helping to make life better for humankind both on earth and among the stars. His dreams were not founded on fantasy but on science, science just over the edge into the nearly impossible. Who else but Clarke could have taken the swords of the war just ended and propose using those technologies to envision global television using geosynchronous satellites? This panel will explore the fascinating life and works of Sir Arthur Clarke as the anniversary of his birth 100 years ago approaches.

Moderators

Timothy Logue

Senior Consultant, HISe, LLC

Timothy J. Logue is a lifelong science fiction fan who has been fortunate to work in thespace and satellite sectors for almost 40 years. He is currently Senior Director, Sales and Business Development, for Thales Alenia Space, a major European space manufacturer, in Washington, D.C... Read More →

Speakers

Mason Peck

Associate Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University

Dr. Peck is an Associate Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University and is a former NASA Chief Technologist. He has also worked at Boeing and Honeywell. His research interests include space-systems architecture and satellite flight dynamics. Among other... Read More →

Dr. Joseph Pelton

Chairman, Alliance for Collaboration in the Exploration of Space

Dr. Joseph N. Pelton is Chairman of the Alliance for Collaboration in the Exploration of Space (ACES Worldwide https://acesworldwide.org He is also Director of Academics and Research for the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS) and chairman of IAASS... Read More →

Walda Roseman

CEO, CompassRose International

Walda Roseman is Chair of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation. She is CEO of CompassRose International, an international ICT advisory firm that she established in 1993 and that she led until she joined the Internet Society in 2011. She returned to CompassRose in 2015. At the Internet... Read More →

Volunteers

Stacy Bruss

Director, Event Programming, Museum of Science Fiction

Friday September 1, 2017 6:15pm - 7:15pm PDT
6 - East (250)

Lit

Logistics chairs, head table, house sound, microphone x4, power, Projector, projector screen, table for projector, theatre set up

6:15pm PDT

Science Fiction Criticism: Suvin and Beyond

Good SF is more than just entertainment, and the ever-increasing amount of critical attention it is receiving suggests that people have stopped viewing it as "mere" genre fiction. Addressing the legacy of Darko Suvin and his articulation of cognitive estrangement, panelists will discuss the state of modern science fiction criticism and the areas of inquiry most relevant to the serious study of the genre.

Moderators

Aisha Matthews

Director of Literature Programs at Escape Velocity, Museum of Science Fiction

Speakers

André Carrington

andré carrington is currently Assistant Professor of African American literature at Drexel University. His first book, Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction (Minnesota, 2016) interrogates the cultural politics of race in the fantastic genres through studies... Read More →

Anastasia Klimchynskaya

Patrick Sharp

Professor of Liberal Studies, Cal State Los Angeles

Friday September 1, 2017 6:15pm - 7:15pm PDT
Harding (100)

Lit, Roundtable Discussion

Logistics 4 chairs, audience microphone, HDMI connect to proj, head table, house sound, microphone x4, power, Projector, projector screen, theatre set up
Panel Type Roundtable Discussion

7:30pm PDT

Science in Science Fiction Media: the Good, the Bad, and the Amusing

Catherine Asaro will talk the science in movies and tv shows, with examples from shows such as Star Trek, Star Wars, and last summer's blockbuster, Wonder Woman. Come see some of the best, the worst, and the most entertaining examples of how popular culture uses science in our entertainment.

Moderators

Catherine Asaro

Volunteers

Aisha Matthews

Director of Literature Programs at Escape Velocity, Museum of Science Fiction

Linda Zaruches

Friday September 1, 2017 7:30pm - 8:30pm PDT
Wilson BC (190)

Lit

Logistics HDMI connect to proj, house sound, microphone, Podium, power, Projector, projector screen, projector table

7:30pm PDT

Trauma, Mental Health, and Disability

More than 1 in 10 Americans live with an apparent disability. If you include less apparent disabilities such as mental health conditions, the number increases to 1 in 5. And yet, the portrayal of disability in science fiction, like characters in blackface, has struggled to move beyond stereotypes lacking depth or understanding of the disability experience: exaggerated caricatures of heroes, victims, sidekicks, and villains. This is a panel presentation and audience discussion on "Trauma, Mental Health, and Disability" using examples from science fiction, popular culture, and a dash of humor, disability experts at the intersection of technology, science fiction film, and media will discuss how to develop authentic disabled characters and stories.

Moderators

Day Al-Mohamed

Author/Filmmaker/Disability Policy Executive

Day Al-Mohamed is an award-winning filmmaker, author, and disability policy executive. She is a host on Idobi Radio’s Geek Girl Riot (https://idobi.com/show/geek-girl-riot/) with an audience of more than 80,000 listeners, and her most recent novella, “The Labyrinth’s Archivist... Read More →

Speakers

Patrick Cokley

Marianne Kirby

Marianne Kirby writes about bodies both real and imagined. She plays with the liminal space between vanishing and visibility. She authored Dust Bath Revival and its sequel Hogtown Market; she co-authored Lessons from the Fatosphere: Quit Dieting and Declare a Truce with Your Body.A... Read More →

Kamilah Martin-Proctor

Chair, Martin MS Alliance

Kamilah Oni Martin-Proctor, Founder of the Martin Multiple Sclerosis Alliance Foundation (MMSAF) www.ManyFacesofMS.org currently serving as chair on Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Commission on Persons with Disabilities, a community advocate and patient support representative. Mrs. Martin-Proctor... Read More →

Volunteers

Stacy Bruss

Director, Event Programming, Museum of Science Fiction

Friday September 1, 2017 7:30pm - 8:30pm PDT
Truman (40)

Lit Pop Culture

Logistics HDMI connect to proj, microphone x4, power, Projector, projector screen, projector table

7:30pm PDT

Science Fiction and the Technology of Matter Duplicators

Join Dr Phil Frana as we discuss the very real science behind matter replication, as we see in quite a few of our beloved science fiction stories.

Speakers

Phil Frana

Associate Dean and Associate Professor, James Madison University

Philip Frana is an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies and Associate Dean of the Honors College at James Madison University (Harrisonburg VA). He is currently writing a book on the history of artificial intelligence, The Past, Present, and Future of Artificial... Read More →

Volunteers

Stacy Bruss

Director, Event Programming, Museum of Science Fiction

Jonathan Spencer

Friday September 1, 2017 7:30pm - 8:30pm PDT
6 - East (250)

Lit Science

Logistics audience microphone, chairs, head table, large area sound, microphone, power, Projector, projector screen

9:30am PDT

The Controversies of Hard Science Fiction

Why does so much controversy surround the genre of hard science fiction? Even establishing a definition has long been a source of debate. For this panel, we will define hard science fiction as literature that uses established scientific principles as the jumping off point for plausible extrapolation that is integral to the story. Is it true that hard science fiction concentrates on science to the exclusion of good character development, emotional depth, and literary quality, or is that a stereotype that can't survive in the current age? What constitutes "plausible extrapolation?" Are the hard sciences becoming too advanced to make for a good story? Do you need scientific credentials to write hard sf? In a field once assumed as only for men, who are some of the women writing hard science fiction? Panelists will discuss the many controversies associated with hard science fiction and weigh in with their thoughts.

Moderators

Catherine Asaro

Speakers

Brenda W. Clough

My latest novel, A MOST DANGEROUS WOMAN, is a neo-Victorian thriller just out from Serial Box. My previous novel, How Like a God, is out in e-format from Book View Cafe. My other works there include Revise the World, a time travel novel, and Speak To Our Desires, a dark detective... Read More →

David Walton

David Walton is an award-winning science fiction author, a space industry engineer, and the father of eight children. His latest book, THREE LAWS LETHAL (Pyr, 2019), takes on the future of the self-driving car industry, with its legal and social ramifications, while exploring the... Read More →

Volunteers

Aisha Matthews

Director of Literature Programs at Escape Velocity, Museum of Science Fiction

Linda Zaruches

Saturday September 2, 2017 9:30am - 10:30am PDT
Harding (100)

Lit, Guest, Roundtable Discussion

Logistics audience microphone, chairs, HDMI connect to proj, head table, house sound, microphone x4, power, Projector, projector screen, projector table

10:45am PDT

Diversity and Storytelling in Emerging Media

Storytelling innovations within emerging media fields that have arose in recent years provide an ideal lense through which we can see the projection of different life experiences into the future. Inclusive and intersectional stories of the future can help pave the way for those futures to become a reality in the present and in the process, tremendous opportunities to innovate the storytelling process along the way.

Moderators

Jeffrey Rutenbeck

American University

Jeffrey Rutenbeck is the Dean of the School of Communication (SOC) at American University in Washington, DC. Since 2012, Dr. Rutenbeck has worked to build McKinley Hall, the new home for the School of Communication (SOC) and expanding the Dean’s Internships with organizations... Read More →

Speakers

Brigid Maher

Brigid Maher is the Director of the Film and Media Arts Division and a tenured, associate professor in the School of Communication. She is the Director of the Community Voice Project and Senior Fellow at the Center for Media and Social Impact.Her latest documentary, The Mama Sherpas... Read More →

Montré Aza Missouri

Montré Aza Missouri is an Associate Professor in Film at Howard University, author of the black feminist film and culture studies book "Black Magic Woman and Narrative Film: Race, Sex and Afro-Religiosity" published by Palgrave Macmillan and founder of the independent film organization... Read More →

Bryan Monroe

Bryan Monroe is the Verizon Chair and Professor at Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication. Before joining Temple, he was most recently the Washington Editor, Opinion & Commentary at CNN and the editor of CNNPolitics.com. His work at the network included editorial planning and content strategy across all online platforms for CNN in its Washington, D.C. bureau. He also served as the assistant vice president of news at Knight Ridder Newspapers, where he helped lead journalists at the Biloxi Sun Herald... Read More →

Latoya Peterson

Latoya Peterson is a writer, producer, and futurist based in DC. She spends a lot of time looking at emerging technology and counterprogramming for social justice. She is currently the Deputy Editor over Digital Innovation for ESPN's The Undefeated.

Volunteers

Stacy Bruss

Director, Event Programming, Museum of Science Fiction

Saturday September 2, 2017 10:45am - 11:45am PDT
Harding (100)

Lit

Logistics head table, house sound, microphone x5, Podium, Projector, projector screen, projector table, theatre seating

10:45am PDT

Sci-Fi at a Top STEM High School

Students from the science fiction and fantasy writing club at the highly-ranked Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology share their experiences writing science fiction, and discuss how they balance their research and writing.

Moderators

Milan Wolff

Milan Wolff is the former president of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writing Club at one of the nation's top high schools, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. A recent graduate of TJHSST, he will be attending the College of William & Mary in the fall, where he... Read More →

Speakers

Jack McLaughlan

Madeline Old

Volunteers

Shauna Fitzgerald

Vice President, Special Events and Planning, Museum of Science Fiction

Science fiction has been a part of Shauna’s life since she was three years old. Her earliest memories include watching reruns of The Twilight Zone and Star Trek. In high school and college, she often convinced her English teachers to let her read and write reports on science fiction... Read More →

Saturday September 2, 2017 10:45am - 11:45am PDT
Wilson BC (190)

Lit

Logistics chairs, head table, house sound, microphone x4, power, Projector, projector screen, table for projector

12:00pm PDT

Man As Machine: Androids & Cyborgs in Literature

Are humans more than the sum of their parts, or are they merely organic machines, as philosophers from antiquity on have suggested? Today, new innovations in science and technology provide new ways to interrogate this question, even as they continue to raise it. On the one hand, increasingly advanced prosthetics, neural interfaces (such as Elon Musk’s recently-announced Neuralink), and other enhancements allow us to go beyond the limitations of our human bodies. On the other hand, machine intelligence now rivals, and even supersedes, humans in everything from game-playing strategies to driving and facial recognition, suggesting that we’re moving closer to the holy grail of creating an artificial sentient being. These innovations pose the ultimate question: what does it mean to be human? More specifically, (how) do our physical bodies define us and shape our humanity, and how might we retain that humanity as we change, or even transcend, those bodies?

Moderators

Anastasia Klimchynskaya

Speakers

Anika Dane

Anika Dane is a freelance blogger and lecturer with a special interest in fairy tales and space opera. She writes and presents on a variety of topics including fashion, feminism, geek and genre media, pop culture, and modern mythology. Anika's educational background is in the... Read More →

Thaddeus Howze

Attendee, Krypton Radio

Joseph Hurtgen

Joseph Hurtgen has a PhD in English Literature from Ball State University and teaches at Young Harris College. He has had journal articles published in Text in Context, Margaret Atwood Studies, The Quint, and JOSF. A book with McFarland, Archival Embodiment in Science Fiction, is... Read More →

Patrick Thaddeus Jackson

Professor and Associate Dean, American University

Volunteers

Aisha Matthews

Director of Literature Programs at Escape Velocity, Museum of Science Fiction

Saturday September 2, 2017 12:00pm - 1:00pm PDT
Harding (100)

Lit

Logistics 5 chairs, audience microphone, head table, house sound, microphone x5, power, Projector, projector screen, table for projector, theatre set up

1:15pm PDT

Young Adult Science Fiction Literature for Girls

While science fiction has always appealed to young readers, some of today's pre-teen and teen fiction is making a real effort to reach a female audience by featuring strong female protagonists or tapping into other genres that are popular with girls. Come talk about "gateway" science fiction for young readers, especially girls! (And don't forget to bring along your recommendations so you can join the conversation.)

Moderators

Santha Walters

Classroom Teacher, Bellevue Public Schools

Santha Walters is an 8th Grade Language Arts Teacher and the Building Technology Coordinator for Logan Fontenelle Middle School. Her school is located within a technology-based district, and thus she has advocated for and helped implement STEM education into the standard curriculum... Read More →

Speakers

Rebecca Holden

Rebecca J. Holden is a fan and scholar of feminist science fiction. She earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has been teaching in the Professional Writing Program at the University of Maryland, College Park since 2008. She has published... Read More →

Erica Massey

Erica Massey is a PhD student and graduate instructor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. She specializes in comics and fandom studies, as well as book history, digital ethnography, disability and minority literature. A two-time speaker at Dragon Con’s Comics and... Read More →

Aisha Matthews

Director of Literature Programs at Escape Velocity, Museum of Science Fiction

June Pulliam

Saturday September 2, 2017 1:15pm - 2:15pm PDT
Harding (100)

Lit

Logistics 5 chairs, audience microphone, HDMI connect to proj, head table, house sound, microphone x5, power, Projector, projector screen, projector table, theatre seating
Panel Type Roundtable Discussion

2:30pm PDT

The Journal of Science Fiction/CESK Anthology

Did you know that the Museum of Science Fiction sponsors a JOSF (Journal of Science Fiction)? Join us for a discussion with some of the contributors to learn about the Journal, what the process for contributing an academic article is like, and to learn a bit more about up and coming science fiction writers.

Moderators

Jandy Hanna

Speakers

Catherine Asaro

Joseph Hurtgen

Kiini Ibura

Kiini Ibura Salaam is a writer, painter, and traveler from New Orleans, Louisiana. Her work is rooted in speculative events, women's perspectives, and artistic freedom. Her fiction has been published in such anthologies as Dark Matter, Mojo: Conjure Stories, Black Silk, and Dark Eros... Read More →

Melanie Marotta

Melanie A. Marotta received her PhD in English from Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland. She is a Lecturer in the Department of English and Language Arts. Marotta is an editor for the Museum of Science Fiction’s Journal of Science Fiction and has been a member of the SFRA... Read More →

Moira O’Keeffe

Moira O’Keeffe received her Ph.D. in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Her contribution to the Journal of Science Fiction explores how informal science education can be tied to science fiction media. She is an Associate... Read More →

Saturday September 2, 2017 2:30pm - 3:30pm PDT
Harding (100)

Lit

Logistics head table, house sound, microphone x6, Podium, power, theatre set up, 6 chairs

4:30pm PDT

Afrofuturism: Butler and Beyond

Afrofuturism can be characterized as an artistic movement - one that attempts to discover, recover, and reinvent the film, literature, and graphic art created by African-Americans and other Afro-diaspora peoples across the globe. Most fundamentally, literary Afrofuturism attempts to imagine a future in which black peoples and cultures have found a voice and gained visibility alongside or apart from traditional Eurocentric themes and traditions, which both respects the legacy of African-American and Afro-diaspora peoples and attempts to break free of the stereotypes and historical injustices that define so much of modern race-related thinking. This marriage of African-American literature and SF yields interesting discourses on race, gender, technology, and the face of the future. Scholars will discuss Afrofuturist literature, its legacy, its ethos, and its most pressing questions.

Moderators

Aisha Matthews

Director of Literature Programs at Escape Velocity, Museum of Science Fiction

Speakers

André Carrington

Thaddeus Howze

Attendee, Krypton Radio

De Witt Douglas Kilgore

De Witt Douglas Kilgore is Associate Professor of English and American Studies at Indiana University. He is the author of Astrofuturism: Science, Race and Visions of Utopia in Space (2003). His recent work includes, “This Time for Africa!: Afrofuturism as Alternate (American... Read More →

Kristen Lillvis

Kristen Lillvis is an associate professor of English at Marshall University. She is the author of Posthuman Blackness and the Black Female Imagination (U of Georgia P, 2017), and the co-editor of Community Boundaries and Border Crossings: Critical Essays on Ethnic Women Writers... Read More →

Melanie Marotta

Sheree Renée Thomas

Editor: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

Sheree Renée Thomas, a 2022 Hugo Award Finalist, is an award-winning fiction writer, poet, and editor. Her work is inspired by myth and folklore, natural science and Mississippi Delta conjure. Nine Bar Blues: Stories from an Ancient Future (Third Man Books, May 2020) is her fir... Read More →

Saturday September 2, 2017 4:30pm - 6:30pm PDT
Wilson BC (190)

Lit, Roundtable Discussion

Logistics 7 chairs, audience microphone, HDMI connect to proj, head table, house sound, microphone x7, power, Projector, projector screen, projector table, theatre set up
Panel Type Roundtable Discussion

5:15pm PDT

Science Worth Telling the Future About

Richard Feynman asked “If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words?” – his answer was “All things are made of atoms - little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another.” Our panelists will discuss what other scientific ideas can and should be summarized briefly to preserve them in case of future disaster, and also consider strategies to ensure that this information is heeded.

Moderators

Andrew E. Love

Andrew Love has Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics and works as an engineer in Maryland. He has given talks about the science of science fiction, reasoning skills, general relativity, the likelihood of alien life and other topics to a wide range of audience (middle... Read More →

Speakers

Catherine Asaro

David Walton

Volunteers

Stacy Bruss

Director, Event Programming, Museum of Science Fiction

Saturday September 2, 2017 5:15pm - 6:15pm PDT
Hoover (100)

Lit Science

Logistics chairs, head table, house sound, microphone x3, power, Projector, projector screen, table for projector

6:45pm PDT

I, the Alien; or the Alien as Self

Sci fi narratives are often seen as an excellent place to explore foreign entities and species. It is also a unique tool to explain the alien as self. This panel will explore the usage of alien narratives to represent the alienated self as a representation of people who have been pushed aside, ignored, or rendered invisible. This panel asks: How do sci fi narratives give voice to populations and individuals who are seen as alien or other?

Moderators

Kiini Ibura

Speakers

Thaddeus Howze

Attendee, Krypton Radio

De Witt Douglas Kilgore

Jennifer Lobasz

Jennifer K. Lobasz is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware, with a joint appointment in the Department of Women and Gender Studies. Dr. Lobasz's research and teaching interests include feminist international... Read More →

Sheree Renée Thomas

Editor: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction

Volunteers

Jandy Hanna

Saturday September 2, 2017 6:45pm - 7:45pm PDT
Wilson BC (190)

Lit, Roundtable Discussion

Logistics 5 chairs, head table, house sound, microphone x5, power, Projector, projector screen, projector table, theatre set up

8:00pm PDT

What's Gender Got to Do With It?

In the wake of the inauguration day Women’s March and chilling book-to-screen adaptations such as Hulu’s new retelling of Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, science fiction narratives exploring gender, both within the constraints of the traditional gender binary and in the postmodern mode of gender as performance, are in high demand. This discussion will explore unique (and not-so-unique) representations of gender throughout science and speculative fiction literatures, and ultimately debate the extent of the progress that contemporary authors have made in the direction of gender equality in science fiction.

Moderators

Jennifer Lobasz

Speakers

Catherine Asaro

Rebecca Holden

Kiini Ibura

Volunteers

Aisha Matthews

Director of Literature Programs at Escape Velocity, Museum of Science Fiction

Saturday September 2, 2017 8:00pm - 9:00pm PDT
Wilson BC (190)

Lit

Logistics 4 chairs, audience microphone, head table, microphone x4, power, Projector, projector screen, projector table, theatre set up
Panel Type Roundtable Discussion

10:00am PDT

Science Fiction as Science?

Is science fiction a working part of the modern "scientific enterprise?" Is it just a genre of fantastic stories, or does it produce real knowledge for the advancement of the human species? And if so, what kind of knowledge does it produce? Even though SF has a long history of "predicting" scientific and technological advance, and many writers and readers of SF work in scientific and technical fields, its concrete relationship to the conduct of professional Science itself is not very well understood. Using Kuhn as a starting point, this panel invites participants to investigate the "extraordinary" role of Science Fiction in the conduct of modern Science, and answer the question: is Science Fiction, "science"?

Moderators

Anastasia Klimchynskaya

Speakers

Phil Frana

Associate Dean and Associate Professor, James Madison University

Dr. Kenneth Wong

Associate Dean, Virginia Tech

Volunteers

Stacy Bruss

Director, Event Programming, Museum of Science Fiction

Sunday September 3, 2017 10:00am - 11:00am PDT
3 - North (250)

Lit Science

Logistics chairs, head table, house sound, microphone x3, power, Projector, projector screen, table for projector

11:00am PDT

Rosarium Publishing - Introducing the World to Itself Since 2013

Informal Q&A about multicultural speculative fiction, particularly about the publication of black comics and literature, and how the challenges of today’s political and social climate complicate and create a greater need for such inclusion in the publishing world.

Speakers

Bill Campbell

Publisher, Rosarium Publishing

he/him/his

Volunteers

Aisha Matthews

Director of Literature Programs at Escape Velocity, Museum of Science Fiction

Sunday September 3, 2017 11:00am - 12:00pm PDT
Harding (100)

Lit, Q&A

Logistics audience microphone, chairs, classroom layout, HDMI connect to proj, microphone, power, Projector, projector screen, projector table

1:30pm PDT

Gender Portrayals in Sci-Fi Literature

In an age where non-traditional gender expression has challenged the heteronormative status quo, the question of gender in science fiction opens up a world of possibilities. But despite our immense progress in human understanding on this issue, much science fiction literature still represents gender in a binary framework, and seems anchored to traditionalist gender roles and character portrayals throughout the genre. Presentations will comment on the ways in which our modern notions of gender shape our speculations on the future, most specifically, in the contexts of posthumanism, transhumanism and artificial intelligence.

Speakers

Erin DeYoung

Presenting "Only a Fragment of What I Had Been”: The Use of the Gender Neutral Pronoun in Ancillary Justice" Erin DeYoung received her PhD from Trinity College Dublin in English Literature. She currently teaches at Savannah State University. She has published articles for The Gale... Read More →

Karissa Underwood

Presenting "The End-of-the-World Heroine We Need: Gender in The Girl With All the Gifts" Karissa Underwood is a student at the University of Colorado Denver, in the midst of earning a Master of Arts in English with a certification in women/gender studies and an endorsement as a school... Read More →

Johana-Marie Williams

Presenting "Motherhood, Race, and Transhumanism in Extant" Johana-Marie Williams received her Masters in Applied Social Science from the History and Political Science program at Florida A&M University. She is a historian focusing on Black women and femme’s relationships with each... Read More →

Volunteers

Aisha Matthews

Director of Literature Programs at Escape Velocity, Museum of Science Fiction

Sunday September 3, 2017 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Harding (100)

Lit, Paper Panel

Logistics audience microphone, HDMI connect to proj, house sound, microphone x3, Podium, power, Projector, projector screen, projector table, theatre set up
Panel Type Paper Presentation

3:00pm PDT

Inter-Faith Service

Moderators

Lit Main Events

Logistics chairs, head table, house sound, microphone x3, power, Projector, projector screen, table for projector, theatre set up