This time I want to talk about an awesome first-time conference that happened in October in Los Angeles. The second edition of this conference will be in September 2025 and I wanted to write a little journal about my experience and why I think people should check out this conference.
The Speculative Fiction Across Media is an academic conference that covers genre fiction in all expressions throughout all media. It is a small academic-themed conference and I learned a lot attending it. The theme of the first year was Queens of the Future, women in Science Fiction. As soon as it was announced I submitted an abstract to present my paper on the impact of DC Fontana that was already published in Issue 147 of Foundation.
My trip started with the Surfliner train from San Diego, for three hours of uninterrupted reading. I was already 110 pages into San Diego homey Brian Asman’s first novel Good Dogs, so I read that for a bit. Since I booked this trip months ago I decided to save the classic novel by David Gerrold The Man Who Folded Himself for the occasion. For a couple of reasons, I am traveling to do a lecture on DC Fontana. I interviewed Gerrold for background; she was his son’s godmother. He is an LA author. Also, it is 170 pages and I thought it would make a good one-sitting read, and yes, indeed it was.
As engrossed in the book as I was… the trip flew by. Taking the bus through east Los Angeles was interesting for me. It is a part of the city I have not seen before. Got to the courtyard Marriott around 6 PM making it a four-hour trip total. Anyone going to the conference from out-of-town flights into Burbank makes more sense than LAX.
After checking in I went to eat at Happy Family Vegetarian Restaurant across the street. In the lobby, I ran into author Andy Davidson (one of three people I know already at the conference) . I am a big fan of his novel In the Valley of the Sun. We chatted for a bit and then I went to dinner.
I skipped the opening ceremonies to edit my PowerPoint, but then I felt a little wired, so I hit the treadmill at 9:45. The hotel that the conference is at is a nice place, with a restaurant, coffee, and Boba tea joints. It has a big, beautiful lobby filled with people working or hanging out, a pool, and a fitness room. My room was on the west side of the 6th floor with a view of downtown and if you have good vision you could see the Hollywood sign. Just know if you want to get out and do LA tourist things that are far away from where you are staying. That is good for you to focus on the conference.
I had the workshops I wanted to go to picked out months in advance, and stuck to that for the most part.
8:30 AM I planned on going to the Images of Women block. I was interested in the “Domestic Space in Anne McCaffery” talk by Audrey Taylor. The talk focused on domestic settings in the classic author’s work and argued she is underrated for how sex-positive her science fiction is. The talk was well-researched, and something I enjoyed listening to in part because I have not read much Anne McCaffery. Taylor’s paper highlights how as a woman her use of world-building often highlights the domestic spaces in her work. Good start to the day. Taylor is working on a book about McCaffery and I look forward to reading it.
Next up Anna Wohhlgemuth who is a PH.D student in set design “From the Darkness: A Practice-Based Research on Feminist Aesthetics for Future Storytelling in Popular Media” She had a collage of clips of women in science fiction films TV and various other media. It is a mostly artistic expression of body horror and women’s bodies. A cool presentation followed by an excellent discussion in Q and A. That is when I first felt the vibe being around our tribe, SF academics who like going deep and talking about these themes.
I went to the coffee break and met a pair of scholars Colin Milburn from UC Davis who studies the intersection of Science fiction and technology, and Steven Shaviro who retired from Wayne State. We had a nice talk about PKD, John Brunner, and the new wave.
The next block kicked off with a paper by one of the local organizers Patrick B. Sharp – “Green Cities and Nascent Ecofeminism in Early Science Fiction Magazines” he opened by talking about Claire Winger Harris’s The Miracle of the Lily. A story I love so I was eating this up. Sharp did an amazing job and refers to it as a precursor to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. I wrote down some notes I like that Sharp highlighted how the story de-centers humanity. I was excited because I like this story.
Up next is Karoline Huber’s paper “Enclosure and Escape: The Female Bildungsroman in Speculative Climate Fiction” This paper talks about Kim Stanley Robinson’s Aurora. Huber used the term Anthropocene horror – and it is one I relate to. Because her talk was short, it was mostly focused on one book. I enjoyed that, but I am interested in reading more deeply on the topic. Very good talk, that I enjoyed.
Up next was Sheyda Safaeyan, “The Grit that Made the Pearl’ or a Plantesque “Passenger?: Peeking Through the Paradoxical Patterns of Obfuscation in Jeff VanderMeer’s The Southern Reach Series” A study of the Southern Reach trilogy Very interesting talk that was not super on theme with the weekend. But great. The talk was about alien communication through plants, that may be a painful simplification but that is the notes I have.
There was a box lunch and I sat with Audrey Taylor of Colorado State University Pueblo and talked about her class teaching horror. It was a nice conversation and very interesting how an academic who is not a super huge horror fan teaches the genre. I ducked back to my room for a few minutes before the next session.
It’s Alive!: How Frankenstein Reimaginings Are Telling Marginalized Stories with Lisa Kroger, Andy Davidson, Justin C. Key, Rebekah McKendry This was an excellent panel hosted by Lisa Kroger I am a big fan of her book/podcast Monster She Wrote and Andy Davidson was on the panel. I really enjoyed All four members of the panel. Made a big list of Frankenstein-related movies and books I need to read. I think I came away from it convinced I needed to see Lisa Frankenstein as it came up many, many times.
I was in the next block of speakers, and in that block were two legendary SF academics. Brian Attebery was up first. I am familiar with his work and was excited for his talk. “The Women Nobody Saw: Concealed Identities and Covert Messages in Women’s Science Fiction of the 1970s” clearly was themed similarly as my talk since Dorthy Fontana did the same thing. Brian gave great context for authors I was not as familiar with and I recommend the paper if you can track it down.
Up next was Steven Shaviro, “On (not) Saving the World: Joanna Russ’ Extra(Ordinary) People.” I met Steven early in the day and enjoyed a discussion we had about John Brunner. I was excited for his talk as I am a new fan of Russ, having only read two novels. This was about Russ’s last novel, and the details were exciting to dig into it. Again, the paper will be published in… a book on my list.
Up next was my PowerPoint presentation “Can I Tell You a Story: The Impact of Dorothy Fontana on 20th-Century Science Fiction” Since I was sitting up front I had no idea the room had filled up. I was very happy to see a broad audience. I felt really good about the talk and the reception. A woman in the Q and A said “I had no idea what a badass Dorothy was.” I think people were surprised by the sources. I want to thank Andy Davidson, who I greatly respect, and who told me I needed to write a book on the subject. That was kind.
I got invited to a couple of dinners and social things. I was feeling a bit overstimulated, so I choose to go for a walk and just hang in my room. I watched the WNBA finals game 4, that was a great game. Got this excellent photo of the sunset over downtown LA from my room. And Door Dashed some amazing Vegan Hawaiian BBQ. If you are in LA order from Lucky Catsu. The Island mock Chicken-fries.
In the morning I was on an amazing panel about Joan Slonczewski’s groundbreaking eco-feminist classic A Door into the Ocean with Jeanne Griggs, Brian Attebery and the author Joan Slonczewski. If you have not read it…Fix that. As I said in my review…A fantastic work of multilayered science fiction that deserves to be remembered as an eco-feminist classic. I am not sure the mainstream SF canon remembers as much as it should. A comparison seems cheap, but if I had to make one it has the ecology-centered world-building of a novel like Dune, the political strength of a Dispossessed complete with a moon and planetary division that feels like homage to Leguin. It has a bit of “Way of Water.” The final hundred pages take on a different energy that was closer to what I wanted out of Ron Goulart’s SF comedy Flux, which was about protest movements written in the early 1970s.
The panel was great, I enjoyed the discussion. It was great to meet Joan.
Last was an interview with Science Fiction Award triple crown winner Ann Leckie, this was a wonderful discussion. I listened to much of it from the hallway because I was feeling the need to stretch, but this was in a sense keynote, and the room was full. Leckie was fantastic and gave lots of practical writing advice. I now feel bad that I am the last SF reader not to check out her work. I will fix that.
After that, I had a few hours before my train and decided to go paperback hunting at the Last Bookstore, before hitting Donut Friend for a Vegan milkshake and donuts to bring home.
I found a CL Moore book and I need and got a Raymond L Jones book inspired by Alec Neva-Lee who told me Jones was a favorite of his. I finished reading Good Dogs by Brian Asman and I am typing this as we pass Oceanside on the train back to San Diego.
Next year the theme is Artificial Intelligence: Fantasies, Realities, Futures. I already know the paper I am going to submit and hope to see more people. If you are a scholar studying SF of course I recommend this conference but even serious fans I think you’ll enjoy it and learn. So, SF academics and researchers let’s meet in So Cal let’s meet up next September.
