Dr Paul March-Russell, from the Department of Comparative Literature, is one of the active participants at LonCon, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention to be held 14-18 August at the ExCel centre in the London docklands.
The World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, is an international event for the entire science fiction community, including fans, writers, artists, editors, academics and dealers. The Worldcon embraces all forms of science fiction, from the written word to film, television, comics, anime and gaming. The first Worldcon was held in 1939, and it has been held annually since 1946. This is the third time London has hosted the event.
Paul, who is editor of Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, spoke about his involvement: ‘I am delighted to be involved in LonCon3 because it will be a rare opportunity to meet so many people engaged in sf and fantasy. LonCon3 promises to be one of the largest Worldcons ever – it’s a testimony to the vitality of British sf, and its place in world culture. Fittingly, the theme of this year’s academic programme is “Diversity”.’
Paul will be chairing three academic panels and participating in two roundtable discussions over the weekend:
‘Religion, Spirituality and the Occult in Literature’
Saturday 16 August, 15:00-16:30
There will be three presentations: ‘Spirituality and Syncretism in Pierre Bordage’s Novels’, ‘Phyllis Gotlieb’s Sunday’s Child and the Alien Apocalypse’ and ‘Horrific Insinuations and Jose Saramago’s Dabble in Occult in his Biblical Narrative, Cain’.
‘The World at Worldcon: The State of British SF’
Saturday 16 August, 16:30-18:00
At the last British Worldcon, the genre was (arguably) still in the British Boom, and the New Weird and New Space Opera were hot topics. How does the British market look today? Which writers have shaped the UK field in the last decade?
‘Why Are Alien Languages Inherently Human? An Experiment’
Sunday 17 August, 11:00-12:00
This special session will examine constructed languages (or ‘conlangs’, such as Klingon, Dothraki or Esperanto) and discuss what conlangs can tell us about how we perceive and evaluate natural languages. In the first part of the session the audeience will be able to take part in a live experiment on the perception of languages.
‘Different Views of London’
Sunday 17 August, 13:30-15:00
There will be three presentations: ‘London Death Drives: The Destruction of London in SF Film’; ‘”Dismantling the Impossible”: London, Metafiction and Time Travel in Félix J. Palma’s The Map of Time and The Map of the Sky’; ‘The Street Where You Live: Home Addresses in Fantastic London’.
‘The Darkening Garden’
Sunday 17 August, 16:30-18:00
John Clute’s The Darkening Garden (2007) argues for horror as a core mode of twenty-first century fiction. It proposes a narrative ‘grammar’ for horror stories that progresses from ‘sighting’ through ‘thickening’ to the ‘revel’ and then ‘aftermath’. What implications does this structure have for our understanding of horror, as a commercial genre and as a literary form? What works escape its grasp, and why?
LonCon can be booked for single days or all five days, with discounts for those aged 26 or under. For details how how to book, please see the webpage here:
http://www.loncon3.org/memberships/