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A beautifully told story with colorful characters out of epic tradition, a tight and complex plot, and solid pacing. -- Booklist, starred review of On the Razor's Edge

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Monday, January 13, 2014

The Oxonian TOF

TOF's essay, "Discovering Eifelheim" has been accepted into the anthology Medieval Science Fiction to be published by Oxford University Press.  
This collection of essays will aim to read the Middle Ages through the lens of modern Science Fiction, and vice versa. We ask whether ongoing contemporary discussions about medieval literature and culture on the one hand, and about the SF genre, its history and its future, on the other, can be brought into explosive contact. Contributors will consider where, how and why ‘science’ and ‘fiction’ intersect in the medieval period; explore the ways in which works of modern SF illuminate medieval counterparts; but also identify both the presence and absence of the medieval past in key SF texts.  As such, the collection will be divided into two parts: ‘Science and Fiction in the Middle Ages’ and ‘the Middle Ages in Science Fiction’. We believe that Medieval Science Fiction will appeal to anyone interested in the history of premodern science, medievalism, genre studies or, more broadly, finding new and innovative ways of reading early texts.
TOF is a little concerned about that "explosive contact" business and hopes that readers will not be injured in the process.
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12 comments:

  1. Thrilled to see "Eifelheim" get academic love! And that volume sounds very interesting. (I bet there was a cage fight over Walter Miller.)

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  2. Is there a publication date? It does not seem to be available for pre-order yet.

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  3. You'll provide us a link to purchase when it becomes available, I trust?

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  4. No I don't have a date. I have a projected TOC, but I don't know that I'm at liberty to post it. There may be changes. Who knows. I know Br. Guy Consolmagno is contributing, and James Hannam.

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  5. I threw Eifelheim and The High Crusade into a pond. High Crusade floated and your book sank. So I burned High Crusade for witchcraft and read Eifelheim. I thought your novel was really wet at first, but then it dried out over time and became really wrinkly. Not sure what that means.

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    Replies

    1. It means, Mr. Shea, that you are a very silly man. You were supposed to read the book that weighed the same as a duck. Anybody knows that!

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    2. Who are you who are so wise in the ways of Science?

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  6. Yay! This sounds like it could be a really interesting book.

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  7. It might be interesting to think of medieval texts as unconsciously rising to the level of being SF in the same way the 1931 western film "Cimarron" could be looked at as SF.

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  8. "Eifelheim" is getting some warm recommendations in the combox over at Fr. Z's review of O'Brien's latest.

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  9. Dear TOF,
    Eifelheim is one of the best scifi books OF ALL TIME.
    IMHO.

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