Call for Papers: Image in Science Fiction: The Tenth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium
Deadline for CFP: Friday, Oct. 31, 2025
Date and Time of Event: Tuesday, December 2, 2025, 9:00AM-5:00PM EST
Location: Academic Building A-105, New York City College of Technology (City Tech), CUNY
Organizers: Jill Belli, Wanett Clyde, Jason W. Ellis, Leigh Gold, Kel Karpinski, Lucas Kwong, and Vivian Zuluaga Papp
Science Fiction (SF) is an image driven genre. Whether described in text, see the “dull yellow eye” in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818)); rendered in the two-dimensional art of magazines like Analog; or brought to life in film, TV, and video games, SF imagery continually confirms Gérard Klein’s observation that “science fiction does not proceed directly from science, nor from philosophy, but from the “images (eikons) and representations (eidons)” that these disciplines “unknowingly” produce (“From the Images of Science to Science Fiction,” 2000). SF images abound; how those images are understood and interpreted iterates to infinity.
The Tenth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium explores the many aspects, configurations, and meanings of the image in SF. We invite proposals for 10-20 minute scholarly paper presentations or 40-60 minute panel discussions related to the topic of image in SF broadly construed. Please send a 250-word abstract with title, brief 100-150-word professional bio, and contact information to Jason Ellis (jellis@citytech.cuny.edu) by Friday, October 31, 2025.
Topics with a connection to image in SF might include but certainly are not limited to:
image across modalities: textual, visual, interactive, etc.
images of race, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexuality, and other aspects of identity
images meant to shape understanding of stories and/or sell them (e.g., magazine covers, in-text illustrations, movie posters, trailers)
advertising images in and around SF (e.g., advertising to sell SF as well as non-SF advertising around SF ranging from Big Tobacco to the Johnson Smith Co.
fandom’s use, adaptation, and transformation of images
image and politics
image and meaning
image and representation
SF and photography
SF, simulacra, and simulation
Generative AI and SF
The event will be held in person at the New York City College of Technology (City Tech), CUNY in downtown Brooklyn, New York.
This event is free and open to the public as space permits: an RSVP will be included with the program when announced on the Science Fiction at City Tech website (https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sciencefictionatcitytech/). Free registration will be required for participation.
The event is sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences at the New York City College of Technology, CUNY.
The Annual City Tech Symposium on Science Fiction is held in celebration of the City Tech Science Fiction Collection, an archival holding of over 600-linear feet of magazines, anthologies, novels, and scholarship. It is in the Archives and Special Collections of the Ursula C. Schwerin Library (Library Building, L543C, New York City College of Technology, 300 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201). More information about the collection and how to access it is available here: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sciencefictionatcitytech/librarycollection/.
Call for Papers: Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, and Generative AI: The Ninth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium
Deadline for CFP: Friday, November 8, 2024
Date and Time of Event: Tuesday, December 10, 2024, 9:00AM-5:00PM EST
Location: Academic Building, New York City College of Technology, CUNY
Organizers: Jill Belli, Wanett Clyde, Jason W. Ellis, Leigh Gold, Kel Karpinski, and Vivian Papp
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“Motive,” the construct said. “Real motive problem, with an AI. Not human, see?”
“Well, yeah, obviously.”
“Nope. I mean, it’s not human. And you can’t get a handle on it. Me, I’m not human either, but I respond like one. See?”
“Wait a sec,” Case said. “Are you sentient, or not?”
“Well, it feels like I am, kid, but I’m really just a bunch of ROM. It’s one of them, ah, philosophical questions, I guess …” The ugly laughter sensation rattled down
Case’s spine. “But I ain’t likely to write you no poem, if you follow me. Your AI, it just might. But it ain’t no way human.”
–McCoy “Dixie Flatline” Pauley conversing with Case in William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984)
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William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984) captures some of the anxiety today regarding AI. Less like Skynet and its cybernetic soldiers in Terminator (1984), the passage above gets the heart of the subtleties of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that we are now confronting with Generative AI (much like McCoy Pauley’s ROM or read only memory construct) and the pursuit of AGI or Artificial General Intelligence (akin to the novel’s Wintermute and Neuromancer). Various forms and degrees of AI are transforming human culture and relationships in ways both obvious (e.g., ChatGPT) and obscure (e.g., facial recognition, credit scoring, policing, and carceral sentencing). And like Gibson’s imagined future, the megarich of today are developing and deploying AI for their own capitalistic and ideological ends. While their motives are challenging enough to decipher, those of the eventual AGI systems they create will be even more so.
It is with these concerns in mind that we convene this year’s Ninth City Tech Science Fiction Symposium on the topic of Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, and Generative AI. Science Fiction offers a spectrum of AI perspectives from hopeful to warning. On the one hand there is Murray Leinster’s helpful if mischievous “A Logic Named Joe” (1946), but on the other, there is AM in Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” (1967). Together, we will examine the many connections between SF and AI: anticipation, caution, education, inspiration, prediction, representation, and more.
We invite proposals for 10-20 minute scholarly paper presentations or 40-60 minute panel discussions related to the topic of Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, and Generative AI. Please send a 250-word abstract with title, brief 100-150-word professional bio, and contact information to Jason Ellis (jellis@citytech.cuny.edu) by Friday, November 8, 2024.
Topics with a connection to Science Fiction, Artificial Intelligence, and Generative AI might include but certainly are not limited to:
How is AI represented in SF?
What is the history of AI in SF?
Does AI differ in SF across media (e.g., print, film, television, video games, etc.)?
How does AI affect individuals and society in SF?
How does SF approach AI Ethics including and beyond Asimov’s Laws of Robotics?
What are some of the unintended consequences of AI explored in SF, and what might we learn from those?
What are the utopian and dystopian possibilities of AI in SF?
What examples exist of teaching with AI in SF? Are there lessons for pedagogy today?
How does AI’s energy consumption figure into SF and Climate Fiction?
Are there mundane examples of AI in SF?
What can SF teach AI developers and users?
How is Generative AI depicted in SF?
How is Generative AI disrupting SF work practices (e.g., cover and interior art, writing, production workflows, etc.)?
Can AI make SF?
AI? What, me worry?
The event will be held in person at City Tech in downtown Brooklyn, New York.
This event is free and open to the public as space permits: an RSVP will be included with the program when announced on the Science Fiction at City Tech website (https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sciencefictionatcitytech/). Free registration will be required for participation.
The event is sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences at the New York City College of Technology, CUNY.
The Annual City Tech Symposium on Science Fiction is held in celebration of the City Tech Science Fiction Collection, an archival holding of over 600-linear feet of magazines, anthologies, novels, and scholarship. It is in the Archives and Special Collections of the Ursula C. Schwerin Library (Library Building, L543C, New York City College of Technology, 300 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201). More information about the collection and how to access it is available here: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sciencefictionatcitytech/librarycollection/.
Science Fiction and the Archive: The Seventh Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium
Date and Time:
Tuesday, December 6, 2022, 9:00AM-5:00PM EST
Location:
Online via Zoom, Sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences at the New York City College of Technology, CUNY.
Organizers:
Jill Belli, Wanett Clyde, Jason W. Ellis, Kel Karpinski, and Lucas Kwong
Continuing the explorations and conversations of the previous two symposia on “Race” and “Access” respectively, this year’s City Tech Science Fiction Symposium is focused on the idea of the “Archive.” The potential of the SF Archive as an inclusive and celebratory concept is increasing, and we hope this symposium will be a space to facilitate its expansion through our conversations and collegial debate. Of course, an archive (little a) can refer to practical considerations of Library-based Special Collections like those in the City Tech Science Fiction Collection and others, including the collected materials, cataloging, and providing access. However, we are also thinking of the Archive (big A) in terms of canonicity, cultural preservation, reading lists, and bookstore shelfspace. These latter considerations raise questions about what does and doesn’t get included within what we might call the SF Archive as well as who does and doesn’t get a say in those selections. Therefore, the SF Archive is a broadly based concept that encompasses Libraries and Special Collections and the larger cultural space of fandom, social media, and the marketplace, all of which involve the exchange of cultural capital, influence by different forms of gatekeepers, and conversations on many levels by different readers about what SF should be valued, recognized, and saved.
The SF Archive changes over time. Perhaps most exciting for the present are the many initiatives to excavate our shared cultural histories for SF that had been overlooked or forgotten but certainly deserving of inclusion, such those by writers of color, women, and LGBTQ+ persons; and efforts to bring global SF to wider audiences thanks to growing networks of readers and scholars versed in the original language of a text and those wanting to experience those stories through translation.
Also, Analog Science Fiction and Fact will announce the winner of their second Analog Award for Emerging Black Voices at this year’s symposium (https://www.analogsf.com/about-analog/analog-emerging-black-voices-award/).
We invite proposals for 10-20 minute scholarly paper presentations or 40-60 minute panel discussions related to the topic of Science Fiction and the Archive. Please send a 250-word abstract with title, brief 100-150-word professional bio, and contact information to Jason Ellis (jellis@citytech.cuny.edu) by October 31, 2022. Topics with a connection to the SF Archive might include but certainly are not limited to:
What is an/the SF Archive?
What is the relationship and interaction between SF archives as physical places and the larger concept of an SF Archive?
What constitutes the SF Archive?
Who decides what goes into the SF Archive?
What role does generation or age play in forming the SF Archive?
What media is included in the SF Archive?
How can the SF Archive be inclusive and representative?
What lineages or clusters of SF based around geography, country, language, identity, culture, etc are in or should be included in the SF Archive?
What barriers are there to building awareness or inclusiveness of an SF type within the larger SF Archive?
What role do digital technologies and social networks play in creating the SF Archive? How do these relate to other technologies of archive formation, including journals, magazines, zines, and conventions?
How are archives depicted in SF? What do these archives hold and what role do they serve within their respective narrative? Can SF depictions of archives serve as a model for the SF Archive?
Like last year (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEFb3DcsZdnfTmMuoZN3sRXxe3VRojf1), the symposium will be held online as a Zoom Webinar. This facilitates a larger and wider audience. Therefore, there are no geographical limitations for participants, but the time for the event’s program will follow Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5:00).
This event is free and open to the public as space permits: an RSVP will be included with the program when announced on the Science Fiction at City Tech website (https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sciencefictionatcitytech/). Free registration will be required for participation.
The event is sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences at the New York City College of Technology, CUNY.
The Annual City Tech Symposium on Science Fiction is held in celebration of the City Tech Science Fiction Collection, an archival holding of over 600-linear feet of magazines, anthologies, novels, and scholarship. It is in the Archives and Special Collections of the Ursula C. Schwerin Library (Library Building, L543C, New York City College of Technology, 300 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201). More information about the collection and how to access it is available here: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/sciencefictionatcitytech/librarycollection/.
The question guiding the Sixth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium is: Who has access to the genre in terms of opportunities to create, enjoy, celebrate, identify with, and connect with others? Access, of course, is a shared concern of many historically marginalized and oppressed groups, including women, the disabled, LGBTQ+ persons, and the working class. Please refer to the Call for Papers for more details.
Organizers Jill Belli, Wanett Clyde, Jason W. Ellis, Lucas Kwong, and A. Lavelle Porter invite proposals for 10-20 minute scholarly paper presentations or 40-60 minute panel discussions related to the topic of Access and SF. Please send a 250-word abstract with title, brief professional bio, and contact information to Jason Ellis (jellis@citytech.cuny.edu) by October 15, 2021.
Issues of access were an important concern before the pandemic, but these were amplified and intensified in new ways, including library closings and book deserts. Reduced access to computers, Internet, and study spaces delayed or derailed important opportunities for many.
These issues with access before and during the pandemic extend to Science Fiction. William Gibson’s aphorism, “The future has arrived–it’s just not evenly distributed yet,” offers a conceptual lens for this. While Gibson’s use of the term “future” equates to the technoscientific, Science Fiction also represents many imagined futures, and those futures are not yet evenly distributed in terms of access to the genre for creators, readers, fans, and critics.
Lack of access isn’t only a problem for those who might find enjoyment, meaning, and community through SF in the present; it may also affect the stories produced, the characters created, and the control of narratives.
The Sixth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium will investigate the theme of “Access and SF” and we will question together: what are the tensions between access and SF, what’s at stake and for whom, how to foster alliances, and how to achieve access for all. Also, Analog Science Fiction and Fact will announce the winner of their inaugural Analog Award for Emerging Black Voices at this year’s symposium.
Topics with a connection to Access and SF include but are not limited to:
• Access to Science Fiction for an Audience
• Access to Science Fiction as a Fan
• Access to Science Fiction as a Creator
• Access to Science Fiction as a Scholar
• Access to Science Fiction where Roles Collide
• Barriers to Access of Science Fiction for an Audience
• Barriers to Access to Science Fiction as a Creator
• Accessibility, Disability, and Science Fiction
• Technologies of Access and Accessibility that Relate to SF
• Access, Openness, and SF
• Affinity Politics and Intersectionality
This event is free and open to the public as space permits: an RSVP will be included with the program when announced on the Science Fiction at City Tech website. Free registration will be required for participation. As with last year’s symposium, the on-going pandemic necessitates holding this year’s event online, too.
The Annual City Tech Symposium on Science Fiction is held in celebration of the City Tech Science Fiction Collection, an archival holding of over 600-linear feet of magazines, anthologies, novels, and scholarship. The City Tech Science Fiction Collection contains near-complete runs of major science fiction magazines and extensive holdings of science fiction anthologies, novels, and scholarship, including rare books and first editions. Additionally, there are significant selections of fringe texts, including mystery, horror, and the supernatural. It is housed in the Archives and Special Collections of the Ursula C. Schwerin Library.
If you would like to inquire about the collection for research purposes, please read the library’s access policy for the City Tech Science Fiction Collection and contact Assistant Professor and Collections Management and Archives Librarian Wanett Clyde by phone at 718-260-5496 or email wclyde@citytech.cuny.edu.
City Tech’s annual Sci-Fi Symposium kicked off, as usual, with a beautifully crafted library exhibit which made great use of all four of our exhibition cases. The items featured brought together various City Tech contributors with works created by Analog magazine, this year’s symposium partner.
“The exhibits were a collaboration between City Tech and Analog Science Fiction and Fact. City Tech Student Design Intern Julie Bradford created the symposium poster, Prof. Ellis designed posters on the City Tech Science Fiction Collection and the history of the City Tech Science Fiction Symposium, Analog designed posters highlighting the symposium speakers, a timeline of the magazine’s long history, and Analog supplied the cover artwork that fills in the background of each display case. Artifacts in each case were pulled from the City Tech Science Fiction Collection, including the Jan. 1934 issue of Astounding. ” – Professor Ellis
Main Display case highlighting the 4th Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium in celebration of 90 years of Analog SF. Courtesy of Professor Jason Ellis. Display case highlighting the City Tech Science Fiction Collection. Courtesy of Professor Jason Ellis. Display case highlighting the published work of speakers at the 4th annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium. Courtesy of Professor Jason Ellis. Display case highlighting the history of the annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium. Courtesy of Professor Jason Ellis.
On December 12, 2019 over 100 attendees, many of whom traveled from out of town to participate, gathered in the Academic Complex to celebrate Analog, their contributors and our historic Science Fiction collection.
Fourth Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium Poster by Julie Bradford.
