Luna's third Call for Papers, A Shadow Within: Evil in Fantasy and Science Fiction will be released on Wednesday the 14th of August, at Dublin Worldcon. Explore the 21 brilliant papers you will find in the book.
Today, we would like to introduce you to Sean Z Fitzgerald (UK). PhD in Creative Writing Practice, University of Winchester. MSc in Science Communication, The Open University. University Lecturer in Media Production and Creative Writing. Published writer of fiction and non-fiction.
Presenting the paper: The fictional scientist as a dichotomy of good and evil in contemporary realist speculative fiction.
Sean says:
"This article stems from a combination of the current critical work for my practice-based PhD thesis in the area of science-as-fiction in contemporary society, for which I have written a collection of (lightly thriller-based) fictional tales involving scientists and scientific processes in the field of genetics. In both the practice and accompanying critical work, I characterise professional and amateur scientists as both altruistic and selfish, as they display both elements of ‘good’ and 'evil'. The article—written for Academia Lunare—concentrates on this aspect of science and scientists in fiction and whether these characters or their actions can be described as ‘evil’. Through my academic and creative practice, I consider the background of scientists in fiction, specifically speculative fiction (which best describes my own work). The context of the article considers scientist characters in a range of texts (mainly within contemporary novels) and how science and the process of science is shared with a readership, all framed against whether or not a reader would naturally wish to empathise with a main character if they are deemed evil or have evil intent."
Originally from Liverpool, Sean Z Fitzgerald now lives in the southwest of England. He holds a PhD in creative writing practice from the University of Winchester, England. His thesis topic: ‘Writing Genetic Science-Inspired Fiction in Contemporary Society’. This concentrates on the contextualisation and practice of writing genetic-fiction (‘gene-fiction’). The main focus of the creative practice element of his research has been to produce a collection of novelettes and novellas that explore and speculate through contemporary and near-future fiction, the possible impacts and consequences of manipulating genetic code.
Follow the progress of A Shadow Within: Evil in Fantasy and Science Fiction on the "Books in Progress" page!