Do you really believe that the sciences would ever have originated and grown if the way had not been prepared by magicians, alchemists, astrologers, and witches whose promises and pretensions first had to create a thirst, a hunger, a taste for hidden and forbidden powers?
—Nietzsche, The Gay Science, §300
With UFOs abound, blood red skies across the world, zombie pigs, and claims of deep synchronicities linking political events around the global, the meta-field of ‘para-science’ becomes more relevant than ever. Following the Archives of the Impossible conference at Rice University in March of this year on the UAP phenomenon, academic questions about the relationship between science and fiction have become increasingly muddi(ed)(er). If the above are being given increased attention, it’s only proper that we ask what other ‘absurd’ science-fictional babies got tossed out when the Enlightenment™ changed the bathwater.
In this issue of Plutonics, we invite authors and theorists, artists and excavators to help us think through the historically—and now presently—problematic relationship between sciences and fictions. With contributors around the globe, some relevant questions are: What oddities have you seen in your areas of the world? Do you have science-fictional studies or observations to share? Taxonomical analyses of Chupacabras and other cryptids? Or, on a more meta-level, what is the relationship between science and fictions? How might the norms of traditional and rigid science be challenged or changed in light of speculation? Following Nietzsche, it was speculative and heretical thought that gave birth to ‘science’ in the first place; why not see where it takes us?
As usual, the above questions—as well as the theme more generally—are not meant as rigid guidelines so much as a scaffold upon which to build your thinking and burn down afterward. Given that, we welcome submissions that deal directly with the para-scientific as well as ones that deviate in disturbing ways. Guidelines are minimal. Written works can be any length with citations easily convertible to Chicago Style. Works of art ought to be original (or heavily remixed) while plagiarized works ought to have an accompanying justification. Please email all submissions to mvupress@gmail.com and include the following information: title of your work, what you’d like to be called, a short (3-5 line) biography with any relevant links, and any other requests.
The “deadline” (a very malleable thing) is January 31st, 2023. Feel free to send any questions to the above email and we look forward to seeing what you produce!
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