When I was in undgrad, speculative fiction bled into my literature courses. What I mean is, in my literature courses we read literary fiction and I wrote about speculative fiction. In a Literary Theory course, we were told we could write our final paper on anything. So I chose Sarah Monette’s Doctrine of Labyrinths series (unsurprising, if you know my love and adoration for these books). In a course on how different eras tackle the Medieval Ages, I compared Bard in The Hobbit to Robin Hood in Ivanhoe. I know I’m not alone in imbuing my academic interests with my speculative fiction interests–just look at fan studies as an academic discipline!
So if you have scholarly work dealing with speculative fiction, here’s a few suggestions on where to submit for publication.
Fan Studies Network: includes a full page of peer reviewed and open access journals dedicated to publishing fan studies works.
Extrapolation: a biannual peer-reviewed journal published by Liverpool University Press. A “Journal of scholarly study in science fiction and fantasy, featuring critical articles, reviews and bibliographies.”
MOSF Journal of Science Fiction: published three times a year, this peer-reviewed journal “seeks to uphold the spirit of educated inquiry and speculation through the publication of peer-reviewed, academic articles, essays and book reviews exploring the interdisciplinary nature of science fiction.” They are open for submissions. They are also looking for people to join their peer-review board.
Mythlore: a peer-reviewed journal “published by the Mythopoeic Society that focuses on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and the genres of myth and fantasy.”
Do you have any more journals to add to this list? I’d love to hear your input!
Did you happen to publish that paper on The Doctrine of the Labyrinths? Because I am also deeply in love with those books, and I delight to see them mentioned in your column every time. I would love to read your analysis!