Call for Papers: Spring 2020

Quests: Magical Journeys and Wayside Attractions

Quests…an image that evokes enchanted woods, magical beasts, and knights with and without shining armour. The road into the unknown where a great treasure lies at the end. How many have traveled that road, whether in the waking world or in the realm of the heart? Were there pitfalls and wayside attractions?

The realm of mythopoetics and speculative fiction, popular dramas, and the ancient art of the story-song. From the ancient texts of Inanna, the wonder tales of the Mabinogion and Troyes’ Sainte Grail cycle, to Baum’s Land of Oz and Tolkien’s Hobbits, to the very modern American Gods, or McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld the tale of the quest and journeys into the realm of magic and wonder are part and parcel of the art of storytellers.

Whether we explore the realm of story, or use the idea of a quest or journey as a metaphor, or find ourselves walking into the unknown in the waking world, questing after an idea or an object in a laboratory or in the natural world, the image of seeking and finding — or, not finding — is a powerful one. In the Spring 2020 issue, we will explore the idea of questing and journeys into the unknown.

Paper topics to consider are:

• The Perilous Distraction – a phrase made famous by the late Joseph Campbell in describing Gawain’s stay in Maiden Castle where all of his needs were met and he never achieved the Grail …
• The Mask and the Mirror: the spiritual journey: metaphors, pilgrimages, rituals, and holy places
• Pen, quill and microchip: the intellectual quest
• Mythopoetics: analysis of modern retellings and original works of fantasy and speculative fiction that explore journeys and quests
• Failed journeys and the lessons learned: gifts of unknown things
• Science and discovery – Surprise! -: When you were on one quest and discovered that it was something quite different that needed to be discovered
• Exploration: Journeys across oceans, time, and beyond the Earth
• Those who walked away: what does it mean to walk away? From ideas, narratives, beliefs, relationships, workplaces, cities, and countries. What was found? What was lost?