Letter from the Editor

Welcome to the second issue of the MOSF Journal of Science Fiction (MJOSF). The outpouring of interest and support we received upon release of our first issue has been, quite simply, amazing! As I write this letter, MJOSF’s inaugural issue received over 25,000 views and our subscriber base has grown by over 800% since the release our first issue. Our pool of peer reviewers continues to grow, featuring members from all over the world. The release of the first issue of MJOSF was featured on several prominent websites, including io9. Submissions have continued rolling in steadily, and someone even started a Goodreads page about us!

Because you, our readers, are the people who have made this journal a success, we, the MJOSF editorial team have done our best to address reader feedback. For MJOSF Volume 1, Issue 2, we have more thoroughly credited our contributors—check out our “About the Contributors” page for bio blurbs about our cover artist, authors, and editorial team. Several readers requested more accessible formats of the journal, particularly an e-reader-friendly version (EPUB) and improved HTML versions. We hope you will find this issue has addressed these concerns, and as we move forward, updating the MJOSF website is one of our top priorities.

On a more somber and personal note, I would like to pay brief tribute to Dr. Thomas Barrett, former History Professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland who passed away last month after a long battle with multiple myeloma. Tom was a great mentor and friend who first introduced me to the world of science fiction scholarship through his course on Cold War science fiction from the United States and the Soviet Union. By introducing me to science fiction studies, Tom unknowingly laid the groundwork for this project. When the Museum of Science Fiction’s team was coming up with new ways to promote the Museum, creating an open access journal of science fiction studies seemed like a natural step to me.

This second issue of MJOSF features five articles that provide glimpses into the history of science fiction over the past hundred years, addressing major contemporary topics like anarchy, censorship, evolving cultural archives, ecocriticism, and afrofuturism as presented through both literature and cinema. Arguing that critical utopias existed in Spain several decades before the publication of Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Dispossessed, Mariano Martín Rodríguez examines the shortcomings of libertarian communism present in Alfonso Martínez Rizo’s novel Love in 200 Years. David Christopher analyzes the contemporary contexts that allowed two Soviet science fiction films, Loss of Sensation and Cosmic Voyage, to escape Stalinist censorship. In his analysis of the loss of individuality present in Fahrenheit 451, Joseph Hurtgen explores the shift from a text-based cultural archive to a media-controlled, presentist archive focused on momentary pleasures. Ruzbeh Babaee, Sue Yen Lee, and Siamak Babaee examine both psychological defense mechanisms and how they influence the ecocritical perspective present in The Girl With All the Gifts. In her comparative analysis of the afrofuturist young adult novels Orleans and Tankborn, Melanie Marotta highlights the role of female leaders in neo-slave narratives.

As you read through this issue, don’t forget to take a look our “Looking to the Future” page to learn more about the Museum of Science Fiction (MOSF), our sponsoring organization, and Escape Velocity, the upcoming STEAM micro-world’s fair MOSF will be hosting in National Harbor, Maryland from 1-3 July 2016. Escape Velocity will feature celebrity media, literary, and science guests; events, panels, and programs for all ages; and an exclusive museum exhibit from MOSF. Check it out!

My thanks again to all the readers, contributors, peer reviewers, and editors who have made this issue possible, and we hope that you enjoy this issue of MJOSF just as much as you did our first!

-- Monica Louzon, MLS

Managing Editor of MOSF Journal of Science Fiction