BOOK OF THE MONTH: AUGUST 2014

                                                      
Title       : The Liverpool Companion to 
               World Science Fiction Film
Editor    : Sonja Fritzsche
Pages     : 290
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Price      : £75.00
ISBN     : 9781781380383

American science fiction films have long dominated the genre worldwide because of their big budgets, expansive distribution networks and cultural dominance. Science fiction (SF) literature expert Sonja Fritzsche recognizes this fact, but disputes the notion that the quality of such films begins and ends in Hollywood.

The book provides groundwork for further study of a genre that can be misunderstood or trivialized. It is a literature of the fantastic, a genre that make us look at ourselves from another time period or another planet. The book contains a guide to film viewing. 

Each chapter's author was asked to list five films they would recommend for a beginner to view SF films from a particular country. The critical analysis contains 14 chapters written by experts from around the world, with film traditions presented from Argentina to India to Poland. 

Each chapter includes a brief overview of science fiction history along with in-depth analyses of two or three films from the featured country. The project began as an article commemorating the 50th anniversary of Extrapolation, the first academic journal in the U.S. to publish work on science fiction and fantasy. 

CONTENTS

PART I: AFRICA

1. The Environmental Dominant in Wanuri Kahiu’s Pumzi - Ritch Calvin                                           

PART II: ASIA

2. Death Ray on a Coral Island as China’s First Science Fiction Film - Jie Zhang
3. Indian Science Fiction Cinema: An Overview - Jessica Langer and Dominic Alessio
4. On the Monstrous Planet: or, How Godzilla Took a Roman Holiday - Takayuki Tatsumi, translated by Seth Jacobowitz

                           PART III: EUROPE
 
5. Invaders, Launchpads and Hybrids: The Importance of Transmediality in British Science Fiction Film in the 1950s - Derek Johnston
6. Gender and Apocalypse in Eastern European Cinema - Jason Merrill
7. Casting for a Socialist Earth: Multicultural Whiteness in the East German/Polish Science-Fiction Film Silent Star (1960) - Evan Torner
8. Looking for French Science Fiction Cinema - Daniel Tron
9. Science Fiction Interventions in Irish Cinema - Katie Moylan
10. The Uncomfortable Relationship Between Science Fiction and Italy:Film, Humor, and Gender - Rafaella Boccolini

                    PART IV: NORTH AMERICA
 
11. Are Black Women the Future of Man? The Role of Black Women in Political and Cultural Transformation in Science Fiction from the US and Cameroon - Robyn Citizen

                     PART V: SOUTH AMERICA
 
12. Maradona on the Moon: Postcolonial Politics and Cultural Hybridity in Argentina’s Goodbye Dear Moon - Mariano Paz
13. Alert Limit! A Short History of Brazilian Science Fiction Film and Its Fight for Survival in a Rarefied Atmosphere - Alfredo Suppia

                      PART VI: DIGITAL CINEMA
 
14. Digital Film and Audiences - Pawel Frelik

                      Recommended Viewing

REVIEW COURTESY: http://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk, https://www.iwu.edu