SFF’s occasionally turbulent relationship to work and working people is put in the spotlight in the latest issue of Journey Planet.
The celebrated fanzine released its 84th issue – “Workers’ Rights in SFF” on Friday, September 13, with co-editors Olav Rokne and Amanda Wakaruk bringing together an all-star list of contributors for an examination of the various ways in which employment relationships are depicted (or misrepresented) in the genre. Best-known for their Hugo-finalist fanzine Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog, Rokne and Wakaruk have been delving into labour rights issues in SFF since 2019.
“The best part of working on a project like this is being able to collaborate with talented writers focused on a subject that we’re passionate about,” Rokne said. “Science fiction became a defined genre at the end of the industrial revolution, when rapid technological and societal change was creating new types of work and new types of workers. From its inception, the genre was connected to work and to working people, making this a fecund area for intellectual exploration.”
The issue includes contributions from Brian Collins, Rich Horton, Octavia Cade, Will McMahon, A.L. Yakimchuk, Kira Braham, Bob Barnetson, Joachim Boaz, Camestros Felapton, James Bacon, Mark McCutcheon, Brett Sheehan, David McDonald, Kris Vyas-Myall, Gautam Bhatia, Farah Mendlesohn, and Jim O’Brien, as well as art by Autun Purser and Collin MacNeil. This stunning list of contributors may also have set a record for the most footnotes ever included in a single issue of a fanzine.
Journey Planet 84 “Workers’ Rights In SFF” is available at this link.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction by Olav Rokne & Amanda Wakaruk
- Alientation and Automation by Brian Collins
- Pohl Position by Rich Horton
- Unpaid Green by Octavia Cade
- Learning to Write Science Fiction from
- John Steinbeck by Will McMahon
- Fit for Purpose (Fiction) by A.L. Yakimchuk
- Making Work Sexy With William Morris by Kira Braham
- Rule of Acquisition 211 by Bob Barnetson
- We Must Start Over And Find Some New Way of Life by Joachim Boaz
- A Nightmare of Shopkeepers by Camestros Felapton
- Workers of 2000AD UNITE! by James Bacon
- Jumping the Shark on the Moon by Mark McCutcheon
- The Translator (Fiction) by Brett Sheehan
- They Who Build Beneath the Stars by David McDonald
- Fighting the Suits by Kris Vyas-Myall
- Gesturing Towards the Labour Question by Gautam Bhatia
- Kritzer and a Theory of Labour by Farah Mendlesohn
- Unions in SFF Recommendations by Olav Rokne
- ‘Commie nutters turn Tintin into picket yob!’ by Jim O’Brien
- ENDitorial by James Bacon
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I only put in two footnotes which I think was very restrained of me. If I’d known they were going for a record, I’d have added many more 🙂
@Camestros Felapton I put in far too many footnotes… there’s even one in my title. Excessive I know. Muahaha.
Great issue! I especially enjoyed the takes on older SF– including yours Camestros.
The one everyone knows: Babylon 5, first season. Sinclair pissed off the Earth Alliance Congress by making a deal with the unions, rather than crushing them.
The one only those who’ve read my 11,000 Years know: yes, the grad students on the ship have a union.
Likewise!
I have volunteered during setup at a few US Worldcons, and the attitude towards unions, when the venue is a union shop and the heavy lifting is reserved for the Teamsters, can be a bit grouchy
Honoured to be included alongside such an amazing list of contributors! Big thanks to the editorial team for their hard work putting the issue together, and for giving me the opportunity to be involved.
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This topic was a great idea for an issue, and I was very glad to work on the cover design. I tried to illustrate the differing approaches to dealing with your workers, as employed by the rulers of Airstrip One in “1984” from Orwell and One State from “We”, by Zamyatin. I suppose in both futures the populous have been largely brainwashed into living for their states above all else… This cover was a nice excuse to draw a version of Trellick Tower, as it might look in Orwells grey future, against the transparent glass cityblocks of One State. If anyone is interested I actually used a real London helicopter pilot for the Orwell worker, and a working scientist for the One State half of the design…