Call for Papers: Vampires and Humor (or Humor in Vampire Literature, Movies, and Music)

Abstracts due: October 15 to Gilpin_vicky@hotmail.com

Vampires and humor can be an interesting topic because the author can break down his or her analysis based on a variety of parameters. What is so special about vampires and humor? What does humor try to accomplish in vampire works, or what do vampires accomplish in comedic ones? How does humor negate, transcend, or influence vampiric symbolism and/or the many tropes of vampire works (literature in particular)? Why are so many YA, urban fantasy, and paranormal romance works centered around vampires funny or attempting to be so? Why are vampires in modern literature, film, commercials, television shows, comic strips, graphic novels, songs, and internet videos funny/humorous/comedic? What is the relationship between vampires and humor in modern entertainment?

This selection of essays from McFarland will include previously unpublished essays exploring humor in vampire works, such as movies, literature, commercials, or music.  Many avenues exist for perusal of vampires and humor, such as what makes vampire comedy/humor a flop or a success, how does humor in vampire works conform to or revolutionize specific theories of humor, intentional versus unintentional humor, as well as the possible goals of humor within particular subgenres of vampire works. A focus on 20th and 21st century works is preferred, though older works may be referenced to provide context, and essays emphasizing older works will still be considered. A purpose of the book is to provide a broad representation of humor in a variety of vampire works through multiple methods of analysis.

Humor in vampire works or vampires in comedic works can be broad topics, so focusing on subcategories of the following broad topics might be beneficial, with special attention to the reason for selecting particular works:

* Humor in selected vampire movies
* Humor in songs about vampires
* Humor and vampires on YouTube
* Humor in YA novels featuring vampires
* Humor in vampire works not promoted as comedy (for example, paranormal romance or urban fantasy)
* Vampire comic books or graphic novels
* Humor, vampires, and gender, race, religion, socio-economics, capitalism, sexuality, etc.
* A particular theory of humor, comedy, or wit and how vampire works reject or transcend it

This is the current timeline: Abstracts/Proposals (350-500 words) and a brief biography (100-150 words): October 15th, 2013

Notification of essay selection status: November 1st, 2013

Rough Papers in MLA format: February 15^th, 2014

Final Papers in MLA format (6,000-8,000 words) and all forms: April 15th, 2014

To keep in mind:

The publisher, McFarland, notes about fair use and direct quotations: “Our general interpretation of fair use guideline for quotation is that (when dealing with a work first published in 1923 or after) you may quote up to 800 words total from a book,  about 400 from a play, about 100 from a short story or essay, roughly 75 words from a substantial article, and about 50 words from a short article (up to about 1000 words from any one year of a daily newspaper) unless you have permission from the publisher to quote more.”