In our only non-English article, “Myyttisestä fantasiaksi: Etsivät matkalla Pohjolaan” (“From Mythical into Fantastic: Detectives on a Journey into Northland”) Merja Leppälahti discusses a journey into Pohjola (or Northland) in the Kalevala, and how this mythical journey is represented as a narrative technique in two contemporary Finnish detective novels, Roger Repo ja tuonen väki by Harri V. Specifically, he problematizes the notions of home and identity from both ontological and ethical perspectives that subvert canonical ways of reading science fiction narratives, especially those from the genre’s Golden Age.

In his article, “Why Do The Heavens Beckon Us? Revisiting Constructions of Home and Identity in Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles,” Christian Ylagan discusses colonial thematics of Bradbury’s classical work. Von Czarnowsky argues, however, that it the text subverts its own feminist potential in its advocation of motherhood as paradigmatic femininity. Gaiman is often seen as a writer of feminist sensitivities, but in The Ocean at the End of the Lane he goes even further by presenting the power of magic as an exclusively female concept. Laura-Marie von Czarnowsky’s article “‘Power and all its secrets’: Engendering Magic in Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane” focuses on fantasy, (female) magic, and feminist potential in Gaiman’s most recent adult novel. Ulstein argues that fantasy fiction has an intrinsic exploratory potential for ecocritical ideas because the strong immersive aspect of the genre entices the reader to open up for a less anthropocentric view of the world. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. In her article “Hobbits, Ents, and Dæmons: Ecocritical Thought Embodied in the Fantastic”, Gry Ulstein discusses the occurrence of ecocritical thought in two canonical fantasy epics, J. At the same time, the issue is clearly multidisciplinary. Tolkien, and the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. The issue at hand demonstrates some of the major influences and angles of speculative fiction, such as classic Science Fiction, J. There are a total of four peer-reviewed research articles, an essay edited from a lectio praecursoria of a doctoral defense, and three book-reviews which discuss topical works of science fiction and fantasy research.

We are proud to present such a full and extensive selection of science fiction and fantasy research for our expert audience. The fourth and last issue of Fafnir’s second year is now in our midst. (Edgar Allan Poe, “The Bells”, from The Works of the late Edgar Allan Poe, vol II) To the tintinnabulation that so musically wellsįrom the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. What a world of merriment their melody foretells! Jyrki Korpua, Hanna-Riikka Roine & Päivi Väätänen Editorial 4/2015 Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research, Volume 2, Issue 4, pages 5-6.

Väinämöisen vyö by Mikko Karppi