Christos Callow Jr, PhD

University of Derby, School of Humanities, Faculty Member

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I'm a Science Fiction Theatre scholar and playwright and currently hold a permanent Lectureship in Creative and Professional Writing at the University of Derby, UK. I've had a very mobile academic career thus far, having previously held lecturing positions at the universities of Leeds, Warwick, Birkbeck and Queen Mary among many others. I hold a PhD in Creative Writing awarded by the University of London in 2015 and an MA in Playwriting awarded by the University of Central Lancashire in 2011; I was originally trained as an actor at the Higher School of Dramatic Arts 'Athenian Stage' in Greece (BA in Acting, 2010).
Publications include a forthcoming monograph on Science Fiction Theatre (contracted with Liverpool University Press, to be published in 2021 as part of the series 'Liverpool Science Fiction Texts and Studies', one of the world leading series for science fiction studies), an edited volume on the writing of Adam Roberts (co-edited with Dr Anna McFarlane) as well as articles and chapters on utopia, genre fiction and science fiction theatre.
I am the Founder and Artistic Director of the theatre company Cyborphic, which presents work on Science Fiction Theatre and fragmentary Greek Tragedy; our work has received several research and public engagement grants. I have founded TALOS, the first Science Fiction Theatre Festival of the UK (Chelsea 2015, Bread & Roses 2018, Omnibus 2019, The Cockpit 2020), and the Series of Academic Conferences 'Stage the Future' on Science Fiction Theatre (Royal Holloway, University of London 2014, Arizona State University 2015, TALOS III 2019, TALOS IV 2020) and 'Performing Greece' on Contemporary Greek Theatre (Birkbeck, University of London 2015, 2016, 2017).
As of 2020, I have organised eight International Academic Conferences, as well as four Theatre (the four TALOS installments) and two Literary Festivals (the annual North London Literary Festival in 2016 and 2017).
Address: United Kingdom

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Monograph by Christos Callow Jr, PhD

Callow Jr, C. (forthcoming 2021) Science Fiction Theatre. The Theatre of the Future (Liverpool Science Fiction Texts and Studies; Liverpool University Press)

Liverpool University Press, 2020

Theatre Company by Christos Callow Jr, PhD

Cyborphic

by Andriana Domouzi (Ανδριάνα Δομούζη) and Christos Callow Jr, PhD

https://www.cyborphic.com Science Fiction Theatre & Greek Theatre Company Cyborphic, adj. 1. Th... more https://www.cyborphic.com

Science Fiction Theatre & Greek Theatre Company

Cyborphic, adj. 1. That which blends the classical with the science fictional. 2. That which is, at the same time, futuristic and mystical. 3. Relating to science fiction in the performing arts.

Born 17 Oct 2017, London

Contact: cyborphic (at) gmail (dot) com

Database by Christos Callow Jr, PhD

Callow Jr, C. (2018-ongoing) The Internet Science Fiction Theatre Database (ISFTDB)

Cyborphic, 2018

https://www.cyborphic.com/database The Internet Science Fiction Theatre Database (ISFTDB) of C... more https://www.cyborphic.com/database

The Internet Science Fiction Theatre Database (ISFTDB) of Cyborphic primarily consists of contemporary plays, i.e. published and/or produced in the 21st Century. Some key texts of sci-fi theatre from the 20th Century are included in a separate section. For a more complete list of 20th Century science fiction plays, see Ralph Willingham’s appendix in his 1993 book Science Fiction and the Theatre.
Our Database is primarily focused on science fiction theatre, yet also features related genres; in short, everything that falls under the umbrella terms Speculative Fiction and Fantastika (such as Horror, Contemporary Fantasy and the Weird) and works of Science Theatre as well are also of interest. Finally, a bibliography of related studies and articles is included in its own section. For the reader’s convenience these are mostly non-academic sources readily available online, but some academic studies are included as well.

Thesis by Christos Callow Jr, PhD

Callow Jr, C. (2015) Etherotopia, an Ideal State and a State of Mind. Utopian Philosophy as Literature and Practice (diss. London)

ORBIT - Online Repository of Birkbeck Institutional Theses, 2015

This thesis examines the concept of Etherotopia (which literally translates to 'ethereal place‘),... more This thesis examines the concept of Etherotopia (which literally translates to 'ethereal place‘), by which I define the combination of utopian philosophy with certain ideas of individual perfection such as nirvana. The argument is made that the separation of utopian visions into social utopias and individual ones (states and states of mind) is a false dilemma, since a complete utopian theory should include both.
In relation to my own utopian writing and as a transition from the critical to the creative part of this thesis, I examine the question of genre in utopian literature and, following from the view that literary genres are subjective and conventional, I argue that utopian literature doesn‘t need to be labelled as a literary genre but rather that it is utopian philosophy in literary form, and therefore philosophical writing.
Having argued for the need of a contemporary Etherotopian theory and having discussed the relationship between utopian writing and genre, I proceed to introducing my portfolio of creative writing, a short story collection with the title Etherotopias, which is a series of diverse utopian/dystopian fictions that in some cases expand on the concept of Etherotopia either philosophically or aesthetically, while in other cases provide literary responses to conflicting utopian theories popular in contemporary society and its consumer culture. The collection is therefore a series of arguments and criticisms in the form of stories that range from political and satirical to religious and existential and address social issues as well as utopian and dystopian states of mind.

Volumes by Christos Callow Jr, PhD

Callow Jr, C., and McFarlane, A. (eds) (2016) Adam Roberts. Critical Essays (Contemporary Writers: Critical Essays 4; Canterbury: Gylphi)

Gylphi, 2016

Each chapter in this collection explores the challenge posed to science fiction, literary fiction... more Each chapter in this collection explores the challenge posed to science fiction, literary fiction and contemporary ideas through Roberts’s novels. His use of the science fiction toolkit combined with his sharp and sometimes lyrical prose blurs the distinction that some would wish to maintain between science fiction and mainstream literature.

Reviews

It's an excellent idea to gather a book of essays about the work of Adam Roberts. His novels are so various and brilliant that it's a pleasure to discuss them in depth, as it is with the work of any gifted artist following a singular path. This volume clarifies parts of Roberts' project while deepening mysteries elsewhere in it just what one wants from literary criticism.
-- Kim Stanley Robinson

Adam Roberts has long been regarded as one of contemporary science fiction's most innovative, and overlooked, writers. Adam Roberts: Critical Essays makes an excellent intervention in addressing this critical lacuna, yielding productive insights into the startling inventiveness of his texts, their rich intertextuality, ludic playfulness, and, more recently, political response to a post-Occupy world. Roberts's novels and parodies themselves have much to teach us about the science fiction tradition, and these essays rightfully position his work as among the best of twenty-first-century writing in the speculative mode.
--Dr Caroline Edwards, Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Literature, Birkbeck, University of London

Adam Roberts is at once the cleverest and wittiest of contemporary science fiction writers. This dazzling collection of essays shows how cleverness is his topic as well as his technique, and how his wit both mocks and accentuates the prodigious intelligence that marks every page of his work. I haven't read a more perceptive or entertaining tribute to a living author.
--Dr Robert Maslen, Senior Lecturer in English Literature, University of Glasgow

When the history of 21st-century science fiction is written, Adam Roberts will be remembered as this era's H. G. Wells.
--Damien Walter, Writer, Columnist for The Guardian, Writing teacher.

Adam Roberts's fiction gives us an education in sf's history and traditions while he merrily deconstructs them. Add to that the way his criticism is laced with humour, and it's only appropriate that a collection devoted to his work should tease its subject a little. Even as they open up the suggestion that Roberts is one of our most important writers, these essays amuse as well as inform. If sf is to survive it's going to need more people like Roberts, and this collection tells us why!
--Andy Sawyer, Science Fiction Collections Librarian, Special Collections and Archives, University of Liverpool Library