Smin Smith

Drowning in the Cloud: Water, the Digital and the Queer Potential of Feminist Science Fiction

Technologies of Feminist Speculative Fiction

Collaboratively written by the Beyond Gender Research Collective

“Water is frequently associated with a naturalized, trans-exclusionary understanding of womanhood. In this chapter we challenge this association. Focusing on the cyborgs of feminist SF and the waters in which they swim, gestate, and struggle, we theorize water as a technology that plays a crucial role in the self-consciously unnatural politics of queer resistance. In order to navigate these turbulent waters we have deployed the methodology we call Collective Close Reading—a practice of nonhierarchical knowledge production founded on a complex web of interdependence. In this way we seek to model the watery, cyborg collectivity depicted in the strange worlds of feminist sf. We swim together, beyond, against, and into gender”.

Editors: Sherryl Vint & Sümeyra Buran

Vagina Dentata Zine, Issue 002Available Here
“We’re back, and we demand utopia! It’s been two years since Issue 001, but it feels like a lifetime. In that pre-Trump, pre-Brexit landscape, Science Fiction was being whimsically adopted on every runway....

Vagina Dentata Zine, Issue 002

Available Here

“We’re back, and we demand utopia! It’s been two years since Issue 001, but it feels like a lifetime. In that pre-Trump, pre-Brexit landscape, Science Fiction was being whimsically adopted on every runway. Whilst the genre remains as culturally relevant as ever, the way creatives are adopting SF has significantly changed. Issue 002 utilises fantasy as a medium for defying oppressive politics. For some this is confrontational, for others escapist; whether explicit or subtle this collection demands change. (210mm x 210mm, 40 pages - staple bound) *Best viewed through tiny matrix sunglasses.

Featuring collaborations with Dana Trippe, Aoi Itoh, Pol Kurucz, Natalie Baxter, Munachi Osegbu, LUPAE, Noémi Szabo, John Yuyi and Daisy Collingridge”

“Somehow, this issue is even more bonkers than the last one….an explosion of colour with nods to aliens, Harajuku and the United Nations. Yes, all in one magazine…” – It’s Nice That

Editor – Smin Smith

Vagina Dentata Zine, Issue 001 Available Here
“It’s here! Vagina Dentata Zine is a visual exploration of Science Fiction and Fashion’s relationship. The zine provides a space for women, LGBTQIA+, POC and non-binary creatives to design the futures...

Vagina Dentata Zine, Issue 001

Available Here

“It’s here! Vagina Dentata Zine is a visual exploration of Science Fiction and Fashion’s relationship. The zine provides a space for women, LGBTQIA+, POC and non-binary creatives to design the futures they want to see, utilising “fictioning” as a political tool. With a square format (210mm x 210mm, 40 pages - staple bound), and rejection of ‘fashion stories’, it provides a clashing visual journey emulating the way in which we consume and curate imagery through mediums like Instagram.

Issue 001 features collaborations with Marina Fini, Jeleza Rose, Andrey Onufrienko, Anna Fearon, Hannah Grunden, Rosie Williams, Olin Brannigan, Bex Isley, Anna Milada, Aleksandra Klicka, and Alice Dear”

“Out of this world…it’s the little touches that build this into a cohesive and unique publication” – It’s Nice That

“It’s pretty much the most perfect title of any zine that dedicates itself to sci-fi and female fantasies…their Instagram feed is a must-see mood board of things they’ve cherry picked from around the interweb, feat. cyborgs, glitter and Sailor Moon” – Dazed Digital

Editor – Smin Smith