A catastrophic event renders the Earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere: in outer space. Only a handful of survivors remain … Five thousand years later, their progeny—seven distinct races now three billion strong—embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown, as they voyage to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth. Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is both extraordinary and eerily recognizable.
Tagged with “science fiction” (397)
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William Gibson : The Peripheral - Tin House
Where Flynne and her brother, Burton, live, jobs outside the drug business are rare. Fortunately, Burton has his veteran’s benefits, for the neural damage he suffered from implants during his time in the USMC’s elite Haptic Recon force. Then one night Burton has to go out, but there’s a job he’s supposed to do—a job Flynne didn’t know he had. Beta-testing part of a new game, he tells her. The job seems to be simple: work a perimeter around the image of a tower building. Little buglike things turn up. He’s supposed to get in their way, edge them back. That’s all there is to it. He’s offering Flynne a good price to take over for him. What she sees, though, isn’t what Burton told her to expect. It might be a game, but it might also be murder.
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Ted Chiang : Exhalation - Tin House
“Ted Chiang has no contemporary peers when it comes to the short story form. His name deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Carver, Poe, Borges, and Kafka. Every story is a universe. Every story is a diamond. You will inhale Exhalation in a single, stunned sitting, because true genius doesn’t come along nearly as often as advertised. This is the real thing.”—Blake Crouch, author of Dark Matter
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Crafting with Ursula : Kim Stanley Robinson on Ambiguous Utopias - Tin House
Today’s guest, Kim Stanley Robinson, is perhaps the living writer most associated with utopian literature today. And as a student of the philosopher, political theorist, and literary critic Fredric Jameson, Robinson has thought deeply about the history of utopias, the history of the novel, and the strange hybrid form that became the utopian novel. In […]
https://tinhouse.com/podcast/crafting-with-ursula-kim-stanley-robinson-on-ambiguous-utopias/
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S2E15: Religion in Sci-Fi | Science Meets Fiction
In this episode, I give an overview of the different ways that religion and religious themes are used in science fiction.
Book recommendation: Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
Other works discussed:
Riverworld series by Philip Jose Farmer A Case of Conscience by James Blish Terra Ignota series by Ada Palmer
https://sciencemeetsfiction.com/2022/12/26/s2e15-religion-in-sci-fi/
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Sci-Fi Blindness
Peter White explores science fiction's enduring interest in blindness.
Tagged with bbc sci-fi science fiction blindness
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Apocalypse Doctoring - The Incomparable Mothership #605 - The Incomparable
Get out your pocket knife and stick to the Wheel—we’re a traveling band of podcasters who move from town to town to re-enact conversations from before the apocalypse! Or at least that’s who we’d be in our version of the HBO Max miniseries, “Station Eleven.” We discuss the moving, optimistic post-apocalyptic tale that is told in a fractured time sequence and features lots of Shakespeare and a suspiciously powerful self-published graphic novel. And though there’s definitely no “Station Twelve” on the horizon, we can’t help but imagine what other stories are there just waiting to never be told.
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A Reader’s History of Science Fiction: #20 - Philip K. Dick
Despite his often inconsistent writing, Philip K. Dick is notable for having more film adaptations of his novels and short stories than almost every other sci-fi author, making him one of the most important writers of the New Wave. Here, we explore an overview of his work.
Book recommendation: Time Out of Joint
Tagged with new wave book:author=philip k. dick sci-fi science fiction
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A Reader’s History of Science Fiction: #25 - Strange New Worlds
While much of the New Wave was about exploring inner space, some authors were still writing about exploring other words. In this episode, we see how this subgenre of "strange new worlds sci-fi" developed, both through Star Trek and through the literature of the time.
Book recommendation: by Christopher Priest.
https://readershistoryofscifi.libsyn.com/25-strange-new-worlds
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A Reader’s History of Science Fiction: #35 - Time Travel Part II: Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey
Time travel has used in many different ways by many different writers across history. In this episode, we take a whirlwind tour of ten common time travel tropes to see how they have contributed to the genre.
https://readershistoryofscifi.libsyn.com/35-time-travel-part-ii-wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey
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