209. South African SF Roundtable w/ Alex Latimer, Lauren Beukes, and Sarah Lotz

Terrifying malls, time traveling serial killers, and renegade spaceships, oh my! Authors Alex Latimer, Lauren Beukes, and Sarah Lotz join Julia and Shaun for an in-depth discussion about South African SF, from the influences of Apartheid on contemporary SA literature to the film industry to fandom and publishing. You won’t want to miss this one!

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show!

Here’s the episode (show notes are below):

Episode 209 — Download (MP3)

Show Notes:

Our Guests
- Alex Latimer (Author of numerous picture books and The Space Race, which involves apartheid, nuclear weapons, and a race to the moon)
- Sarah Lotz (Author of The Three, which is about plane crashes and creepy kids. Also writes under other names)
- Lauren Beukes (Author of several books including The Shining Girls, which is about time traveling serial killers, and the forthcoming Broken Monsters)
Additional Notes:
- Nick Wood has written a lot about South African SF http://nickwood.frogwrite.co.nz/?page_id=530
- J.M. Coetzee Waiting for the Barbarians
- Science Fiction and Fantasy South Africa http://nickwood.frogwrite.co.nz/?page_id=530 (Lauren has judged the short story contest)
- rAge gaming convention (where Lauren went dressed as Cheetara from Thundercats): http://www.rageexpo.co.za/
- Another South African Gaming Site: http://www.rpg.co.za/
- http://www.roomtoread.org/page.aspx?pid=320 claims that 80% of schools lacked Libraries in 2012.
- Apocalypse Now Now by Charlie Human (zombie apocalypse entertaining novel, but also political)
- The Mall by S.L. Grey (one of Sarah’s pen names) and Louis Greenberg dealing with consumerism and the divide between rich and poor.
- World Reader gives free tablets to people to encourage reading (not SA based, but a very cool idea!)
- Night Drive is a South African horror movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1610394/ (This is really gross and culturally insensitive, so approach with caution)
- short film based on Charlie Human’s short story… No More Heroes (not sure where to find this)
- South African nuclear weapons information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction
- South African Space Program http://repository.uwc.ac.za/xmlui/handle/10566/155
- South African Rocketry: http://www.sarocketry.co.za/index.html
- Lauren’s fact checking Twitter bananza (literacy rates, etc.)(check this out if you want accurate stats for some of the things we discuss in the episode)
Where to buy SA books:
- booklounge.co.za — you can order South African books from here.
Author recommendations:
- Diane Awerbuck — Home Remedies (recommended by Alex)
- Louis Greenberg — Dark Windows set in future South Africa
- Something Wicked magazine
- Bloody Parchment anthology and Bloody Harvest anthology
- Jungle Gym magazine
- Andrew Solomon — Tokolosh Song
- Edyth Bulbring
- Henrietta Rose-Innes
- Alex Smith
- SA Partridge
- Nerine Dorman
- Liam Kruger
- Miranda Sherry Black Dog Summer (like The Lovely Bones, but set in South Africa)
- Sam Wilson

You can also support this podcast by signing up for a one month free trial at Audible. Doing so helps us, gives you a change to try out Audible’s service, and brings joy to everyone.

Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3 .0).