802. The Long Tomorrow (1955) by Leigh Brackett — Mining the Genre Asteroid
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/sand-f-802-long-tomorrow/SandF_802_LongTomorrow.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSMysterious traders, technophobia, and Mennonites, oh my! Shaun Duke, Trish Matson, and Paul Weimer join forces to discuss Leigh Brackett’s The Long Tomorrow (1955). Together, they tackle Brackett’s legacy, her treatment of religion- and technophobia-infused dystopia, gender roles, AI, and much more. Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode!
Book Review: We Lived on the Horizon, by Erika Swyler
An artisanal bio-prosthetist and her personal house AI become aware of growing data gaps in a post-cataclysmic city run by an artificial intelligence system, precipitated by the murder of an acquaintance and the subsequent erasure of facts about the victim and his death.
Book Review: SHE’S A KILLER by Kirsten McDougall
“In She’s a Killer, Kirsten McDougall writes a near-future dystopia that does explore these layers of colonization and control, but the core of the novel rests on the personality/psychology of her protagonist and an overall satirical tone that balances the comedic and the disturbing.”
778. R.O.T.O.R. (1987) — Torture Cinema #142
https://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/sand-f-778-rotor/SandF_778_ROTOR.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSBad boy robots, cop mustaches, and lassos, oh my! Shaun Duke and Daniel Haeusser join forces to discuss 1987’s R.O.T.O.R! Together, they try to unravel its dystopian vision of Dallas, Texas, why it chose to use a strange dub for the main character, what the police do in this hellscape, and the terrors of very bad robots chasing people who don’t know how to run. Plus, more! Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode!
Mining the Genre Asteroid: Another ambiguous Utopia: Stanislaw Lem’s Return from the Stars
So you see, Return from the Stars is a most ambiguous Utopia, indeed, and anyone who reads The Dispossessed (and if you haven’t yet, you should go fix that, too) should also read Return from the Stars and ponder its questions.
BOOK REVIEW: SORDIDEZ BY E.G. CONDÉ
Within these two apocalyptic settings where all four of the Horsemen of Revelation ride, the stories of three protagonists intertwine via multiple points of views and narrative voices (first- and third-person). In both Puerto Rico and in the Yucatán, these characters face their dystopic present to envision positive Indigenous-led futures enacted by purposeful decolonization and embrace of their ancestral ways.
