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SF

"The function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it." — Frank Herbert

Deep(er) Nostalgia: Formulating Tech’s In-Control Valley and Uncanny Asymptote
With the release of MyHeritage’s Deep Nostalgia, Justin Tackett reflects on how reproduction technologies throughout history have honed “the human.”
Justin TackettSep 25, 2021
- SF
Final Girls and Fantasies: On Stephen Graham Jones’s “My Heart Is a Chainsaw”
In “My Heart Is a Chainsaw,” Jade Daniels wields an encyclopedic knowledge of horror as a tool of protection against her — and her town’s — disturbing past.
Kali SimmonsSep 24, 2021
- SF
The Future Is Divergent: On “Literary Afrofuturism in the Twenty-First Century”
“Literary Afrofuturism in the Twenty-First Century” stands firm in the messiness of it all, proclaiming that said messiness as, in fact, a part of its making.
Suyi Davies OkungbowaSep 12, 2021
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Writing from the Scene of the Crime: On Stephen Graham Jones’s “The Only Good Indians”
Billy J. Stratton is haunted by “The Only Good Indians,” the recently published novel by Stephen Graham Jones.
Billy J. StrattonSep 11, 2021
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The World Is Our Oyster — and Beyond
Dan Friedman enjoys the tales in “The Best of World SF: Volume 1,” edited by Lavie Tidhar.
Dan FriedmanAug 28, 2021
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Roleplaying a Communist Cop in the Ruins of Revolution
“Disco Elysium: The Final Cut” is a roleplaying game that turns a murder mystery into a surreal voyage through the history of capitalism and empire.
Christian P. HainesJul 31, 2021
- SF
Octavia Butler and the Pimply, Pompous Publisher
How my 14-year-old self commissioned sci-fi writer Octavia Butler in 1979 to write an essay that still resonates today: “Lost Races of Science Fiction.”
Miguel EstebanJul 25, 2021
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Our World, Our People: Nationalism and Sovereign Power in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”
Despite its promising beginning, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” deserted its noble ambitions as the story moved forward.
Justice HaganJul 25, 2021
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Feral Monstrosity: On Rivers Solomon’s “Sorrowland”
Christina Orlando reviews "Sorrowland," the latest novel from Rivers Solomon.
Christina OrlandoJul 24, 2021
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The Ecstasies of Arthur Machen
Arthur Machen sensed a deeper reality stirring underneath the superficial surfaces of suburban London.
Scott BradfieldJul 24, 2021
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Toward an Omega Woman: On Alison Stine’s “Road Out of Winter”
Alison Stine’s “Road Out of Winter” is well written and a poignant reminder of how we chronically neglect ourselves and our world.
D. Harlan WilsonJul 17, 2021
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Alfred Döblin’s Anthropocene
Alfred Döblin’s 1924 futuristic dystopian novel “Mountains Oceans Giants: An Epic of the 27th Century” is really a history of the present.
Alex LangstaffJul 9, 2021
- SF