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SF

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

Fear Is the Mind Killer; What Enlivens the Mind? — “Dune”’s Alt-Victimhood and Radical Nonviolence in “Nausicaä”
Jerrine Tan compares “Dune” to “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.”
Jerrine TanDec 21, 2021
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Repetition, with a Difference: On “Deathloop”
By assimilating gameplay repetition into its story, “Deathloop” hints at resolving the dissonance between game form and narrative form.
Nathan WainsteinNov 20, 2021
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An Offbeat Ghost Story: On Priyanka Champaneri’s “The City of Good Death”
“The City of Good Death” deals in stereotypes related to India, but it also vividly presents the life of the characters in its lush prose.
Suparno BanerjeeNov 14, 2021
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Whither Harmony Square?: Conspiracy Games in Late Capitalism
Today’s conspiracy fantasies come from a world where we feel that we are trapped in a game we can’t win. Can counter-conspiracy games be the antidote?
A. T. Kingsmith, Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Max HaivenNov 13, 2021
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A Revisionist Mythos: Frankenstein Versus Cthulhu
New novels by Kim Newman and Michael Shea illustrate the power of popular myth.
Rob LathamNov 6, 2021
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Nine-10ths of a Triumph: On John Steinbeck’s “Murder at Full Moon”
Although not the werewolf novel it was initially reported as being, “Murder at Full Moon” is something even better: a metafictional novel with teeth.
Jess NevinsOct 31, 2021
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The Tyranny of Neutrality in “AI 2041”
Virginia L. Conn reviews the new collection of scientific fiction from Chen Qiufan and Kai-Fu Lee, “AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future.”
Virginia L. ConnOct 30, 2021
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The Future Is Always with Us: On Jennifer Marie Brissett’s “Destroyer of Light”
Steven Shaviro reviews the new novel by Jennifer Marie Brissett, “Destroyer of Light.”
Steven ShaviroOct 16, 2021
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Five Questions for V. Castro Regarding Her Novel, “The Queen of the Cicadas”
Daniel Olivas asks Latinx horror writer V. Castro about her debut novel, “The Queen of the Cicadas.”
Daniel A. OlivasOct 2, 2021
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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
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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
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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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