SF | Los Angeles Review of Books

SF

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

Disney’s Endgame: Corporate Stockholm Syndrome in the Age of the Mega-Franchise
While we crave traditional components like complexity, spectacle, and closure, we experience those things only as an endless flow of branded content.
Dan Hassler-ForestJun 1, 2019
- Film
- SF
The Technologies That Remake Us: On Ted Chiang’s “Exhalation: Stories”
“Exhalation: Stories” is a stunning achievement in speculative fiction, from an author whose star will only continue to rise.
Sherryl VintMay 25, 2019
- SF
Voices Against the Wall: The Hilarious Terror of Karen Russell’s “Orange World and Other Stories”
Ryan Smernoff appreciates the many gems of Karen Russell’s “Orange World and Other Stories.”
Ryan SmernoffMay 18, 2019
- Fiction
- SF
De-Melanization Procedure: A Conversation with Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Joselyn Takacs talks with writer Maurice Carlos Ruffin about his new novel, "We Cast a Shadow."
Joselyn TakacsMay 15, 2019
- Fiction
- SF
Futuristic Technology of an Alternate Past: Ian McEwan’s “Machines Like Me”
McEwan seems ultimately to have wanted to write a science fiction novel, but he couches it in his old historical upholstery.
Ben LibmanMay 8, 2019
- Fiction
- SF
A Fiction of Miracles: On Michael Bishop’s “Other Arms Reach Out to Me: Georgia Stories”
The miracles never cease in Michael Bishop’s “Other Arms Reach Out to Me: Georgia Stories.”
Doug DavisMay 3, 2019
- SF
But That Is Not the Story: On Marlon James’s “Black Leopard, Red Wolf”
Understanding Marlon James’s fiction requires reading in a fantastical mode rather than a realist one.
Benjamin J. RobertsonApr 20, 2019
- SF
Strange Details Accrete: Marian Womack’s Weird Tales of Slow Catastrophe
In Marian Womack’s collection “Lost Objects,” climatic change is not figured as dramatic upheaval, but slow creep.
Timothy J. JarvisApr 13, 2019
- SF
The Final Treasure from the Tolkien Hoard
Christopher Tolkien wraps up a four-decade curation of his father’s legacy.
Nick OwcharMar 23, 2019
- SF
Temporal Turmoil: The Time Travel Stories of Robert Silverberg
A Grand Master curates his finest time travel stories.
Rob LathamMar 23, 2019
- SF
The Deified Totality of the True: On Ben H. Winters’s “Golden State”
Glenn Harper reviews “Golden State” by Ben H. Winters.
Glenn HarperMar 7, 2019
- Noir
- SF
Sui Generis: Helen Oyeyemi’s “Gingerbread”
Helen Oyeyemi's "Gingerbread" is a Rubik's Cube of a book, with all the frustration and delight that toy entails.
Anita FelicelliMar 5, 2019