#27 – Feminist Science Fiction

Posted on May 10, 2021 by Alex R. Howe

Among the various social changes that accompanied the New Wave, this time period saw the rise of second-wave feminism. In this episode, we explore how that movement influenced the genre of science fiction.

Book recommendation: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Tor Books poll on women in speculative fiction.
Eric Leif Davin’s Partners in Wonder.
Sable Aradia’s review of “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?”
My blog posts on The Handmaid’s Tale: Part 1, Part 2
Jan Misali/Conlang Critic on Láadan.
Princeton article on Láadan.
Mary Robinette Kowal on women in sci-fi.

Other works discussed:
“The Screwfly Solution” by James Tiptree Jr.
“Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” by James Tiptree Jr.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

Check out this episode!

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Writer’s History #2 – Kira Leigh Interview

Posted on April 26, 2021 by Alex R. Howe

In this episode, I interview Kira Leigh, author of the new, anime-inspired space epic, Constelis Voss, Volume 1.

Kira’s website.

Kira’s TV recommendations:
Farscape
Earth 2

Check out this episode!

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#26 – Vonnegut, Adams, and Modern Satire

Posted on April 12, 2021 by Alex R. Howe

While many early works of proto-sci-fi were satires like Gulliver’s Travels, satirical works also appear in modern sci-fi. In this episode, we take a look at the two most famous authors of this subgenre, Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams.

Book recommendation: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

Vonnegut’s letter to his family during World War II.

Other works discussed:
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Check out this episode!

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#25 – Strange New Worlds

Posted on April 5, 2021 by Alex R. Howe

While much of the New Wave was about exploring inner space, some authors were still writing about exploring other words. In this episode, we see how this subgenre of “strange new worlds sci-fi” developed, both through Star Trek and through the literature of the time.

Book recommendation: Inverted World by Christopher Priest.

The Sci-Fi Encyclopedia on aliens, mentioning the influence of John W. Campbell.
Neil deGrasse Tyson’s interview with Nichelle Nichols.
Shannon Chamberlain on fanfiction.

Other works mentioned:
Solaris by Stanisław Lem
Dune by Frank Herbert
Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
Doctor Who
Star Trek: The Original Series

Check out this episode!

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A Study in Parallel Universes: the Diproton “Catastrophe”

Posted on March 29, 2021 by Alex R. Howe

Advocates of “fine-tuned universe” claim that if the physical laws of our universe were just slightly different, life would not be able to exist. Some of my colleagues and I previously looked at these claims with the “Weakless Universe,” where the weak nuclear force doesn’t exist at all. (We later also looked at varying the strength of the weak force.)

Another fine tuning argument is that if the strong nuclear force were just a little bit stronger, two protons could stick together and form a helium-2 nucleus (also known as a diproton). They say that this would break the universe by converting all of the hydrogen into helium in the Big Bang.

Spoiler: it wouldn’t.

I have co-authored another paper with Fred Adams, Evan Grohs, and George Fuller, which is now publicly available on the arXiv, studying what would happen if the universe would look like if this did happen—if diprotons (and dineutons) were bound states. And there were some definite surprises, but none that would make life as we know it impossible.

Continue reading →
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Episode 25 Delayed

Posted on March 29, 2021 by Alex R. Howe

Hi all. Sorry there’s no new episode this week. I have the script finished and everything, but my computer’s gone on the fritz. I barely got it working again after the mess it got into yesterday, and until I have a better idea of how it’s doing, I don’t trust it to get through recording and editing an episode.

I’m going to have to play it by ear for now. If the problems resolve themselves, I should be able to record and release Episode 25 next week and continue with Episode 26 on schedule. If not, I’ll shift the schedule back and start again as soon as I’m ready.

New episodes will always come out on Monday mornings either way, so keep checking back, or make sure you’re subscribed so you never miss an episode, and as always, thanks for listening.

Check out this episode!

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#24 – The New Dystopias

Posted on March 15, 2021 by Alex R. Howe

#27 – Feminist Science Fiction – A Reader's History of Science Fiction

Among the various social changes that accompanied the New Wave, this time period saw the rise of second-wave feminism. In this episode, we explore how that movement influenced the genre of science fiction. Book recommendation: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. Tor Books poll on women in speculative fiction. Eric Leif Davin's Partners in Wonder. Sable Aradia's review of "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" My blog posts on The Handmaid's Tale: Part 1, Part 2 Jan Misali/Conlang Critic on Láadan. Princeton article on Láadan. Mary Robinette Kowal on women in sci-fi. Other works discussed: "The Screwfly Solution" by James Tiptree Jr. "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" by James Tiptree Jr. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin Kindred by Octavia E. Butler Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
  1. #27 – Feminist Science Fiction
  2. Writer's History #2 – Kira Leigh Interview
  3. #26 – Vonnegut, Adams, and Modern Satire
  4. #25 – Strange New Worlds
  5. #24 – The New Dystopias

In the New Wave, a new batch of dystopian stories appeared that reflected the newer concerns of the time. These were different from the classics like Nineteen Eighty-Four–more diverse, and very often more hopeful. In this episode, we explore the highlights of these stories.

Short story recommendation: “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut.

My essay on the classic dystopias.
Kurt Vonnegut on “Harrison Bergeron.”
Darryl Hattenhauer on “Harrison Bergeron.”
My analysis of Logan’s Run.

Other works discussed:
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Logan’s Run by William Francis Nolan and George Clayton Johnson

Check out this episode!

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Do the Demographics of Logan’s Run Make Sense?

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Alex R. Howe
Logan's Run.jpg

As a companion to this week’s episode of A Reader’s History of Science Fiction, I wanted to take a closer look at the science behind one of the books I’ll be talking about: Logan’s Run by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson.

In Logan’s Run, the world combats overpopulation by euthanizing everyone over the age of 21—a society completely by and for the youth. You may be thinking that number is wrong, but if you are, that’s probably because you’re thinking of the movie. In the movie, which is quite a bit better known, everyone is killed at 30 years old.

I want to take a look at the book, though, because a society where everyone is under 21 seems extreme and unworkable, even though they define adulthood to start at 14. But the really strange part is that Nolan and Johnson write that the youth massively dominated the world’s population before the revolution. As they write in the opening lines to the book:

The seeds of the Little War were planted in a restless summer during the mid-1960s, with sit-ins and student demonstrations as youth tested its strength. By the early 1970s, over 75 percent of the people living on Earth were under twenty-one years of age. The population continued to climb—and, with it, the youth percentage. In the 1980s, the figure was 79.7 percent. In the 1990s, 82.4 percent. In the year 2000,—critical mass.

Logan’s Run was published in 1967, when the fears of overpopulation were at their peak, and at the same time (at least in America), youth activism was becoming a major political force. Nolan and Grayson extrapolate this to suggest that the population boom of the 50s and 60s would lead to a massive rise in the youth population that would give them the power to take over the world.

…But 82.4%? Really?

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The Logic of “The Gordian Paradox”

Posted on March 6, 2021 by Alex R. Howe

In my recent short story, “The Gordian Paradox,” a human attempts to defeat an evil artificial intelligence with a logical paradox: “This sentence is false.” However, instead of getting the AI stuck in a loop, the evil AI and the good AI start arguing about the meaning of the paradox.

I realize this logic may not have made a whole lot of sense, especially as presented in the story, so I wanted to shed a bit more light on it.

Spoilers Below

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Posted in math, Science Fiction, Writing | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

#23 – Overpopulation and Environmental Collapse

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Alex R. Howe

#27 – Feminist Science Fiction – A Reader's History of Science Fiction

Among the various social changes that accompanied the New Wave, this time period saw the rise of second-wave feminism. In this episode, we explore how that movement influenced the genre of science fiction. Book recommendation: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin. Tor Books poll on women in speculative fiction. Eric Leif Davin's Partners in Wonder. Sable Aradia's review of "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" My blog posts on The Handmaid's Tale: Part 1, Part 2 Jan Misali/Conlang Critic on Láadan. Princeton article on Láadan. Mary Robinette Kowal on women in sci-fi. Other works discussed: "The Screwfly Solution" by James Tiptree Jr. "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" by James Tiptree Jr. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin Kindred by Octavia E. Butler Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
  1. #27 – Feminist Science Fiction
  2. Writer's History #2 – Kira Leigh Interview
  3. #26 – Vonnegut, Adams, and Modern Satire
  4. #25 – Strange New Worlds
  5. #24 – The New Dystopias

In the 60s and 70s, awareness of environmental issues was rising, and that was reflected in the New Wave of science fiction. Of particular note were overpopulation and pollution (leading to widespread environmental collapse). In this episode, we explore the highlights of this subgenre.

Book recommendation: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner

Other books mentioned:
Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Paolo Bacigalupi interview on The Windup Girl

Check out this episode!

Posted in A Reader's History of Science Fiction | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment