#46 – Science Fiction Today – A Reader's History of Science Fiction
In the final episode of Season 1, we explore the state of the science fiction genre in the present day. Book recommendation: The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin Worlds Without End's list of sci-fi classics Worlds Without End's customizable list N. K. Jemisin on the Broken Earth trilogy Edit: corrected links. Other books discussed: The Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
Dystopian fiction has become a popular subgenre of sci-fi in its own right, but the earliest dystopian novels shared some unique elements in common, inverting the standard tropes of the hero’s journey. In this episode, we explore what has made these stories so enduring.
Book recommendation: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.
My essay on the inverted hero’s journey.
Link to the Heroine’s journey.
Link to O’Brien’s speech.
Other books mentioned:
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Science Meets Fiction 