New Books Network Podcast

Literary Studies November 18, 2023

Proto-Science Fiction Classics

Joshua Glenn on MIT Press's "Radium Age Series"

Joshua Glenn

Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Under the direction of founding editor Joshua Glenn, the MIT Press’s Radium Age series is reissuing notable proto–science fiction stories from the underappreciated era between 1900 and 1935. In these …

Science Fiction November 9, 2023

My Heart Is Human

Reese Hogan

Hosted by Rob Wolf and Brenda Noiseux

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My Heart Is Human (Space Wizard Science Fantasy, 2023) by Reese Hogan is about a human and robot who come to occupy the same body. The body belongs to Joel Lodowick …

Chinese Studies October 29, 2023

Fear of Seeing

A Poetics of Chinese Science Fiction

Mingwei Song

Hosted by Julia Keblinska

I am talking today to Mingwei Song about his new book, Fear of Seeing: A Poetics of Chinese Science Fiction (Columbia UP, 2023). The book is a sweeping account of …

Novel Dialogue October 19, 2023

What Would Undo the Maxim Gun? Magic

A Discussion with P. Djèlí Clark and andré carrington

P. Djèlí Clark and andré carrington

Hosted by Novel Dialogue

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Locus- and Nebula- award-winning author P. Djèlí Clark joins critic andré carrington (UC Riverside) and host Rebecca Ballard for a conversation about the archives, methods, and cosmologies that inform his …

Literary Studies September 21, 2023

Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again

The Original Novellas by Shigeru Kayama

Shigeru Kayama

Hosted by Daniel Moran

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Godzilla emerged from the sea to devastate Tokyo in the now-classic 1954 film, produced by Tōhō Studios and directed by Ishirō Honda, creating a global sensation and launching one of …

Science Fiction September 7, 2023

The Death I Gave Him

Em X. Liu

Hosted by Brenda Noiseux

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Em X. Liu’s The Death I Gave Him (Solaris, 2023) brings a science fiction twist to Shakespeare’s beloved Hamlet. Working at Elsinore Labs, Hayden Lichfield and his father are in …

Recall This Book September 7, 2023

Earthsea, and Other Realms

Ursula Le Guin as Social Inactivist

John Plotz and Elizabeth Ferry

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz

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To mark the publication of John's book Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea (My Reading), with Oxford University Press (2023), John and Elizabeth take to the airways to share their love of …

Recall This Book August 17, 2023

Neveryon and Beyond (JP)

A Discussion with Samuel R. Delany

Samuel R. Delany

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz

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John Plotz talked with Samuel Delany, living legend of science fiction and fantasy back in 2019. You probably know him best for breakthrough novels like Dhalgren and Trouble on Triton …

Science Fiction August 3, 2023

Titanium Noir

Nick Harkaway

Hosted by Rob Wolf and Brenda Noiseux

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According to Merriam-Webster, noir is “crime fiction featuring hard-boiled, cynical characters and bleak, sleazy settings.” The Cambridge Dictionary says noir shows “the world as being unpleasant, strange, or cruel.” Nick …

Animal Studies July 31, 2023

Your Robot Dog Will Die

Arin Greenwood

Hosted by Kyle Johannsen

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Today I talked to Arin Greenwood about her new book Your Robot Dog Will Die (Soho, 2019). When a global genetic experiment goes awry and canines stop wagging their tails, mass …

Science Fiction July 6, 2023

The Blue, Beautiful World

A Novel

Karen Lord

Hosted by Rob Wolf

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In science fiction, aliens who come to Earth are usually scary and menacing, aspiring to destroy, conquer, or even eat mankind. But the aliens in Karen Lord’s The Blue, Beautiful …

Film July 4, 2023

Begin Transmission

The Trans Allegories of The Matrix

Tilly Bridges

Hosted by Jana Byars

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In Begin Transmission: The Trans Allegories of The Matrix (BearManor Media, 2023), trans woman and screenwriter Tilly Bridges takes you through the trans allegories of the Matrix franchise, with deep dives into …

Psychology and Climate Change July 2, 2023

The Shooting

The Impact Series

CK Westbrook

Hosted by Karyne Messina

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In The Shooting (4 Horsemen Publications, 2022), the first book in a trilogy, CK Westbrook superbly places real-life characters in a fantasy world filled with unthinkable environmental disasters while addressing …

Literature June 20, 2023

El Porvenir, ¡Ya!

Citlalzazanilli Mexicatl

Scott Russell Duncan

Hosted by Frances Sacks

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Mexican American writers make their mark in Science Fiction literature! In this first of a kind anthology, written solely by Mexican Americans, we are taken into space and near future …

Music June 12, 2023

Boogie Down Predictions

Hip-Hop, Time, and Afrofuturism

Roy Christopher

Hosted by Alex Kuchma

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Boogie Down Predictions: Hip-Hop, Time, and Afrofuturism (MIT Press, 2022), edited by Roy Christopher, is a moment. It is the deconstructed sample, the researched lyrical metaphors, the aha moment on …

Peoples & Things June 12, 2023

Red Team Blues and the Social Dimensions of Technology

A Conversation with Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow

Hosted by Lee Vinsel

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This episode is a first for the Peoples & Things podcast: it features a guest host. It is something you will be seeing more of in the future. Guest host …

Geography June 11, 2023

Uneven Futures

Strategies for Community Survival from Speculative Fiction

Ida Yoshinaga, Sean Guynes, and Gerry Canavan

Hosted by Stentor Danielson

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Essays on speculative/science fiction explore the futures that feed our most cherished fantasies and terrifying nightmares, while helping diverse communities devise new survival strategies for a tough millennium. The explosion …

Science Fiction June 1, 2023

The Archive Undying

Emma Mieko Candon

Hosted by Brenda Noiseux

The Archive Undying (Tordotcom, 2023) is Emma Mieko Candon’s ambitious epic science fiction novel about intertwined human survivors following the violent fall of cities run by AI entities so massive, they …

Science Fiction May 4, 2023

Descendant Machine

Gareth L. Powell

Hosted by Rob Wolf and Brenda Noiseux

Gareth L. Powell’s Descendant Machine (Titan Books, 2023) is set about 200 years in the future, and yet the recent explosion in A.I. technology suggests Powell’s imagined future—in which the …

Literature April 19, 2023

House of Sleep

Brad Kelly

Hosted by Kendall Dinniene

Today I talked to Brad Kelly about his novel House of Sleep (2021). A cerebral PsyFi thriller that will break your heart and then set it free. Think Chuck Palahniuk …