Science Fiction

Science Fiction

episodes

Interviews with writers of science fiction and scholars of science fiction about their new books.

CK Westbrook, "The Aftermath" (4 Horsemen Publications, 2024)

October 20, 2024

The Aftermath

CK Westbrook
Hosted by Karyne Messina

It's been almost five years since a wrathful extraterrestrial called Rex perpetrated a mass shooting that caused hundreds of millions of people to tak…

Francis Stevens, "The Heads of Cerberus and Other Stories" (MIT Press, 2024)

September 23, 2024

The Heads of Cerberus and Other Stories

Francis Stevens
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

When three people in Philadelphia inhale dust developed by a scientist who has discovered parallel universes, they are transported into an interdimens…

David Kroening Seitz, "A Different Trek: Radical Geographies of Deep Space Nine" (U Nebraska Press, 2023)

September 20, 2024

A Different Trek

David Kroening Seitz
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

A different kind of Star Trek television series debuted in 1993. Deep Space Nine was set not on a starship but a space station near a postcolonial pla…

Emily Strand and Amy H. Sturgis, "Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier" (Vernon Press, 2023)

September 16, 2024

Star Trek

Emily Strand and Amy H. Sturgis
Hosted by Dessy Vassileva

In this special Star Trek Day episode on the New Books Network, hosted by Dessy Vassileva from Vernon Press, we celebrate over 55 years of Star Trek w…

Edward Shanks, "The People of the Ruins" (MIT Press, 2024)

August 6, 2024

The People of the Ruins

Edward Shanks
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In The People of the Ruins (originally published in 1920), Edward Shanks imagines England in the not-so-distant future as a neo mediaeval society whos…

Graham McNeill, "Horus Heresy - False Gods" (Games Workshop, 2014)

June 25, 2024

Horus Heresy - False Gods

Graham McNeill
Hosted by Michael Morales

For years, fans have been clamoring for novels about the Horus Heresy - the bloody civil war that set Space Marine against Space Marine and nearly spe…

Emily Strand and Amy H. Sturgis, "Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away" (Vernon Press, 2023)

May 10, 2024

Star Wars

Emily Strand and Amy H. Sturgis

'Star Wars' is a global phenomenon that in 2022 celebrated its 45th year of transmedia storytelling, and it has never been more successful than it is …

Wole Talabi, "Convergence Problems" (Astra Publishing House, 2024)

April 7, 2024

Convergence Problems

Wole Talabi
Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In his new story collection Convergence Problems (DAW Books, 2024), Wole Talabi investigates the rapidly changing role of technology and belief in our…

Adapting Liu Cixin’s "Three-Body Problem" for Television

April 2, 2024

Adapting Liu Cixin’s "Three-Body Problem" for Television

Hosted by UConn PopCast

It’s the UConn Popcast, and today we discuss Netflix’s new screen adaptation of Chinese science fiction author Liu Cixin’s Three Body trilogy. We disc…

Scott Alexander Howard, "The Other Valley" (Atria Books, 2024)

March 14, 2024

The Other Valley

Scott Alexander Howard
Hosted by Chris Holmes

Sixteen-year-old Odile is an awkward, quiet girl vying for a coveted seat on the Conseil. If she earns the position, she'll decide who may cross her t…

Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, "The Inhumans and Other Stories: A Selection of Bengali Science Fiction" (MIT Press, 2024)

March 13, 2024

The Inhumans and Other Stories

Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Kalpavigyan—science fiction written to excite Bengali speakers about science, as well as to persuade them to evolve beyond the limitations of religion…

Marie-Helene Bertino, "Beautyland" (FSG, 2024)

February 27, 2024

Beautyland

Marie-Helene Bertino
Hosted by Chris Holmes

At the moment when Voyager 1 is launched into space carrying its famous golden record, a baby of unusual perception is born to a single mother in Phil…

Harry Turtledove, "Wages of Sin" (Caezik SF & Fantasy, 2024)

February 26, 2024

Wages of Sin

Harry Turtledove
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

What if HIV started spreading in the early 1500s rather than the late 1900s? Without modern medicine, anybody who catches HIV is going to die. In Wage…

Samantha Harvey, "Orbital" (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2023)

January 26, 2024

Orbital

Samantha Harvey
Hosted by Chris Holmes

A slender novel of epic power, Orbital (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2023) deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men hurtling through spac…

Stefano Gualeni, "The Clouds: An Experiment in Theory-Fiction" (Routledge, 2023)

January 24, 2024

The Clouds

Stefano Gualeni

On a slow autumn afternoon, an atmospheric physicist working at the Malta Weather Station receives a surprising email from a colleague working in the …

Waubgeshig Rice, "Moon of the Turning Leaves" (William Morrow, 2023)

January 16, 2024

Moon of the Turning Leaves

Waubgeshig Rice
Hosted by Gregory Soden

It’s been over a decade since a mysterious cataclysm caused a permanent blackout that toppled infrastructure and thrust the world into anarchy. Evan W…

Jarret Keene, "Hammer of the Dogs" (U Nevada Press, 2023)

December 17, 2023

Hammer of the Dogs

Jarret Keene
Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

Set in the wasteland of post-apocalyptic Las Vegas, Jarret Keene's, Hammer of the Dogs (University of Nevada Press, 2023), is a literary dystopian ad…

Proto-Science Fiction Classics: Joshua Glenn on MIT Press's "Radium Age Series"

November 18, 2023

Proto-Science Fiction Classics

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 und…

Reese Hogan, "My Heart Is Human" (Space Wizard Science Fantasy, 2023)

November 9, 2023

My Heart Is Human

Reese Hogan
Listen:

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 …

Mingwei Song, "Fear of Seeing: A Poetics of Chinese Science Fiction" (Columbia UP, 2023)

October 29, 2023

Fear of Seeing

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 sweepi…