Discovering Family, Memory, and Teleportation in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ ‘The Water Dancer’
Ta-Nehisi Coates' debut novel about slavery in America, The Water Dancer, dares us to dance -- and remember.
science fiction
Joanna Russ, the First Minister of Feminist Science Fiction
Gwyneth Jones's masterly account of the life and times of Joanna Russ serves as a timely reminder of the strides made in visibility and diversity in science fiction literature —and the distance still left to traverse.
Brilliant Moral Science – and Dinosaurs — from the Yeaworth-Harris Trilogy!
From the makers of The Blob, Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr .and Jack H. Harris, 4D Man and Dinosaurus! (restored by Kino Lorber) give film fans a can't-look-away sci-fi gaze into the victims of progress.
‘Sharp-Finned, Malignant and Inescapable’: Ray Bradbury and the Uncanny
We're all paranoiacs at the very heart of our being. Ray Bradbury has the special genius of knowing how to bypass our conscious minds, ever so gently, and speak directly to the lunatic within.
‘The Psychology of Time Travel’ Is Anything But Simple
The Psychology of Time Travel balances thrilling mystery, complex characterization, and emotional depth, and is a strong debut for Kate Mascarenhas.
A Man, a Woman, a Brooding Replicant and Readership: On Ian McEwan’s ‘Machines Like Me’
Purists who see Ian McEwan's comments about science fiction and his novel, Machines Like Me, as a slight against their beloved literary genre are missing the point.
Ted Chiang’s ‘Exhalation’ Calmly Stares Oblivion in the Face
With his second collection of short stories, Exhalation, master of existential science fiction Ted Chiang explores AI, time travel, and alternate realities with the studious eye of an anthropologist.
Of Botany, Hacking, Biosurveillance, and Boredom; Or, Pola Oloixarac’s ‘Dark Constellations’
Pola Oloixarac's Dark Constellations is what the late Michael Crichton might have written if he had grown up in Argentina and fancied himself a high postmodernist.
Extras for an Hour, Voyagers for a Lifetime: ‘Live Long and Evolve’
Biology professor Mohamed A. F. Noor voyages through deep sci-fi in Live Long and Evolve, exploring how evolutionary biology is portrayed within the television franchise, Star Trek.
The Art of Typography and Design in Science Fiction Film
From its inception as a blogging project to its culmination into a beautiful art book, Dave Addey's Typeset in the Future is a wonderful but expensive look at typography and design in popular science-fiction films.
‘Vita Nostra’ Is a Tantalizing Fantasy That Forces Us to Question Our Own Humanity
Sergey and Marina Dyachenko's Vita Nostra is a mysterious Ukrainian sci-fi / fantasy / fairy tale whose unsettling questions will linger.