The Noblewoman Who Invented Sci-Fi Before Mary Shelley
Margaret Cavendish was a pioneer of modern science fiction – except she didn’t intend to write science fiction. In the 17th century, Cavendish was a noblewoman who wanted to be taken seriously as a ph...
30 Mar 202335min
100 Years of Weird Tales
When the March 1923 issue of Weird Tales hit newsstands, many people didn’t know what to make of this new magazine. But 100 years later, Weird Tales has had a huge influence on modern day sci-fi, fant...
16 Mar 202334min
Can an Immersive World Become Too Immersive?
The town of Ong's Hat in New Jersey may have been the site of a top secret experiment that brought scientists to a parallel world in another dimension. Or it's the subject of a big inside joke and per...
2 Mar 202350min
Ukrainian Science Fiction Goes to War
As we near the one year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I check in with the Ukrainian writers I interviewed for my 2022 episode A Nation Dreams of Itself. Maria Galina tells me about t...
16 Feb 202337min
Losing The Human Touch in The Visual Arts
I’ve been following parallel media stories about visual artists in two different fields. Each story is about artists who create fantastical images, but they’re worried they can no long practice their ...
2 Feb 202335min
Nghi Vo’s Devilish Worldbuilding
Nghi Vo's novels Siren Queen and The Chosen and the Beautiful have gotten widespread critical acclaim, which was a pleasant surprise to her because she only started expanding beyond short story writin...
19 Jan 202337min
The Sci-Fi Fantasy Tourist Economy
When a fantasy or sci-fi story is set in a real location, what happens when fans go to that place looking for a glimpse of magic? How do the locals feel about their hometowns turning into fandom desti...
4 Jan 202341min
How Octavia Butler Wrote Her Own Story in Speculative Fiction
This year marks the 75th anniversary of Octavia Butler’s birth. There have been commemorations nationwide, and I wanted to join in by replaying my 2016 episode, “The Legacy of Octavia Butler.” I produ...
22 Des 202238min
