Red Moon, Red Earth: the radical science fiction of Kim Stanley Robinson
An essay for New Socialist on the political science fiction of Kim Stanley Robinson, with a focus on his most recent novel Red Moon.
Literature
Designing the future: a review of Economic Science Fictions
A little over a century ago, there was an expectation that the future was ours to map and manage. An excerpt from a review for New Socialist of Economic Science Fictions, edited by Wiliam Davies.
21st century monsters: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Artificial Intelligence
Mary’s Shelley’s great novel, published 200 years ago this month, retains a peculiar relevance, resonating with today’s hopes and fears for the possibilities opened by artificial intelligence (AI) and synthetic biology.
Love and loss, then and now: reading Ovid’s poetry of exile
The 2000th anniversary of the Roman poet Ovid’s death, far from home on the shores of the Black Sea, prompted some thoughts on the condition of exile, as experienced then and now.
Seeking Aurora: on interstellar arks, deep space and desire
For some the possibility of space exploration offers an escape from our sublunary cares. But as Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel Aurora warns, space may simply be too big to make a home beyond this world.
Shipwrecked on modernity: Mark Lilla’s radical reactionaries
Mark Lilla’s collection of essays The Shipwrecked Mind asserts a classic liberal scepticism against both Golden Age and Futurist utopias.
The Weird and the Eerie by Mark Fisher – a review
Mark Fisher’s latest – and tragically – final book The Weird and the Eerie explores encounters with the outside and the unknown in 20th and 21st century film, music and literature.