Ode to Samuel Delany
Composed half-a-century ago, The Ballad of Beta-2 was a science-fiction vision of the future that speaks directly to our present.
Who Wants the Metaverse?
What exactly is the “metaverse,” and what could it be, beyond an overused, hyper-trendy prompt in marketing copy?
The Very Human Appeal of American Horror Story
The late author Joanna Russ had insights about why horror speaks to ordinary experiences and emotions.
How Octavia E. Butler Became a Legend
The early inspiration and experiences that shaped the visionary science fiction storyteller.
How Early Sci-Fi Authors Imagined Climate Change
A century before the modern “cli-fi” genre, many authors envisioned unsettling worlds shaped by man-made climate chaos.
The Self-Styled Sci-Fi Supermen of the 1940s
Way before there were stans, there were slans. Too bad about their fascist utopian daydreams!
From La Jetée to Twelve Monkeys to COVID-19
If the pandemic has you wishing for yesteryear, watching 12 Monkeys—and the time travel art film that inspired it—is just the thing.
“To Reach the Pure Realm of the Imaginary:” A Conversation with Cixin Liu
The science fiction author Cixin Liu is best known for his mind-bending trilogy The Three Body Problem.