In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination, from CanLit icon Margaret Atwood is a provocative but sometimes frustrating collection that gathers lectures, reviews, and other writings (including short stories and a novel excerpt, but mostly non-fiction) that relate, in some fashion, to the genre of “science fiction.” “Science Fiction” in scare quotes because what […]
The most common misconception about science fiction is that it sets out to predict the future, when, in fact, although its stories might be set in future worlds, the best examples of the genre use these settings to explore present-day concerns. Metatropolis collects five original stories by award-winning science fiction writers: John Scalzi, Jay Lake, […]
Reading a novel by Thomas Pynchon is like trying to piece together a giant puzzle, only you don’t know what the picture is supposed to be, and dump trucks keep stopping by to pour out more pieces. It’s great, if distressing, fun. In Against the Day, Pynchon’s first novel in nine years, he forecasts the […]
