Dune, Frank Herbert's sprawling masterpiece, remains one of the most influential works of science fiction. And with a new movie on the way, we are once again debating the meaning of this story. White savior narrative? Subversive eco-parable? To help us untangle the mystery, we turn to Haris Durrani, the author of an influential new Dune essay. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Fires. Floods. Heat waves. Zoonotic disease. The climate is changing. But are we going to change with it and survive? And how can storytelling help us understand our impact on the planet? We're talking about the disaster movie that is our lives with environmental journalist Maddie Stone. Shownotes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Arthurian legends are everywhere lately, from Netflix's Cursed to a host of new books. We talk to Tracy Deonn, author of the brand new young-adult novel Legendborn, about why we're all still obsessed with Camelot—and how Arthurian lore is really just the original fanfic. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
In a portal fantasy, your protagonist goes through a magical door, down a rabbit hole, or into a wardrobe ... and comes out in an enchanted world. We talk to Na'amen Tilahun, author of The Wrath & Athenaeum trilogy, about portal fantasy tropes and what makes these stories such powerful allegories for the queer experience. This episode was recorded live (online) at the OutWrite 2020 LBGT lit festival. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
H.P. Lovecraft and John W. Campbell were writers and editors who ruled science fiction in the mid-twentieth century. Their names graced some of the genre's biggest awards. They ran influential magazines. And they were also racist, authoritarian jerkwads who alienated generations of writers and fans. We talk about the rise and fall of these two men, and how to deal with their legacies. Joining us is Alec Nevala-Lee, author of a new book about Campbell and his circle called Astounding . Show notes...
The penis isn't what you think it is. We talk to Emily Willingham, author of Phallacy: Life Lessons From the Animal Penis, about what the incredible diversity of reproductive organs among non-human animals can teach us about our own junk. It turns out the human penis was made for love, not war. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Stories about indigenous people in the Americas often focus on the past, as if there aren't hundreds of indigenous communities alive today. We talk to author Rebecca Roanhorse and journalist Julian Brave NoiseCat about the movement to explore the indigenous future, in science fiction and activism. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
You can't really be a starship captain without falling in deep romantic, and possibly sexual romances with your ship. From Star Trek to A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, starship computers take on personalities and even humanoid bodies. Why do we fantasize so much about love affairs with our vessels? Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Virtual reality has been a mainstay of science fiction for a hundred years, but now it's finally a real technology. How does real VR change the stories we tell? Plus we talk to Fivestar, a porn director who's been working on virtual reality porn, to learn the truth about real-life VR sex. Warning : the second half of this episode contains discussions of explicit sexual content. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes...
When two characters have an intense conversation, it deepens a story the way nothing else can. Dialogue is key to worldbuilding, and in this episode we talk to illustrious TV writer and showrunner Javier Grillo-Marxuach ( The Middleman, Lost, The Dark Crystal ) about how to do it right. We explore quippy barbs, fake accents, and what happens when every character in a story talks like they are the same person. That’s right: We’re having a dialogue…about dialogue. And yeah, it’s going to get meta....
We love escapism, and being able to escape into imaginary worlds is a super important survival strategy in the midst of oppression, pandemics, state-sponsored violence. But what if a story is escapist for some people, but not for others? And how dark can a story get and still be escapist? Let's talk about escaping AND fighting for justice. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
We're sick of the nerds vs. jocks trope in pop culture. In this episode we unpack how that trope came to be, and how to get beyond high school PE trauma. We talk about science fiction that fetishizes workout routines (Arrow's salmon ladder!?), and portrays nerds as physically weak. Plus, we're joined by trainer Robyn Warren, creator of Geek Girl Strong, who explains how to build exercise into your nerdy life -- and why PE classes need to change. Show notes here: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/sho...
Romance and speculative fiction have always been closely connected, ever since the days of the pulps. But nowadays, some of the best science fiction and fantasy writing is happening in the romance genre. We talk Alyssa Cole, author of the Off the Grid series, the Loyal League series and the A.I. Who Loved Me, about the love affair between SF and romance. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
In these tough times, we need great TV shows more than ever. We have lots of opinions about nine new series that are making us happy because they're smart, fun, and -- best of all -- colorful! Plus, we've got recommendations for over a dozen more not-so-new shows that are worth digging up from last year, or last century. Stay safe at home and plunge your mind into dazzling new worlds. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Plots are one of the most important parts of storytelling. They carry our characters forward, and they force our heroes to make choices and to change along the way. Every story has a plot, whether it's about saving the world of making a cup of tea. So why is it so hard to come up with a decent plot? We talk about good and bad plots, and offer advice about how to write the best ones. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Pandemics are a recurring trope in science fiction, but this turns out to be surprisingly unhelpful when we're facing a contagion in reality. We talk to Mike Chen, author of the new pandemic novel A Beginning at the End , about how science fiction uses disease as an allegory for almost everything except, well, disease. Mike wrote his novel over a year before the COVID-19 outbreak, and tells us what it's like to make a prediction that comes true--sort of. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com...
Everything is bloody terrifying right now, what with the pandemic and the would-be strongmen and the natural disasters. So it's easy to retreat into nihilistic storytelling, which revels in the destruction of civilization. But screw that --- when you root for the destroyer, you're rooting for unimaginable suffering and death. Here's why we don't want your f--ed-up nihilism. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
We would need an eternity to discuss everything that was great and groundbreaking about "The Good Place," which just aired its series finale. We talk about how this weird afterlife comedy combined the workplace sitcom with weighty questions about ethics, psychology, and capitalism. Then we get metaphysical and ask why the afterlife is so funny. Also, why is it easier to imagine the bad place than it is to imagine the good one? Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Science fiction and fantasy are full of feasts, from the banquets in Game of Thrones to all those Klingon delicacies. Why is food so important in SF? To find out, we talked to Mary Anne Mohanraj, author of The Stars Change and the cookbook A Feast of Serendib: A Sri Lankan-American Cookbook . Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Science fiction and fantasy are full of stories about the power of knowing someone's true name, from the Doctor on Doctor Who to the wizards in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea. But why are names so important and powerful? And what do they tell us about the characters we love? Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
The nonology is over. Baby Yoda ate the internet. Fans are screaming about everything. How did Star Wars go from a campy space opera to a trigger for political conflict? We talk to guests Annalise Ophelian, director of the new Syfy documentary series Looking for Leia , and Elena Rose Vera, minister and activist, about the meaning of Star Wars in 2020. Shownotes here: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
The phrase "Pulp Fiction" brings to mind Quentin Tarantino's movie of the same name. But real-life pulp fiction is much stranger, and more colorful, than you ever realized. We talk to pulp historian and author Jess Nevins about the weird and sometimes problematic history of the pulps. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Scientific racism means using science to justify racist beliefs or ideas, and it has a long history. In this episode, we explore the origins of scientific racism, and how it's still affecting both evolutionary biology and fantastical stories about "other species" like the X-men's Homo superior or Underworld 's vampires. Plus, we've got an interview with journalist Angela Saini, author of the recent book Superior: The Return of Race Science . Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes...
Everybody obsesses about A.I., nanotech, space travel and robots. But the technologies nobody pays much attention to could have an equally significant impact on our world. Like artificial wombs, smart toilets, new forms of public transportation, and new cleaning machines. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Speculative fiction writers talk endlessly about worldbuilding, which sounds like it ought to involve a near-infinite amount of drywall. What is worldbuilding? And why is it so important? Plus we talk to author K. Tempest Bradford about the Writing the Other workshops and her brand new genre, Pyramidpunk! Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Terminator : Dark Fate barely made a dent in the world of pop culture, despite the fact that Terminator 2 changed the course of blockbuster cinema back in 1992. What made this series so electrifying in the twentieth century, and what's different now? Why did the new Star Wars trilogy reboot succeed using the same formula that made Terminator: Dark Fate fail? Also, what are the kinds of robot uprising stories we'd like to see in 2019 and beyond? Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes...
The idea of the "rugged individual" is all over the place in science fiction--especially in the United States. Who is this loner hero, and why are there so many stories about how personal freedom is more important than the public good? We explore the idea of rugged individuals in science fiction, and talk about how this myth has shaped everything from how we make technology, to why we value privacy. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
We've all heard Arthur C. Clarke's third law, which states that sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic. What did Clarke mean by this, and how are people using his law to take the mystery out of fantasy stories? Plus we look at popular stories where magic is explained by science, including Star Wars and Dune . Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
Multiverses are everywhere lately, from superheroes to fantasy novels. But there's one huge downside to multiple realities: you can’t change the past, and if you try, you just create a new universe. Also, we talk about The Future of Another Timeline , Annalee's brand new time-travel novel, in which there's only ONE universe, and everyone plays for keeps. Show notes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
People have a lot of opinions about what it means to have opinions about TV. Who is allowed to criticize TV, and how do you do it well? In this episode, we talk to TV critics Inkoo King (Slate) and Nina Shen Rastogi (Vulture) about what it means to analyze TV in 2019. We're at Peak TV, everything is political, and we are still processing our feelings about Game of Thrones. Also, recaps are dead. Let's talk about TV! Shownotes: www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/shownotes
