Daniel H. Wilson always brings a Cherokee perspective into his work, but it’s fair to say his new book does this more than usual, pushing the techno-thriller genre into unique new territory which has been described as Techno-Traditional – infusing sci-fi techno-thriller with indigenous perspectives. 'Hole in the Sky' is an alien first contact story from a culture and history that has already experienced both the strangeness and the horror of first contact, with a foreign and incomprehensible entity. We discuss differences between Western and Indigenous approaches to science and technology, and differences in how to confront the unknown in a spiritual context. We talk about Cherokee Nation Reawakening mythology, ancient indigenous technology, the Spiro Mound, and what questions to ask if an alien invasion were imminent: What is it? How do we deal with it? How do we survive it?

Send us a message

Email:
thescienceinthefiction@gmail.com

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/743522660965257/

Chris Beckett returns to the show to talk about his book ‘America City’. Chris has written over 20 short stories and six novels, starting with The Holy Machine published in 2004 and including 'Dark Eden' for which he won the Arthur C. Clark Award in 2012. ‘America City’ describes the consequences of a refugee crisis resulting from climate change, and the slippery slope of propaganda used in service to political power. We talk about how prescient this book was, published in 2017 just after Donald Trump came to power and made the invasion of Canada a shockingly plausible future scenario. We discuss colonialism, herd mentality, the use of social media for propaganda, and the 'othering' of people both domestic and foreign.

Send us a message

Email:
thescienceinthefiction@gmail.com

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/743522660965257/

This is the second half of Marty's conversation about paleontology with science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer and paleo-artist Julius Csotonyi. They discuss their lives and careers as people with one foot in science and the other in arts, and the value of art to science. They also talk about speculative evolution and how the science of paleontology can inform exobiology - understanding how life evolved in in the deep past on Earth may teach us lessons about what life could be like in different environments on other planets.

Send us a message

Email:
thescienceinthefiction@gmail.com

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/743522660965257/