“It’s trying to thread that needle between the wonder and the splendour in this mythology without being beguiled into actual fascism.” ~Adam Roberts

Adam Roberts is a professor of nineteenth century literature, a prolific essayist and critic, and one of our best science fiction writers. Our interview traces a path between two powerful forces in science fiction – the mythic stories of transcendence and self fulfilment that animate much of today’s most popular sci-fi storytelling, and the mundane and ordinary lives that ground our reality.

We touch on the shifting perception of science fiction in academia, questions of worldbuilding and the endless argument to define science fiction, the new optimism of hopepunk and solarpunk, HG Wells long fascination with eugenics, the balance between stereotype and archetype in storytelling, and professor Roberts answer to the question of where science fiction began. It’s a great insight into the thinking of a great SF author.

00:00:00 A mistrust of myths

00:01:51 An interview with Adam Roberts

00:04:39 The professor's productivity tips

00:08:11 The nineteenth century and science fiction

00:11:03 Has the academic perception of science fiction shifted?

00:14:29 The worldbuilding question

00:19:16 Why do we keep arguing about the definition of science fiction?

00:23:39 We spend more money on Star Wars than space travel

00:32:12 Melding the literary and the sci-fi

00:42:49 The process of writing science fiction

00:48:03 Translating Joyce and algorithmic writing

00:59:50 Hopepunk and Solarpunk

01:11:22 The Community vs. the Individual

01:18:03 The Heroic and the Quotidian

01:28:02 A segue to Wellsian scholarship

01:35:01 Emmanuel Kant and the Fermi paradox

01:44:24 Tolkien and the English mythos

01:49:47 Stereotype vs Archetype

01:57:14 When does science fiction begin?

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