Science Fiction Shorts

Back for the robot novel sequel, Omid @mikhchi makes his sophomore appearance on the podcast. Spoilers abound, so if you're sensitive to that sort of thing, read the Isaac Asimov novel The Naked Sun before you listen. It is definitely a timely read and you probably have nothing better to do anyway while you're sheltering in place!

Special guest Omid Mikhchi @mikhchi makes his Science Fiction Shorts podcast debut to discuss the Isaac Asimov sci-fi novel The Caves of Steel. If you haven't read this book and you hate spoilers, you're gonna wanna read it first; it took me a whopping 4 days to finish and both Omid and I give it our highest recommendation. In any case, whether now or later, please enjoy this episode of arguments, banter and musing of the distant future.

Are you ready for another dose of Olde English? This is our last foray into the mind of John Wilkins, a 17th century alien enthusiast. With one foot in science, one in philosophy, and a vestigial third set firmly in religion, he lays down his final arguments for a habitable world in the Moone.

We forge ahead with Proposition 2 in this episode. This section is all about the good book. Are we Heretiques for believing the Moone might be habitable? Was Moses keeping secrets from us? And what of this musicke of the spheares? John Wilkins lays it out for us in "all possible brevity".

We're seven episodes in, that means it's time to break format. Join me in a live reading of a totally bonkers historical document that teeters on the edge of science fiction and science fact. Fair warning: dude is windy. So windy that we just barely cover the preface in this episode. But it wouldn't be a podcast if I didn't cut him off every few sentences or so and interject my own commentary.

Why is this space-faring craft addressed like a gentleman? Should we give the author of this episode's short story the same honorific? In 1953, Mr. Phil Dick wrote a pleasant little ditty about a very special spaceship — listen in and find out how this ship came to be "Mr." Spaceship. Tweet me @wetjosh to tell me your thoughts on the story.

With this episode, we jump ahead about 60 years from when our last story was written. Still well before what would be dubbed the Golden Age of Science Fiction, this story is a bit less sciencey, and a bit more fiction. Written by a woman, Leslie F. Stone, at a time when getting a story published as such was no small feat. She provides a unique perspective in this tale of future colonialism and forces the reader (or listener) to step outside status quo.

All good stories have an end. In this episode we check in on our friends above for the last time. We also randomly check in on an extinct species. Listen carefully to find out which one!

Welp...things didn't go quite as planned for Mr. Ingham and friends. Needless to say, construction came to an abrupt halt. Are there any survivors? Are we to ever know the fate of the premature world? Edward E. Hale answers these questions and more in the third installment of his story, The Brick Moon.

The plans are laid, the funds are secured (most of them anyway), and we've got some eager bricklayers just begging to get their hands dirty. In the second part of Edward E. Hale's, The Brick Moon, we will find out if the sucker gets built!