‘In the grim darkness of the far future…’

Contributors:

Charlotte Botfield

John Wood

Matthew Campbell

Alex Hoseason

‘It was a bright cold morning in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen…’

After much pressure, and the election of Donald Trump, we finally get round to covering 1984 by George Orwell. How does the book hold up today? Do we use the word Orwellian too much? And is there something distinctively English about Orwell’s writing? It’s a book that has come up a lot recently, so join us as we desperately try to stay on topic and fail miserably.

Contributors:

Danielle Young

Matthew Campbell

Alex Hoseason

Jim Chisolm

“I stopped believing there was a power of good and a power of evil that were outside us. And I came to believe that good and evil are names for what people do, not for what they are.”

This month, we revisit our childhood memories of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. What is a daemon? How can animals have wheels? Join us as we discuss its criticism of the church, authority, and whether Ms. Coulter is the most interesting character in the series.

Contributors

Charlotte Botfield

Matthew Campbell

Alex Hoseason

The Babylon Project was a dream given form…

It’s a new year, and carrying through on a resolution that we’ve had since we started the podcast, we got together to discuss Babylon 5. Join us as we discuss handwaving in sci-fi, the necessity of ambition, and how it holds up.

Contributors

Matthew Campbell

John Wood

Alex Hoseason

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

As we wind down for Christmas, we crank up the improbability drive to a level where it produces, fully formed, and episode on the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Join us as Charlotte has to continue her quest to find a happy science fiction novel, Danielle contemplates her place in the universe, and we drop far too many references.

Contributors

Charlotte Botfield

Alex Hoseason

Danielle Young

Matthew Campbell

“We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.”

Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, is a landmark work of speculative fiction that deals directly with questions of women’s agency in a fervently religious society. Dealing directly with womens’ role in reproduction and providing for society, Atwood’s novel gives us shocking insights into a society rendered infertile by pollution. Join Lydia, Jess and Matthew as they discuss the novel, its characters, and its relationship to politics today.

https://ia902703.us.archive.org/29/items/socialsciencetalks/HMT.mp3

Jess Shahan

Lydia Cole

Matthew Campbell