1984, written by George Orwell and originally published in 1949, is considered by some one of the most well known and popular dystopian science fiction books of all time. I chose to read 1984 because I have been told by multiple people that I need to read it eventually and it also relates to the world today in an eerie way, especially with current events. The book is about a man named Winston Smith who discovers he is not satisfied with the government Big Brother’s constant surveillance and control of society. He finds a way to rebel and falls in love with a woman named Julia, only to end up being captured, tortured, and eventually brainwashed into loving Big Brother. 1984 is considered soft science fiction since it mostly deals with a society and it’s dystopian government’s political aspects and control over the people it rules, and though technology is not unbelievably advanced, it’s surveillance ability is heavily abused. This book is very fascinating because of the parallels found to today’s current society. It depicts a government and society similar to one that could be found in reality, the main difference being that the control those in the upper class have is not only evident all the time, but is also absolute. Winston’s job involves rewriting journals, books, and other sources to make Big Brother’s predictions of the future always accurate and even change the occurrence of events in accordance with what Big Brother wants. The story is a haunting depiction of what could happen if those in power decide to exert more control and instances of this occurring can be seen on a smaller scale in real history and the present, and I would definitely recommend it because of how creative yet accurate and ultimately hopeless the tale becomes.

Orwell, George, and Erich Fromm. 1984. Signet Classics, 2017.

This book was recommended by a classmate who was also choosing books at that time. Ender’s Shadow is a companion novel to Ender’s Game, which I have read and very much enjoyed. I was interested to see how Orson Scott Card would rewrite a story from a different perspective.

The book is about earth’s response to an alien invasion of B.E.M. The strategy is to train young gifted children in battle and command. This book follows a child named Bean through his journey as an orphan on the streets to being an officer in the final battle against the Formics.

It is an Alien Invasion story with political elements, specifically Russia and China as dominant world powers. It also includes space exploration and technological advancements like controlled genetic mutation. The author describes the two companion novels as a type of parallax. I read the companion novel Ender’s Game first, and there is a similar structure that explains certain parts of the book that aren’t necessarily missing without the companion but definitely enhanced when read together. I greatly enjoyed the book and would recommend it to others.

Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Shadow. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 1999.  Awards: New York Times Bestseller (Fiction, 1999), SF Site Reader’s Choice (1999), Alex Awards (2000), ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2000), Geffen Award (Best Translated Science Fiction Book, 2001), ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults (2004).

Before I chose this book, I had no idea who Octavia Butler was, and when I walked into the Green Hand bookstore, I didn’t have an idea of which book I was going to choose. However, in the bookstore, both a random man and the owner recommended Parable of the Sower, the 1993 novel by Octavia Butler. Parable of the Sower is a post-apocalyptic novel set in California, that depicts the devastating effects of climate change. It follows the story of Lauren Olamina, a teenage girl, and how she deals with the terrible events that affect her and her family. It also explores religion in an interesting way. Parable of the Sower is a dystopian SF novel, that also deals with themes of climate change and social/wealth inequality. I loved this novel for many reasons. I loved Butler’s writing, the characters she develops, and how real the scenarios and characters felt. I also loved (and was scared by) how prescient this novel (and Parable of the Talents, the sequel) were. I would highly recommend this book, and the sequel, to anybody, not just SF fans.

(Nominated for the Nebula, and a NYT Notable book of the Year)

Butler, Octavia E. 2019. Parable of the Sower. London, England: Headline Book Publishing.

Written in 1993.

The other day, I rewatched Interstellar, a 2014 science fiction film directed by Christopher Nolan. I really enjoyed rewatching it, especially while taking this course. The movie utilizes a lot of hard SF, and attempts to be quite realistic in explaining time dilation and time travel.

The movie starts in a future Earth where the environment has been ruined, with crop failure and extreme amounts of dust present. I won’t completely spoil the film, but the main character, Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) goes to space to attempt to find a new habitable planet. The fascinating part of the film was how time and time travel was depicted.

The first instance of time (travel?) I want to explore is on a water planet that Cooper and his team visited, where one hour on the planet is seven years on Earth, due to the planet’s closeness to a massive black hole, and the distortion of time. I found this idea extremely interesting, and upon further research after watching the film, it actually seems to be scientifically possible. The film utilized Kip Thorne, a former Caltech physicist, for the science, and he actually wrote a long book about the science of Interstellar, explaining what was scientifically possible and what was just for the film.

The second interesting thing I thought about in this film was how they represented time travel. Cooper enters the blackhole, and finds himself in a Tesseract, which represents time as a physical dimension. Thus, through moving about the Tesseract, Cooper is able to go back in time and influence the past by creating a signal in his daughter’s room, which in turn is the signal that causes him to go on this journey many years ago. It all gets quite confusing, as this seems like a paradox, but I won’t go too far into it as I don’t want to spoil the film, which I highly recommend!

Overall, I found this film extremely interesting and one of the best SF films I’ve seen, partially because of the plot and cool SF devices, but also because of the attempt at scientific realism.
This is the visual representation of the black hole.

-Ezra Jones

High Weirdness (Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies) by Erik Davis explores the emergence of a new psychedelic spirituality in the works of PKD, Terence McKenna, and Robert Antin Wilson. I’m super psyched to read this!! Davis navigates readers through consciousness, the hierarchies of their perceived realities, synchronicity, and a plethora of other weird aspects of our human experience that is suggested by these major counterculture sf writers.  Magic mushrooms, flying saucers, the invisible trickster entities of the 70s, SF, what more could you want? (the attached photo has popular modernSF novels)