Spatialities Of Speculative Fiction

"This book examines science fiction, fantasy and horror novels utilizing a conceptual toolkit of the ten duties of speculative fiction. Building on previous work in the discipline of geography it will demonstrate the value of speculation in the visualisation of Anthropocene futures. The book presents insights into how novels produce specifically geographical knowledge about the world - spatialities - and how they use both literal maps and figurative counter-mappings to comment upon and shape futures. This book is about much more than science fiction. It covers areas of literature and para-literature associated with the 'fantastic' and as such, looks also at works of fantasy and horror. The areas of overlap between these three categories of fantastic literature are posited as the most productive in the terms by which this book navigates, namely, spatiality. The book will explore, through the critical examination of a selection of key works of speculative fiction, how science-fictional and fantastic narratives are spatialized through both conceptual and literal mappings. This book is intended for both an academic and practitioner and for people interested in both producing scholarly commentary upon works of speculative fiction; and for those writing speculative fiction and novels"--

This book examines science fiction, fantasy and horror novels utilizing a conceptual toolkit of the ten duties of speculative fiction. Building on previous work in the discipline of geography it will demonstrate the value of speculation in the visualisation of Anthropocene futures. The book presents insights into how novels produce specifically geographical knowledge about the world - spatialities - and how they use both literal maps and figurative counter-mappings to comment upon and shape futures. This book is about much more than science fiction. It covers areas of literature and para-literature associated with the "fantastic" and as such, looks also at works of fantasy and horror. The areas of overlap between these three categories of fantastic literature are posited as the most productive in the terms by which this book navigates, namely, spatiality. The book will explore, through the critical examination of a selection of key works of speculative fiction, how science-fictional and fantastic narratives are spatialized through both conceptual and literal mappings. This book is intended for both an academic and practitioner and for people interested in both producing scholarly commentary upon works of speculative fiction; and for those writing speculative fiction and novels.

What kinds of worlds will exist in our future? How will countries, cities and homes be shaped by advanced technology? What forms might we ourselves assume? The genre of science fiction provides countless possibilities for imagining new types of spaces—from utopias and dystopias to alien environments, and to purely mechanical or mutant cityscapes. This collection gathers together papers originally presented at the 2018 Science Fiction Symposium at Tel-Aviv University, a two-day conference discussing new concepts of space in science-fictional works. Featuring a transmedia approach by contributors from around the world, this volume discusses a wide and diverse array of issues in the ever-expanding field of science fiction studies, including capitalism, equality, revolution, feminist critique and the humanity of the Other.

Barring such illnesses as claustrophobia or agoraphobia, or situations such as medical isolation or incarceration, most people move naturally from smaller to larger spaces and back again without giving the process much thought. But paying attention to our own movement in space yields all sorts of sensory experiences from something relaxing to something terrifying or even astonishingly beautiful. Our sense of expandable/contractible space can influence how we process everything from Japanese gardens to mountain hikes and desert expanses. Writers often expand or contract spaces around their characters for dramatic effect, character building, and even thematic purposes. Marie de France used expanded spaces for adventure and travel and contracted spaces first for romance, and then for spiritual devotion. Chaucer used expanded spaces for adventure, pilgrimage, and danger and contracted spaces for conviviality and storytelling. Dante and Milton created expansive cosmologies but focused on small spaces for both suffering and incredible spiritual achievement. This study of literary spatiality yields fascinating results, reflects useful techniques for reading, and reminds us of the value of all sorts of different approaches to analysis and artistic enjoyment.

Science fiction - one of the most popular literary, cinematic and televisual genres - has received increasing academic attention in recent years. For many theorists science fiction opens up a space in which the here-and-now can be made strange or remade; where virtual reality and cyborg are no longer gimmicks or predictions, but new spaces and subjects. Lost in space brings together an international collection of authors to explore the diverse geographies of spaceexploring imagination, nature, scale, geopolitics, modernity, time, identity, the body, power relations and the representation of space. The essays explore the writings of a broad selection of writers, including J.G.Ballard, Frank Herbert, Marge Piercy, Kim Stanley Robinson, Mary Shelley and Neal Stephenson, and films from Bladerunner to Dark City, The Fly, The Invisible Man and Metropolis.

This book collates papers presented at two international conferences (held at the Australian National University in 2018 and Birkbeck College London in 2019) exploring the relationships between big history and astrobiology and their wider implications for society. These two relatively new academic disciplines aim to integrate human history with the wider history of the universe and the search for life elsewhere. The book will show that, despite differences in emphasis, big history and astrobiology share much in common, especially their interdisciplinary approaches and the cosmic and evolutionary perspectives that they both engender. Specifically, the book addresses the unified, all-embracing, nature of knowledge, the impact of big history on humanity and the world at large, the possible impact of SETI on astrobiology and big history, the cultural signature of Earth’s inhabitants beyond our own planet, and the political implications of a planetary worldview. The principal readership is envisaged to comprise scholars working in the fields of astrobiology, big history and space exploration interested in forging interdisciplinary links between these diverse topics, together with educators, and a wider public, interested in the societal implications of the cosmic and evolutionary perspectives engendered by research in these fields.

Technologies of Feminist Speculative Fiction: Gender, Artificial Life, and the Politics of Reproduction explores how much technology has reshaped feminist conversations in the decades since Donna Haraway’s influential “Cyborg Manifesto” was published. With sections exploring reproductive technologies, new ways of imagining femininity and motherhood via artificial means, queer readings of gender as a social technology, and posthuman visions of a world beyond gender, this book demonstrates how feminist speculative fiction offers an urgently needed response to the intersections of women’s bodies and technology. This collection brings together authors from Europe, Japan, the US and the UK to consider speculative films and texts, reproductive technologies and food futures, and opportunities to rethink family, aging, gender and sexuality, and community through feminist speculative fiction, a social technology for building better futures.