Utopia

[close] This January 19, 6-8 p.m. (MST), I am hosting a discussion on why we read and write science fiction. Like many voracious readers, I loved this field as a teenager, and I am sure the genre helped shape my thinking about the world. But then I stopped reading science fiction for many decades. This seems a common pattern. Now my own debut eco sci-fi about panpsychism and a Paleoterrific future, Knocking on Heaven’s Door (Yucca/Skyhorse Publishing), is just out, and I have five of the best science fictions from 2015 on my kindle, waiting and whispering to me in the night. My favorite recent sci-fi are Station 11 and The Water Knife. I think the genre is about to have a renaissance! Feel free to post your thoughts before or after the discussion date, although I will likely wait for that Tuesday.

[close] I'd love to connect with people interested in utopian fiction. Specifically, I am interested in speculative fiction that does NOT rely on scifi and fantasy. I love that stuff, but there are plenty of places to talk about scifi and fantasy utopias. I'm thinking about the classic utopias that used to rely on some cheap premise to justify some really cool world building. We definitely, definitely, definitely don't need to confine ourselves to those classic genres sticking close to the form of an outsider visiting an isolated utopia then returning to tell the story, but this is where it begins: More's Utopia, Perkins-Gilman's Herland, Skinner's Walden Two, Bellamy's Looking Backward, Morris's News from Nowhere, Hilton's Lost Horizon, Huxley's Island, etc... In fact, I am here to find out if there are some fresher takes on utopia. Let's talk about it.

[close] This group celebrates adult Scifi & future-focused Fiction - written by women and nonbinary authors - mostly 21st century with a smattering of classics ★彡 WE'RE ON HIATUS IN 2023, but our group bookshelf of over 1000+ titles will continue to be updated ミ★ **Note: In 2023, new member requests will only be reviewed monthly. We only accept those who have a public profile and answer our mandatory question. Authors are welcome, but self-promotion is not permitted Visit our sister group, Worlds Beyond the Margins, which celebrates adult SFF/H that promotes diversity and inclusion.

[close] Reading group for exploring concepts arising from the Coursera MOOC "E-learning and Digital Cultures" Topics include: 1. humans, machines and animals 2. surveillance 3. communication technologies 4. ubiquity 5. open (and opening) education 6. human nature 7. the meaning(s) of learning 8. the evolution of information technology 9. the future of learning institutions (source: Coursera EDCMOOC2 digital artefact criteria) profile photo: Bird Houses by See-ming Lee: Birdhouses http://www.flickr.com/photos/seeminglee/2149309015/ ~ 'Twitter' chat member(ship) masthead photo: Fireworks 1 by Robbie Biller http://www.flickr.com/photos/robbie_biller/5940170219/ ~ Twitter chat activity visualisation