Percival Lowell, Science Fiction, and the Canals on Mars (c) ESO / M. Kornmesser Artist’s impression of Mars about four billion years ago. For as long as humans have been looking at the night sky, the planet Mars has fascinated us. But while astronomers had charted the movements of read more…
Science Fiction
How do you define science fiction? [Article]
In Episode 3 of Words To That Effect (listen here) I asked a selection of unsuspecting friends a seemingly straightforward question: “what is science fiction?”. I got lots of answers: it’s about the future, about plausibility, about aliens, about science, about technology, about being realistic and not surrealistic. It’s a read more…
Episode 3: Irish Science Fiction
What is Irish Science Fiction? Ireland is not, it is fair to say, the first country that springs to mind when you think “science fiction”. When aliens land on Earth, we tend to assume they’ll land in New York, or London, or Tokyo. Definitely not Dublin or Cork. But then, read more…
Lost World Literature [Article]
Filling in the Blank Spaces In Joseph Conrad’s famous 1899 novella Heart of Darkness the narrator, Marlow, notes that since his childhood the world has become increasingly mapped and explored : “At that time there were many blank spaces on the earth, and when I saw one that looked particularly read more…
Episode 1: Invasion Fiction, William Le Queux, and Fake News
What is invasion fiction? Who was the mysterious William Le Queux? Why did a group of famous British authors secretly meet at the outbreak of World War I? And what did “fake news” look like a century ago? Episode 1 of Words To That Effect explores the power of read more…