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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2020 1:41:27 GMT -5
Has anyone here read any sci-fi from the Afrofuturism sub-genre? If so, any recommendations as a good intro to the genre?
-M
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 10, 2020 2:31:43 GMT -5
Has anyone here read any sci-fi from the Afrofuturism sub-genre? If so, any recommendations as a good intro to the genre? A little. I'd recommend reading pretty much anything by Nnedi Okorafor, although what I've read so far is more like a mix of Afrofuturism and fantasy. I started with a few of her YA novels, like Zahrah the Windseeker or The Shadow Speaker; her first 'adult' novel, Who Fears Death, is also a good place to start. Recently, her two YA novels Akata Witch and Akata Warrior have become pretty popular - they're still sitting on my shelf waiting to be read...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2020 2:37:03 GMT -5
Has anyone here read any sci-fi from the Afrofuturism sub-genre? If so, any recommendations as a good intro to the genre? A little. I'd recommend reading pretty much anything by Nnedi Okorafor, although what I've read so far is more like a mix of Afrofuturism and fantasy. I started with a few of her YA novels, like Zahrah the Windseeker or The Shadow Speaker; her first 'adult' novel, Who Fears Death, is also a good place to start. Recently, her two YA novels Akata Witch and Akata Warrior have become pretty popular - they're still sitting on my shelf waiting to be read... Thanks! -M
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Post by berkley on Apr 10, 2020 3:26:27 GMT -5
I've always thought (at least since I read Foundation for the first time) that Psychohistory should be a real thing... why can't we predict crowd based trends? Seems like math should be able to. I think that's why I liked it so much. I think it's getting close - partly because of the astronomical increase in computing power over the last decade or two. I forget the name they've put on it but yes, there is a lot of serious work being done on predicting political change, mass uprisings, things like that.
In my more optimistic moments I like to tell myself that if they can get it to work one day we'll be spared the ideological, emotion-driven policy arguments we suffer from now, but in reality, even if a reliably (within certain margins of error, naturally) predictive instrument of this kind is developed, it'll still be subject to the varying value-judgements of whoever happens to be in charge, politically and economically: to take an extreme example, there's a significant fraction of western populations (I mean interms of influence more than of numbers) who want chaos in the middle-east, they want Armageddon - because of their Evangelical Christian beliefs. But that isn't the only example, I think there are other, much more subtle effects of possibly even greater importance.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 10, 2020 6:24:35 GMT -5
Has anyone here read any sci-fi from the Afrofuturism sub-genre? If so, any recommendations as a good intro to the genre? Also, if you haven't already, I think it's worth checking out the works of Octavia Butler. She's sort of Afrofuturist adjacent and, I think, she inspired and/or influenced a lot of more recent Afrofuturist writers. And she's one of my favorite writers, so I take any opportunity to recommend her books.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2020 9:23:35 GMT -5
Has anyone here read any sci-fi from the Afrofuturism sub-genre? If so, any recommendations as a good intro to the genre? Also, if you haven't already, I think it's worth checking out the works of Octavia Butler. She's sort of Afrofuturist adjacent and, I think, she inspired and/or influenced a lot of more recent Afrofuturist writers. And she's one of my favorite writers, so I take any opportunity to recommend her books. Butler's stuff comes up in almost every search on Afrofuturism I do. I need to check it out. I am familiar with Hopkinson through her work on the Gaiman curated Sandman Universe books, but I haven't read her prose stuff yet. -M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 10, 2020 9:51:20 GMT -5
Has anyone here read any sci-fi from the Afrofuturism sub-genre? If so, any recommendations as a good intro to the genre? -M This is a fairly blind spot for me since most of it comes up after I stopped reading new SF. I have read, though it's been years, a lot of Samuel Delany's work. I'd say that it's not Afro-futurism, but as a gay black man (as well as a fabulous writer) his influence on those writers has been out-sized.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 10, 2020 10:42:32 GMT -5
I've always thought (at least since I read Foundation for the first time) that Psychohistory should be a real thing... why can't we predict crowd based trends? Seems like math should be able to. I think that's why I liked it so much. I think it's getting close - partly because of the astronomical increase in computing power over the last decade or two. I forget the name they've put on it but yes, there is a lot of serious work being done on predicting political change, mass uprisings, things like that.
In my more optimistic moments I like to tell myself that if they can get it to work one day we'll be spared the ideological, emotion-driven policy arguments we suffer from now, but in reality, even if a reliably (within certain margins of error, naturally) predictive instrument of this kind is developed, it'll still be subject to the varying value-judgements of whoever happens to be in charge, politically and economically: to take an extreme example, there's a significant fraction of western populations (I mean interms of influence more than of numbers) who want chaos in the middle-east, they want Armageddon - because of their Evangelical Christian beliefs. But that isn't the only example, I think there are other, much more subtle effects of possibly even greater importance.
That's certainly true.. any model would have some bias, and I could see that bias being magnified by computer analysis. I guess we also need a real life Hari Seldon to set the thing up.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 10, 2020 10:47:34 GMT -5
Has anyone here read any sci-fi from the Afrofuturism sub-genre? If so, any recommendations as a good intro to the genre? -M Is that really a distinct sub-genre? I'm really asking... to be honest I've never much considered the race or ethnicity of the author when I'm reading something unless they make it an issue in their text. Would Black Panther count? For example, when I just read Rage of Dragons, apparently many people consider the book some sort of statement... I had no idea it was meant to be so until I read reviews after I read it... I suppose the characters were mentioned as having dark skin... people actually care about that? Sci fi main characters are ALIENS sometimes, that can be blue, pink or green as the author wishes.
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 10, 2020 10:57:39 GMT -5
I've always thought (at least since I read Foundation for the first time) that Psychohistory should be a real thing... why can't we predict crowd based trends? Seems like math should be able to. I think that's why I liked it so much. I think it's getting close - partly because of the astronomical increase in computing power over the last decade or two. I forget the name they've put on it but yes, there is a lot of serious work being done on predicting political change, mass uprisings, things like that.
In my more optimistic moments I like to tell myself that if they can get it to work one day we'll be spared the ideological, emotion-driven policy arguments we suffer from now, but in reality, even if a reliably (within certain margins of error, naturally) predictive instrument of this kind is developed, it'll still be subject to the varying value-judgements of whoever happens to be in charge, politically and economically: to take an extreme example, there's a significant fraction of western populations (I mean interms of influence more than of numbers) who want chaos in the middle-east, they want Armageddon - because of their Evangelical Christian beliefs. But that isn't the only example, I think there are other, much more subtle effects of possibly even greater importance.
Yes. And then there's the absolute refusal of so many to give any credibility whatsoever to science. Witness the reactions to rationally based predictions about climate change and pandemics, for two.
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Post by berkley on Apr 10, 2020 12:11:20 GMT -5
I think it's getting close - partly because of the astronomical increase in computing power over the last decade or two. I forget the name they've put on it but yes, there is a lot of serious work being done on predicting political change, mass uprisings, things like that.
In my more optimistic moments I like to tell myself that if they can get it to work one day we'll be spared the ideological, emotion-driven policy arguments we suffer from now, but in reality, even if a reliably (within certain margins of error, naturally) predictive instrument of this kind is developed, it'll still be subject to the varying value-judgements of whoever happens to be in charge, politically and economically: to take an extreme example, there's a significant fraction of western populations (I mean interms of influence more than of numbers) who want chaos in the middle-east, they want Armageddon - because of their Evangelical Christian beliefs. But that isn't the only example, I think there are other, much more subtle effects of possibly even greater importance.
Yes. And then there's the absolute refusal of so many to give any credibility whatsoever to science. Witness the reactions to rationally based predictions about climate change and pandemics, for two. Yup. I would say certain aspects of conventional economics, too, more controversially. If I can find the article I was reading about all this a year or two back I'll post a link in the Science thread. I think it was in New Scientist.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2020 14:43:17 GMT -5
Has anyone here read any sci-fi from the Afrofuturism sub-genre? If so, any recommendations as a good intro to the genre? -M Is that really a distinct sub-genre? I'm really asking... to be honest I've never much considered the race or ethnicity of the author when I'm reading something unless they make it an issue in their text. Would Black Panther count? For example, when I just read Rage of Dragons, apparently many people consider the book some sort of statement... I had no idea it was meant to be so until I read reviews after I read it... I suppose the characters were mentioned as having dark skin... people actually care about that? Sci fi main characters are ALIENS sometimes, that can be blue, pink or green as the author wishes. Yes, it is a distinct subgenre, and one that is growing in popularity and influence. A few scholarly/critical works on the genre as a whole have started to appear-I discovered this one in my research but haven't tracked down a copy yet... The Black Panther movie has a certain Afrofuturist vibe to it and brought a lot of attention to the genre and a lot of new readers to that style of books, but it;s been around since at least the 90s. There have also been a few anthologies with the sub-genre as its focus... I first read about the genre in Warren Ellis' newsletter as he was praising a new sci-fi book he had read from that genre, but it was a later book in a series, so wan't a good starting point for me, so I started looking in to it at the end of last year, but I hadn't actually tracked down any books to read, but I learned of some stuff that piqued my interest. I was just looking for recommendations of folks here to see if I could both narrow down the list I have made to focus on a few books, or add some new books I wasn't familiar with to my list. From what I understand, the movement gained a lot of polarity as a musical trend pioneered by a performer known as Sun Ra (who I believe was influenced by things like Mothership Connection by Parliament Funkadelic) and the term itself was coined in the 90s by Mark Dery- So yeah, it is a distinct sub-genre and a cultural movement. -M
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2020 0:20:57 GMT -5
I am not sure if I should post this here or in one of the movie threads, but it is about a sci-fi author and I think it will get more mileage here, so I decided to put it here... I watched the documentary Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth tonight (available with Amazon Prime). It's from 2007. an overview of Ellison's career, and an examination of both the man and his legacy. Ellison was a co-writer on the project, and several of the commentators were friends and associates of Harlan's (Neil Gaiman. Robin Williams, Dan Simmons, Ron Moore, etc.) but it pulls no punches about Ellison. It does short examinations of some of his key works, often highlighted by Ellison doing dramatic readings of excerpts from the work. It includes footage from several TV appearances Ellison did from the 70s onward, footage from lectures and signings he had done over the course of his career, footage of the ceremony when he was awarded the honorary title of Grand Master of Science Fiction, etc. as well as uncensored footage of Harlan being Harlan. It has flaws, but despite those it is a fascinating look at Harlan and his oeuvre. I've read a handful of Ellison tales, scene tv episodes written by him, and read stuff he's edited, but I discovered so many more stories I need to track down from the documentary, and I gained insights into some of what I had already read from it, and insights into what I had read by seeing behind the curtain a bit at the man and his work process. I know Ellison has come up in several threads here over the years, and I especially remember some of the discussion about him and his work in my sci-fi discovery thread a few years back when I was reading and commenting on the Dangerous Visions anthology, in particular his introduction to the anthology. So, I know a lot of people have read Ellison here. Just like with my Afro-futurism list, I am putting together a list of Ellison stuff to track down to read (or reread) once I can get out and haunt used bookstores again, so I will again put it out to folks here-if you had to make a short list of Ellison works that were must-reads, what would they be? -M
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 11, 2020 16:47:13 GMT -5
I think it's getting close - partly because of the astronomical increase in computing power over the last decade or two. I forget the name they've put on it but yes, there is a lot of serious work being done on predicting political change, mass uprisings, things like that.
In my more optimistic moments I like to tell myself that if they can get it to work one day we'll be spared the ideological, emotion-driven policy arguments we suffer from now, but in reality, even if a reliably (within certain margins of error, naturally) predictive instrument of this kind is developed, it'll still be subject to the varying value-judgements of whoever happens to be in charge, politically and economically: to take an extreme example, there's a significant fraction of western populations (I mean interms of influence more than of numbers) who want chaos in the middle-east, they want Armageddon - because of their Evangelical Christian beliefs. But that isn't the only example, I think there are other, much more subtle effects of possibly even greater importance.
Yes. And then there's the absolute refusal of so many to give any credibility whatsoever to science. Witness the reactions to rationally based predictions about climate change and pandemics, for two. I just read that some rap star has stated that she’d rather die than be vaccinated. Considering that she probably has plenty of fans who may act on her words (if she didn’t have fans her asinine comment wouldn’t be a headline), and that the pandemic we currently face will only be stopped by a herd immunity generated by a vaccine (fewer deaths involved) or by most everyone having caught it (hundreds of thousands of victims), I’d say she’s at best a complete moron and at worst a criminal. She’s also a perfect example of the kind of anti-science craziness that is the antithesis of all that makes humanity admirable at times.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2020 4:07:28 GMT -5
Just finished Joyland by Stephen King form the Hard Case Crime imprint I've not read a lot of King (the first Dark Tower, a handful of short stories and now this), but I find him to usually be a quick read when I do, and this was mostly no exception. It dragged a bit at first, but really went by quick once things got going. I am not quite sure how I feel about the book yet though, and I am not sure it really fits as a Hard Case crime book-it's features a crime/mystery (among other things), but it's not really about crime or a crime novel; it has a supernatural element, but it's not about horror or a horror book either. It mostly feels like a coming of age story that happens to feature a crime and some supernatural elements. If I had to liken it to something else King did that I am familiar with, it reminds me of Stand By Me in its tone and feel-another coming of age story that features other elements. Here though, the main character, Devin Jones, is college aged and its not the traditional coming of age tale, but more about the transition form adolescent to adult where the real world finally intrudes on the idyllic young adult worldview, where one encounters the first real setbacks of one's life and has to endure them and discover who you really are. It just really feels it's about Devin's journey and everything else-the crime, the supernatural and the carny milieu are all secondary to that. It wasn't bad, just not what I was expecting form a Hard Case Crime novel, so it left me feeling a little unsatisfied, but I think it comes down to unmet expectations rather than any lack of quality in the story. Taking it for what it was, I'd still give it 4 out of 5 stars, but as a Hard Case Crime novel, I'd rate it slightly lower. -M
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