Science Fiction Portal (List View)

Kull Wahad, let’s read Frank Herbert’s Dune! In this series of three modules, we will closely read Frank Herbert’s masterwork. We will explore themes like heroism, mythology, history, ecology, politics and religion while following the dynastic struggles between the Atreides family and the ruthless Harkonnens. Every week, you will get to connect with fellow book lovers and share your insights. This module is perfect for the creative writer looking to pick up techniques through close reading, or for anyone looking for a cozy book club. Let the spice flow! Module 1: Book I: Dune Module 2: Book II: Muad’dib Module 3: Book III: The Prophet [show less]

Kull Wahad, let’s read Frank Herbert’s Dune! Join us for the first module in a series of three modules in which we closely read Frank Herbert’s masterwork. We will explore themes like heroism, mythology, history, ecology, politics and religion while following the dynastic struggles between the Atreides family and the ruthless Harkonnens. Every week, you will get to connect with fellow book lovers and share your insights. This module is perfect for the creative writer looking to pick up techniques through close reading, or for anyone looking for a cozy book club. Let the spice flow! Module 1: Book I: Dune Module 2: Book II: Muad’dib Module 3: Book III: The Prophet [show less]

Kull Wahad, let’s read Frank Herbert’s Dune! Join us for the final module of our series in which we closely read Frank Herbert’s masterwork. We will explore themes like heroism, mythology, history, ecology, politics and religion while following the dynastic struggles between the Atreides family and the ruthless Harkonnens. Every week, you will get to connect with fellow book lovers and share your insights. This module is perfect for the creative writer looking to pick up techniques through close reading, or for anyone looking for a cozy book club. Let the spice flow! Module 1: Book I: Dune Module 2: Book II: Muad’dib Module 3: Book III: The Prophet Note: If you did not participate in an earlier module of this series, please consider joining still! You would be most welcome to jump in mid-stream with us. [show less]

Kull Wahad, let’s read Frank Herbert’s Dune! Join us for the second module in a series of three modules in which we closely read Frank Herbert’s masterwork. We will explore themes like heroism, mythology, history, ecology, politics and religion while following the dynastic struggles between the Atreides family and the ruthless Harkonnens. Every week, you will get to connect with fellow book lovers and share your insights. This module is perfect for the creative writer looking to pick up techniques through close reading, or for anyone looking for a cozy book club. Let the spice flow! Module 1: Book I: Dune Module 2: Book II: Muad’dib Module 3: Book III: The Prophet Note: If you did not participate in module 1 of this series, please consider joining still! You would be most welcome to jump in mid-stream with us. [show less]

The saga of Dune is far from over... Across two months, we will read Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's completion of Frank Herbert's Dune saga. Whether you are a new or continuing student in our Dune book club, all are welcome to join this class. Connect with book lovers, compare to Herbert's originals, and share your insights. Let the spice flow! Month 1: Hunters of Dune Month 2: Sandworms of Dune [show less]

In this two-month module, we will read and discuss the Frank Herbert's final Dune novel, Chapterhouse Dune. The universe as we know it is gone, as the Honored Matres sweep across the stars and destroy everything in their path. On the remote world Chapterhouse, a handful of rebel Bene Gesserit fight to preserve the last sandworms and the hope of humanity... Whether you are a new or continuing student in our Dune book club, all are welcome to join this class. Connect with book lovers, compare to the adaptations, and share your insights. Let the spice flow! [show less]

In this two-month module, we will read and discuss the Frank Herbert's final Dune novel, Chapterhouse Dune. The universe as we know it is gone, as the Honored Matres sweep across the stars and destroy everything in their path. On the remote world Chapterhouse, a handful of rebel Bene Gesserit fight to preserve the last sandworms and the hope of humanity... Whether you are a new or continuing student in our Dune book club, all are welcome to join this class. Connect with book lovers, compare to the adaptations, and share your insights. Let the spice flow! [show less]

In this two-month module, we will read and discuss the Frank Herbert's final Dune novel, Chapterhouse Dune. The universe as we know it is gone, as the Honored Matres sweep across the stars and destroy everything in their path. On the remote world Chapterhouse, a handful of rebel Bene Gesserit fight to preserve the last sandworms and the hope of humanity... Whether you are a new or continuing student in our Dune book club, all are welcome to join this class. Connect with book lovers, compare to the adaptations, and share your insights. Let the spice flow! [show less]

In this two-month module, we will read and discuss the fifth Dune novel, Heretics of Dune. 1500 years after the reign of Leto II, humanity is locked on the path laid out by the tyrant. Yet a new threat emerges from the shadows: the Honored Matres, a deadly ecstatic cult bent upon the destruction of the planet Dune... Whether you are a new or continuing student in our Dune book club, all are welcome to join this class. Connect with book lovers, compare to the adaptations, and share your insights. Let the spice flow! [show less]

In this two-month module, we will read and discuss the fifth Dune novel, Heretics of Dune. 1500 years after the reign of Leto II, humanity is locked on the path laid out by the tyrant. Yet a new threat emerges from the shadows: the Honored Matres, a deadly ecstatic cult bent upon the destruction of the planet Dune... Whether you are a new or continuing student in our Dune book club, all are welcome to join this class. Connect with book lovers, compare to the adaptations, and share your insights. Let the spice flow! [show less]

In this two-month module, we will read and discuss the fifth Dune novel, Heretics of Dune. 1500 years after the reign of Leto II, humanity is locked on the path laid out by the tyrant. Yet a new threat emerges from the shadows: the Honored Matres, a deadly ecstatic cult bent upon the destruction of the planet Dune... Whether you are a new or continuing student in our Dune book club, all are welcome to join this class. Connect with book lovers, compare to the adaptations, and share your insights. Let the spice flow! [show less]

Epistolary fiction may have you thinking of Frankenstein and Dracula, but they were just the beginning. This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone builds on the epistolary tradition while creating a whole new experience with their epistolary science fiction/time travel/lgbtqia+ romance novella. We will explore the framing, narrative, metaphor, character, and linguistic choices of the authors in depth as we take our time dissecting this novella with fellow book lovers. [show less]

The saga of Dune is far from over... Across two months, we will read Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's completion of Frank Herbert's Dune saga. Whether you are a new or continuing student in our Dune book club, all are welcome to join this class. Connect with book lovers, compare to Herbert's originals, and share your insights. Let the spice flow! Month 1: Hunters of Dune Month 2: Sandworms of Dune [show less]

The use of fictional languages in science fiction from the good to the bad. This includes fully constructed languages, references to constructed and foreign languages, as well as misuse or misunderstandings of language change. How these subtle points contribute to or detract from world building. This will expand on the work of Ria Cheyne through examples and delving deeper linguistically. [show less]

This Writer's Workshop will be for practicing the art of writing flash fiction, works that are of 500 or fewer words in length. This is a marvelous place for a new writer to begin as the size is not overwhelming. It is also a marvelous place for a seasoned writer to practice the craft of scene creation and characterization under severe creative restriction. We will read examples of flash fiction, and provide feedback for one another on original pieces that we shall write over the length of the course. For this we will use the Collaborative Feedback Method that we use in all Space creative writing courses, a method which emphasizes kindness and curiosity while still providing rigorous and useful feedback to the writer. [show less]

Please choose this module if you're excited to be part of our Creative Writing mini-modules in the near future! If you add this module to your wish list (or short-list it), we will include you in our communications about upcoming mini modules and let you know what's available. Note: Our mini modules are special month-long group experiences designed for a small and intimate group of 2 to 4 students for the cost of 1 Token. As soon as we get enough interested students that reserve their seat, we'll schedule this class with the group and fly! [show less]

Frank Herbert's Dune novels have been adapted for film, television and tabletop and video games. Using a combination of recorded lectures, in-class discussion and exercises, this hybrid module will examine the various adaptations of the novels, including David Lynch's film, the miniseries, Denis Villeneuve's recent films, HBO's Dune: Prophecy as well as various abortive attempts to adapt the novel. We will also explore the influence of Dune upon the gaming industry. Students are encouraged, but not obliged, to rewatch the various films ahead of in-class discussion. [show less]

Attn: All continua enthusiasts and stub residents, join us as we delve into the world of William Gibson's recent novel and Amazon Prime series, The Peripheral. A world of branch universes, nanobot assassinations, attenuated time travel and kleptocrats, all under the ever-watchful Periwinkle eyes of Detective Inspector Ainsley Lowbeer and the looming Jackpot. If you have read the novels already, this is a great chance to revisit them in light of the Amazon series for The Peripheral which began in 2022. If you have never read William Gibson, this is an opportunity to explore Gibson's particular flavor of fast-paced action, braided narratives, and provocative ideas. [show less]

Agency is the second novel of William Gibson's Jackpot Trilogy. Agency's timeline emerges in a branch universe where the 2016 election went otherwise and a somewhat salty AI assistant gets loose in the internet. Nanobot assassinations and attenuated time travel, surly barristas and tech billionaires, smart-ass AI and an elderly super-empowerd Detective Inspector Ainsley work to avoid the blades of the looming Jackpot. Although a sequel to The Peripheral, you need not have read that book to enjoy Agency. Please join us! [show less]

This course introduces the student to the various aspects of geology and how they can relate to worldbuilding and mapmaking. This includes continents, plate tectonics, mountains, water, glaciers, planetary patterns, the distribution of rock types and natural resources, natural disasters and weather patterns. This background would allow students to better evaluate fictional maps as well as create them. Examples will be drawn from Middle-earth, Earth-sea, Westeros, Dungeons and Dragons, and suggestions from students. [show less]

The first of the two essential questions raised in Babylon 5, “Who are you” demands that listeners and respondents consider the nature of their own mortality and personhood, delving deeply into their multifaceted identities. This four-week seminar explores the responses to this question as given by six core members of the Babylon 5 universe and considers its presentation as a core Vorlon question, examining the world of Babylon 5 as a space of introspection and self-discovery. [show less]

This is the Landing Page for Dr. Koke Saavedra's two-module series, Imagination Unhinged at the End of the World: Module 1 explores the rich Chilean Gothic, where, amidst sublime, disquieting and disjointed physical and cultural landscapes, Poe and Lovecraft continue exerting much influence. Famous works, like The Shrouded Woman by María Luisa Bombal, coexist with many unknown jewels. Given Chile’s extreme and vast geography, and persistent ‘frontier culture’, fantastic ‘lost cities’ and ‘lost worlds’ adventures have abounded here. We will look at local classics of this fun, gripping subgenre. Module 2 explores how, under dictatorship, Chilean SFF creation mainly moved abroad, together with its exiled creators, such as Isabel Allende, and her The House of Spirits. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Note: Students can jump in at any month/part of the Series. There are no prerequisites. [show less]

Note: Although this is a two-part series, each module stands on its own. Students are welcome to join in for any module of the series. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Surely life at the world's end will unhinge your imagination! See by yourself by exploring the extraordinary, diverse science fiction and fantasy (SFF) of Chile, a remote land barely hanging at the edge of our planet. Boasting a grand literary tradition, and literally zero interest in hard science, Chilean SFF is different, opening unusual vistas into the imaginative landscape. In the first part of this two-module series, we will first explore the rich Chilean Gothic, where, amidst sublime, disquieting and disjointed physical and cultural landscapes, Poe and Lovecraft continue exerting much influence. Famous works, like The Shrouded Woman by María Luisa Bombal, coexist with many unknown jewels. Given Chile’s extreme and vast geography, and persistent ‘frontier culture’, fantastic ‘lost cities’ and ‘lost worlds’ adventures have abounded here. We will look at local classics of this fun, gripping subgenre. After losing ourselves on remote places in search of treasure and immortality, we will explore the incisive ‘New Wave’ feminist SFF of the Chilean sixties—in particular Elena Aldunate and Ilda Cádiz Ávila, two remarkable authors whose influence grows every year as female voices are rediscovered and empowered. Perhaps a cautionary tale, Chilean proud 150-year-old democracy burned and crashed on 9/11/1973. Chile has also produced remarkable SFF comics, creatively expressing (or repressing) changing local moods. We will explore exciting works, little known in the US, including the adventures of Mampato and the extraordinary Guardians of the South, a decolonizing comics depicting indigenous Mapuche as superheroes, precisely at a time of their political uprising. Part 1 – Outline: Lecture 1: Poe & Lovecraft in the South Pacific: At the real mountains of madness' and other awesomely disquieting Gothic stuff. Discussion 1: Class discussion on Lecture 1 material. Lecture 2: Lost Worlds and Fantastic Cities Aplenty: Why not just grab some horses and go in search of eternal life and gold by the bucketfuls in the foreboding Andes and the forbidding Patagonian fiords? Discussion 2: Class discussion on Lecture 2 material. Lecture 3: Forget Neruda! The amazing feminist 'New Wave' sixties science fiction of Isabel Aldunate and Ilda Cádiz Ávila. Discussion 3: Class discussion on Lecture 3 material. Lecture 4: Top comics in the Andes: From time-traveling Mampato and Jodorowsky’s Incal to the decolonizing, native Mapuche superheroes, The Guardians of the South. Discussion 4: Class discussion on Lecture 4 material. [show less]

Surely life at the world's end will unhinge your imagination! See by yourself by exploring the extraordinary, diverse science fiction & fantasy (SFF) of Chile, a remote land barely hanging at the edge of our planet. Boasting a grand literary tradition, and literally zero interest in hard science, Chilean SFF is different, opening unusual vistas into the imaginative landscape. In the second part of this two-module series, we will explore how, under dictatorship, Chilean SFF creation mainly moved abroad, together with its exiled creators, such as Isabel Allende, and her The House of Spirits. Since the return to democracy in 1990, Chilean SFF has been shaped by profound, historically unresolved social conflicts, such as colonial and patriarchal legacies, an ambiguous relationship with technology, persisting ‘classism’ and socio-economic inequalities, and the lingering traumas of the military regime. Post-humanist SF, Cyber- and Steam-Punk, have taken strong roots in Chile by addressing those old conflicts in impactful literary works, such as Alicia Fenieux’s Clone’s Love or Muñoz Valenzuela’s Flowers for a Cyborg. A decade of massive foreign immigration, of over 10% of the national population, compounded social tensions. And the optimism that followed redemocratization and lightning-fast economic growth ended abruptly in 2019 with a dramatic ‘social explosion’, where millions of people took to the streets after a minor rise in the cost of public transportation. Remarkably, SFF is thriving under these unsettling social conditions, as Chilean SFF authors alchemically transform the new anxieties into extraordinary imaginative creations. A true Chilean Golden Age of SFF is being born as zombies and other dreadful creatures run rampant. Inspired, though dystopian social visions combine with technological nightmares to create some of the best imaginative literature ever created in the country. Lastly, we will look at the Cyber-Shamanism of Jorge Baradit—Magic Realism 2.0?—an inspired, neo-techno-Gothic expression of the ‘new pessimism’, mixing Cyber-Punk and indigenous spirituality to express the new fears arising from the expansion of organized crime, violence and corruption, threatening social dissolution not only in Chile but in the Americas as a whole. Although this is a two-part series, each module stands on its own. Lecture 1: Magic Realism & real dictatorship: Isabel Allende’s 'The House of Spirits' & other potent exiled imaginations. Discussion 1: Class discussion on Lecture 1 material. Lecture 2: Posthumanism's alive & well in the South Pacific: From cyborg social justice revenge to clones’ love betrayals. Discussion 2: Class discussion on Lecture 2 material. Lecture 3: Chilean zombie attacks, vampires on the lose, & other easily preventable catastrophes: Pop goes the future! Discussion 3: Class discussion on Lecture 3 material. Lecture 4: A pessimist Golden Age and Magic Realism 2.0? Cyber-Punk, Cyber-Shamanism & Jorge Baradit's “Magical Conquest of America”. Discussion 4: Class discussion on Lecture 4 material. [show less]

The Midst podcast (which can be found at http://www.midst.co) is a strange and compelling space western horror science fantasy. . . hmmm. Let me start again. Midst is a planetoid revolving in a cosmos very unlike our own, one that contains strange creatures bred from The Fold, a supernatural phenomenon that. . . no that's not it either. This module will be a discussion guide to one of the most compellingly weird podcasts I've run across ever. I'm talking Welcome to Nightvale weird. The story is told by three anonymous and quite probably unreliable narrators, does not stick to usual story structures, veers off on tangents, and lands everything in a series of climactic episodes that are simply stunning. What we will be doing is experiencing season 1 of this podcast together and looking at how they are using various tools to tell this story, and whether they really are abandoning a lot of conventional storytelling wisdom. (Spoiler alert, I don't think they are.) You will listen to all nineteen episodes over the course of the class. In class, we will discuss the episodes you've heard, using the frame of questions I will give you ahead of time. Our goal will be to tease out the various storytelling tools the writers used in the creation of their remarkable story. Some of these will be familiar literary tools, others will involve how they use sound and effects to heighten their narration. As each episode is on the order of half an hour long, you will have heard nine to ten hours of audio by the time the class ends. I love this story and the way the writers have chosen to tell it. I would love to share that with you. [show less]

C.S. Lewis is one of the most prolific and influential writers of the 20th century. And yet, in his early career as an Oxford don, he viewed himself as a failed poet. Moreover, his most canonical and transformational writing happened during the most stress-filled periods of his life. This short course allows students to peek into the writing life of C.S. Lewis. Our goal is to see through the lines of printed text by visiting the letters and archival remains of Lewis in a virtual setting. Most of C.S. Lewis's papers remain undigitized and unpublished, available only locally at archives in North America and England. As Professor Brenton Dickieson has visited these archives, he is able to invite students to appreciate C.S. Lewis's writing life by looking at the way that he consciously and unconsciously built his literary career. This course is for writers who are developing their own habits and literary life-prints, as well as folks who are curious about C.S. Lewis's life beyond the biographies and bestselling books. We are not doing text close readings, but looking at the “paratextual” information available to us: writing drafts, letters, diary entries, manuscripts and typescripts, title, and the like. Week 1: Lewis: Pen, Ink, Paper • C.S. Lewis’s Single-jointed Self-Conception as a Writer • What Lewis Says about his Writing Habits • Legendary Bonfires, Stuffed Dolls, and American Suckers: A Story of Lewis’s Papers and Manuscripts • The Screwtape MS. Story: Part 1 Week 2: Leaves, Bombs, Stains • The Screwtape MS. Story: Part 2 • “Villainous Handwriting”: Charlie Starr’s Lewis Handwriting and Rough Draft vs. Fair Draft • Reconsidering the Lindskoog Affair with Manuscript Evidence of “The Dark Tower” Week 3: Joy, Theft, Death • “The Quest of Bleheris”: Lewis’s Teenage Novel Week 4: • Is it True that Lewis Wrote in a Single Draft? • A Grief Observed • Tumbling Through the Wardrobe: The Discovery of Narnia • Arthurian Torso • A New Sketch of Lewis’s Writing Process(es) Note: This course includes a significant amount of visual material on the screen. Please contact the SPACE team if you have visual accessibility requirements and we will do everything we can to accommodate. [show less]

This module explores the second book in the series: Catching Fire (2009). What lessons do the Capitol and Districts have to teach us? What warnings should we heed? What road leads from here to Panem? Over the course of five months, participants in these SPACE modules will read and discuss a modern classic of dystopian storytelling, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. In this hybrid series, each week will include one lecture and one live discussion. The lectures will examine the inspirations behind, allusions in, and questions posed by that month's novel. In live discussions, participants will share their insights on, interpretations of, and reactions to the story. Together we will consider why this series has spoken to so many readers and explore how its messages remain relevant today. Students will be asked to read one book over the course of each month in whatever format they choose. All of these novels are available in print, ebook, and audio format. (Warning: The Hunger Games series include descriptions—for a young-adult audience—of substance abuse, physical abuse, violence, and death. Series Outline: Module 1: The Hunger Games (2008) Module 2: Catching Fire (2009) Module 3: Mockingjay (2010) Module 4: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020) Module 5: Sunrise on the Reaping (2025) [show less]

This module explores the third book in the series: Mockingjay (2010). What lessons do the Capitol and Districts have to teach us? What warnings should we heed? What road leads from here to Panem? Over the course of five months, participants in these SPACE modules will read and discuss a modern classic of dystopian storytelling, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. In this hybrid series, each week will include one lecture and one live discussion. The lectures will examine the inspirations behind, allusions in, and questions posed by that month's novel. In live discussions, participants will share their insights on, interpretations of, and reactions to the story. Together we will consider why this series has spoken to so many readers and explore how its messages remain relevant today. Students will be asked to read one book over the course of each month in whatever format they choose. All of these novels are available in print, ebook, and audio format. (Warning: The Hunger Games series include descriptions—for a young-adult audience—of substance abuse, physical abuse, violence, and death. Series Outline: Module 1: The Hunger Games (2008) Module 2: Catching Fire (2009) Module 3: Mockingjay (2010) Module 4: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020) Module 5: Sunrise on the Reaping (2025) [show less]

This module explores the fourth book in the series: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020). What lessons do the Capitol and Districts have to teach us? What warnings should we heed? What road leads from here to Panem? Over the course of five months, participants in these SPACE modules will read and discuss a modern classic of dystopian storytelling, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. In this hybrid series, each week will include one lecture and one live discussion. The lectures will examine the inspirations behind, allusions in, and questions posed by that month's novel. In live discussions, participants will share their insights on, interpretations of, and reactions to the story. Together we will consider why this series has spoken to so many readers and explore how its messages remain relevant today. Students will be asked to read one book over the course of each month in whatever format they choose. All of these novels are available in print, ebook, and audio format. (Warning: The Hunger Games series include descriptions—for a young-adult audience—of substance abuse, physical abuse, violence, and death. Series Outline: Module 1: The Hunger Games (2008) Module 2: Catching Fire (2009) Module 3: Mockingjay (2010) Module 4: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020) Module 5: Sunrise on the Reaping (2025) [show less]

This module explores the fifth book in the series: Sunrise on the Reaping (2025). What lessons do the Capitol and Districts have to teach us? What warnings should we heed? What road leads from here to Panem? Over the course of five months, participants in these SPACE modules will read and discuss a modern classic of dystopian storytelling, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. In this hybrid series, each week will include one lecture and one live discussion. The lectures will examine the inspirations behind, allusions in, and questions posed by that month's novel. In live discussions, participants will share their insights on, interpretations of, and reactions to the story. Together we will consider why this series has spoken to so many readers and explore how its messages remain relevant today. Students will be asked to read one book over the course of each month in whatever format they choose. All of these novels are available in print, ebook, and audio format. (Warning: The Hunger Games series include descriptions—for a young-adult audience—of substance abuse, physical abuse, violence, and death. Series Outline: Module 1: The Hunger Games (2008) Module 2: Catching Fire (2009) Module 3: Mockingjay (2010) Module 4: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020) Module 5: Sunrise on the Reaping (2025) [show less]

What lessons do the Capitol and Districts have to teach us? What warnings should we heed? What road leads from here to Panem? Over the course of five months, participants in these SPACE modules will read and discuss a modern classic of dystopian storytelling, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. In this hybrid series, each week will include one lecture and one live discussion. The lectures will examine the inspirations behind, allusions in, and questions posed by that month's novel. In live discussions, participants will share their insights on, interpretations of, and reactions to the story. Together we will consider why this series has spoken to so many readers and explore how its messages remain relevant today. Students will be asked to read one book over the course of each month in whatever format they choose. All of these novels are available in print, ebook, and audio format. (Warning: The Hunger Games series include descriptions—for a young-adult audience—of substance abuse, physical abuse, violence, and death. Series Outline: Module 1: The Hunger Games (2008) Module 2: Catching Fire (2009) Module 3: Mockingjay (2010) Module 4: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020) Module 5: Sunrise on the Reaping (2025) [show less]

What makes a utopia? What kind of world do we want to live in, and how do we create a better society? The Dispossessed, often subtitled “An Ambiguous Utopia,” wrestles with weighty questions related to utopia, dystopia, and their relationship to the life of the individual. The novel approaches these questions through the themes of anarchism, socialism, capitalism, individualism, and solidarity. Unlike many utopian visions, Le Guin’s is as ambiguous as the title suggests, raising questions without pushing the reader toward a universal answer. In this module we will consider Shevek’s journey between worlds, including the literary, philosophical and political aspects of the novel, and will deepen our understanding via class discussion. Session 1: Context & introduction to the book. Chapter 1 Session 2: Chapters 2-3 Session 3: Chapters 4-5 Session 4: Chapter 6 Session 5: Chapter 7 Session 6: Chapter 8 Session 7: Chapters 9-10 Session 8: Chapters 11-13 [show less]

Ground-breaking when it appeared, and profoundly influential in both science fiction and feminist literature, The Left Hand of Darkness, offers an extended meditation on the nature of sex and gender in society. These ideas are explored in the thematic contexts of intercultural contact, language, and identity in a story that emphasizes both political intrigue and individual relationships. Approaching the novel through its literary, philosophical, and anthropological aspects of the work, we will discuss and consider all the above and more. Session 1: Context and introduction to the book. Introduction and Chapters 1-3 Session 2: Chapters 4-6 Session 3: Chapters 7-8 Session 4: Chapters 9-11 Session 5: Chapters 12-14 Session 6: Chapters 15-17 Session 7: Chapters 18-19 Session 8: Chapter 20, A Gethenian Calendar and Clock [show less]

Science fiction and other popular media frequently feature depictions of extraterrestrial life. From little green men to Daleks to the Borg and beyond, our stories are filled with visions of beings both alien to us yet also remarkably familiar. This module will consist of two elements: (1) Exploration and discussion of fictional extraterrestrials from popular series including but not limited to Star Trek, Doctor Who, Star Wars, and assorted anime/comic book titles. (2) An introduction to the real-world Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and the field of astrobiology, which will help us more deeply appreciate the question, “Are we alone?” [show less]

One of the most relevant novels you could read right now was written almost two centuries ago. Mary Shelley’s The Last Man asks what it means to be human while living in unprecedented times. This 1826 classic of apocalyptic science fiction considers the implications of a global pandemic, a rapidly changing environment, and the failures of political and social institutions. Part imaginative autobiography, part science fictional warning, and part ecocritical thought experiment, The Last Man forces us to examine our assumptions about our present and future. In this module we will consider Mary Shelley’s novel in the context of her life, times, and intellectual history. We will also explore the afterlife of The Last Man in critical discussions of the ominously similar challenges we face in the 21st century. In the process, we will discuss the novel’s lasting meanings and contributions as pioneering work of speculative fiction. [show less]

Over nearly half a century of storytelling, Star Wars has challenged audiences to find their own agency and power in the face of injustice and tyranny. The Star Wars works Andor (2022, 2025), Rogue One (2016), and A New Hope (1977) fit together to provide a story of resistance, resilience, and rebellion built on a deep engagement with history, philosophy, and political thought. Join Dr. Amy H. Sturgis as we consider how Star Wars wrestles with big ideas, invites conversation and action, and inspires hope in unprecedented times. This SPACE series consists of three hybrid modules:

1. Module 1 covers the series Andor, Season 1
2. Module 2 covers the series Andor, Season 2
3. Module 3 covers the films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope

[show less]

Over nearly half a century of storytelling, Star Wars has challenged audiences to find their own agency and power in the face of injustice and tyranny. The Star Wars works Andor (2022, 2025), Rogue One (2016), and A New Hope (1977) fit together to provide a story of resistance, resilience, and rebellion built on a deep engagement with history, philosophy, and political thought. Join Dr. Amy H. Sturgis as we consider how Star Wars wrestles with big ideas, invites conversation and action, and inspires hope in unprecedented times. This SPACE series consists of three hybrid modules:

1. Module 1 covers the series Andor, Season 1
2. Module 2 covers the series Andor, Season 2
3. Module 3 covers the films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope

[show less]

Over nearly half a century of storytelling, Star Wars has challenged audiences to find their own agency and power in the face of injustice and tyranny. The Star Wars works Andor (2022, 2025), Rogue One (2016), and A New Hope (1977) fit together to provide a story of resistance, resilience, and rebellion built on a deep engagement with history, philosophy, and political thought. Join Dr. Amy H. Sturgis as we consider how Star Wars wrestles with big ideas, invites conversation and action, and inspires hope in unprecedented times. This SPACE series consists of three hybrid modules:

1. Module 1 covers the series Andor, Season 1
2. Module 2 covers the series Andor, Season 2
3. Module 3 covers the films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope

[show less]

Over nearly half a century of storytelling, Star Wars has challenged audiences to find their own agency and power in the face of injustice and tyranny. The Star Wars works Andor (2022, 2025), Rogue One (2016), and A New Hope (1977) fit together to provide a story of resistance, resilience, and rebellion built on a deep engagement with history, philosophy, and political thought. Join Dr. Amy H. Sturgis as we consider how Star Wars wrestles with big ideas, invites conversation and action, and inspires hope in unprecedented times. This SPACE series consists of three hybrid modules:

1. Module 1 covers the series Andor, Season 1
2. Module 2 covers the series Andor, Season 2
3. Module 3 covers the films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope

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“Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?” It’s spooky season, so let’s read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein! Consumed by his need to unlock the secrets of life, scientist Victor Frankenstein pieces together a living being from body parts of the dead. Horrified by his own creation, Frankenstein casts it aside. His misshapen offspring craves love and acceptance, but meets only revulsion and cruelty. As their lives spiral toward revenge and ruin, Frankenstein and his monster must confront the terrifying cost of playing God. A foundational text of gothic horror and science fiction, Mary Shelley explores profound ethical questions with compassion and humanity. [show less]

In this module, we will discuss the aspects of the Force as depicted in Star Wars films, tv, and video games. We will look at specific characters and cults (Jedi v. Sith, the Bendu, Nightsisters, etc.) to understand where they fit in the wider mythology far far away, as well as other mystical motifs and ideas (Mortis, the World Between Worlds). There are tons of different topics to choose from, so there will be plenty to discuss in this course. [show less]

Join Dr. Sara Brown and Sparrow Alden as they read their way through the winners and nominees of the Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction. How do these books speak to their special audience? What do they reflect about changing society? How do they build or break down their readers' connection to modern culture? How do they use heritage and world mythology to bring their stories to life? Each time this module is presented, we will choose two different Norton Award novels to read, enjoy, discuss, and analyze with various critical tools. Mostly we're going to read great books and have fun working to understand them at deeper and deeper levels. [show less]

Shinkai Makoto is an anime director whose films are known for the hyperrealistic beauty of their background art, but also for their star-crossed lovers and the way they play with time. Shinkai's films are often considered "sekai-kei"; that is, the world may be in crisis, but we see this crisis from the point of view of individual lives. In this module, we will watch several films, based on availability, as per the proposed outline below. Session 1: Biography, influences, context, short films, and Voices of a Distant Star Session 2: The Place Promised in Our Early Days Session 3: 5 Centimeters per Second Session 4 :Your Name Session 5: Your Name, continued Session 6: Weathering With You Session 7: Weathering with You, continued Session 8: Suzume [show less]

This module explores the first book in the series, which started it all: The Hunger Games (2008). What lessons do the Capitol and Districts have to teach us? What warnings should we heed? What road leads from here to Panem? Over the course of five months, participants in these SPACE modules will read and discuss a modern classic of dystopian storytelling, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. In this hybrid series, each week will include one lecture and one live discussion. The lectures will examine the inspirations behind, allusions in, and questions posed by that month's novel. In live discussions, participants will share their insights on, interpretations of, and reactions to the story. Together we will consider why this series has spoken to so many readers and explore how its messages remain relevant today. Students will be asked to read one book over the course of each month in whatever format they choose. All of these novels are available in print, ebook, and audio format. (Warning: The Hunger Games series include descriptions—for a young-adult audience—of substance abuse, physical abuse, violence, and death. Series Outline: Module 1: The Hunger Games (2008) Module 2: Catching Fire (2009) Module 3: Mockingjay (2010) Module 4: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020) Module 5: Sunrise on the Reaping (2025) [show less]

Fascinating and highly acclaimed, Ancillary Justice, the first book in Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch series, explores the consequences of imperialism and the nature of identity through the experience of a multiple-bodied protagonist who has lived as both a ship and a human being. Philosophically, the novel is interested in language, culture, gender, revenge, and the nature of personal responsibility, among other things; from a literary point of view, it is in deep conversation with its science-fiction ancestors and employs an interesting non-linear narrative structure. In this module, we will discuss all the above and more. [show less]

Ancillary Mercy, the conclusion to the Imperial Radch trilogy, pulls together the themes and threads of the previous novels. Continuing the trilogy’s meditations on identity, culture, and power, it delves into the meaning of personhood and the question of how to build a good society, especially when starting from a deeply damaged and corrupt one. This book is deeply interested in alterity, forgiveness, and the possibility of building relationships among those with deep differences. In this module, we will discuss all the above and more, as well as what we can learn about the mysterious Presger. [show less]

`The second book in the Imperial Radch series, Ancillary Sword continues the story and builds on the themes of Ancillary Justice. In this book, we get a closer look at both the society of the colonized and the particulars of administration within the Radch. The novel casts a critical eye on colonial policy and its systems of control, and considers the possibilities of resistance. This installment of the series continues the themes of identity and culture, politics and compassion, tea and translation. In this module, we will discuss all the above and more. [show less]

In these modules, we’ll dig into Ann Leckie’s acclaimed science fiction series, the Imperial Radch. While they are in conversation with many other science fiction predecessors, these books offer unique worldbuilding and a sharp perspective on the complicated cultures they depict. Thematically, this series is deeply interested in questions of identity and imperialism. The spaceships of the Radch are equipped with an unusual type of artificial intelligence which is embodied both in the ship and in a series of human bodies known as “ancillaries,” all of which are simultaneously managed by the same consciousness. The story follows one such ancillary, Breq, who has lost all of her bodies except for one. Along the way, we come to understand the consequences of imperialism, and we’re invited to think about how they affect the identities of both the colonizers and the colonized – not to mention someone like Breq, whose identity is inherently complex. There is a good deal to consider here in terms of language, culture, power, personal responsibility, and the possibility of resistance. The first book, Ancillary Justice, introduces us to Breq, the Radch, and her quest for revenge, while also raising questions about Breq’s complicity with the empire that created her. In the second book, Ancillary Sword, we get a better look at life within the empire, as Breq makes new allies and comes to understand the realities of Radchaai policy. Finally, Ancillary Mercy explores the relationship between the Radch and the mysterious Presger and the possibility of building relationships with those who are deeply Other. In this series of modules, we will work through these novels together, considering the themes outlined above and perhaps others that module participants may notice. We will rely primarily on discussion, perhaps with some preceptor framing and commentary. [show less]

HBO’s new “The Last of Us” TV show (2023) is widely hailed as the best adaptation of a video game. “The Last of Us” video game (2013) tells the story of a cynical older man befriending a young girl during a zombie apocalypse. The game received praise for its subtle storytelling and strong characterizations. The lead creator of the game is also a showrunner and insisted that HBO remain faithful to the game. However, the show uses the freedom of TV to expand upon the backstories of characters. In this course, we will watch the TV show and play the video game simultaneously. We will then discuss how the genre/medium of each affects adaptation choices. Note: Students do not need to have watched the show or played the game beforehand, but will need to have access to both. Students can also watch a walkthrough of "The Last of Us" in lieu of playing the game. [show less]

When one thinks of ancient, pre-classical civilisations, one thinks of Sumerians, Egyptians, Hittites, and, not least, Minoans. The Minoan civilisation, discovered around 1900 by English archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans, has often been styled as the first major European civilisation, equally proficient in technology and the arts, with a sea empire spanning across the Eastern Aegean. But how much of what we imagine about the Minoans is truthful and how much is modern mythmaking? In this module, we will examine the immense impact which the discovery of Minoan Crete and its integration with the classical myths of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth has had on literature, movies, the arts, and even computer games. We will examine the works of Sir Arthur Evans, Pablo Picasso, Nikos Kazantzakis, Robert Graves, Mary Renault, Poul Anderson, and Stephen King, among others. In so doing, we will explore such key 'Minoan' concepts and phenomena as: the sublime, utopianism, feminism, irrationality and the unconscious, mythmaking, and European identity. [show less]

Video games are an exciting new medium for storytelling because they give players agency within the story world. In this class, we’ll look at recent examples of games that use interactivity to tell stories not possible in any other medium. We’ll see how games encourage players to identify with characters’ emotions through gameplay; incorporate world-building into the setting; and handle the branching pathways of player choice. The games we’ll play are relatively short and are accessible to students who have never played video games before. [show less]

Inviting students to share their delight in, and deepen their appreciation of, video games, we will discuss examples of the art, music, gameplay, and story from a range of influential titles. We will introduce and experiment with some of the theoretical frameworks that have been applied to video games as media objects and cultural artifacts. But mostly, we will enjoy learning more about the medium and the games we already love. Aside from links and selections shared throughout the module, Gabrielle Zevin's novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. will be the only required reading. [show less]

Doctor Who is the longest running Science Fiction program on television earning great recognition and accolades in the process. Despite this, Doctor Who is infamous for writing/producing some of the best in Science Fiction television, and at the same time arguably the worst. This Class will make use of a free streaming device (tubi) in order to view these episodes individually once again, so that we can discuss their merits or “demerits”; to view some of "the best" and "the worst" of Classic Doctor Who. Hartnell, Troughton, Pertwee, the Bakers, Peterson and McCoy are ready to open the TARDIS doors for us; Let the conversation begin! Session One: Criteria and Process Session Two: The Best: The Talons of Weing Chiang Session Three: The Worst: The Macra Terror Session Four: The Best: The Caves of Androzani Session Five: The Worst: The Twin Dilemma Session Six: The Best: The Daemons Session Seven: The Worst: Paradise Towers Session Eight: The Best: The Dalek Invasion of Earth [show less]

It's a sometimes inconvenient fact that characters have bodies, and sometimes, those bodies directly affect the stories we write about them. Writing characters who live in bodies that do not perform according to the cultural standard is a skill like any other part of the writer's craft. In this course, we will look at examples from literature of how authors have dealt with what we usually call disabilities. Some have done well, others have materially harmed people with their writing. We will also work with one another to hone our craft as writers who are telling stories so that we can find the new and inspirational, while leaving behind the worn-out clichés that make the lives of people like your preceptor materially harder. Note: Texts will be provided by the preceptor. Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here. [show less]