Utopia

[close] Extension of the Facebook group, If it's Leftist, Speculative, and Fiction, we read it.

[close] Study and discussion of the important questions of ethical and political philosophy from Confucius and Socrates to the present. Rules (see also the Rules and Housekeeping topic): Subject to copyright law and these rules, posters may cite, link, or quote any publication, including their own. Posts linking to outside sources must contain a brief explanation of the nature of the linked material and, unless obvious, how it is relevant to the topic being discussed. All posts and linked material must be in English. Posts and any linked material should be polite and not degenerate into ad hominem attacks. The purpose here is to seek light, not heat—rational discourse, not shouting matches. Leave your cable news persona at home and put on your philosopher's mantle when entering this group. Rational argumentation and Socratic questioning are welcome. Hectoring, intimidation, insult, and presumptuous condescension toward other group members are cause for immediate removal from the group. Internet "trolls," advocates of violence, and posters failing to comply with these rules will be removed from membership, as will posters who persist in raising issues that are outside the scope of the subject matter of this group. New members may introduce themselves in the New Member Introductions topic. See posts 4-5 here regarding the creation of new topics. Photo credit: Socrates sculpture at Louvre (CherryX per Wikimedia Commons [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

[close] The term "Climate Fiction" (CF) was first used by Australian novelist James Bradley in 2010 on his online blog Cityoftongues, where he claimed that realistic novels are “hopelessly inadequate” to discuss the implications of climate change, for they would violate the urgency and difficulty of the problem for the sake of coherence. In CF, climate crisis occur in what literary critic Darko Suvin calls novums: fictional worlds validated by cognitive logic. Usually, CF depicts extremely dystopian scenarios characterised by the anthropogenic nature of the environmental threats, which will eventually lead to an apocalyptic scenario. Climate Fiction is at the core of my PhD project at University of Ferrara and I would love to discuss instances of CF with all members of the club.

[close] NOMINATIONS ARE CLOSED. THANKS TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED!! We're a group building a reliable bookshelf-database of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror books that do NOT mention sexual violence or dubious sexual consent. We're inspired by Sarah Gailey's essay urging authors to "Do Better" https://www.tor.com/2016/08/22/do-better-sexual-violence-in-sff/ Join our long term project by sharing your recent reads in our monthly chat. Once a month we update the bookshelf database but recommendations are welcome everyday of the year!