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Science Fiction
Voyage to the Edge of Imagination
Glyn Morgan
£30.00
A compelling, fully illustrated account of the worldwide phenomenon of science fiction as depicted in film, literature and art, and the scientific advances and imagination behind it
See InsideOverview
Science fiction offers an invitation to imagine: to speculate, to theorize, to give voice to anxieties and shape to the unknown.
Like the science it has inspired and been inspired by, it is impossible to reduce to a single book. Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination does not attempt to contain this vast field, but rather to explore avenues through its terrain. Across five parts, contributors consider cyborgs and humans, space travel, alien communication, distant galaxies and earthbound futures shaped by nuclear warfare, and climate crisis. The science of science fiction is traced through developments both scientific and speculative, from the influence of scientific advisors on mid-century classics to the new ways of living posited by contemporary climate fiction. These chapters are accompanied by interviews with five of the genre’s most exciting writers: Charlie Jane Anders, Chen Qiufan, Vandana Singh, Tade Thompson and Kim Stanley Robinson.
With over 200 illustrations, Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination is a compelling, vivid account of a global phenomenon.
Reviews
'An excellent guide to the importance of science fiction for complete beginners, and has plenty to interest the genre buff, or just the reader who has enjoyed science fiction on film but wants to explore the most resonant ideas and stories a bit more thoroughly'
The Arts Desk
'A fascinating companion to the exhibition … very readable [and] colourfully illustrated'
Fortean Times
'Stunningly illustrated'
Nature
'Far from just a glossy tie-in to the exhibition, this book is a hugely ambitious attempt to show SF for what it is in 2022: the culturally dominant global literary and media form for an age of unprecedented social and scientific change'
Prospective Cultures
'Excellent … definitely one for the school library regardless of any visit'
Schools Week
'This sumptuous work features interviews with prominent thinkers, wonderful artwork and a gallop through sci-fi’s key works of literature, films and inventions. A timely reminder of how the genre has the power to provoke and prompt thought'
Teach Secondary
Product Information
Book Details
Format: PLC (no jacket)
Size: 24.5 x 21.0 cm
Extent: 288 pp
Illustrations: 209
Publication date: 29 September 2022
ISBN: 9780500252390
Contents List
Foreword
Introduction by Glyn Morgan
People and Machines
People as Machines / Machine People, Sherryl Vint
In the Loop: Reordering Human–Technology Relations, Colin Milburn
Interview, Ken Liu
Travelling the Cosmos
Prototyping the Future: Spaceflight as screen spectacle, Richard Dunn
Beyond the Solar System, Rachael Livermore
Interview, Charlie Jane Anders
Communication and Language
Communications, Roger Luckhurst
A Century of Science Fiction from Around the World, Rachel Cordasco
Interview, Vandana Singh
Aliens and Alienation
Alien Speculation: Science, Fiction and the Future, Amanda Rees
Infinite Variation, Glyn Morgan
Interview, Tade Thompson
Anxieties and Hopes
Science Fiction in the Atomic Age, Daniel Cordle
Climate in Science Fiction, Caroline Edwards
Interview, Kim Stanley Robinson
Introduction by Glyn Morgan
People and Machines
People as Machines / Machine People, Sherryl Vint
In the Loop: Reordering Human–Technology Relations, Colin Milburn
Interview, Ken Liu
Travelling the Cosmos
Prototyping the Future: Spaceflight as screen spectacle, Richard Dunn
Beyond the Solar System, Rachael Livermore
Interview, Charlie Jane Anders
Communication and Language
Communications, Roger Luckhurst
A Century of Science Fiction from Around the World, Rachel Cordasco
Interview, Vandana Singh
Aliens and Alienation
Alien Speculation: Science, Fiction and the Future, Amanda Rees
Infinite Variation, Glyn Morgan
Interview, Tade Thompson
Anxieties and Hopes
Science Fiction in the Atomic Age, Daniel Cordle
Climate in Science Fiction, Caroline Edwards
Interview, Kim Stanley Robinson
About the Author
Dr Glyn Morgan is the project curator for the ‘Science Fiction’ exhibition at the Science Museum, London. He is a former editor of Vector: The Critical Journal of the British Science Fiction Association. He frequently contributes to journals including the Los Angeles Review of Books, Science Fiction Studies Review and European History Quarterly. His publications include Imagining the Unimaginable: The Holocaust in Speculative Fiction and as editor, Sideways in Time: Critical Essays on Alternate History Fiction.
