I have not -- am here to learn what the group is and what is does

this is my first, I must admit

This is my first as well.

my first, too!

so true on time being weird right now

what was the idea behind the name of the group?

I got the same connotation!

What about the conflation between dystopia sci-fi and our virtual lives?...aye (oh no)

It's also to talk about what these genres can tell us about technology and society, both now and in the future

I want medical tricorders—but probably not in my lifetime!

While I like sci-fi, I'm a bit limited in what I read--I'm making my way through the Star Wars series (for the past 15-20 years), and Star Trek before that; but I had (before March 2020) been listening to auidobooks featurning time travel

@Bryan - time travel is one of my favorite subgenres!

yay for catalogers!

Where’s my Jetpack: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where%27s_My_Jetpack%3F

What I find interesting about sci-fi, is that much of it is pessimistic, yet, it seems that we still build futures based on what these books say NOT to do...thoughts?

Why are we using dystopias as a roadmap, indeed!

Are we living in a culture that has rejected hope?

@jesse heavy.. I worry about this

I think that it is very common for sci-fi works to focus on the negatives or potential negatives of future development because it is a convenient way to identify "good guys" versus "bad guys."

@Jesse and Dena: That's a basic human problem, the refusal to learn from "history". We really should be analyzing past dystopian fiction in looking at current sociopolitical issues.

Are there fundamental flaws in the human character that predispose us toward dystopias? How does inequity in society influence this?

Complete segue for a later conversation, but does anyone recommend any particular fantasy sci/fi narrators? After a year of sleepless nights, I mostly just hear all my books.

We so often see the "good guys" as fighting against oppression and because we want to associate ourselves with the good guys, we must be trying to fight against something ourselves.

I'm completely smitten with Robin Miles as an audio book narrator!

I'm hoping to get details about Annual in the next month :)

Hi, everyone - I'm a Core staff member (and avid SF reader). Just a quick note that our Code of Conduct can be found at http://www.ala.org/core/about/statement-of-conduct . Please contact me through private chat or at jlevine@ala.org if you experience any violations of the Code.

seconding Robin Miles; really enjoyed listening to the audio books of The Broken Earth

Adjoa Andoh does the Ann Leckie books and she's brilliant

Huxley also very important (destruction by searching after pleasure and 'painlessness')

Hurray for Becky! She's amazing.

Dystopian futures are a warning for change now so we don't end up like that

Becky chambers, thank you for that recommendation

Great discussion on science fiction! I am getting power outage warnings on my tv. Seems like my internet connection may be lost soon in snowstorm beset New England.

Earth Girl by Janet Edwards is like that, although I like Becky Chambers' books more

@Bela, we're recording this, so you can catch up with anything you miss

some sleet in western NC today too

In regard to there always having to be a villain, it's probably because that is the easiest (laziest?) way of putting conflict into the story. (Conflict of some sort being a necessary component of a story.)

Earth Girls was great, seconding.

Recommendations for humorous SF?

@Kevin yup

The Lady Astronaut series is mostly like that, although the newest one is a mystery-based story

@J Delfs the Bobiverse series,

@KevinR +1 to Dena's yup to your comment... :)

Martha Wells's "Murderbot Diaries" is a fantastic humorous SF series. I think it's on the darker side, but I have never laughed so hard at a book. The audiobooks are great as well.

+1 Dena

Any recommendations for time travel stories where the logic (illogic?) of the concept is a major aspect?

+1 murderbot!

I have to find my list of time travel

I am also interested in that question (Kevin)

Annalee Newitz' "The Future of another timeline" is great.

True. :)

Connie Willis' Oxford time travel series

One Day All This Will Be Yours is about to come out, and it's FANTASTIC (time travel)

Connie Willis - yes, The Domesday Book!

Thanks for the suggestions! Question for moderators: Is the chat going to be saved as part of the recording?

I will save the chat :)

@Kevin, yes, the chat will be part of the recording

Thanks!!!

Old Hugo and Nebula winners can be very rewarding (like 50s and 60s) The Big Show is an interesting time-travel book, one of the first of the time wars ideas.

A great tine travel novella that involves climate change as a backdrop is Kelly Robson's "Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach".

ah, comics as multi-verse...interesting

+1 Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach

Midnight Library by Matt Haig was a great “what if” book.

One of my fav books of the past few years is This Is How You Lose the Time War

@Jenny that's a great one!

How You Lose The Time War is AWESOME.

DC has done numerous alternate universe stories Loved Red Son

the whole of Elseworlds

The Space Between Worlds is a new book that's a truly amazing multiverse title. I can't say enough good things about it

One of my favorite lighter SF novels is Redshirts

Yea, it turned very meta and darker, but the satire at the front was amazing

All Our Wrong Todays--good alternate reality time travel

@Bryan - YESSSSSS

I need to catch up on modern sci-fi after all my older Hugo reading.

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus--interesting historical fiction/time travel

Master of Poisons is incredible.

@Bryan: Until it becomes very very Mormon. But he at least gives you a heads up that that's where he's taking it.

I have discovered a web show called Critical Role about Dungeons and Dragons games played by voice actors. Amazing mix of drama, humor and gaming.

Isn't Nora the best, Dena?

High Rollers 1st season was a cool D&D game with webisodes

I saw Nk jemisin at a panel a few years ago

@Pat Critical Role is fantastic!

You aim high. I like your ambition, Dena. :)

it was on afrofutures literature

quite cool

I am a fan at 65! Played D&D in late 1702

agreed. That's how I get my donors for my collection. :)

@Catherine, just sent the cast a fan letter!

Can you share the listserv information in the chat so we can sign up?

Yes

The ALA Connect group is at https://connect.ala.org/core/communities/community-home?CommunityKey=e73298f2-3e08-4653-a410-e8eed210207b

Anyone can join it

I love the Aurora Burning series

You just need to log in using your ALA account

It will be like a mailing list - you can email it and get the discussions via email

One more question: what do folks think about our lives in virtual and simulation (or, simulacra)? Does that still fall under the dystopian heading? curious

This was the Imagineering IG author panel at the Core Forum this past November. I'm going to see if we can make the recording public since anyone could register for it - https://coreforum.learningtimesevents.org/sessions/pre1/

Positive dystopia?

Life

HA

Second life, is now our first life...

No, not necessarily. REad a recent story about scientists growing up AI digital objects that was very thought-provoking.

Background reminder that our Code of Conduct can be found at http://www.ala.org/core/about/statement-of-conduct . Please contact me through private chat or at jlevine@ala.org if you experience any violations of the Code.

There's always someone for whom living in a dystopia is a positive. A worrisomely large number of Americans, I think, would love to live in a zombie apocalypse.

Solarpunk?

@Jeremy yup

This weekend, the Barbershop Harmony Society's Midwinter Conference took place in a world very similar to Second Life

So is Second Life something that came and went too soon?

There is also a new comic called DIE that is a D&D game within a game, from what I've read. Meta-fiction!

I don't disagree that AC is viewed that way, but - perhaps thankfully? - I know several grown men, and "serious" gamers who also enjoy AC :)

"Real art"?? I thought sci-fi flung off the sterotypes of the pulp age, lol

@Pat - I think that we've seen so much gatekeeping in SFF that "real art" is a definitely a controversial issue

Finally found my favorite funny SF read. Was also so excited to find a great Latina protagonist. Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes

Hm. Very interesting. My cousin gave me her copies of "The Hobbit" and "The Making of Star Trek

and that started my whole imaginative life at age 12

@Pat, that's fantastic! I remember my brother's not being interested in SF, so my dad just shared all of his Star Trek stuff with me.

+1 Project Hail Mary

@Dena Synecdoche, New York

+1

@Alina, great! My parents didn't really "get" SF but tolerated my interests. Mom was impressed to see Joan Collins in a Trek episode, lol

+1 Mexican Gothic! Anything by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is amazing.

For another "post-pandemic" more hopeful/positive series: if you like John Scalzi and great mysteries, I highly recommend "Lock In" and the sequel "Head On." It's available as a great audiobook with 2 different versions because the gender of the main character is never specified, so the listener can choose between Wil Wheaton and Amber Benson.

I have read only good reviews on Mexican Gothic.

@Athina I'm listening to Mexican Gothic right now. I've thought before that the narrator has an odd cadence that tends to take me out of the story.

+1 Lock In series

The *story* of Mexican Gothic is fantastic!

The narrator for the audio has an oddly flat tone for that level of drama.

Mexican Gothic is on my TBR list

I had the same experience with Ancillary Justice! It really threw me.

And Silvia's earlier books (which went out of print) are now being re-released by a different publisher, FYI.

I didn't notice the genderless protagonist either! I thought that was fascinating and it totally made me stop and evaluate myself. :)

Reminder you can join the Imagineering IG by logging in at https://connect.ala.org/core/communities/community-home?CommunityKey=e73298f2-3e08-4653-a410-e8eed210207b and you'll get emails for all of the discussions

Find the Notables Lists at https://sfnotables.org

Man in the Empty Suit / Sean Ferrell: A time traveler parties with himself on his birthday in 2071; his narrator-self has to solve the mystery of seeing himself killed in the next year

I am very interested in this interest group!

Good news - the author panel from the November Forum is now publicly available so you can watch it anytime - https://coreforum.learningtimesevents.org/sessions/pre1/

what ages or grades are middle? My nephew is 11

Thank you Jenny for the link!

Dark matter / Blake Crouch: alternate reality/multiverse/suspense fiction

I had to tune out, sorry. i go a phone call. thank you for the chat

this is good stuff

heilikd@freelibrary.org

Athina = alivanospropst@pbs.org

Dena

Very interesting. Sorry I missed so much due to dropping connections.

Thank you

very fun, thank you

I love all the book recommendations!

cheers everyone

Thank you!

thank you!

Chatting is good-- thank you all!

Thanks!

thank you.