Discussing David Brin's novel Existence (2012) with the author. What's the point of thinking? Brin sees the future as a pressing threat, and Existence speculates that the reason we don't see evidence of life on other planets is that no species survives its technological adolescence. The solution? We need to be smarter than our parents and work to give our kids the tools to Continue Reading …
Discussing Ulysses by James Joyce
Our Philosophical Fiction Group began reading Ulysses in December, continued through January, then February, and at the beginning of March only a few had made it through James Joyce's epic. The novel is large, but what's stunning- to me as a non-finisher- is the richness and depth of Joyce's expanding story of the phenomena of a single day. Continue Reading …
Topic for #90: Science Fiction and Philosophy with Guest David Brin
Listen to Mark's Precognition framing our discussion now. We talked on the evening of Tuesday 2/25 with David Brin, one of our most philosophical science fiction authors, whose most recent novel Existence (2012) certainly has a philosophical sounding name. But no, it's not about ontology, about Being, or about existentialism, but about our continued existence as a species on Continue Reading …
Not School Fiction Talks about Blood Meridian
This June I met with Jordan Payne, Fiction-group regular, and Dylan Casey, of PEL-fame, to discuss Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian. We discussed the Judge, the kid, the landscape, the language, the title and touched on the same author's No Country for Old Men, The Road and The Crossing in just under two great hours. Here's the conversation. We cover a lot of ground Continue Reading …