Writing on Science Fiction

From Gerald R. Lucas
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Even before my professional interest in literary studies, I was an avid science fiction reader. Even part of my dissertation addresses the genre. Here are some of my writings about sf (and maybe a couple about fantasy.)

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Date Title Note
2016-08-19 Utopian Fiction Published as an introduction to a course on utopian and dystopian science fiction.
2014-09-11 How the Hell Should I Know?’ Imposed Cages in Three Postmodern Works Three texts, The X-Files’ “José Chung’s ‘From Outer Space,” William Gibson’s “The Gernsback Continuum,” and Tim Pratt’s “Impossible Dreams,” offer three versions of reality in the intertwined narratives of three different couples.
2013-12-21 Cyberpunk A three-minute, quick-and-dirty primer on cyberpunk.
2013-08-17 A Clash of Kings: Some Thoughts Some thoughts about the second novel in A Song of Ice and Fire series.
2013-07-25 A Game of Thrones and the Rise of Fantasy My first thoughts about George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy series.
2013-02-13 Blade Runner as Cyberpunk Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic may not be “cyberpunk,” but it definitely has elements of the genre.
2013-01-30 Headspace v. Meatspace Is reality solely a product of meatspace? Some cyberpunks kick meatspace in the nuts.
2010-11-03 Speculative Fiction A definition published in the The Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Fiction.
2010-10-25 Clarke’s Utopian Vision Considering the science and mysticism of Arthur C. Clarke.
2010-09-20 Dune and the Super Being The issue with super beings is that they’re super, non-human. This is a problem.
2010-08-30 The Dream The significance of “the Dream” and reality in Borges, Clarke, and Gibson.
2009-03-15 Breaking the Girl An examination of misogyny and oppression in Ovid, Poe, and Lem written for the PCA/ACA conference, 2009.
2008-12-16 Katrinko Must Die: Techno-Alterations and the Human Code” A look at Bruce Sterling’s Chattanooga Trilogy.
2006-09-19 Gibson’s Merging Realities William Gibson’s 1981 short story “The Gernsback Continuum” pays homage to sf while bringing it into a new age.
2006-02-02 They Should Have Sent a Poet Discusses teaching Contact in World Lit.
2004-10-10 Three Versions of Science in Solaris Written for the FSU Literature and Film Conference, Fall 2004.
1997-04-22 Asimov’s ‘Reason’ A feminist reading of Asimov’s 1950 story from I, Robot.
1995-04-17 Toward a Science Fiction Epic One of my oldest graduate school essays and my first conference paper, 1995.