FRIDAY 1/15 8:30 pm “Pandemic Fiction: Before and After”
Living through an actual pandemic is bound to have an impact both on how pandemic fiction is written, as well as how pre-COVID-19 fiction is read. In this panel, we’ll discuss what we, as readers, think pre-existing fiction got right and what it got wrong, and how future pandemic fiction could change because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some works mentioned on the panel and in chat:
- Black Summer
- The Doomsday Book
- Lock In
- Wanderers
- A Song for a New Day
- The Lady Astronaut Books by Kowal
- What’s So Funny About Feeling Good
- The Plague
- Year of Wonders
- Containment (TV series)
- Travelers (TV series)
- Twelve Monkeys (movie and TV series)
My mentioned books:
- Earth Abides by George Stewart (1949)
- The Mother Code by Carol Stivers (2020)
- Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay (2020)
- My Honorable mentions: Station Eleven, World War Z, and Speech Sounds by Octavia Butler (short story), A Canticle for Leibowitz
Relevant links:
“The Best Science Fiction Pandemic Books” (list with descriptions.) https://best-sci-fi-books.com/23-best-science-fiction-pandemic-books/
“Top 10 Pandemic Films to Watch” https://screenrant.com/top-pandemic-films-imdb-score-quarantine/
SATURDAY 1/16 2:30 pm”Surviving the Apocalypse Emotionally“
Most discussions about surviving the apocalypse (be it zombie, climate, or alien) focus on the skills necessary for physical survival. But we are emotional creatures, and coping with the stress and grief is just as important as building a fire. What do healthy emotions and healthy relationships look like after the world ends? What genre stories have tackled these questions well, and what advice can they give us for our own non-apocalyptic trauma?
Some of the works mentioned on this panel include:
- Contagion (movie)
- Coppice & Brake (anthology)
- Empowered (comic book)
- Forest of Hands and Teeth
- The Girl with All the Gifts
- The Dark Tower (series)
- War of the Worlds
- The Postman
- Day of the Triffids
- Life as We Knew It
- Kingdom (TV show)
- Bannerless Saga
- Janelle Monet “Dance Apocalyptic”
- The Rift
- Seveneves
- We Are Legion
- The Road
- Sarah Lyons Flemming’s zombie books
SATURDAY 1/16 4:00 pm”The Octavia Butler Future is Now”
In her Earthseed series, Octavia Butler gave us a vision of the 2020s that is disturbingly close to our reality, including storms, and droughts brought on by climate change; escapism through addictive pharmaceuticals and games, and perhaps most chillingly a far-right US President backed by extremist evangelical Christians. This panel will review the highlights of these books and discuss the influences on Butler’s writing as well as the influence these novels have had since their publication.
There is no list of recommended works, since it was a panel on Butler, and the Earthseed series in particular.
Basically, READ PARABLE OF THE SOWER and PARABLE OF THE TALENTS!
Next, read the rest of Butlers work! One person did ask in chat (as an ADHD person) what would be a good place to start reading her. I suggested perhaps starting withg her short story collection, Bloodchild and Other Stories. “Bloodchild” and “Speech Sounds” are favorites of mine. Also, many people start with her works by reading Kindred, which may be one of her more accessible works.
Feel free to add any other “must reads” relevant to any of these panels, or add a comment for discussion.
Feel free to add more suggestions!