I’m reviewing these two books together because despite their opposite takes on speculative futures, they use similar storytelling techniques to describe how women’s lives might be different in both the near, and far future. Naomi Alderman’s The Power imagines a future where women develop an ability to physically harm others with electric shocks. Due to the release and dispersion of an environmental hazard, women begin to develop a “skein” within their bodies which allows them to physically overpower people (men) with a jolt of energy. The strength of […]
How to sit when you poo and other important questions.
Do you ever lie awake at night and wonder what’s going on inside your stomach? Do you examine your poo before you flush? Do you know what tonsil stones are? Well, if you’re curious about any of the above, you should read Gut by Giulia Enders, because not only does she have answers, she also has a cheeky way of explaining how some parts of our bodies work that most of us just choose to ignore, because…. eeewwwwww. I made a conscious decision to stop reading *diet* […]
The future is augmented
I’m combining my reviews for Company Town and Autonomous for a couple of reasons. 1. Both stories happen in the future 2. Both stories take place in Canada 3. Both authors have won awards for their books 4. The authors have appeared together on panels to discuss their work, where they are often likely to discuss human/robot sex, for reasons which will become clear in this review. Writing about the future is a broad topic and goes by a lot of descriptors—science fiction, utopian/dystopian fiction, speculative fiction—there are many […]
When other people keep making your point for you.
I follow a ton of art historians, museums and academics on Twitter, and Mary Beard is one of my favourites. I genuinely love her tweets and have been surprised to see how many people are willing to troll her, and ignore her academic bona fides because she dares discuss sexism and diversity in the ancient world, not to mention being an older woman in an academic field (Classics) where almost all well-known presenters are male. Beard, a Cambridge University Don, was most recently involved in a tempest about the distinct […]