"Strange Beginnings" is a short story collection consisting of four short stories. Some of these stories go together and some stand alone. All of them aim to evoke something in the reader, whether it be shock, joy, unsettledness, or something more.

Flying In Our Sleep is a one-hour radio / podcast production of a story in which “Teens wake to discover they’re drafted into an army of killer robot drones and must outwit their deadly AI overlords in a desperate bid to escape.” This partly ironic summary sets the tone for an adventure story for Young Adult audiences with thoughtful elements around the meaning of consciousness, personality, and friendship. The project also includes a paper, “The Art of the Fiction Podcast,” that explains how the show was produced, and argues that digital media has a place in literary writing programs to expand the realm of creative expression, equip students with valuable competencies, and provide avenues of outreach to diverse communities.

The Sanctities of Light is a space opera novel (the first in a series) narrated by Ilona Celesta, a young woman who inherits the title of Enlightened One, the head of her people’s ruling body, after the death of her predecessor. The first in her family to rule since Meira, who is remembered as a hero for banishing an unspeakable evil, Ilona finds herself on the frontlines of a war that has been brewing for generations. She is determined to prove herself worthy of carrying on her family’s legacy. But after she is captured in combat, she learns that her enemies’ leader has overwhelming evidence that she may be fighting on the wrong side of history. The reach of the evil her ancestor battled has traveled farther than she realized, and the lies that built the Celesta name are just the beginning.

Syftet med denna studie är att ta ut särskilda diskurser om framtidens bibliotek i två science fiction-romaner, En bättre värld av Anthony Doerr och Våra förlorade hjärtan av Celeste Ng och urskilja vad de kan säga om samtidens förväntningar på och oro kring dagens bibliotek.  Den valda metoden för studien är diskursanalys, och särskilt Ernesto Laclau och Chantal Mouffes diskursteori. Denna teori utgår från att verkligheten skapas genom språket och att olika diskurser, alltså de sätt som vi skriver och pratar om någonting, strider om hur verkligheten ska uppfattas. Genom denna teori, samt färdiga analysfrågor och den kvalitativa textanalysens arbetssätt, urskildes två diskurser om bibliotekets framtida funktion, en om dess framtida möjligheter och en om dess framtida utmaningar. Dessa diskurser fick namnen skydd av den kollektiva kunskapen, förmedling av förbjuden information, den farliga boken och effektiv informationsåtervinning. Antagonism, alltså en rådande meningsskiljaktighet mellan diskurserna, kunde också urskiljas. Utifrån diskurserna och antagonismen kunde både oro och förhoppningar om dagens bibliotek skönjas: För det första var det en oro över klimatkrisens hot mot biblioteksbeståndet, för det andra en förhoppning om att AI ska utveckla biblioteken och göra de mer effektiva, för det tredje fanns det en oro om politikens kontroll över bibliotekets samlingar och till sist en oro över att viktig information ska missas i det enorma informationsflödet.  I dialog med tidigare forskning gick det att se att denna oro och förhoppning till stor del var densamma i äldre science fiction-litteratur som i modern. Det som skiljde den äldre litteraturen från den nya var vilken typ av teknologi som beskrevs och att nyare litteratur fokuserade mer på den politiska kontrollen.

In 1957 at the University of Chicago, Robert Heinlein asserted that through science fiction humanity can wonder upon important questions without causing harm to the real world. Through such speculative experiments science fiction can warn against dangerous solutions, urge toward better solutions. Science fiction joyously tackles the real and pressing problems of our race, wrestles with them, never ignores them—problems which other forms of fiction cannot challenge. For this reason I assert that science fiction is the most realistic, the most serious, the most significant, the most sane and healthy and human fiction being published today. (Davenport, 1959). Preservice teachers enrolled in the education program at a large metropolitan university were surveyed to determine if they had preconceived notions about science fiction, if they would use science fiction within their classrooms and if science fiction would be available to the students in their classrooms. Also explored was if these future educators believed science fiction was too complex for English language learners and students with exceptionalities. Analysis of this survey revealed that although most preservice teachers believe science fiction literature has value within the classroom and they planned to use it at least part of the time, about one in five believed the concepts and themes were too complex for English language learners and students with exceptionalities. The researcher of this study hopes the information contained in this study can help educators encourage students to read science fiction as well as provide the educators with a resource of science fiction literature book titles which are grade level and ability level appropriate for their students.

The thesis seeks to explore the didactic application of French science-fiction during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for the portrayal and dissemination of their respective philosophical theories. Studying science-fiction novels during these centuries will allow a comparison of seventeenth and eighteenth-century dissemination methods, to determine if the foundational seventeenth-century methods were retained or modified to more accurately represent the change in philosophical attitudes. Exploration of this topic will contribute to a greater understanding of French Enlightenment theory, analysis of relatively unstudied novels in the science-fiction genre, and a novel approach to “proto” science-fiction literature by connecting the previously separate genres of science-fiction and philosophy during the Enlightenment. The trends within the seventeenth century show dominant authoritative representations through analogical examples, authoritative ideological figures, and an emphasis on logically sustained arguments. The eighteenth-century trends focus on logical passionate attitudes, burlesque scenarios, and authoritative actions to exemplify the Enlightenment ideologies. Therefore, these five analyzed œuvres show conservation of didactic and authoritative dissemination methods during this philosophically evolutionary time period.

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Studien som presenteras i denna rapport berör hur det icke mänskliga inom science fiction uppfattas av dataspelutvecklingsstudenter. Romantisering av teknologi har alltid varit väl grundat i västvärlden och har påverkat hur science fiction-genren utvecklats, speciellt under genrens guldålder. Science fiction-genren är en genre med ofantligt mycket potential för att undersöka olika koncept, både sociala och vetenskapliga, men har väldigt starka stereotyper runt vissa karaktärstyper inom populärkultur. Den problemformulering som är basen för denna studie är om teknologisk icke-mänskliga karaktärer ses som mera positiva än organiska icke-mänskliga karaktärer. Flera olika karaktärer designades för studien som representationer av olika karaktärstyper inom science fiction-genren. Studiens resultat visar på motsatsen från problemformuleringen då det var de organiska karaktärerna som sågs som mera positiva än de teknologiska karaktärerna.

This document explores the relationships between science fiction and mythology, utilizing the theories of Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung in particular. Conclusions are then drawn that argue that science fiction performs the same functions as mythology in the modern world. The author provides examples of these functions being performed in science fiction by analyzing two novels: The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and Stranger in a Strange Land. Finally, the document explores the narratives' uses of time in historical and ahistorical modes as a vehicle for its functions, and argues that the various uses of time are key to science fiction acting as modern mythology. / Master of Arts

Caspian Christoph is a drunken failure as an explorer. After an extensive night of hard drinking on a colony planet of Venus he finds a map that describes a direct route to the valuable trade planet of Paladee. The direct route would allow for flights to be four times shorter thus enabling quicker exportations from the planet. Initially, he is reject from his first two chosen sponsors, Venus (his home planet) and Earth, but Mars agrees to fund his exploration. His first map’s course is perfect, but there is one problem, the planet they landed on is not Paladee. When they first arrive on the new planet Caspian and his supporters, Marius, his best friend, Hoslet, his navigator and former lover and Roddick, a Martian Imperial Commander who once served under Caspian’s father, discover a species no Solarians (humans) have ever met. The aliens are a genderless race led by a giver named Vivron. One their first encounter Vivron and Caspian initiate a trade of mutual benefit to each’s race. Soon Caspian and the "Paladians" begin to harvest a relationship of mutual benefit, but there is one unfortunate side-effect, with them the Solarians have also brought disease, one that destroys the lives of many of the Paladians. On a trip back home Caspian sees a vision of his father who chides him for the life he is living. Self-realization kicks in and Caspian quits his drinking in an attempt to better his life and his family's name. Sent on their second journey to the planet, Pala-2, Caspian blames the mysterious disappearance of Marius on Vivron and leads a team of Martian Dash Troopers who overrun the Paladians and force them into slavery. The diseases coupled with the slave labor they must work destroys the lives of many of the Paladians. Soon, however the other planets, Venus and Earth want a piece of the exportation minerals from Pala-2 and they mount joint space attack on the Martian defenses protecting the planet. In the battle that ensues in space, on land and back in the Solarian system allegiances are fostered, bonds are broken, and lives are lost. Caspian attempts to rekindle his relationship with Hoslet only to have her turn on him for the betterment of Earth. Roddick saves Caspian’s life, something he could not do for Caspian’s father many years ago. But, the most painful incident comes at the end when Caspian and Roddick discover a crashed ship that landed on the hiding place of the Paladians, killing many of those who had survived the disease in the process. The realization of the destruction his discovery has caused forces Caspian’s character to come full circle and once again he takes up drinking as a dilute the painful heartaches in his life.