Tag Archives: New wave science fiction

Sessions from two-day City Lights symposium on Dangerous Visions & New Worlds book now available to watch

If you were unable to catch the two day on-line symposium on the recently released book co-edited by Iain McIntyre and myself, Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction 1950-1985, organised by the iconic San Francisco bookshop City Lights in late February, fear not. All the sessions were recorded and are now available to view free on the City Lights Youtube channel at this link. This includes the interviews with new wave SF luminaries Samuel Delany and Michael Moorcock, and my session with Marge Piercy and US SF writer Terry Bisson, ‘The Forever War: Vietnam’s impact on sci-fi’. A huge thanks to the folks at PM Press, the events manager at City Lights Peter Maravelis, and all the writers who appeared as panel members or moderators over the two days. Read more

Melbourne launch of Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction 1950-1985

My new book, Dangerous Visions & New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950-1985 is starting to get out in the world. As part of that process, my co-editor Iain McIntyre and myself will be holding an actual in-person, face to face launch of the book for Melbourne folks on Tuesday, December 14 at Buck Mulligan’s Bar and Bookshop, 217 High Street, Northcote. The event kicks off at 7pm. 

I know it is always a crazy time of year as we get close to Christmas, maybe this year more than ever, but I would love it if you could join us. As well as drinks at bar prices, there will be giveaways and readings from SF works mentioned in our book. 

All the reviews so far for the book have been extremely positive. In its review, the respect SF magazine Locus called it ‘an excellent primer that differentiates itself from other treatises through its many-voiced perspectives and its gorgeous accompanying artwork.’ One of my favourite sites, Science Fiction and other Suspect Ruminations described it as ‘a must buy for any SF fan of the [New Wave] era’. The book has also made the Washington Post’s list of best science fiction books of 2021.

In addition to picking up a copy of Dangerous Visions & New Worlds, well before it hits shops in Australia, you’ll also be able to pick up cheap copies of our other PM Press books, Girl Gangs, Biker Boys & Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction & Youth Culture, 1950-1980 & Sticking it to the Man: Revolution & Counterculture in Pulp & Popular Fiction, 1950-1980. … Read more

Pre-orders open for Dangerous Visions & New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950-1985

A heads up that my latest book, co-edited with my friend Iain McIntyre, Dangerous Visions & New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950-1980, is now available for order through PM Press site here. You can also order it through the various Amazon sites and through numerous other channels. Interestingly, the book is classified by Amazon US as pornography, as well as science fiction studies. I assume this is down to the fact it contains essays on sex in science fiction and gay science fiction, amongst other things. I’ve always harboured ambitions to be a smut peddler and this is the closest I may get.

Dangerous Visions and New Worlds details how science fiction interacted with and was inspired by the cultural and political changes associated with the era from the late 1950s through the early 1970s, a period that has sometimes been referred to as ‘the long sixties’. The book starts with progressive authors who rose to prominence in the conservative 1950s, challenging the so-called Golden Age of science fiction and its linear narratives of technological breakthroughs and space-conquering male heroes. It then moves to the 1960s, when writers shattered existing writing conventions and incorporated contemporary themes such as modern mass media culture, corporate control, growing state surveillance, the Vietnam War, and rising currents of counterculture, ecological awareness, feminism, sexual liberation, and Black Power.… Read more