This week we talked to
, the coordinating editor of speculative fiction magazine Strange Horizons and an advocate for South Asian speculative fiction right here on Substack (Words for Worlds). We discussed his latest novel The Sentence, the state of South Asian science fiction, and the tension between movements on the periphery of science fiction and its mainstream institutions. Oh, and fanfiction.This season will bring a second segment to the show: Synthesized Sunsets Backstage. In this more casual segment,
and myself will unpack the main part of the episode and also discuss the most recent Synthesized Sunsets article. In this episode, we will discuss the article ‘17776’ by Jon Bois and the Slow Cancellation of the Future.Thanks for listening!
The audio in this episode was edited more aggressively than usual, so please let us know if this was too much or just right. We apologize for any volume issues, as we had a bit of trouble with peaking and normalizing across the different tracks. We are still experimenting with ways to stabilize the audio quality, but you can expect it to keep getting better in future episodes!
TIMESTAMPS
00:00:37 - Gautam's latest novel The Sentence
00:04:21 - Moral luck and Greek v. Shakespearean tragedy
00:08:24 - The importance of hero / martyr figures and villains
00:10:43 - Parallels to The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
00:12:07 - Limits of post-scarcity narratives
00:15:00 - South Asian ideas in spec fic
00:17:17 - Is New Delhi more similar to London than the neighboring village?
00:18:57 - Ideas of "one-ness" in Cixin Liu's Three-Body Problem
00:19:59 - You may not find the ideological diversity you seek in English-language works
00:21:42 - How do you strike a balance between Western and native influence in a budding science fiction scene outside?
00:23:16 - The gap between sci-fi audiences and sci-fi institutions
00:26:01 - Is web fiction the new pulp?
00:27:11 - Gautam's Wheel of Time fanfiction on Dragonmount.com
00:31:09 - Surviving as a semiprozine in 2025
00:33:49 - Where to find science fiction criticism (Strange Horizons)
00:35:39 - Conclusion and Gautam’s final recommendations
“Thousandth Night” by Alastair Reynolds
“Rat and Finch Are Friends” by Innocent Chizaram Ilo
00:36:26 - Synthesized Sunsets Backstage starts
00:38:12 - Disruptive reanimations of political figures feat. MLK
00:40:55 - Article discussion starts ('17776' and the Slow Cancellation of the Future)
00:44:18 - Mark Fisher and the slow cancellation of the future
00:45:37 - COVID and non-consensual Internet usage
00:47:57 - In the 2010s, technology felt like it was moving in a direction
00:51:48 - 17776 by Jon Bois
00:52:35 - Would you want to live in 17776 society?
00:54:49 - Is there anything you would do in 17776 society to preserve your will to live?
00:55:29 - The one guy in 17776 who edges his experience of literally all media
00:58:15 - "Zima Blue" by Alastair Reynolds
01:00:18 - Finding novelty in strange purpose
01:01:26 - Conclusion and Kevin’s final recommendations
“After the God Has Moved On” by Kate Elliott
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