Excursions in the Fictionesian Archipelago
The history of science fiction is full of surprises. On our excursions deep into the older realm of SF we discovered time travelling vehicles long before Wells’ time machine, we encountered language reformers who wanted to get rid of “my” and “your”. We met bizarre beasts, inhabitants with outlandish manners, landscapes full of wonders – and suddenly you run into a doomsday machine. Admittedly, such devices exist also here in our home country, called reality. There, in the fictionesian archipelago you meet mad scientists who shrink themselves to fight bacteria with swords. You happen to fall into a time-stream where the Roman Empire has not fallen, at least not in the way we recall it from school. And then, out of the blue, the island of Atlantis appears – submerged ages ago, lost forever – and forever on the verge of re-emergence.
Content
- Preface
- Far-away world – alien worlds. A closer look
- Mars – place of longing
- Atlantis must perish!
- Between implosion and explosion. Some thoughts about demographics and science fiction
- Dead life. Looking back at visions of nanotechnology in SF
- Playing with history. Thought experiments in SF, futures studies and historiography
- From Babel to babel fish. Notes on linguistic utopias
- Mindless monstrosities. Critical remarks about a new book on the future of man
- Alien animals. History of extraterrestrial fauna
- Corona and her sisters. On the end of the world and other catastrophes
- The history of the future. What the internet archives of our grandchildren disclose about science fiction
