Welcome to my first blog post set after the events of Blade Runner, but still (thankfully) before the opening of Blade Runner 2049! Welcome to 2020! 2019 was a year of big things for me, and I wanted to take a moment to stop and reflect and give thanks. In between finishing my undergradContinue reading “What We See [in 2020 and beyond]”
Category Archives: Articles
Come to the Nerd Nite!
Hello all! I’m excited to share that I’ve been announced as a speaker at Nerd Nite Toronto on November 28th. Here is a link to the event page, the 2019 Nerdtacular! I will be giving a talk about the Cyborg, a figure that has dominated the focus of my writing –both my academic and creative effortsContinue reading “Come to the Nerd Nite!”
Toronto SFF Panel and Boochani Interview
Check out two cool but very different events coming in the next few weeks!
Hey, remember the (Yellow) Nineties?
I’m excited to be joining Ryerson University’s Centre for Digital Humanities as a Research Assistant on the Yellow Nineties Project! This project, run by Professor Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, is creating a resource for scholars (and everyone else) to gain access to the early arts and literary magazines of the 1890s, first and foremost of whichContinue reading “Hey, remember the (Yellow) Nineties?”
So Long HBA
Well, that’s it. On April 15th I took my final exam at The University of Toronto, which means I’m finally finished my bachelors. (Well, it’s been five years. But five years is a long time – at least for me). It was an exhausting half-decade, but I got a lot out of it, and IContinue reading “So Long HBA”
“Cat’s Cradle: The Sin of Scientists and Systems” by Ben Berman Ghan
Science Fiction (SF) is a genre often used to explore how scientists and science are a source of evil, potentially leading to the demise of civilization. Works such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus (1818) have well established the trope of the mad scientist who focuses on unnatural or evil experiments. Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’sContinue reading ““Cat’s Cradle: The Sin of Scientists and Systems” by Ben Berman Ghan”
Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and the death of Dialogue Tags
Cormac McCarthy’s 2006 novel The Road is an intensely bleak vision of the apocalypse. The narrative follows two characters only ever referred to as”Man” and “boy” as they limp across a grey and hellish landscape full of cannibals, rotting houses, and precious canned food in aquest to reach the ocean. McCarthy raises very uncomfortable questionsContinue reading “Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and the death of Dialogue Tags”
Do Androids Dream in Review
I find that when most people think of Rick Deckard and the neo-noir world he inhabited, they think first of Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner (and it’s many different editions). But while the film and it’s very late/very recent sequel are remarkable science fiction films, there are essential disconnects between them and the narrative ofContinue reading “Do Androids Dream in Review”
The Simplica Girl Diaries in review
“Limitations so frustrating” (Saunders 126) writes the narrator of George Saunders’ The Semplica Girl Diaries. But the self-imposed limitations and restrictions Saunders impose on his writing make for a more interesting story, building its narrative out of disturbing incompleteness. Set in an unspecified but near future, Saunders communicates everything about his narrative through the sparse,Continue reading “The Simplica Girl Diaries in review”
A Children’s Crusade in Reverse (Slaughterhouse Five in review)
[feeling a little unstuck? that might be because I’ve written on this novel before: God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut. In some circles, I’m known for talking about Vonnegut a lot, so you can also check out my review of one of the author’s weirdest works Slapstick, which Vonnegut himself graded a D, and my paper on Cat’sContinue reading “A Children’s Crusade in Reverse (Slaughterhouse Five in review)”
