An interview with Adam Roberts

“It’s trying to thread that needle between the wonder and the splendour in this mythology without being beguiled into actual fascism.” ~Adam Roberts Adam Roberts is a professor of nineteenth century literature, a prolific essayist and critic, and one of our best science fiction writers. Our interview traces a path between two powerful forces in science fiction – the mythic stories of transcendence and self fulfilment that animate much of today’s most popular sci-fi storytelling, and the mundane and ordinary lives that ground our reality. We touch on the shifting perception of science fiction in academia, questions of worldbuilding and the endless argument to define science fiction, the new optimism of hopepunk and solarpunk, HG Wells long fascination with eugenics, the balance between stereotype and archetype in storytelling, and professor Roberts answer to the question of where science fiction began. It’s a great insight into the thinking of a great SF author. 00:00:00 A mistrust of myths 00:01:51 An interview with Adam Roberts 00:04:39 The professor's productivity tips 00:08:11 The nineteenth century and science fiction 00:11:03 Has the academic perception of science fiction shifted? 00:14:29 The worldbuilding question 00:19:16 Why do we keep arguing about the definition of science fiction? 00:23:39 We spend more money on Star Wars than space travel 00:32:12 Melding the literary and the sci-fi 00:42:49 The process of writing science fiction 00:48:03 Translating Joyce and algorithmic writing 00:59:50 Hopepunk and Solarpunk 01:11:22 The Community vs. the Individual 01:18:03 The Heroic and the Quotidian 01:28:02 A segue to Wellsian scholarship 01:35:01 Emmanuel Kant and the Fermi paradox 01:44:24 Tolkien and the English mythos 01:49:47 Stereotype vs Archetype 01:57:14 When does science fiction begin? Become a member of the Science Fiction podcast: https://damiengwalter.com Join the discussion on the Science Fiction community https://www.facebook.com/groups/324897304599197 Read the novels of Adam Roberts https://amzn.to/3LjUfZQ