Spectology: The Science Fiction Book Club Podcast

(Uploaded the wrong file earlier, if you have 2 versions of this episode, this is the correct one.)

This week we have a very special episode, as we're joined by Chris Beckett, author of April's book club selection Dark Eden. Chris was kind enough to call in from the UK to answer questions from Adrian, Matt, & Kevin (as asked by Adrian) about the book, his writing process, how he views political change, why his books don't have role models, his history with science fiction, and much more.

We hope you enjoy this episode! If you like it, let us know, and we'll try to do more author interviews in the future. 

Many thanks to Chris Beckett for making time for us, it was an incredibly enjoyable & thoughtful conversation. Make sure to check out Chris' most recent book, Beneath the World, a Sea, which is available in hardcover & ebook in the UK and can be shipped to the US via sellers on Amazon. 

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We'd love to hear from you, either by chatting with us on twitter at @spectologypod, sending us an email at mailbox@spectology.com, or submitting the episode to r/printSF on reddit. We'll reply, and shout you out in the next podcast when we talk about your comment.

And if you like the episode, subscribe at spectology.com or whever you listen to podcasts, and share it with your friends!

Many thanks to Dubby J and Noah Bradley for doing our music and art.

We're once again joined by Kevin Kelsey of Heradas.com to discuss Dark Eden, by Chris Beckett (https://amzn.to/2TRcpX0). We've (re-)read this book and all loved it, and have a lot to dig into!

We talk about the political philosophy of the book. We discuss the psychological reality of the characters. Adrian rants about poverty for 5 minutes and why this book is personal for him, so that's on-brand. It's worth heeding the content warnings on this one, we talk in-depth about that stuff in the 2nd hour. 

A few of the resources we mention:

- The sequels, Mother of Eden & Daughter of Eden—worth reading!
- NK Jemisin's review of Dark Eden in the NY Times 
- Our own episodes on Semiosis 
- The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin 
- Critique of The Cold Equations by Cory Doctorow
- Chris's Q&A on the SF Book Club subreddit 
- And if you're in the UK, pre-order Beckett's new book, Beneath the World, A Sea 

(As always, links are at spectology.com if they don't show up in your podcatcher. And if I missed something mentioned in the episode, tweet at us and I'll find it for you.)

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We'd love to hear from you, either by chatting with us on twitter at @spectologypod, sending us an email at mailbox@spectology.com, or submitting the episode to r/printSF on reddit. We'll reply, and shout you out in the next podcast when we talk about your comment.

And if you like the episode, subscribe at spectology.com or whever you listen to podcasts, and share it with your friends!

Many thanks to Dubby J and Noah Bradley for doing our music and art.

To celebrate having been at the podcast for one full year, Matt & Adrian are joined by Kevin Kelsey of Heradas.com as we make our most self-indulgent pick yet: Dark Eden, by Chris Beckett (https://amzn.to/2TRcpX0).

Join us for a somewhat self-reflective episode on why this is one of our favorite books, and why we think everyone should read it. It has linguistics, it has sociology, it has long time scales, it has survival in a harsh world, it has society building, it has a page-turning story, and it is probably the book we've mentioned the most on this podcast without actually reading and talking about it in its own episodes.

Kevin joins us to help us ground the conversation for folks who haven't read the book yet, and in a few weeks we'll all three dig into the rich thematic depth of this novel.

Some other works mentioned include:

- Chris's Q&A on the SF Book Club subreddit 
- Chris on his history being labeled disabled 
- NK Jemisin's review of Dark Eden in the NY Times 
- Review by a juror on the Arthur C. Clarke award
- Our own episodes on Children of Time, Romie Futch, Gnomon, & Semiosis 
- Ice by Anna Kavan 
- The Helliconia Trilogy by Brian Aldiss 
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding 
- And if you're in the UK, pre-order Beckett's new book, Beneath the World, A Sea 

(As always, links are at spectology.com if they don't show up in your podcatcher.)

 ---

We'd love to hear from you, either by chatting with us on twitter at @spectologypod, sending us an email at mailbox@spectology.com, or submitting the episode to r/printSF on reddit. We'll reply, and shout you out in the next podcast when we talk about your comment.

And if you like the episode, subscribe at spectology.com or whever you listen to podcasts, and share it with your friends!

Many thanks to Dubby J and Noah Bradley for doing our music and art.