Episode 87 : Kim Stanley Robinson ("There is no pocket utopia.")

Kim Stanley Robinson is widely known for "Red Mars" (and its sequels), "2312," "Antarctica," "Galileo's Dream," "The Years of Rice and Salt," "Aurora," "New York 2140," and most recently, "Red Moon." His name has also become tied to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal thanks to an article by Naomi Klein about AOC's "Message from the Future" video. (You can read and watch that here: https://theintercept.com/2019/04/17/green-new-deal-short-film-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/) He also contributed an article to Sierra Magazine's Jan/Feb 2019 issue: "There is No Planet B." Amazing. (Read that one here: https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2019-1-january-february/feature/there-no-planet-b-kim-stanley-robinson) We talk with Robinson not just about where his books come from but about his thoughts on ecological fiction, green fiction, and climate fiction (cli-fi). Does climate change necessitate dystopia or inevitable pessimism about our shared future on this planet? Robinson doesn't buy that, and makes a case for writing utopian fiction in an age of obvious runaway climate change. We also talk with Robinson about "Dos Pasos," Ursula K. Le Guin, Margaret Atwood, Corey Doctorow, and Callenbach's "Ecotopia." His advice? Take a walk. Pull some weeds. And yep, listen to podcasts. Kim Stanley Robinson lives an unplugged life. He is not the driving force behind www.kimstanleyrobinson.info, although he says those who are happen to be great folks. But if you want to learn more about him, he suggests you read his books. "It's a pretty anti-capitalist body of work," he notes. Robinson's name looms large in conversations about science fiction, generally, but he also had a part to play in bringing The Imaginaries Podcast into being——in that Kend and Tony found out about each others' SFF obsessions at a luncheon with this incredible author way back when (and in foreign lands). We are so excited, and so grateful, that we got to speak with him on the cast. Like our content? Our website is www.imaginaries.net, and you can drop us a line at imaginarypod@gmail.com or find us on Twitter at @imaginary_pod. You can listen to our episodes on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and SoundCloud, as well as find all of our back episodes on YouTube once they have shuffled off these other earthly coils. If you would like to help support our work, you can give us a rating or review on whatever platform you use to listen to your podcasts, and if you would like to offset the costs associated with our podcast, you can support us financially at www.ko-fi.com/imaginaries.