Book Club Finale, Floating Nuclear Plants. Oct 30, 2020, Part 2

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🗓️ 30 October 2020

⏱️ 48 minutes

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Summary

Pushing Boundaries In Fantastical Fiction The Science Friday Book Club has spent all of October immersed in short stories by Indigenous, Black, Chicanx and South Asian authors. But at the end of the day, where do these stories fit in the bigger picture of fiction writing in 2020? In the final conversation of this fall’s speculative fiction focus, SciFri’s Book Club joins writer and ‘New Suns’ editor Nisi Shawl in a conversation about the expanding footprint of writers of color in science fiction and fantasy, and the ways both science and science fiction can be re-imagined and redefined when you look outside of the perspectives of white, Western authors who have dominated these genres in the past. Shawl suggests broadening what stories we call science fiction. What happens when we think of writing, or even religion, as forms of technology? SciFri producer Christie Taylor and Journal of Science Fiction editor Aisha Matthews join Nisi Shawl in front of a live Zoom audience for this conversation about the diverse and dynamic future of science fiction. Shipping Nuclear Power Out To Sea When the Green New Deal was proposed last year, it called for the United States to become fully energy independent, moving to 100% renewable energy sources within the next decade. It specifically mentions solar and wind power as two alternatives the country should invest in. And it conspicuously leaves out nuclear power. But the nuclear industry is fighting to be part of the renewable conversation. While it’s been innovating at a slower pace, there is one old idea that engineers say still holds water: floating nuclear power plants. Ira talks to Nick Touran, a nuclear engineer and reactor physicist from Seattle, Washington about the advantages of shipping nuclear out to sea, as well as some newer technology keeping nuclear power in the renewable energy conversation.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flato. Later in the hour, can floating nuclear power plants be part of a carbon-free energy solution?
0:09.5	The first, the Sci-Fright Book Club is back for the final conversation about New Sun's original speculative fiction by people of color.
0:18.0	You've been reading and listening with us all month. You've helped us stretch the
0:21.8	boundaries of what science fiction is and joined us in imagining diverse futures. And this week,
0:28.4	we talked to the book's editor, Nisi Shaw, about why that work matters. Producer Christy Taylor,
0:35.8	unofficial captain of team book club, hosted the interview with a live
0:40.7	listener audience on Zoom. Take a listen. With the Science Friday Book Club, the premise is pretty simple.
0:46.1	We pick a book, we read it, and then we talk about it with other book nerds and maybe some
0:50.0	scientists for a few weeks. This season, we picked a collection of short stories called New Sons,
0:54.7	original speculative fiction by people of color. And in this book, we've got aliens, we've got
0:59.7	transdimensional horror stories, we've got reanimated dead tearing apart conquistadors,
1:05.0	and simple ghost stories about letting go of our past. Here to talk more about this collection,
1:10.1	the making of it, and why we
1:11.4	should all keep seeking out new sons is Nisi Shaw, speculative fiction writer and editor
1:16.2	of New Sons. Welcome Nisi. Glad to be here. It's good to have you. On the scholarly side,
1:22.4	we've also got Aisha Matthews. She is managing editor of the Journal of Science Fiction and
1:26.9	literary programs director for the Museum of Science Fiction and Literary Programs Director for
1:28.5	the Museum of Science Fiction's Escape Velocity Conference. Welcome back, Aisha. Hi, Christy. Good to be
1:34.8	back. Good to have you. Nisi, I'm going to start with you because you edited the collection
1:39.9	that has been sort of the star of Science Friday for the last month. This is a collection that explicitly centers writers of color.
1:46.6	Why did you say yes to this particular project?
1:49.8	Because it's a burgeoning area of science fiction and speculative fiction of all sorts.
	...

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