Want it all? You'll find it here. Because at UE Bristol, we empower students to make a choice,

to choose a community of bright minds and courageous thinkers, to choose to stand out,

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choose to do university right, choose UE Bristol, not just another university. But don't just

take our word for it, search UWE Bristol today. You're listening to Imaginary Worlds,

a show about how we create them and why we suspend our disbelief. I'm Eric Mullensky.

One of my favorite novels that I read this summer is called Babel. It's by RF Kwong,

who is best known for writing the Poppy War trilogy. Babel takes place in a 19th century where Britain

is ruling the world through enchanted silver. And the silver can do wonderful things like support

old bridges, but the enchanted silver can also do horrific things like create shackles that cast a

spell on enslaved people. The spells that bind the silver rely on languages from around the world.

In the magicians casting the spells are students at Oxford, who came from countries that are

colonized or marginalized. At first the students are dazzled to be at the center of learning and

magic, but that feeling doesn't last. It's a fascinating book and it reminded me of another book

that I liked from 2019, Arcadia Martine's novel, A Memory Called Empire. That story was science

fiction instead of fantasy, but her main character goes to work in the capital of this huge galactic

empire. People in the empire condescenta her because she's from an outer planet,

and she needs to be protective of her homeland, but she still gets seduced by this magnificent

imperial culture. And then I realized there are themes of empire in colonialism all over speculative

fiction right now. There's a novel from 2021 called The Master of Jin by Peugele Clark.

It's part of a series of works he created that imagines what if Egyptians in the late 19th century

...