Science Fiction history book – “The Technical Delusion” (Duke University Press, 2019) – Jeffrey Sconce interview

Dr. Jeffrey Sconce specializes in radio, tv, and film studies and is an assistant professor in communications studies. He’s written many books on the subject and we discussed his latest book on electricity, paranoia and conspiracy theories.

1:04 – Jeffrey talks about he ended up writing the book.

2:55 – Jeffrey talks about the early days of electricity.

5:16 – Jeffrey talks about the explosion of ideas of being mentally controlled when televisions became commonplace.

13:13 – Jeffrey talks about paranormal tv shows which discuss haunted technology.

23:05 – Jeffrey talks about the increasing overlap between science fiction, conspiracy theories, and delusional psychosis.

31:33 – Jeffrey talks about Philip K. Dick and his writing.

41:11 – Jeffrey talks about what he used for his research including Journals on “Insanity.”

43:41 – Jeffrey talks about the truly delusional versus people pretending to be delusional.

1:04:43 – Jeffrey has a blog at ludicdespair.blogpsot.com

 

Links of interest

https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-technical-delusion

http://ludicdespair.blogspot.com/

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Jeffrey Sconce

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, electronics, psychosis, conspiracy theories, supernatural, occult, paranormal, mediums, seance, industrial revolution, anxiety, depression, twilight zone, outer limits, haunted technology, twilight zone, x-files, brain chips, MK Ultra, ray kurzweil, Matrix, Philip K. Dick, targeted individuals

Scene by scene analysis of The Orville’s latest – Part I

Today I deviate from my normal interview format and instead do a scene by scene analysis of Season 2 Episode 1 of one of my favorite shows, The Orville.  I look at the concepts, artistic design, writing, characters and mention an Easter egg or two I found.  I also do a noisy box opening of my shipment of the Orville Season 1 DVD set.

 

I’ll still post interviews but I’m also going to mix in a few discussion episodes with them.

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: The Orville, sci-fi, science fiction, television, Bortus, Alara, Gordon Malloy, cultures, writing

 

Supernatural Horror studies book – “New Directions in Supernatural Horror Literature” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) – Sean Moreland interview

Sean Moreland teaches English at the University of Ottowa. His main field of research is Anglo-American literature from the late 18th century to present. He particularly enjoys Gothic, horror and weird fiction and is involved with various journals and events on the subjects. We spoke about his latest editorial work on Lovecraft’s critical theories on horror.

0:58 – Sean talks about how he got into working on Lovecraft.

1:44 – Sean talks about the essays in the book. All the contributors study weird fiction or horror.

4:36 – Sean talks about what precisely the essays focus on.

7:57 – Sean talks about the Lovecraft documents the essays draw from.

9:55 – Sean talks about how the ssays developed for the book.

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19:40 – Sean talks about how he has researched the foundational basis of the various essays.

21:55- Sean talks about the Lovecraft archives at Brown University.

23:19 – Sean compares Lovecrat to Poe.

26:41 – Sean was surprised that Lovecraft’s ideas can be applied to medieval writing.

28:14 – Sean talks about the questions that still surround Lovecraft.

31:47 – Sean talks about the fear of the different as a basis for horror.

42:33 – Sean has a horror blog at www.pstdarkness.com.

Links of interest

https://www.palgrave.com/la/book/9783319954769

https://arts.uottawa.ca/english/people/moreland-sean

https://pstdarkness.com/

 

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Sean Moreland

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, fantasy, Lovecraft, critical thinking, horror, weird fiction, Edgar Allen Poe, gothic