A Nation Dreams of Itself
Imaginary Worlds17 Mar 2022

A Nation Dreams of Itself

The Russian invasion of Ukraine shocked the world, but this conflict was foreshadowed in Ukrainian and Russian speculative fiction. I talk with several fantasy writers in Ukraine about how they’ve used speculative fiction to break away from Russia’s sphere of influence, and why magic and folklore can be valuable tools to explore and defend their sense of national identity. I also talk with Ukrainian ex-pats in the U.S. about how Russian fantasy and sci-fi has grown increasingly imperialistic in recent years with fantasies of restoring a lost empire. Featuring Maria Galina, Borys Sydiuk, Volodymir Arenev, Svitlana Taratorina, Alex Shvartsman, and Anatoly Belilovsky. You can help donate to organizations resettling refugees like Direct Relief, Mercy Corps, International Medical Corps and Save the Children. This episode is sponsored by Brooklinen. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episoder(302)

A Visit by Three Ghosts

A Visit by Three Ghosts

In a special stocking stuffer of an episode, Stephanie Billman and I discuss why A Christmas Carol set the template for SF stories to come -- from Back to the Future to X=Men. Plus, we have a special ...

24 Des 201826min

Board Games Go Indie

Board Games Go Indie

We all grow up playing board games and card games, and now those games are growing up as well. I check out BostonFIG (festival of independent games), where a new generation of indie board game designe...

13 Des 201829min

How I Won the Larp

How I Won the Larp

In my 2017 episode Winning the Larp, I looked at the history of larps (live action role plays) and how the larping experience is deeply personal for each of the players. But I hadn’t done any larps my...

29 Nov 201842min

Alternate Movie Posters

Alternate Movie Posters

Long ago, before we found out about new movies from tweets about teaser trailers that advertised full-length trailers – the first glimpse of a new movie would be the poster. Movie posters used to be h...

15 Nov 201830min

Faith in Fantasy

Faith in Fantasy

Science fiction has not always been compatible with religion -- in fact many futuristic settings imagine no religion at all. But sci-fi and fantasy have long fascinated people of different faiths beca...

1 Nov 201833min

Don't Mess with the Fairies

Don't Mess with the Fairies

Forget Tinkerbell or those Victorian paintings of spritely pixies with wings. Traditional fairy folklore is much darker and weirder. Irish storytellers Philip Byrne, Helena Byrne, Eddie Lenihan, and p...

18 Okt 201831min

Movies for the Mind

Movies for the Mind

There has been a renaissance of audio drama podcasts over the last several years, so picking up where I left off in the previous episode, I bring the history of audio dramas up to date with the help o...

4 Okt 201832min

Theater for the Mind

Theater for the Mind

The "golden age of radio drama" may have been a stellar period for storytelling -- but the stories weren't all golden bright. Science fiction and horror were the ideal genres to explore the deep anxie...

19 Sep 201831min

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