‘The Dark Hand of Darkness’ is a science fiction classic
Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1969 novel
Left of Darkness it’s about a planet where the genetically engineered population randomly becomes male or female for a few days each month. Professor of science fiction Lisa Yaszek he says the book is one of the most important explorations of the genre.
“This whole thing was in the air, so I think Le Guin is definitely thinking at the right time,” Yaszek says in section 464.
Guide to the Geek Galaxy podcast. “No one really put it together in a permanent novel – well, I think some did, but they hadn’t published it yet. It was certainly the first. So this is picking up on some of the avant-garde and sometimes richer science fiction that started to happen.”
The Left Hand of Darkness features multiple factions and religions, each with its own history and mythology. All this complexity can make the novel somewhat daunting, but science fiction author Rajan Khanna says it’s worth the effort. “I’m amazed that it became as successful as it did,” he says. “I’m kind of in awe of her skill to take something that is probably slow-paced, and that isn’t traditional, and that can be sometimes challenging, and make it so engaging.”
The book is often criticized for presenting its androgynous characters as too masculine, but writer Sara Lynn Michener says some readers might not read it that way. “I feel like it’s probably a very different experience between a male reader and a female reader,” she says. “But for me it was like, ‘Oh yes, we’ve done this before this business of the male is the default and therefore I’m already seeing myself in these characters. ”
11:50 am The animated half-hour series
Star Trek: Lower Decks is full of in-jokes and obscure references that will challenge even the most hardcore Trekkie.Courtesy of CBS Interactive
When it comes to ideas for a TV show, a humorous Star Trek cartoon doesn’t necessarily seem like a winner. But screenwriter Rafael Jordan says that the animated series
Star Trek: Lower Decks compares favorably to live action shows such as
Picard and
Discovery.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it, but I was really won over by the third or the fourth episode,” Jordan says in Episode 451 of the