Synthesized Sunsets

This week’s guest is Cairo Smith: a prolific novelist and filmmaker who edits the literary magazine Futurist Letters here on Substack. We sat down to talk about his extremely online novel Scenebux and the extremely online subcultures that inspired it.We also talk about his novels Current Affairs and Komodo, as well as his short AI horror film Red Team. And we couldn’t resist talking about Vibecamp, which makes a brief cameo in Scenebux as “Edgelands”. Check out Cairo on Substack at Futurist Letters or at Askari Productions, where you can find out all about his upcoming projects.(This episode was recorded quite a long time ago, so we apologize if anything is out of date.)TIMESTAMPS00:00:12 – Intro00:02:20 – Reinventing old forms of media in the Internet age00:04:51 – The novelty of seeing tech slop Twitter in a real novel00:08:36 – Why indie fiction is able to be more up-to-the-minute than trad pub00:10:30 – ALL THAT WE SEE OR SEEM and the irrealism of “realistic” fiction in 202600:14:10 – When should you take the L for the art?00:17:46 – The excitement of independently coming to ideas at the same time as everybody else00:21:27 – Scenebux and the vibes at Vibecamp00:27:47 – Kevin’s anecdote about the “smell guy”00:31:28 – The importance of subcultural preservation in literature00:31:56 – Jargon as an antimemetic defense against subcultural dilution00:32:38 – The short film Red Team by Cairo Smith00:37:36 – The changing role of the writer across eras00:42:17 – Will anything replace the Hollywood film?00:46:06 – Conclusion and final recommendations00:48:42 – Synthesized Sunsets Backstage begins00:49:26 – Brief synopsis of Komodo and Current Affairs00:52:35 – Komodo discussion00:55:13 – Kevin’s thoughts on Scenebux01:00:25 – What is Vibecamp?01:01:40 – Gordon explains why being waterboarded is fun01:08:56 – Kevin yaps about his upcoming novel01:14:35 – Conclusion and final recommendations This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week is a special episode with lawyer and sports podcast host James Hirsh who recently competed against Kevin Kodama on Jeopardy! We talked about their experience on the show and sports in Science Fiction and Fantasy.Hope you enjoy! TIMESTAMPS:0:14 - Introduction0:30 - Was the Jeopardy experience as expected2:18 - Jeopardy was more fun than expected4:02 - Anything especially nerve-wracking about Jeopardy7:05 - Daily Double strategy13:41 - Lack of sports in SFF17:41 - Sports in SFF normally involve actual death21:16 - Sports will have to reckon with continued advances in technology27:13 - Sports need to be willing to change incrementally27:40 - Conclusion and Recommendation of “1984 and Beyond” Playboy Magazine Interview (Unfortunately was unable to find this online but it appears in Playboy’s July 1963 issue)29:35 - Start of Synthesized Sunsets Backstage31:47 - Kevin got along well with Ken Jennings34:06 - Lowbrow culture doesn’t really appear in SFF35:27 - SFF stories, even futurist ones, don’t have modern economies39:11 - Hockey does a great job of crafting a good watching experience through its rules41:21 - MMA is more strategic than might be expected45:26 - Recommendation of “Heretics” by GK Chesterton This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

We were excited to have Lillian Wang Selonick back on the podcast as a repeat guest! We discuss her story published in Synthesized Sunsets “The Waters of Lethe”, her recent travels in Japan and Korea, the sense of wonder at the center of Sci-Fi, the evolution of the meaning of the word nerd, and more.Apologies for the really long delay between episodes. We have two more episodes recorded so the next few should come out in the next few weeks. In more exciting news, Kevin Kodama will be competing on Jeopardy this coming Wednesday February 25th, so check that out if you are interested.Hope you enjoy listening!TIMESTAMPS:0:14 - Introduction0:43 - Lillian’s recent trip to Korea and Japan5:17 - It’s cool that for a character language your writing system doesn’t change over time10:44 - Discussing Lillian’s story “The Waters of Lethe”12:20 - Writing with a character voice very different from your own18:35 - Researching the science for short stories21:13 - Cixin Liu’s “Church of Sci-Fi” essay from “A View From the Stars” and the sense of wonder25:41 - There is good Sci-Fi that doesn’t try to elicit this feeling33:30 - Sci-Fi is more centered on this awe feeling in China35:23 - Western translations try to add gravitas to Cixin Liu38:03 - Sci-Fi movies like Interstellar and 2001 are good at creating this awe feeling42:51 - Evolution of what it means to be a “nerd”48:51 - Nerd culture used to have a high barrier to entry53:19 - Being a nerd became way cooler in the early 2010s55:38 - Prose can do things that video can’t57:46 - Conclusion and Lillian’s story recommendation “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” by Jorge Luis Borges59:54 - Start of Synthesized Sunsets Backstage1:02:23 - People come of age much more gradually nowadays1:10:31 - Rehashing the Church of Sci-Fi essay1:11:45 - Cixin Liu gets the same criticisms in China with regards to characters1:14:52 - The universe should be a protagonist in Sci-Fi1:22:32 - There is an unrealized demand for Sci-Fi with this focus on a sense of wonder1:29:56 - Discussing Kevin’s article “There Is No Antimemetics Division as a Reminder of the Internet’s Wild Potential”1:32:05 - SCP Foundation and “There Is No Antimemetics Division”1:37:54 - SCP Foundation was a cool thing you would run into from time to time1:46:27 - “There Is No Antimemetics Division” will probably not funnel people towards web fiction1:48:46 - Going on the internet is like looking up at the night sky1:51:41 - The ol’ reddit switcheroo1:55:57 - More Sci-fi writers used to be on the cutting edge of science1:57:02 - Conclusion This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week’s guest is author, lawyer, and engineer Ken Liu— a man of many talents. You may know him for his collections The Paper Menagerie and The Hidden Girl, his fantasy quartet The Dandelion Dynasty, inspiring the show Pantheon, or perhaps even translating The Three-Body Problem. His recent novel All That We See or Seem is a near-future thriller about a beloved AI ‘dream artist’ who disappears without a trace, as well as the hacker trying to find her. It is the first of several planned ‘Julia Z novels’.In this episode, we discussed Liu’s inspiration for this new novel, his concept of ‘silkpunk’ in the context of The Dandelion Dynasty, and the uncertain future of art in the age of AI. You can find more information about him on his website kenliu.name or right here on Substack at The Lion's Teeth. Enjoy!TIMESTAMPS00:00:12 – Intro00:00:56 – Ken Liu’s new thriller All That We See or Seem00:02:22 – “Dreamweaving” and why using AI feels like a dream00:09:26 – Why did LLMs not make it into literature earlier?00:18:13 – Writing near-future SF and “Real Artists”00:27:36 – AI as a copying machine of the “desired original”00:34:02 – Compensating artists in the age of AI00:41:53 – Silkpunk and The Dandelion Dynasty00:49:05 – Tax policy and cultural technology00:56:23 – “All life is an experiment”00:00:57 – Conclusion and final recommendations01:02:51 – Synthesized Sunsets Backstage begins01:05:17 – Ken Liu is unusually optimistic about AI art01:12:22 – How will idiolects of AI and humans feed off each other?01:18:03 – The Dandelion Dynasty as an experiment in exposition01:23:45 – The character of Mata Zyndu and writing morality out of time01:26:06 – The Paper Menagerie and The Hidden Girl are really different01:27:44 – “Byzantine Empathy” by Ken Liu01:30:29 – Ken Liu on the irrealism of fiction that avoids technology01:33:03 – New season / reopening for submissions01:35:03 – Conclusion and final recommendations This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

We brought back friends of the podcast Dylan O’Neal and Trevor Waldorf for more of a book club style informal conversation discussing some books and stories with a bit of a loose Halloween theme as we recorded this episode a few days before Halloween. We discussed the novel “Something Wicked This Way Comes” by Ray Bradbury, and short stories “All Summer in a Day,” also by Bradbury, “Mountain” and “Cannonball” by Cixin Liu, as well as “Mono no Aware” by Ken Liu.In the backstage portion of the podcast, we discuss Kevin’s article Cixin Liu’s Paracosmal Worlds as well as Gordon’s review of the Terra Ignota series by Ada Palmer.We hope you enjoy listening!TIMESTAMPS:0:12 - Introduction2:02 - Discussing “All Summer In a Day” by Ray Bradbury7:34 - Lots of media for children is written for adults13:29 - Writing humanity as a character17:00 - The ridiculous situation in which Kevin attempted to read “Something Wicked This Way Comes”22:37 - Children’s horror is scarier than adult horror25:25 - Monster House and other scary children’s movies29:51 - Scary kids movies are supposed to be disorienting and strange32:19 - Something Wicked This Way Comes is a better coming of age novel than a horror one37:15 - Circus/Carnival Experiences42:45 - There are less alternative lifestyles nowadays47:09 - Kids used to do way more crazy s**t48:54 - Cixin Liu writes stories that are childishly awesome51:15 - Discussing “Cannonball” by Cixin Liu58:31 - Cixin Liu is marketed in a very serious way that clashes with his fiction1:03:24 - Discussing “Mountain” by Cixin Liu1:05:26 - Cixin Liu crafts characters who have a single purpose1:07:21 - Discussing “Mono no Aware” by Ken Liu1:13:11 - Conclusion short story recommendation of “The Last Rung on the Ladder” by Stephen King and Dylan’s upcoming novel “Orange Sky, Dark Sun”1:16:00 - Start of Synthesized Sunsets Backstage1:16:20 - Getting an outsider’s perspective on Cixin Liu stories1:18:05 - The swimming up the mountain scene in “Mountain” is awesome1:25:18 - Discussing Kevin’s article, Cixin Liu’s Paracosmal Worlds1:33:25 - Discussing Gordon’s Review of the Terra Ignota Series by Ada Palmer1:38:18 - Some thoughts on Terra Ignota that eventually lead to this essay1:41:44 - Too Like The Lightning is very difficult to follow1:44:59 - Really difficult to make all 3 of really interesting speculative ideas, really interesting prose, and understandable1:46:00 - The Dandelion Dynasty sort of solves this by not having many speculative ideas in the first book, then dumping more on you in future books when it is easier to follow1:49:49 - Conclusion and Short Fiction Recommendation “Five Stages of Grief after the Alien Invasion” by Caroline M. Yoachim This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week we talked to Dylan O’Neal, author of the first short story submission accepted by Synthesized Sunsets, Snowlight. In addition to the story, we discussed what got him into writing, how to write compelling children in stories, lucid dreaming, Game of Thrones, and the book he is working on currently, “Orange Sky, Dark Sun”.Similar to the last couple episodes this one was recorded a long time ago, but in the backstage portion was recorded more recently we discussed Kevin’s recent article in Republic of Letters, “Ah, The Nerdish Joys Of Quizbowl.”We hope you enjoy!TIMESTAMPS:0:12 - Introduction0:52 - How did you get into writing?4:40 - Everyone reads in elementary school7:17 - After a certain amount of reading you will probably feel compelled to write8:26 - What is the starting point for your writing?13:31 - Discussing Dylan’s story “Snowlight”17:31 - Kids are often not believable in fiction22:27 - Kids often don’t think about what they are capable of doing27:20 - Lucid dreaming32:42 - How do you create a dreamlike register?36:06 - Many of Dylan’s favorite authors are Sci-fi adjacent (Kurt Vonnegut, George Saunders, George R.R. Martin, Stephen King)37:45 - Do you see yourself as or becoming a sci-fi author?40:06 - It’s hard to make phone usage seem beautiful42:37 - Kurt Vonnegut and “Shapes of Stories”45:26 - Stories with pretty much any shape can work well if executed well50:08 - It’s hard for short stories to compete with other more attention grabbing forms of short media53:29 - Screenwriting57:03 - It’s tough to read a lot if you do not read primarily for entertainment1:00:33 - A Song of Ice and Fire improves reading other fantasy series by raising the stakes1:01:35 - Game of Thrones was the first fantasy book to really successfully break from the Lord of the Rings mold1:04:38 - Dylan pitches his upcoming book “Orange Sky, Dark Sun”1:10:11 - Conclusion and Short Story Recommendations: “The Man in the Black Suit” by Stephen King, “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, and “Two Talented Bastids” by Stephen King.1:11:45 - Start of Synthesized Sunsets Backstage1:12:13 - It’s cool to have a compulsion to write1:15:15 - Children are often far more one-dimensional in stories1:16:34 - Kids have agency1:17:48 - Discussing Kevin’s Quizbowl article for Republic of Letters “Ah, The Nerdish Joys Of Quizbowl”1:19:03 - Quizbowl is standardized academic trivia1:21:54 - Quizbowl is mechanism for turning abstract knowledge into usable knowledge1:26:33 - Gordon reads Kevin an example Quizbowl tossup 1:30:04 - What did the process of grinding for Quizbowl in high school look like for Kevin?1:34:22 - Quizbowl is really good for learning history1:35:49 - Math classes teach you application not just knowledge1:37:31 - Quizbowl is an experience which burns knowledge into your mind1:38:24 - Knowledge feels more real if you are able to apply it1:40:25 - Conclusion and Short Story Recommendation “Call Girl” by Tang Fei This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week on the podcast we had on Xueting Christine Ni, an independent researcher of Chinese culture who is most famous for her collections Sinopticon and Sinophagia (which focus on Chinese science fiction and Chinese horror, respectively), as well as her nonfiction writings on Chinese mythology. We spent a bit of time talking about the stories in those two collections, as well as the wide world of Chinese web fiction (wǎngwén) and the implications that it has for China and the rest of the world.This episode was recorded quite a long time ago, but the timing nicely coincides with Kevin’s last article “How 'Chinese Goodreads' Illuminates Forgotten Sci-Fi Classics”. We were very glad to hear Xueting’s unique perspective, who has spent quite a bit of time in both China and the UK, experiencing the fiction and life of both cultures.This episode was edited to be relatively light on spoilers in case people are interested in reading Sinopticon or Sinophagia afterwards— which we would highly recommend! Thanks for listening!TIMESTAMPS00:00:12 – Episode Start00:00:49 – Is Chinese speculative fiction more stratified than Western web fiction?00:02:57 – Xueting's original entrypoint into wǎngwén (Chinese web fiction)00:05:02 – What is the 'mission statement' of Sinopticon?00:07:03 – “The Fall of Adam” by Wang Jinkang and getting stories past the publisher00:10:32 – 2023 WorldCon in Chengdu and a Reddit thread about the nominees that reveals cultural gaps in science fiction00:14:48 – “The Great Migration” by Ma Boyong and notes about translation00:17:54 – Xueting talks about her elite translator notes in Sinopticon and Sinophagia00:26:44 – “The Waking Dream” by Fan Zhou00:31:28 – “Net Novels and the She-Era” by Xueting Christine Ni00:35:52 – Understanding the scale of the Chinese web novel economy00:44:17 – What a Western web fiction market might look like and Seven Seas Entertainment00:47:47 – Xueting and Gordon talk about how the insular web fiction community enables certain kinds of playful experimentation with recurring elements00:51:55 – Conclusion and final recommendations00:52:43 – Xueting asks Kevin and Gordon about wuxia00:55:26 – Synthesized Sunsets Backstage begins00:57:08 – Talking to curators v. authors about their work00:58:53 – “Flower of the Other Shore” by A Que01:01:35 – “The Tide of Moon City” by Regina Kanyu Wang01:03:58 – Kevin goes on a long side tangent about hating unnecessary frame stories01:07:48 – Kevin’s article “How 'Chinese Goodreads' Illuminates Forgotten Sci-Fi Classics”01:12:27 – Kevin’s initial “wrong” conclusions about Chinese science fiction01:15:19 – Why “The Martian” was so popular01:16:21 – Kevin talks about meeting Chinese science fiction fans01:18:39 – Is Cixin Liu that popular in China?01:21:08 – The popularity of Japanese mystery fiction in China01:23:00 – Curators are to authors as original contexts are to foreign contexts?01:25:35 – Conclusion and final recommendations This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

We were super excited to talk to science fiction writer and fellow Substacker Lillian Wang Selonick. We discuss some topics from her essays on the value of Worldbuilding, the adoption of sci-fi tropes in literary books, what is meant by the term speculative fiction, Death’s End, Philip K. Dick, and more.Apologies for the long delay between episodes. We recorded this episode about three weeks ago, but due to going to Worldcon, Gordon getting sick (twice!), and Kevin going on vacation it took a while to publish. In the backstage portion, we talk about our experience at Worldcon and accepting fiction submissions for Synthesized Sunsets.Also, if you like the episode you can check out Lillian on the Futurist Letters podcast as well. Hope you enjoy listening!TIMESTAMPS:0:12 - Introduction1:17 - Discussing “Worldbuilding”3:38 - You don't need to have a rigorous, highly-engineered, world to write a SFF story5:53 - Is worldbuilding overused as a concept for fantasy?6:40 - Worldbuilding vs. world conjuring8:43 - What makes something real science fiction11:55 - It's cool when it is clear an author is really passionate about science13:37 - Sci-fi has become a bit too defined by its tropes14:46 - Speculative-literary hybrid books17:32 - We shouldn't be giving sci-fi awards to successful literary books19:53 - What is meant by the term speculative fiction?22:27 - Speculative fiction partially evolved as a term due to sci-fi authors seeing it as more serious23:46 - Defining speculative fiction by its community26:44 - Speculative is starting to be used more for literary books with some tropes28:45 - The Dune movies were big for sci-fi30:49 - Villeneuve has been an ambassador for sci-fi 31:38 - Blade Runner 2049 looks amazing but is unmemorable otherwise33:49 - What makes Philip K. Dick so good?35:48 - PKD creates fiction that plays with epistemic certainty39:33 - Ray Bradbury and PKD feel similar40:55 - PKD is very popular in China43:13 - Talking about “Death's End”45:15 - Death's End starting at the Siege of Constantinople was crazy49:02 - How is PKD similar to Saul Bellow?52:26 - The different types of men writing women58:40 - Writing at Futurist Letters1:01:05 - Discussing Lillian’s story “A Riot at Red Plan-It! Park”1:04:52 - Conclusion and Short Story Recommendation of “Hinterlands” by William Gibson from his collection “Burning Chrome”1:06:18 - Start of Synthesized Sunsets Backstage1:06:42 - Poorly remembered thoughts on the episode1:07:26 - Discussing “Ubik” and “The Lathe of Heaven”1:13:57 - Elaborating on the case for a circular definition of speculative fiction1:18:41 - Military sci-fi is becoming less speculative fiction1:20:40 - A genre being defined circularly is less strange than it may sound1:21:25 - Our experience at Worldcon1:22:01 - It's very easy to see and talk to relatively famous people at Worldcon1:25:49 - Ada Palmer was really impressive1:28:38 - Interesting Joanna Russ panel with friend of the pod Rich Horton1:31:25 - Talking about the Hugo Awards1:32:51 - It would have been cool if the Hugo Awards were more of a spectacle1:36:52 - The Hugo Awards should be more focused around Best Novel1:37:21 - The convention as a whole was quite well run1:41:28 - Our experience receiving fiction submissions1:43:30 - We've been pleasantly surprised with the general level of quality from submissions1:46:34 - Conclusion and Short Story Recommendation of “10207” by Emma Burnett This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

Today marks exactly one year since the first post on Synthesized Sunsets. To celebrate the occasion, Gordon and Kevin take a look back at how it all began. We also discuss Kevin’s recent article, “Shunrō Oshikawa, ChatGPT, and the Birth of the "Pre-Translator"”, as well as its follow-up post and the ways in which AI translation might (or might not) pave the way for a utopian multilingual Internet future. It’s been a great season at Synthesized Sunsets, and we thank you all for reading! We’ll see you next season for the Hugo Awards!!TIMESTAMPS00:00:12 – Episode Start00:00:37 – Inspiration for Synthesized Sunsets00:03:57 – How did Gordon react to being asked to co-host Synthesized Sunsets?00:08:06 – Synthesized Sunsets was not originally super sci-fi focused00:10:47 – Has Synthesized Sunsets become audience-captured?00:14:39 – Favorite “core memories” of Synthesized Sunsets and the first post on Synthesized Sunsets: 'The Wandering Inn' Allows Us to Properly Fear the Sea00:19:08 – Kevin did not expect to get particularly into visual art00:21:37 – Synthesized Sunsets is less popular but more influential at this stage than Gordon + Kevin expected00:25:02 – Has Synthesized Sunsets become audience captured? (cont.)00:27:53 – Does Synthesized Sunsets plan to experiment with the form of fiction?00:29:29 – Why haven't Gordon and Kevin written more fiction?00:31:43 – Hoping for more audience engagement / possible trivia events in the future00:33:52 – Discussion of “Shunrō Oshikawa, ChatGPT, and the Birth of the "Pre-Translator"” begins00:39:21 – Somewhat fair negative feedback of the article00:40:35 – Attempting translation is a very novel experience00:47:39 – Kevin would have done some things differently in retrospect00:49:40 – How gatekeep-y is translation and is this good?00:51:02 – Will monolingual translation ever become widespread?00:52:21 – Kevin speculates about our glorious multilingual Internet future00:56:07 – Conclusion and final recommendations00:57:45 – Thank you to everyone who has supported Synthesized Sunsets! We are very grateful for your support!! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week we spoke with long time Science Fiction reviewer and anthologist Rich Horton. We talked about his experience in the early internet sci-fi community on Usenet, his career in sci-fi criticism at Tangent and Locus, his work creating sci-fi/fantasy best of the year anthologies, our thoughts on the current slate of Hugo Award nominees, and more.We hope you enjoy!TIMESTAMPS:0:14 - Introduction0:39 - What drew you to Substack?1:33 - Rich Horton started Substack by reading people already here (Ted Gioia, Lincoln Michel, Naomi Kanakia)2:25 - Usenet as a hub for sci-fi discourse6:07 - Substack is a place where you can talk about books7:07 - Stories about sci-fi discussion on Usenet13:08 - Starting Writing Reviews for Tangent18:19 - Becoming a columnist at Locus21:13 - Creating SFF best of the year anthologies25:49 - It was cool to publish stories from literary writers in sci-fi anthologies28:38 - The challenge of only writing positive reviews29:57 - It's hard to write negative reviews for people you know32:32 - Should you be able to spoil a story as the critic?33:40 - It's easier to write bad reviews for already well-aclaimed books38:18 - Society doesn't have much respect for critics39:55 - Newspaper book reviews are dying off41:18 - The best critics are worth reading even outside of any engagement with the original text44:57 - Rating books by entertainment and ambition45:40 - Discussing Hugo Award Nominee Novels48:54 - Having separate literary and speculative ratings52:04 - A lot of "hard" science fiction is written by people with an actual background in science56:13 - Experiences at WorldCon and other sci-fi conventions1:04:13 - Conclusion and short fiction recommendations of short story The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar and novella New Light On the Drake Equation by Ian R. MacLeod1:06:22 - Start of Synthesized Sunsets Backstage 1:07:32 - It was cool to learn about early sci-fi internet with Usenet1:08:22 - A higher barrier to engagement can create better conversations1:10:42 - Discussing Hugo Awards Review #3: The Tainted Cup + A Sorceress Comes to Call1:11:08 - We both liked The Tainted Cup a lot1:13:09 - The Tainted Cup had a somewhat unambitious style1:16:20 - The Ana + Din scenes in The Tainted Cup remind Kevin of ASMR videos1:17:29 - Neither of us liked A Sorceress Comes To Call1:17:55 - A Sorceress Comes to Call would be a pretty good kids book1:19:27 - It's hard to separate personal opinion from objective quality when reviewing something1:20:48 - It's important to believe in a character's existence1:25:57 - Knowledge of the artist's vision can enhance the enjoyment of some art object1:27:19 - "Earlier in my life I was unable to connect with the art objects of music" (songs)1:28:28 - Discussing The SFF Magazine Canon1:29:27 - The line between prozines and semiprozines is quite blurry1:33:26 - Magazine recommendations* Reactor has longer form stories and is the most approachable as a sci-fi novel reader* Lightspeed has the widest variety of sci-fi stories* Beneath Ceaseless Skies has the most consistent style of secondary world fantasy stories1:36:59 - Conclusion and short story recommendation of “The Electric Ant” by Philip K. Dick This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

The week we were joined by prolific author of rational fiction Alexander Wales. We of course discuss his works, particularly Worth the Candle, This Used to be About Dungeons, and The Metropolitan Man, but also talk about time travel, writing under a pseudonym, crafting believable characters, and more.Thanks for Listening!TIMESTAMPS:0:12 - Introduction0:55 - What are the characteristics of Rational Fiction?6:11 - Discussing Worth the Candle7:14 - Using a pseudonym releases pressure as an author10:32 - How much of Worth the Candle is taken from D&D campaigns you ran?13:41 - Does being a DM prepare you for being a fiction writer?16:18 - Being a web serial author you can't go back and change your work18:19 - Continuously tinkering with a book for ages is overrated20:00 - Unlike webcomics web serials actually finish sometimes24:09 - Do web fiction authors ever use Pseudonyms to write something other than the main fic they are known for?27:37 - Writing under a pseudonym can give you a more authentic reaction29:06 - Discussing This Used To Be About Dungeons32:16 - It was cool to have characters who were believably unlikeable in ways36:35 - Not all conflict should come from misunderstandings40:11 - Chrononauts in This Used To Be About Dungeons and time travel as a trope44:36 - It's hard to do everything exactly the same as you did in the past45:36 - Time loops are like speedrunning47:04 - Time Travel Story Recommendations* Palimpsest by Charles Stross* Primer (rewatch with commentary from Sam Hughes/qntm)* The Time Traveler’s Wife (only the book)49:59 - Discussing The Metropolitan Man51:20 - Is it more interesting to write fanfiction focused on more mundane characters?55:04 - Lois Lane is an interesting character in The Metropolitan Man58:34 - The Metropolitan Man owes its biggest inspiration to Superman: Red Son1:02:09 - Your fanfiction has some high quality footnotes1:05:03 - Discussing the cthuluraejepsen pseudonym1:06:37 - Conclusion + Short Fiction Recommendation of Eager Readers in Your Area1:08:45 - Start of Synthesized Sunsets Backstage1:10:49 - It was cool to talk about Metropolitan Man directly after reading1:12:43 - Discussing Kevin’s article Golden Age Science Fiction is Being Reborn... in China?1:15:34 - Sci-fi has lost optimism and reverence for science and technology in general1:19:49 - University Sci-fi clubs have died off in the U.S1:21:10 - There are a lot more outlets for being nerdy than there used to be1:23:11 - Discussing our review article Hugo Awards Review #2: Alien Clay + Service Model1:23:25 - Kevin really liked Alien Clay1:26:04 - Gordon really wanted to like Alien Clay1:27:40 - Alien Clay sort of spoils its own climax1:29:48 - Alien Clay has some really interesting characters1:31:55 - Kevin and Gordon are in agreement that Service Model was very okay1:32:20 - Service Model was too long and took itself too seriously1:34:43 - Kevin suggests an alternate version of this book where The Wonk is a figment of Uncharles's imagination1:37:14 - Service Model was very reliant on its settings being captivating1:39:39 - It’s hard to rate reading experience too heavily because it is influenced by factors other than the quality of the book1:41:33 - Conclusion + Short Story Recommendation Human Resources (prequel to Service Model) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week we hosted Regina Kanyu Wang, an award-winning writer and editor of Chinese science fiction. In 2022, she co-edited The Way Spring Arrives, a pioneering collection of stories from Chinese female and non-binary authors. We were super excited to have someone from the scene help us develop our thoughts about Chinese science fiction, which eventually turned into Kevin’s article “Golden Age Science Fiction is Being Reborn… in China?”.In this episode, we discuss Regina’s curatorial approach, the differences between America and China, and what it’s like to be a sci-fi fan outside of the Anglosphere. Plus… whether learning Chinese can expand your cognition? Listen to find out!TIMESTAMPS00:00:12 - Intro00:00:53 - What was it like to see sci-fi become wildly popular in China?00:04:13 - To what extent does Cixin Liu define Chinese science fiction?00:10:50 - Why are Chinese science fiction fans younger than their American counterparts?00:11:52 - The “Bus Theory” of Chinese science fiction fans00:15:35 - China still romanticizes science as a culture00:18:54 - The “triangle” driving Chinese science fiction00:20:21 - Why doesn't China have more cultural exports, and why is Three-Body Problem the exception?00:24:24 - Is there a lot of censorship in Chinese science fiction?00:28:09 - The Way Spring Arrives, edited by Yu Chen & Regina Kanyu Wang00:31:35 - “Dragonslaying” by Shen Yingying, translated by Emily Jin00:36:28 - Is Chinese web fiction more addictive than hard drugs?00:41:46 - What is cultivation fantasy? / “The Tale of Wude’s Heavenly Tribulation” by Count E, translated by etvolare00:44:56 - Regina's travels in Northern Europe + being adopted by Finnish fandom00:50:48 - Does Chinese sci-fi have different attitudes about AI?00:56:18 - Could AI-assisted language learning be used to expand human cognition?00:59:05 - Haruki Murakami's weird writing process01:02:25 - Conclusion and final recommendations01:04:17 - Synthesized Stage Backstage Begins01:05:41 - Why does China have so much more of a university sci-fi club experience?01:09:11 - How is Western science fiction different from American science fiction?01:11:30 - Why Kevin became slightly less intimidated by the Chinese government during the episode01:12:23 - Gordon appreciates the simplicity of Chinese Golden Age-style SF story01:13:28 - Why Chinese SF is kind of like George R. R. Martin in its effects01:14:09 - Kevin and Gordon review the Hugo Award for Best Short Story nominees01:15:28 - “We Will Teach You How to Read, We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M. Yoachim01:19:34 - Kevin was surprised by how postmodern the Hugo Awards slate was01:20:25 - “Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J. Kim01:23:25 - “Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine01:27:20 - “Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K. Morgan and “Marginalia” by Mary Robinette Kowal01:31:09 - “Stitched to Skin Like Family Is” by Nghi Vo01:35:11 - ConclusionLINKS* “The Winter Garden” by Regina Kanyu Wang* “The Language Sheath” by Regina Kanyu Wang* “A Record of Lost Time” by Regina Kanyu Wang* Kevin’s article “Golden Age Science Fiction is Being Reborn… in China?”* Kevin and Gordon review the Hugo Award for Best Short Story nominees* Douban, a very interesting Chinese site that combines Goodreads, IMDB, and Rate Your Music all in one* “US Man Credits Chinese Web Novels for Curing His Addiction to Drugs” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week we were joined by Adrian Tchaikovsky, a sci-fi and fantasy author most well known for writing the award-winning Children of Time series. His books often discuss the interactions between unique artificial and biological intelligences, and for this year’s Hugo awards he has two nominees for Best Novel in that space with Alien Clay and Service Model.We discuss Alien Clay, the allure of existing at the end of time, the differences between British and American Sci-fi, and the historical and biological inspirations for Adrian Tchaikovsky’s fiction. Thanks for listening!TIMESTAMPS:0:12 - Introduction1:48 - Alien Clay as a new perspective on evolution with more cooperation than competition4:03 - Autocratic regimes are desperate for an external moral or scientific justification for their actions5:38 - Politics as an outlet for our more sadistic impulses8:25 - Is having a rigidly defined sense of self an evolutionary or cultural?13:12 - Are the bacteria in your microbiome part of you?18:50 - Alien Clay as a more pro-science Annihilation25:56 - Writing novels should be seen as a collaborative rather than competitive ecosystem29:49 - What inspires you from history?35:18 - The tragedy of losing information40:22 - “One Day This Will All Be Yours” and the allure of existing at the end of time45:30 - People prefer imagining a barren planet that dies with us, then a vibrant one that outlasts us47:08 - Climate change does not hurt the Earth, it hurts those on the Earth including us50:24 - Changes in scientific understanding take a long time to proliferate through culture: dinosaurs are still depicted as scaly rather than feathered53:45 - The differences in American and British Sci-fi57:49 - Do you think in terms of genre when writing Sci-fi vs. Fantasy?1:00:40 - Elder Race and creating a narrative where neither the high-tech or low-tech characters are prepared for the monster1:04:05 - Conclusion and final recommendations upcoming release of Adrian Tchaikovsky's book “Shroud” and short story collection “Our Savage Heart” by Justina Robson1:04:52 - Start of Synthesized Sunsets Backstage1:07:32 - Reasoning not talking about Children of Time in the interview, but talking about it now1:11:09 - Children of Time would make a good prestige Sci-fi TV show1:15:05 - Kevin really likes “One Day This Will All Be Yours”1:18:35 - Discussing The Web Fiction Canon article1:20:08 - Web serial fantasy1:24:05 - Any form of serialized entertainment tends to generally start ok get better and then slowly get worse over a long time1:26:22 - Rational Fiction1:30:59 - /newwave/1:34:53 - Interactive Fiction1:35:51 - The line between interactive fiction and video games is blurry1:37:28 - 17776 and the potential for more parallax fiction1:40:08 - Conclusion This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week we hosted Naomi Kanakia, a literary critic who writes about the health of the prestige publishing ecosystem and the value of reading the Great Books on her Substack Woman of Letters. She is also an accomplished speculative fiction author, with stories published in major outlets like Clarkesworld and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.Our discussion focused on the short story as a form, both in general and within the context of speculative fiction. We also discussed sentimentality in literature, the surprisingly messy origins of the novel, and, of course, Scott Alexander. Whether you’re a new reader from the Scott Alexander post or you’ve been listening to us for a bit, we’re happy to have you! Thanks for listening!TIMESTAMPS00:00:12 - Introduction00:00:52 - What is a “tale”?00:02:06 - How has the way that we tell stories changed?00:04:44 - Do the novel and the short story still have life left in them?00:07:48 - Short stories as an indicator of institutional trust00:09:59 - Scott Alexander as a literary author00:11:51 - Short stories as “assassinating the reader”00:16:46 - Misdirection and realism in the tale00:19:22 - Storytelling formats that are lost in cultural translation00:20:24 - Predecessors to the novel that have gone extinct00:24:02 - Is Moby-Dick a novel or a really elaborate whaling facts book?00:25:50 - Ted Chiang's “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling”00:26:46 - Are we moving from a written to an oral culture?00:30:36 - Sentimentality in speculative fiction00:33:43 - Naomi would like to see sentimentality come back to high literature00:36:37 - Have sentimental novels been crowded out by other forms of entertainment?00:38:31 - Are biographies the new sentimental novel?00:40:51 - The ridiculously sentimental moment in Death's End by Cixin Liu00:43:56 - Chengdu WorldCon and its consequences00:46:32 - Treating literary conventions as inevitable00:49:51 - The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt00:51:05 - The “shadow canon” of science fiction and its potential longevity00:55:29 - Conclusion and final recommendations00:56:09 - Synthesized Sunsets Backstage begins01:00:22 - Gordon thinks that classic books are in some ways worse for modern audiences than their contemporaries01:06:35 - Have we made mysteries worse for ourselves by getting too good at solving them?01:07:22 - Kevin's article "The Most Underrated Speculative Fiction Writer of the 21st Century is... Scott Alexander?"01:12:08 - “IT WAS YOU WHO MADE MY BLUE EYES BLUE” by Scott Alexander01:15:08 - How much does Scott Alexander's nonfiction enhance his fiction?01:16:59 - Scott Alexander is really good at injecting ideas into the idea space01:18:54 - Conclusion and final recommendationsLINKS* Yoon Ha Lee’s interview about “assassinating the reader”* “On Mars, everyone truly finds their level” by Naomi Kanakia* Katherine Dee on the Internet as an oral culture* “Sort By Controversial” by Scott Alexander* Naomi Kanakia on the “shadow canon”* “IT WAS YOU WHO MADE MY BLUE EYES BLUE” by Scott Alexander* “Book Review: Albion’s Seed” by Scott Alexander* Naomi Kanakia’s profile on Lightspeed (story forthcoming) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to the fourth season of Synthesized Sunsets: a seasonal magazine about speculative fiction and the future of pop! This spring, the mag will shift in direction yet again. The biggest change will be a renewed focus on fiction. Both of us will be trying to get published in mainstream SFF magazines this year, and we hope to use the more futurist articles in the magazine as inspiration for future stories. With luck, you’ll be able to see the genesis of published sci-fi stories right here on the podcast!Also, both of us will be attending the Hugo Awards in August. In preparation, we will be reviewing more contemporary sci-fi in the lead-up to the event. We are also going to start posting video versions of old essays on our YouTube channel, which you can find here. In light of this, we will be getting a long-overdue mic upgrade (!!) next week.Now that we’ve gotten the announcements out of the way, let’s talk about our theme for this issue: rebirth. When I think about rebirth, I instinctively think of it in terms of identity. It’s less about the bodily elements and more about adopting a self-concept that a previous version of you would find unrecognizable. In general, speculative fiction allows for some interesting explorations of rebirth. More on that later.The art that we are using for this issue is Art Nouveau, and in particular the art of Alphonse Mucha. Art Nouveau was a movement that sought to explicitly break from the old artistic tradition and create something totally new. But while they wanted Art Nouveau to reflect modernity, they didn’t want it to feel sterile or mass-produced. So Art Nouveau emphasizes nature-inspired organic lines and a vibrancy.Art Nouveau is remembered today mostly in terms of its buildings, but it was created to feature across all areas of life: visual art, architecture, and even functional objects. You’ve probably seen its classy turn-of-the-century advertisements that frequently make the rounds on the Internet. The goal was for the boundaries between high art and low art, between aesthetic design and everyday objects, to merge into some kind of unified Art with a capital A. To me, this makes Art Nouveau vaguely sci-fi in spirit. Art Nouveau’s creators wanted to engineer an all-encompassing art form, but in a way that was humanistic rather than mechanistic. In that sense, Art Nouveau was far more utopian and romantic than the functional movements that ended up succeeding it. All of these qualities make it a great fit for the themes of the magazine that we have discussed thus far.Alphonse Mucha was perhaps the most recognizable face of Art Nouveau, using his trademark nymphs to create advertisements and wildly popular interior decor. In his masterpiece The Seasons (show below), Mucha depicts four seasonal nymphs in his trademark style. This painting was an active effort to bring together the worlds of high art and low art. Mucha expressed regret about the degree to which his work was commercialized, but he was also happy to be bringing art down from its ivory tower.Since fantasy (and Art Nouveau) is a direct descendant of myth, it obviously inherited many of its themes of rebirth. But sci-fi also makes a surprisingly good vessel for rebirth, mostly because of its recurring narratives of transcendence and renewal.In the transcendence narrative, humanity or perhaps just one individual achieves a breakthrough (often scientific) that allows it to ascend to a higher plane of existence. The godfather of all such stories is Arthur C. Clarke, who frequently wrote about a far more advanced alien race shepherding humanity into broader cosmic society and the next stage of their evolution. This story of rebirth has been reinvented countless times over the years, and it shows no signs of stopping.In the renewal narrative, humanity or a post-human Earth comes into bloom once more after a period of decline or destruction. This story is far more timeless than the transcendence narrative, but the canonical example is perhaps A Canticle for Leibowitz: a 1950s novel that imagines Catholic monks trying to rebuild and make sense of humanity’s destruction, centuries after nuclear apocalypse. Canticle clearly inspired numerous post-apocalyptic narratives, and its weaving of Catholicism with science was a big influence on favorite subject The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.Nowadays, renewal is associated with the solarpunk genre, which uses the climate as a lens through which to imagine a utopian future. Solarpunk is in conversation with dystopia and most older post-apocalyptic fiction, taking an optimistic approach rather than a pessimistic one. But despite their opposing philosophies, the two tend to go hand-in-hand. After all, renewal can only occur after some kind of decline.Speaking of solarpunk, Art Nouveau was quite influential on solarpunk’s aesthetics. Many solarpunk-inspired buildings use those same organic curves and colors that the French were using more than a century ago. Just as romanticism is experiencing a sort of cultural revival in the digital age, I wouldn’t be surprised if Art Nouveau makes a comeback as well. It would certainly be a welcome change to Brutalist architecture.Anyway, we hope to discuss all that and more in the months ahead! As always, you can hear us say more about this topic in the podcast episode itself. See you there! (And perhaps we’ll catch you at WorldCon— let us know if we can expect to see you there!)EPISODE TIMESTAMPS0:12 - Introduction0:26 - Upcoming changes to Synthesized Sunsets2:10 - Hugo awards criticism5:38 - Theme of Rebirth for the Spring Season7:59 - Art Nouveau as the art for the Spring Season of the magazine11:18 - Alphonse Mucha15:52 - The advantages to flat art 17:45 - “The Seasons” by Alphonse Mucha19:52 - Speculative fiction with a theme of rebirth20:06 - "The Egg" by Andy Weir25:24 - The transcendence narrative27:44 - "Seveneves" by Neil Stephenson34:31 - Discussing the post time skip section of Seveneves38:38 - “Childhood's End” pioneering the transcendence narrative40:59 - Quirks of Golden Age Sci-fi Writing46:29 - Golden age sci-fi stories do not properly portray danger and peril48:28 - Should ideas in a work be graded on a curve based on when they were published?51:40 - "A Canticle for Leibowitz" as the foundational renewal narrative53:46 - Conclusion This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week we got together with friend of the pod Merrick and friend of the friend of the pod to discuss Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive. Along the way we had some pretty interesting speculation about the future of algorithms, AI writing, and open-source software. I personally think that this was the most interesting episode we have ever done content-wise, so I would encourage you to give it a listen! We’ll see you all with a fresh season next week.Thanks for listening!TIMESTAMPS00:00:12 - Intro00:00:38 - The group tries to sell Kevin on The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson00:01:18 - Gordon thinks that the characters in The Stormlight Archive are too dynamic00:03:31 - Explanation of the series actually starts00:07:08 - Is the popularity of The Stormlight Archive surprising?00:09:34 - Is Brandon Sanderson right to look past TV for an adaptation of his Cosmere universe?00:13:41 - Will TV shows go the way of books or are they just too resource-constrained? feat. Invincible00:16:17 - The “Sanderlanche” and The Wandering Inn00:21:03 - The Wandering Inn is able to use its massive length to be both epic fantasy and slice of life all at once00:25:14 - Gordon thinks The Wandering Inn jumped the shark by introducing too much global connectivity and making the world feel small as a result00:27:22 - Is reading getting more popular? / Books as lifestyle00:29:48 - How might algorithms change the text medium?00:34:00 - Kevin comes up with the concept of “sakugAI” (see Kevin’s article)00:35:51 - Raj's involvement in open source software00:39:05 - Bad selection biases in very active Internet participants00:41:25 - Why isn't there better open-source social media?00:46:46 - Conclusion and final recommendations* “They’re Made out of Meat” by Terry Bisson* “I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison00:47:30 - Synthesized Sunsets Backstage begins00:48:31 - Despite being "popular", The Stormlight Archive isn't nearly as popular as anything in the monoculture00:51:07 - Reading has drifted from a self-improvement activity to a desirable “lifestyle” in the culture00:55:04 - The declining value of having good music taste and the appeal of a good radio station00:55:53 - Kevin has interesting feelings about the radio00:58:23 - Why Kevin sets his Spotify Radio DJ to Spanish01:00:43 - Gordon and Kevin ponder their “counterfactual music tastes” if they had been born in an earlier era01:04:35 - The concept of “sakugAI” revisited01:11:45 - What would the road to sakugAI look like?01:14:40 - The first AI writers will be hated01:19:09 - Gordon's article “The Flower that Bloomed Nowhere and the Art of Good Fantasy Conversations”01:22:04 - Kevin glazes The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere for its "spikiness"01:23:40 - Kevin reads a banger quote from The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere01:27:03 - TBTBN's resemblance to Middlemarch by George Eliot01:27:46 - The extremely mentally cooked protagonist of TFTBN is really good at portraying themself as a bad person01:29:29 - "Science Fiction and Mrs. Brown" by Ursula K. Le Guin01:31:59 - TFTBN benefits from having the editorial freedom for nothing to happen01:33:18 - Gordon recounts initially coming across TFTBN01:34:19 - Gordon clarifies that fantasy may not even want to go in a conversation-oriented direction01:35:31 - Conclusion and final recommendations* “Hear the Wind Sing” by Haruki MurakamiLINKS* The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson* The Invincible North Korean animators scandal* The Wandering Inn by pirateaba* “Enshittification Is a Choice” by Cory Doctorow* “Reliable Sources” by TracingWoodgrains* KEXP Seattle Radio* Annie Mac’s final show on BBC Radio 1* Kevin’s article “The Future of Fantasy is Sakug(AI)”* Gordon’s article “The Flower that Bloomed Nowhere and the Art of Good Fantasy Conversations”* The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere by Lurina This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week just Kevin (no Gordon) talked with internet theorist, writer, and owner of Kevin’s favorite twitter account Visakan Veerasamy. We talk about Visa’s work in building a worldwide social network of friendly ambitious nerds, Sci-Fi’s themes and ideas being stuck in the past, and some current uses of LLM’s.Thanks for listening!EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:0:12 - Introduction and discussion of Visa’s “50 year plan for a global nerd network”6:56 - Explaining this Dominos Image10:26 - People are remarkably unambitious in their social networks14:58 - How do you feel randomly encountering someone in the real world who knows your stuff?16:38 - Encourage people to have their own sense of sovereignty17:21 - Kevin applies the Hegelian Dialectic to the history of Sci-fi20:39 - Has Visa ever considered writing Science Fiction?28:41 - Modern Sci-fi is built on old themes and ideas31:00 - Sci-fi about artificial intelligence has not prepared us for the real thing32:44 - Did you see the effect of AI on social relationships coming?34:44 - What are the most novel things you have used AI for?38:38 - Using ChatGPT as a superior rubber duck40:22 - People's intuitions on what LLM's are useful for are miscalibrated47:08 - It is bad to let your attention be held hostage by the worst thing happening in the world at any given time48:14 - Coining the term Psychofauna to describe modern memetic hazards52:02 - What would the optimal form of social media look like?57:42 - The trouble with making new social media is people are willing to sacrifice a lot to be where the action is58:24 - Conclusion and sci-fi author recommendations of Eliot Peper and Jordan Chase YoungLINKS* Visa’s Substack* Visa’s Twitter* The Library Ethos* Visa’s books: Friendly Ambitious Nerd and Introspect This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week we talked to Butterfree, an Icelandic author of several works of speculative Pokémon fanfiction and the longtime webmaster of Kevin’s favorite Pokémon website The Cave of Dragonflies. We also discussed Morphic, a fanfic about Pokémon-human hybrids that Butterfree wrote as an edgy teen, as well as what is was like to grow up in the heyday of Pokémon fansites. And, of course, the MARQUEE OF DOOM.In this edition of Synthesized Sunsets Backstage, we discuss Gordon’s debut short story “Unfit for Human Perception”, the argument of psychophysical harmony, the mind-body problem, whether we’re in a body horror renaissance, and so much more.No video for this one— Kevin has faced a ridiculous number of technical difficulties with video files, and we’re planning to go forward with audio-only in the future for the sake of our own sanity. But the good news is that we’ll be posting on YouTube soon, which has been a pretty common request in the past.Thanks for listening!TIMESTAMPS00:00:12 - Intro00:00:31 - The tension between violence and kid-friendliness in Pokémon fanfiction00:04:00 - Why is the Pokémon canon so loose? / Variation in Pokémon speech00:07:46 - The magic of Pokémon that have not yet been discovered00:09:49 - Surprising deep canonical narratives in the Pokémon universe00:11:33 - Discussion of Butterfree's fanfic Morphic00:14:48 - Writing a compelling reason for Pokémon to battle each other00:18:06 - Dave and his relationship with the Pokémorphs00:19:17 - Dodging mature topics as a kid on the Internet00:20:40 - Is Pokémon comic-adjacent?00:21:43 - General webcomic discussion00:22:54 - Origins of the Nuzlocke challenge00:23:55 - The ComixMix March Madness Tournament* Correction: Paranatural came in 2nd in this tournament— the actual winner was Girl Genius. Both Unsounded and Lackadaisy made it to the third round. You can find the full results on the linked page.00:24:53 - Finnish webcomic artist Minna Sundberg and Nordic influence on the Internet00:26:32 - Speculative fiction in Nordic countries00:28:10 - MARQUEE OF DOOM feat. lore about Kevin and Gordon becoming friends00:30:46 - Web 1.0 and the era of "secret links" feat. Luigi Mangione's favorite blog00:31:40 - Neocities and Geocities00:34:23 - Is there enough popular will to restore the Internet to its former glory?00:36:28 - Conclusion and Butterfree’s final recommendations* “Foregone Conclusion” by elvyorg (the Grovyle one)* “The Ties that Bind” by Saffire Persian (the Blastoise one)00:37:50 - Synthesized Sunsets Backstage begins00:37:51 - Gordon's debut story "Unfit for Human Perception" and the psychophysical harmony argument for God00:40:49 - What makes successful body horror / Are we in a body horror renaissance?00:41:28 - Gordon thinks a lot about the sensation of pressing fingers onto a human brain for some reason00:42:25 - Are you your body, your mind, or your data?00:44:04 - Kevin talks about getting sedated by Trader Joe's granola00:46:43 - This nightmarish scene in Worm that scarred Kevin for life00:48:33 - Would "Unfit for Human Perception" make it past a publisher?00:49:54 - How Gordon imagined the wider Internet discourse around Alex would develop00:52:07 - Gordon and Kevin theorize that once UFOs become established as scientific fact, most UFO truthers will "change teams"00:53:24 - Conclusion and Gordon’s final recommendations* “Mountain” by Cixin LiuLINKS* The Cave of Dragonflies homepage* Morphic by Butterfree* The Quest for the Legends by Butterfree* Serebii.net homepage* Pokémon: Hard Mode (origin of the Nuzlocke challenge) by Nick Franco* A Redtail’s Dream by Minna Sundberg* Stand Still, Stay Silent by Minna Sundberg* LoveStar by Andri Magnason* “Unfit for Human Perception” by Gordon * “Philosophy with Amos Wollen” on the DeepLeftAnalysis🔸 podcast* “Why I'm An Atheist Despite Psychophysical Harmony” by Bentham's Bulldog* “Real Women Have Bodies” by Carmen Maria Machado * “Spar” by Kij Johnson* Kevin’s really long article about Irritable Bowel Syndrome This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week we talked with author, comic book writer, and fellow Chicagoland native Daryl Gregory. We discussed his upcoming novel “When We Were Real”, which takes place on a cross-country tour place seven years after the world was revealed to be a simulation. We also cover a variety of other topics including superheroes, sports teams, and sinus congestion.In our backstage segment we go more in depth on the implications of living in a simulation on free will, and discuss Kevin’s recent article “The Problem with Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather”.Thanks for listening!EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:0:12 - Introduction0:54 - Daryl’s story on sinus congestion “Free and Clear”4:54 - Daryl’s upcoming novel “When We Were Real”8:08 - Writing many different interpretations of living in a simulation12:24 - How to write stories filled with pop culture references14:57 - A want for insularity in popular culture18:56 - Getting deep into a really niche form of media can help you more broadly appreciate the format20:12 - Effects of the digital panopticon25:10 - Solipsism as a possible response to learning you live in a simulation26:45 - Solipsism as a defense mechanism for the inability to feel unique in today’s interconnected world29:49 - Being a writer is nice because you are inherently the best at writing from your own unique perspective31:58 - Experience with writing comics34:54 - Webcomics and the struggles of making it as an artist36:44 - Do writers and artists see any of the money from tv shows and movies made using their content?38:59 - Does the world need more superhero stories?40:15 - Is superhero media irony poisoned?44:55 - The romance in supporting a bad sports team48:00 - Food in Chicago49:20 - Conclusion and short story recommendation “I'm Not Disappointed Just Mad AKA the Heaviest Couch in the Known Universe”50:28 - Start of Synthesized Sunsets Backstage51:29 - Does the world being a simulation effect beliefs on free will?55:44 - “I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility” and infinitely stacked simulated universes58:11 - Possibility of learning your memories have all been faked 59:38 - Risks of creating clones of yourself1:02:32 - How would you deal with a copy of yourself1:04:54 - Discussing Kevin’s article (The Problem with "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather)1:08:40 - Do the characters in “Where Oaken Hearts do Gather” feel distinct?1:14:25 - Regardless of our enjoyment we want to see more stories like "Where Oaken Hearts do Gather"1:16:17 - Conclusion and Kevin’s Recommendation “Nonstandard Candles” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week we talked to Gautam Bhatia, the coordinating editor of speculative fiction magazine Strange Horizons and an advocate for South Asian speculative fiction right here on Substack (Words for Worlds). We discussed his latest novel The Sentence, the state of South Asian science fiction, and the tension between movements on the periphery of science fiction and its mainstream institutions. Oh, and fanfiction.This season will bring a second segment to the show: Synthesized Sunsets Backstage. In this more casual segment, Gordon and myself will unpack the main part of the episode and also discuss the most recent Synthesized Sunsets article. In this episode, we will discuss the article ‘17776’ by Jon Bois and the Slow Cancellation of the Future.Thanks for listening!The audio in this episode was edited more aggressively than usual, so please let us know if this was too much or just right. We apologize for any volume issues, as we had a bit of trouble with peaking and normalizing across the different tracks. We are still experimenting with ways to stabilize the audio quality, but you can expect it to keep getting better in future episodes!TIMESTAMPS00:00:37 - Gautam's latest novel The Sentence00:04:21 - Moral luck and Greek v. Shakespearean tragedy00:08:24 - The importance of hero / martyr figures and villains00:10:43 - Parallels to The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin00:12:07 - Limits of post-scarcity narratives00:15:00 - South Asian ideas in spec fic00:17:17 - Is New Delhi more similar to London than the neighboring village?00:18:57 - Ideas of "one-ness" in Cixin Liu's Three-Body Problem00:19:59 - You may not find the ideological diversity you seek in English-language works00:21:42 - How do you strike a balance between Western and native influence in a budding science fiction scene outside?00:23:16 - The gap between sci-fi audiences and sci-fi institutions00:26:01 - Is web fiction the new pulp?00:27:11 - Gautam's Wheel of Time fanfiction on Dragonmount.com00:31:09 - Surviving as a semiprozine in 202500:33:49 - Where to find science fiction criticism (Strange Horizons)00:35:39 - Conclusion and Gautam’s final recommendations* “Thousandth Night” by Alastair Reynolds* “Rat and Finch Are Friends” by Innocent Chizaram Ilo00:36:26 - Synthesized Sunsets Backstage starts00:38:12 - Disruptive reanimations of political figures feat. MLK00:40:55 - Article discussion starts ('17776' and the Slow Cancellation of the Future)00:44:18 - Mark Fisher and the slow cancellation of the future00:45:37 - COVID and non-consensual Internet usage00:47:57 - In the 2010s, technology felt like it was moving in a direction00:51:48 - 17776 by Jon Bois00:52:35 - Would you want to live in 17776 society?00:54:49 - Is there anything you would do in 17776 society to preserve your will to live?00:55:29 - The one guy in 17776 who edges his experience of literally all media00:58:15 - "Zima Blue" by Alastair Reynolds01:00:18 - Finding novelty in strange purpose01:01:26 - Conclusion and Kevin’s final recommendations* “After the God Has Moved On” by Kate Elliott This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to the third season of Synthesized Sunsets: a seasonal magazine about speculative fiction and the future of pop! This winter, the mag will get properly into full swing: we’ll be starting a regular update schedule (posts every Thursday and the occasional Monday), hosting trivia for paid subscribers, and writing original fiction.This issue is all about purgatory. Think liminal spaces, the afterlife, and spaces outside of time. Liminality is a pet fascination for many Internet enthusiasts, and I am no exception. I like how liminality can be found in settings that are both ethereal and mundane: from the spectacle of the Bifrost to the creepiness of the Backrooms.The art for this issue will be more centered around symbolism, albeit symbolism with a romantic touch. Symbolism turned away from the more realistic aspects of fine art, instead taking inspiration from metaphors, dreams, and the spirit world. It was an important stepping stone to surrealism, which would come a few years later.One painting that fits the bill is Isle of the Dead by Arnold Böcklin. I love how it is able to create an environment that feels so completely disconnected from the rest of the world using familiar elements. But interestingly enough, most of Böcklin’s oeuvre does not resemble this most iconic painting of his. So in this issue, we are instead featuring Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach, a contemporary artist who was heavily inspired by Böcklin. He even painted his own version of Isle of the Dead, shown below:Diefenbach was really into alternative social movements— championing veganism, polyamory, and pastoral utopian communes. He was also apparently known as the “kohlrabi apostle”. But the core focus of his painting was mysticism independent of organized religion. Most of his work features elements that are recognizably spiritual and yet resist attribution to any particular tradition. We hope that his paintings will inspire us (and you!) to imagine worlds outside of time and space.The other artist I we are featuring is Léon Spilliaert, a delightfully creepy Symbolist who paints with striking black-and-white contrasts to create stark, dreamlike worlds. He painted in the 1800s, but I think his work looks as fresh ever in 2025:Spilliaert was very invested in literature, becoming friends with Belgian writers like Maurice Maeterlinck and taking inspiration from authors like Edgar Allan Poe. His paintings scratch a similar itch for me as Caspar David Friedrich’s, with their lone figures and contemplative scenes. But of course, Spilliaert approaches things with a very different distinctive style. I hope you enjoy his paintings as much as I do!If there’s one speculative fiction work that represents purgatory the most to me, it’s “Descending” by Thomas Disch. It’s a fantastic short story in the style of Kafka, where a man finds himself going down an escalator on his way back from the department store. And then another. And then another. And then another…For more musings on this story and other purgatorial topics, you can check out our season intro on the podcast! Thanks for reading, and here’s to a great new season ahead!EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:0:28 - Why do an intro episode now?1:42 - What can you expect to find in the magazine?4:15 - Changes to the podcast moving forward5:52 - What most defines your taste as a reader of speculative fiction?6:00 - Gordon: Medieval High Fantasy (The Lord of the Rings), Hard Yet Imaginative Sci-Fi (Death's End), and Web Fiction (The Wandering Inn)7:00 - Kevin: Sociological Speculative Fiction (Ursula K. Le Guin) and Speculative Short Stories (Ray Bradbury and Ted Chiang) 12:42 - Overlap in Gordon and Kevin’s tastes15:46 - Our favorite ways to read books (paper v. eBooks v. audiobooks v. doomscrolling pdfs)18:39 - What we are going for with purgatory as a theme20:24 - Art for the purgatory issue of the magazine21:14 - Introduction to Symbolist art22:05 - Isle of the Dead by Arnold Böcklin26:08 - Why Isle of the Dead reminds Kevin of Star Wars29:20 - Why Isle of the Dead reminds Kevin of Pokémon31:44 - Literary works that represent purgatory31:57 - The Flower that Bloomed Nowhere by Lurina37:11 - “Descending” by Thomas Disch40:36 - Unfinished stairwells and other liminal spaces45:26 - Conclusion and reminder that submissions are welcome! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week we talked to fellow fantasy Substacker Clifford Stumme (Past the Dragon) about his essay “The 8 Eras of Fantasy Literature” and how fantasy can enrich our lives beyond simple hedonistic entertainment. We also talk a lot about Ursula K. Le Guin, especially her novel The Beginning Place. And we poke some fun at both anime and romantasy (but hey, Gordon gave Fourth Wing three stars). Check it out now!We messed around with the audio a bit for this episode, so if it sounds weird we apologize!! Also this is a re-upload because the original only had audio in one ear— sorry about that!TIMESTAMPS00:00:37 - Clifford's "Eras of Fantasy Literature" post00:01:55 - Brief overview of each "Era of Fantasy"00:09:18 - Kevin's case for the modern LitRPG / New Adult era of fantasy00:14:19 - Clifford's defense of his “Fantasy Diaspora” characterization00:18:11 - British v. American science fiction and fantasy00:22:49 - Is web fiction the new pulp?00:27:01 - The length of web fiction as a hazing ritual00:29:31 - Romantasy satire and other predictions00:34:53 - The Beginning Place by Ursula K. Le Guin00:44:28 - Le Guin and Carl Jung's ideas about the shadow00:47:18 - The limits of literary pragmatism and "Why Are Americans Afraid of Dragons" by Ursula K. Le Guin00:54:03 - Demystification and childhood01:00:23 - "The Stalin in the Soul" by Ursula K. Le Guin01:07:07 - Conclusion and final recommendations This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week we were joined by Rashida Smith who is the program director of Clarion West as well an author of Romantasy novels under the pen name Jasmine Silvera. We discuss the integration of romance and fantasy as genres, her experience as a student at Clarion West taught by Octavia Butler, and the allure of small strange towns. We hope you enjoy!EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:0:29 - How did you create your pen name Jasmine Silvera?1:37 - What is your favorite book that you have written? (“Death’s Dancer”)2:44 - What did you want to add to the romance genre?6:16 - The difference between Romance genre fiction and literary fiction that involves romance10:47 - How can you subvert tropes without letting down the audience?13:46 - Experience at Clarion West alongside Kat Rambo and Ann Leckie, and being taught by Octavia Butler18:24 - Who would you recommend Clarion West for?21:07 - Did Clarion West help you to find your own voice?25:51 - Sci-fi Magazines and Giganotosaurus27:26 - Discussing Rashida’s short story “Small Strange Towns” 33:51 - Similar media with strange small towns “Welcome to Night Vale” and “The Left/Right Game”37:42 - Some real world small strange towns42:18 - Conclusion and Short fiction Recommendation "These Savage Shores" This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week we sat down with our friend Henry Hale, who made the case for his favorite science fiction novel: Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun. Along the way, we talked about which sci-fi will be remembered, why some fantasy worlds feel “dense”, what gives Catholic its enduring power, and the disintegration of the self. Check it out!For further context, check out Kevin’s recent article: Gene Wolfe’s ‘The Book of the New Sun’ and the Quest for Timeless Sci-Fi!EPISODE TIMESTAMPS00:00:27 - What causes sci-fi works to last and what causes them to fade away?00:00:32 - What causes a work of sci-fi to be remembered?00:03:02 - Is hard / technical sci-fi dying?00:04:05 - Is hard sci-fi destined to be more decentralized than other parts of the genre?00:04:14 - Hard science can be more similar to hard fantasy than most space operas00:06:33 - The assumed body of knowledge has shifted a lot over time in both literary and science fiction00:08:21 - How The Book of the New Sun creates engrossing layers of mystery00:11:37 - Caves of Qud00:13:16 - Mother of Learning by nobody10300:16:39 - The time Gordon unintentionally roasted Kevin freshman year of college by comparing him to Zorian00:18:09 - "Density" in fantasy novels00:21:16 - Christian allegory in The Book of the New Sun00:21:58 - How Catholicism identifies the True, the Good, and the Beautiful00:23:12 - Is Catholicism interested in finding the truth?00:24:44 - Introduction to the quasi-religions of rationalism and effective altruism00:27:44 - The quasi-religious experience of reading the Sequences00:29:33 - Hating on Buddhism00:32:07 - There Is No Anti-Memetics Division by qntm00:35:23 - Conclusion and final recommendations This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week we talked with graphic designer and music producer Trevor Waldorf about the Star Wars expanded universe, how to get people reading into adulthood, and fond childhood memories of Internet espionage.00:40 - What makes Star Wars compelling?02:56 - Video games and the depth of the Star Wars universe07:13 - Star Wars movies have to live up to an incredible amount of hype11:00 - The Clone Wars and straddling the line between children’s and adult media14:58 - Does reading Star Wars books lead you into a love of Sci-fi in general?18:23 - New Adult and the struggles with getting young readers to enjoy literature into adulthood21:34 - Going from Muse magazine to Scientific American23:48 - Popular Mechanics, model rockets, and a movement away from a culture of building things25:10 - Advantages of building things in cyberspace compared to meatspace30:04 - Internet communities including infiltration and espionage on the flashcard website Quizlet35:00 - Generationally mixed and professional communities online38:39 - It’s hard to predict how things will affect kids42:18 - Kids books are branded so heavily for children it can feel difficult to transition into more adult reading46:29 - Is it possible to write a book series that stars as children’s or young adult novels and evolves into more adult literature?52:05 - There should be more books targeted towards adult with adult themes, but at an easier reading level54:36 - The Young Adult genre can be defined by the ability to be made into both personality tests and fanfiction1:00:00 - Conclusion and short book recommendation On the Edge of Reason This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

Note: This episode contains spoilers for the film Gattaca and the short story “Real Artists” by Ken Liu.This week we sat down with Ari Schwartz— a composer, harpist, and all-around experimental artist. We talk about Ari’s talent for shitposting as well as whether or not postmodernism has killed sincerity. And, of course, whether or not you would genetically engineer your kids. Find out who!EPISODE TIMESTAMPS00:00:28 - How has the romantic movement affected postmodernism?00:01:38 - The challenges of conveying sincerity during postmodernity00:06:48 - Ari's attempts to make high art more accessible and interactive00:11:44 - Geidi Primes and speculative lies00:12:48 - But what IS speculative fiction?00:15:38 - Substitute teachers are extremely wack00:21:08 - Gattaca and genetic engineering00:22:54 - Some takes on polygenic embryo selection00:28:22 - Enough talk— would you actually genetically engineer your kid?00:33:28 - The romantic case for uncertainty / indeterminism00:38:18 - Kevin and Gordon are big randomness enjoyers00:40:04 - The art of shitposting00:42:15 - Ari's valiant attempt to describe why a shitpost is funny00:43:02 - The magic of Baman Piderman00:48:47 - The strange coherence of Welcome to Night Vale00:50:04 - Thoughts on art awards and awards awards00:59:59 - Kevin asks Ari a bunch of questions about "objectively good art"01:01:55 - "Real Artists" by Ken Liu01:04:57 - Conclusion and final recommendationsThe screening service we talk about in the episode is LifeView by Genomic Prediction. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week we talked with Marnee Chua who is the executive director of the speculative fiction writers’ workshop Clarion West. We talk about the history and goals of Clarion West, but move onto topics including the challenges in adapting books into movies, how it is easy to get a simplified view of other cultures in America, and why books should have different versions. We hope you enjoy!EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:00:30 - History of Clarion West03:51 - Clarion West’s Mission04:30 - Structure of the Standard Six Week Writers’ Workshop05:44 - Pros and Cons of the Milford Model07:51 - Why Clarion West has moved away from the Milford Model15:25 - To what extent can you separate the Art from the Artist?17:37 - The many possible interpretations of art, and the challenge of creating a single film from a book.18:50 - Examples of successful adaptations in The Expanse and The Lord of the Rings 20:17 - Non-superficial differences between cultures27:53 - Experiencing other cultures within the White-American cultural framework30:37 - Cultural Tags on Books32:45 - Versioning Books34:32 - Can cowriting be successful?35:46 - Jobs specifically tailored for couples38:36 - The relationship between art and capitalism44:36 - The lack of cultural communication between business and the arts46:47 - What causes the success of an artistic venture?50:29 - Conclusion and final short story recommendation This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

Note: This episode contains massive spoilers for the Studio Ghibli film Castle in the Sky and the short story “Sandkings” by George R.R. Martin.This week we sat down with Henry Wolff, who has been channeling his passion for Tolkien-style worldbuilding into TTRPGs for much of the past decade. We talk about known world-builders George R. R. Martin, Hayao Miyazaki, and J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as the rise and fall of civilizations. How often do you think about the fall of the Roman Empire? Henry thinks they had it coming. Tune it to find out why!EPISODE TIMESTAMPS00:00:41 - What does it mean for a civilization to disintegrate?00:02:03 - What elements make a society resistant to disintegration?00:04:16 - "Sandkings" by George R. R. Martin00:07:57 - Different GitHub versions of books00:10:09 - George R. R. Martin and unlikable characters00:14:26 - Epitaph and the Fermi Paradox00:17:14 - Kevin's concept of "grand nostalgia"00:23:24 - Why Kevin doesn't like Castle in the Sky00:25:02 - Nausicaa, Mononoke, and Civilizational v. Natural Disintegration00:25:52 - Disintegration of nature v. civilization00:28:03 - Giving artificial intelligence to nature00:29:07 - Miyazaki inspires us by giving nature a voice00:30:13 - Miyazaki is a sad dude00:31:06 - Santa, sewer mutants, and other delusions00:33:03 - Childhood myths as conspiracy theories00:34:34 - Are conspiracy theories an American phenomenon?00:35:03 - Was Ancient Rome conspiratorial?00:36:57 - Kevin's crazy conspiracy theory-filled haircut00:42:14 - Tolkien and the value of an outside perspective00:43:30 - Patronizing scholars to do their life's work00:47:03 - The wealthy used to be more interested in science00:48:24 - Henry's world of ArÞ / First Light00:51:18 - Timeline of ArÞ / Future of ArÞ / End of ArÞ00:53:10 - Conclusion and final recommendations This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

This week we talked with molecular biology student and plant enthusiast Euan McCubbin about what a society would look like without aging, whether old Sci-fi that gets the science wrong is bad, and the challenges that come with writing a superintelligence. All stories (and movie) we cover are listed in the timestamps below and if you wish to avoid spoilers for anything feel free to skip that section. Euan also wrote a story “The Backgammon Player”, which is published on Synthesized Sunsets which you hope you give a read. Hope you enjoy!EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:00:00:12 - Disintegration in the context of molecular aging00:06:16 - Would a cure for cancer be a cure for aging?00:09:20 - A Society without aging in “The Algebraist” by Iain M. Banks00:17:10 - The value of children’s lives across cultures and history00:23:46 - “Genetics and Eugenics in Frank Herbert’s Dune-verse” by Gwern00:27:20 - Does older Sci-fi that becomes outdated make it worse?00:32:53 - Does it change how you view the art if a sci-fi writer gets the science wrong because of when they wrote it compared to getting the science wrong because they did bad research?00:36:00 - Is it possible to write Sci-fi for the Future or is Sci-fi destined to become dated?00:40:48 - “Understand” by Ted Chiang and the challenges of writing superintelligence00:50:17 - Dystopian sci-fi juxtaposed with literal babblings of child in “World of Tomorrow” by Don Hertzfeldt 00:57:58 - Collapse in “Mistborn” and “The Kingkiller Chronicle” 01:05:05 - Conclusion and Euan hopes you read his story “The Backgammon Player” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

Lots of changes to the podcast coming down the pipe! We now have a permanent co-host: Gordon Anderson. You can find him at Gordon on Substack! This week we sat down with composer and ML researcher Merrick Ohata to talk about the atomization of media, the AI-ification of media, and the benefits of lying to children. While this conversation kinda goes all over the place, we think there are some real gems in here. We hope you do, too. Thanks for listening!EPISODE TIMESTAMPS00:00:12 - Episode Start00:00:51 - How has the media landscape changed over the past 10 years as a result of atomization?00:01:22 - How has the role of the critic changed in that timeframe?00:04:20 - Are people becoming too narrowly read?00:06:08 - What if you had to become a specialist to consume most pop culture?00:06:49 - “Ars Longa, Vita Brevis” by Scott Alexander00:08:18 - Accumulated knowledge puts limits on the speed of scientific progress00:12:41 - The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson and the Illustrated Primer model of education00:15:20 - Tacit knowledge erasure00:18:43 - Importance of rote memorization / doing reps in education00:20:36 - Multiplication table synesthesia feat. Bronzong00:21:26 - Placemats are good at teaching things00:22:52 - That one time Kid Kevin got roasted for talking about bird-eating spiders00:24:25 - The epistemic loneliness of childhood00:27:30 - Defending the Santa Claus worldview00:31:57 - Will you tell your kids that Santa is real?00:38:09 - Bonus Santa-related lore00:42:34 - Which pill would you choose in "...And I Show You How Deep the Rabbit Hole Goes" by Scott Alexander?00:48:41 - Free will and determinism in "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang00:57:24 - How much do you separate the art from the artist?01:02:49 - Joining the art from the artist ruins perfectly good arguments01:05:20 - Kevin is more interested in artists than art01:06:43 - Freedom of interpretation in "And We, Each" by Michael Hersch01:09:00 - Consuming the artist as the art01:09:52 - Star Wars as an argument against the primacy of the artist=01:10:50 - Does knowing that art was made by AI ruin it?01:11:16 - Are humans necessary for art?01:12:05 - Are human artists ready for AI art?01:13:01 - Underestimating the threat of AI01:14:09 - You can be underwhelmed by a technology if you want to be01:15:03 - The threat of AI girlfriends01:16:05 - Keep AI girlfriends low-status!01:17:13 - The existential horror of TikTok01:18:05 - TikTok has created a new type of media01:20:35 - Conclusion and Merrick's short fiction recommendationBONUS LINKS (story links are in the timestamps)* Scott Alexander’s Substack, Astral Codex Ten* “The Equidistribution of Lattice Shapes of Rings of Integers of Cubic, Quartic, and Quintic Number Fields: an Artist’s Rendering” by Piper Harron (the informal math thesis that Kevin forgot the name of)* We really wanted to talk about this neat Andy Matuschak article about The Diamond Age called “Exorcising the Primer”, but we totally forgot.* The Tacit Knowledge Series by Cedric Chin* Michael Hersch’s website This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe

Yep, you heard that right— Synthesized Sunsets is starting a podcast! We are still experimenting with the format, so please forgive us for any growing pains. Future episodes will feature my co-host Gordon, as well as better audio quality.Our guest this week is Isaac Olson, who is (fittingly) studying oceanography and science communication at the University of Washington. We will be talking about Isaac’s guest article, which you can find here. In general, this podcast will be discussing the role of climate fiction, striking the right balance between optimism and pessimism, romantic art, and how we place ourselves in relation to the environment. Want to be less of a doomer? Listen to find out how!EPISODE TIMESTAMPS00:00:12 - Episode Start00:01:04 - Recent separation between the domains of art, life, and nature00:04:46 - Does technological progress make some human disconnection from nature inevitable?00:07:18 - Benefits of giving plant life sentience00:10:03 - Is romantic art right for the modern moment?00:15:36 - In defense of the sublime00:20:10 - Why are most cli-fi narratives somewhat pronatalist when environmentalism often expresses antinatalist sentiment?00:27:06 - Will antinatalism harm the climate movement?00:29:35 - Who is cli-fi for?00:33:31 - Why we need fiction / "The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction" by Ursula K. Le Guin00:35:24 - "The Secret Source" by Ben Okri00:41:34 - Kindred by Octavia Butler00:44:49 - What is short fiction for?00:46:42 - The paradox of short fiction00:49:03 - Short stories as teasers for longform00:49:52 - Bridging the gap between literature and television - Love, Death, & Robots00:51:51 - Are magazines dead?00:54:16 - Magazines & late night shows v. modern a la carte media00:56:26 - What's the big vision for Synthesized Sunsets?00:57:50 - How do you strike a balance between optimism and pessimism in climate fiction?01:00:42 - What makes a bleak story worth telling?01:05:02 - The media and sensational climate doomerism01:06:26 - Where do you find optimism about the climate?01:08:09 - Recent optimistic climate reads01:09:50 - Islands of stability in The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin01:10:23 - The duality of the ocean01:10:47 - Techno duo Drexciya and the value of reinterpretation as healing01:12:46 - Dangers of viewing the Earth as dangerous01:14:23 - Wrap-up and Isaac's short fiction recommendation!LINKSHopepunk and Solarpunk: On Climate Narratives That Go Beyond the Apocalypse“The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction” by Ursula K. Le GuinDrexciya's Wikipedia page This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit synthesizedsunsets.substack.com/subscribe