Allan Dyen-Shapiro--Science Fiction Author

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Jul 26

I Finally Read Darko Suvin. Now, I Can Explain How Some Fantasy Resonates with Me and Some Doesn’t.

My Ph.D. is in biochemistry, not in literature. Although science fiction writers without any advanced degree abound, and some are...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Jul 19

My Schedule for NASFIC

I sit in Minneapolis as I write this, planning to leave pre-dawn on Thursday morning and drive to Winnipeg for NASFIC. Here's what I'll...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Jul 5

Where to Find Me at Readercon

I figured I’d do this as a blog post as then I can link to it from all of my social media. This is in a little over a week—I’m very much...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Jun 24

Stories That Tell Lies

Fair warning—this post will go myriad places before making its point, but the journey is necessary. I promise it will return to science...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

May 6

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

From time to time, I see an environmental science story where sufficient details are missing to make it unintelligible or, more often,...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Mar 17

A Really Amazing Use of Artificial Intelligence

I get a lot of science-related stuff in my email inbox. Only occasionally is it so cool that I’m willing to wade through a technical...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Feb 26

Breaking Better: Six Seasons, and I Didn’t See it Coming. Why?

Like many of you, I watched every episode of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, as well as El Camino and all of the web-and-DVD extras...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Dec 10, 2022

Thoughts on Farha: Why 850,000 Versus 800,000 is a Dumb and Destructive Argument

I watched the Jordanian candidate for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, Farha, a few nights ago on Netflix. It personalizes the Nakba, the...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Aug 27, 2022

Biden Just Gifted the World Access to Science

Biden has demanded all scientific journals publishing papers with US government support provide the papers and all supplementary data for...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Aug 12, 2022

Someone Must Want to Hear Me: My WorldCon Schedule

I feel incredibly fortunate right now. With all the grumbling I've heard on social media of people being slighted for spots on...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Jul 7, 2022

When Somebody Else Achieves Your Life’s Goal and It Still Comes to Nothing

For fifteen years, from my submitting applications to fund my postdoc through my first faculty position, through political change leading...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Jun 10, 2022

John and Don: Lessons for the Future

The public phase of the Congressional hearings on the January 6th insurrection began yesterday. I saw a few clips and had to look away,...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

May 9, 2022

Counters and Typicals—Thoughts From The Candy House

I'm midway through reading a book whose publication date I noted on social media the day it was announced. I never do that. Even with...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Mar 25, 2022

GOPU Versus the God of Earthseed

I finally got around to reading Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. They had been hanging out on my Kindle...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Dec 22, 2021

A Letter to Joe Manchin

Hey, Joe. Allan here. Not one of your constituents, but we've got many West Virginia transplants living near me in Florida. I met one the...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Oct 2, 2021

Hope Signifies Something Different to the Privileged and the Marginalized

Melvin Van Peebles' obituaries finally prompted me to watch the classic movie that started Black independent cinema in the 1970s, Sweet...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Sep 19, 2021

Extending an Insight into Climate Denialism

I am writing this during the "lunch break" on the last day of FIYAHCON. Reading my own story at the virtual "tea house" last night was a...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Sep 4, 2021

Resisting the Urge to Get "Karbonned"

Karbon allows the user's body to function in autopilot mode, performing all the routine tasks expected of them while leaving the person...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Jul 1, 2021

Brave New Whopper (or Big Mac)

In Margaret Atwood's dystopian science fiction novel Oryx and Crake, in a moment meant to spark revulsion, the protagonist chows down on...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Apr 11, 2021

Decolonize Science, says the White Literature Professors

I recently had the opportunity to freeload at ICFA (International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts). By freeloading, I mean...

Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Science Fiction Author

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