Allan Dyen-Shapiro
HEY, BOOMER. WHEN YOU LECTURE GEN Z ABOUT PROTEST, MAYBE CONSULT GEN X?
This week, Politico published an op-ed by Jeff Greenfield comparing Vietnam-era actions at Columbia University (and elsewhere) with the...
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Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Science Fiction Author
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Apr 7
When Westerners See More and Understand Less: Comments on Netflix’s 3-Body Problem
I adored Cixin Liu’s trilogy, tearing through the books back when they came out. The translations deserved all their awards. Although I...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Dec 28, 2023
Terrorism and the Fortress Mentality
The event: September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists fly two planes into the World Trade Center, killing nearly 3000 people. The...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Dec 5, 2023
Your Dystopia Has Problems
I recently broke down and paid for Hulu as part of the Disney Plus package that the BBC sellout to The Mouse necessitated if I was going...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Oct 20, 2023
A Different Take on Gaza/Israel
I skipped the rallies—the stand-with-Israel as well as the stop-the-bloodshed ones. I neglected to gift the planet with self-righteous...
Allan Dyen-Shapiro
Jul 26, 2023
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, 2023
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, 2023
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, 2023
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, 2023
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, 2023
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, 2023
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...
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