[MUSIC PLAYING] BUD FOOTE: I'm Bud Foote, and this is a course in science fiction. Why would we study science fiction outside of the fact that it's fun? I think there are several reasons, but I need to make some distinctions. Science fiction has labored for a long time under the disadvantage of being somewhat out of its time. Both science fiction and the detective story operate out of an essentially 18th century posture, which is this-- no matter how difficult problem, no matter how baffling the case, human intellect is capable of dealing with it, if not now, later. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: You are listening to WREK Atlanta, and this is Lost in the Stacks, the research library rock and roll radio show. I'm Charlie Bennett in the virtual studio with the whole team-- Fred Rascoe, Wendy Hagenmaier, and Marlee Givens. Each week on Lost in the Stacks, we pick a theme and then use it to create a mix of music and library talk. Whichever you're here for, we hope you dig it. 

FRED RASCOE: Our show today is called 50 years of science fiction. I feel like there should be a little sound effect there or something. [WHISTLES] 

CHARLIE BENNETT: We can probably make that happen, Fred. 

FRED RASCOE: This episode is part of the Georgia Tech Library celebration of the past 50 years of science fiction studies here at Georgia Tech. 

WENDY HAGENMAIER: In 1971, the late Professor Bud Foote taught the first science fiction class at Georgia Tech. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: It was the first of many. 

WENDY HAGENMAIER: And when he retired in 1999, he donated his personal collection of science fiction books to the library, which was the seed of the Georgia Tech science fiction collection. 

MARLEE GIVENS: A collection that now comprises more than 12,000 books, 1,000 magazines, manuscripts from science fiction authors, and records documenting science fiction fandom. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: So let's talk science fiction at Georgia Tech. Our guests today are all part of the celebration in one way or another. 

FRED RASCOE: And our songs today are about, what else, science fiction, spaceships, creatures from outer space, robots, you name it. Science fiction is about imagination. It's about pulp storytelling, and, most of all, it's about the future. It's uncanny how often major technical and societal shifts are predicted in science fiction stories, kind of like a message from the future. So let's start with "From the Future" by the Blow right here on Lost in the Stacks. 

[MUSIC - THE BLOW, "FROM THE FUTURE"] 

MARLEE GIVENS: You just heard "From the Future" by the Blow. This is Lost in the Stacks, and our first guest today is Professor Lisa Yaszek of the School of Literature, Media, and Communication here at Georgia Tech. Lisa is the Regents Professor of science fiction studies and a GT Library collaborator for many years. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: So Lisa, did you come to Tech to teach science fiction? 

LISA YASZEK: I came to Georgia Tech actually on a Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellowship, and, in that capacity, I had been invited to come and work at Tech to teach composition classes that were organized around the relations of science, society, and possibly literature, certainly art. And that was the kind of work that I had been doing in my dissertation. My dissertation is very much about the ways modern sciences and technologies had changed our stories about ourselves and the worlds that we live in. So I thought maybe I would do something with that. 

But when I got the postdoc at Georgia Tech, I saw that we had not one but two people who were doing science fiction studies here. So we had Irving Bud Foote, Professor Foote, who was teaching the science fiction studies classes pretty much full time, and bringing in authors and holding events. And then also Anne Balsamo who was a feminist science fiction study scholar, and I was very excited about that because I was also doing work in, I think, now what we would call social justice studies very broadly. And so I thought, Wow, I had no idea you could actually do science fiction as a sort of full-time thing as a professor. 

And I was really excited to come here and learn about how that worked. But naturally, the year I got here, Anne left for a different job, and Bud retired. So I never actually got to work with either of them. Both of them were wonderful about reaching out and supporting me long distance, and then, eventually, when their jobs opened up, I was, indeed, hired in as someone who was going to teach science fiction full time. And I was really excited about that for sure. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: Did you start like planning as soon as you landed and realized, oh, no, they're gone, the science fiction people. I'm going to take their job, or was that a surprise. 

LISA YASZEK: Not at all. It was a real surprise to me. I hadn't planned on doing that, and, in fact, at that point, I wasn't even entirely sure I wanted to stay in academia. 10 years of graduate school had been exciting, but I wasn't sure it was really where I wanted to be. But then once I got here, it was so exciting to see the ways I could really put science, and technology, and literature, and especially science fiction together that, all of a sudden, I was like, you know what? I might want this job. I kind of like being at Georgia Tech. It's a really cool energy here, and it's very different than a traditional liberal arts school. 

And so I went to my interview, and I wanted to prove to everyone I could be an adult professor like everyone else. So I had put on a suit and sort of tamed down my hair color, which had been very purple prior to that interview, and took out a lot of like my face piercings, covered the tattoos. And every single step of the way, the first thing anyone asked me was, what happened to you? And I said, I thought you would want to see I could look like an adult. 

And every single step of the way, people said, but we like you for you. And the more I heard that, the more I think, I want to be at Georgia Tech. These are people who are really kind of interested in what my mind is doing and where I might want to take it. So that was pretty cool, I thought. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: And that sort of fits into what science fiction does in literary study, right? It had been around, but what was happening with the idea of studying science fiction at Georgia Tech at that time? 

LISA YASZEK: Georgia Tech was a pioneer in science fiction studies. The discipline really only began in the late '50s and early '60s, and my predecessor, Bud Foote, was one of the very first people to teach science fiction classes for college credit in the 1970s. 

He had sort of gotten Georgia Tech used to this idea that this was, indeed, an important part of the liberal arts and of understanding the world. And this happened, of course, at a time in the '70s when a lot of schools were looking for ways to make the curriculum relevant to people, and science fiction was really seen as a great way to do it because it literally is about the impact of science and technology on society and vice versa. 

That was really exciting. And then, of course, eventually in the '80s, we had brought on Jay Telotte, who became our first science fiction film studies professor. So it was good, and we had some stuff going. And then when Bud retired in 1997 or '98, he left his entire collection to the Georgia Tech Library. That was about 8,000 science fiction items. 

So we already had a few things in place, but it was exciting because I got here at a moment when LMC and Georgia Tech in general were really ready to level up their commitment to science fiction studies. This was right in the decade when Georgia Tech had really made a commitment to the humanities and to the liberal arts and had grown the Ivan Allen College. It was the decade when we were preparing to apply to the American Association of Universities. And so it was a really exciting moment, I think, at Georgia Tech, where people were thinking about, what is it we do with the liberal arts? And how can we really integrate that with science and technology? 

And science fiction seemed, I think, to everyone a really obvious choice. I remember I would meet with faculty from across campus, and people, engineers would say things like, I understand what you're doing here at Tech. But what the heck is up with the Shakespeare people? I don't know-- Shakespeare is great, and Shakespeare had comments about science and technology, too. And we should all just-- culture. You need to learn things, right? 

And that's being a little facetious, of course, but I think it really shows you the kind of energy we have at Tech. And it was very different than the school I came from, where people would come up to me and say, oh, you work on science, technology, and literature? And I'd say, yes. And they'd say, well, I'm having this computer problem, and, if you could come over and fix it for me, that would really help. 

So I loved being in an Institute where people actually understood what it was I was doing. And it's been really exciting and that, since then, we've really grown our science fiction program in exciting ways. So we've gone from two professors within one unit to six professors across two units, and we collaborate with people across campus all the time. We work with the engineers. We work with the space technology research people. We work with GTRI. 

So we're really working to embed ourselves not just in the liberal arts but across campus. And of course, we've been able to do that in some other ways as well. Today, we have a minor in science fiction studies that's housed in LMC that can include classes from across the Institute. We have grad classes in science fiction studies that we've just started developing for the master's program in global media cultures, and we have the Sci Fi Lab. 

This is a project that I run where students from any discipline at any point in their careers can come in and do independent science fiction research or production, creative production. And our newest and one of I think most exciting things we have happening is my colleague Amanda Weiss is running a new global science fiction studies journal online called Hivemind, and she's already had a lot of really exciting stories translated from different languages that she's published and really cool articles about the future of science fiction studies. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: And if someone says to you these days, why are you studying science fiction, why aren't you studying Shakespeare, what's your answer? 

LISA YASZEK: I think the reason to study science fiction is really quite simple. It's the premiere story form of modernity. It's the way that we tell each other about our hopes, and our fears, and our experiences with science, and technology, and society. And we can use this narrative form to talk to each other across centuries, and continents, and cultures. And it's really a very effective way for us to talk to each other. 

You can go anywhere in the world and ask someone about science fiction, and, even if they hate the genre or they've never seen a science fiction movie, or read a book, or played a game, I promise you they're going to have an opinion about it and talk your ear off for at least half an hour. It's really like the air we breathe these days. And I think that it's so important that we understand why this form, what is it that appeals to us, and what does it allow us to do. 

WENDY HAGENMAIER: We will have more about science fiction at Georgia Tech, but, first, a music set. 

FRED RASCOE: File this set under PN 3433.6.S378. 

[MUSIC PLAYING] 

[MUSIC - SANDY EDMONDS, "PLEASE DON'T SWITCH OFF THE MOON"] 

(SINGING) Come on now, don't switch off the Moon, Mr. Spaceman. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: You just heard "Please Don't Switch Off the Moon, Mr. Spaceman" by Sandy Edmonds and, before that, World of Tomorrow by Screaming Bamboo. And we started the set with "Spaceship Races" by Carole King. Those were songs about understanding our world through the lens of an imagined future. 

WENDY HAGENMAIER: This is Lost in the Stacks. And we are talking about science fiction at Georgia Tech. Our next guest is the author, Grace Agnew, whose book Sanctuary is out now, published by Woodhall Press. Grace is the Special Advisor for Strategic Initiatives at Rutgers University Libraries, and was once a reference librarian here at Tech. We were delighted to welcome her back to talk about her book. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: So you were a librarian here for five years. 

GRACE AGNEW: Almost six, yeah. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: And then, you went off and you practically changed the world. I mean, you were doing a lot of digital data access and metadata. And you were kind of on the forefront of a lot of that. 

GRACE AGNEW: Well, certainly on the bleeding edge, and bleeding is the word, yeah. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: There you go. But that's not why I'm talking to you. I'm talking to you because you're a librarian who has a Georgia-- Georgia Tech connection. And you managed to write and publish a science fiction novel recently. 

GRACE AGNEW: Right. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: So can you give me the quick pitch of what your book is? Like what-- if someone says, oh, you wrote a book. What's that about? What do you tell them? 

GRACE AGNEW: Well, I have to say, I think my book is about climate change for the rest of us. Because climate change is a very scary subject. When I told friends my book was about climate change, the inevitable answer was can I buy it and not read it? 

Because I'm already depressed enough. Life is already tough enough. Do I have to read it? And somebody else said, I feel like you're going to tell me to recycle. 

And the book is not about that. I wrote the book because, as a librarian, I had the enviable, I think, opportunity to work with great scientific minds, each of them expert in a specific area. And if you work with, you know, distinguished professors, they get very expert in very specific areas. 

And I think what we bring to the table is librarians is we're generalists. We soak in what they have to tell us, and then we help them integrate it. We help to make them make it accessible. 

And it was clear to me, working with scientists who were collecting sensor data on the health of our planet-- which was not good, you know, it's like the planet had COVID. I'm working with these scientists. And they're telling me these dreadful, horrendous things. 

And they weren't giving me what I needed, which is I needed to know how is that actually going to personally affect me? They could tell me what the data looked like, what might happen to New York and Miami, but they couldn't tell me what might happen to the person on the sixth floor of a high rise in Hoboken, New Jersey. They just couldn't tell me what average Joes like me were going to do when climate change really hit us. 

And I couldn't really find books that could tell me that. I found books that talked about what was going to happen to planets, to animals, to plants. And basically it was like oh, and the humans are in a lot of trouble too. 

So I wrote this book first for me. But then, I wrote it for-- really for Gen Z, and also for the parents and the grandparents of Gen Z, because we carry a lot of guilt. And I know you're a parent. And I know you look at your kids and you think it's great that they're really doing well in soccer, and I'm making sure they get a good breakfast. 

Are they actually one day going to be fighting over a glass of water, or having a knife someone to get a meal? I know that's in the back of every parent's mind. And I work with students a lot. And I know it's never far from students' consciousness, what is my future? You know, am I going to get a job? Am I going to be able to go somewhere because it's a good job, or do I have to go somewhere because of climate change? 

And I wanted to reassure people that it's not going to be great. But we are, as one of the scientists said to me, I will bet the farm on us. You know, we are the smartest, most flexible species that ever existed. And at places like Georgia Tech and at Rutgers, they are developing the technologies that are actually going to mitigate climate change and give your kids a future. 

And so, I wanted the-- I wanted not to pull any punches. But I wanted to tell people there's hope. You know, it's going to be a new normal. But it's going to be normal for them. It's going to be OK. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: For you, did it have to be science fiction? I mean, did you consider-- 

GRACE AGNEW: Yes. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: It had to be. So-- 

GRACE AGNEW: It had to be, because I really wanted to model what was going to happen, you know, for people, what were they going to experience, what were they going to see. What we envision, what we imagine is always worse than reality. I mean, look at COVID. 

I mean, what, five years ago, the movie came out, Contagion. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: Was it only five? Oh, my gosh. 

GRACE AGNEW: Or I don't know. I'm guessing. But it was a while. It wasn't that long ago. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: And it basically told the story that-- 

GRACE AGNEW: Right. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: --we all live through. 

GRACE AGNEW: It sort of did. But it also had people shooting at each other, rioting in the streets. And instead, we were posting memes about using coffee filters for toilet paper. 

And we were staying home. And we were chilling on Netflix. And people were thinking about their lives, and thinking about what they wanted to do with their lives. And a lot of us were deciding, I don't want to be a waitress for a crap wage anymore. I'm not going back to that job. 

So it wasn't what we expected. It wasn't great. But it was-- you know, our fears are always worse than the reality. So what I wanted to do is take all the things I've learned, and I've learned a lot. And I've been lucky to work with some of the best minds-- and that really is true-- who are focusing, through grants that I've worked on, who are focusing on climate change. 

And I wanted to show people, we're going to adapt. You know, we're going to have a different world, but it's going to be a world that people live in successfully, that they can even have happiness in. So I wanted to do a hopeful book. And I think to do that, I had to really project a more realistic picture of what children your age, and what, you know, Gen Z are actually going to experience. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: Did you have a very academic structure to the work? Like, did you have a bibliography and research, or did you try and get away from the research once you'd started writing the book? 

GRACE AGNEW: Well, I didn't have a bibliography in front of me. But I've been-- ever since I learned about climate change in the '90s, I've been reading about it. So I've read the UN reports. And I've read articles. 

And I've read a lot of the better, you know, nonfiction books about what the world will be like, and what extinction will look like. And they are horrifically depressing. They really don't give you a very hopeful view at all. 

But, you know, a lot of my research was actually talking to scientists and asking why they weren't more in a panic. And they basically said, well, you know, for one thing, we have to divorce our feelings from our research or we couldn't do our research. For another, they really do feel-- and I agree with them-- that we're probably too smart to go extinct. 

We will-- we will figure it out. We won't-- we won't solve it because we've let it get too far, but we'll mitigate. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: That's a very optimistic view. 

GRACE AGNEW: And we'll learn-- it is an optimistic view, but-- but I think it's a truthful view. I mean, if you read the book, you'll see it's not a great world, but there will be many climates. And I actually set this in the macro-climate of the Dust Bowl, because that actually is a climate we know how to solve. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: Yeah. 

GRACE AGNEW: You know, we do know how to convert deserts and dusty areas into soil again, and how to grow plants. We're also-- there are also plants and species that are more resilient than we might realize. That being said, yes, climate change is going to be bad. 

We think the death toll of what, 0.5% or whatever of the world's population with COVID is pretty horrific. And we're probably looking at 20% to 30%. And so, it's going to impact us pretty severely. But we're going to survive. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: That was Grace Agnew, librarian and science fiction author. Her book, Sanctuary, is out now. 

WENDY HAGENMAIER: You are listening to Lost in the Stacks, and we'll be back with more science fiction at the Georgia Tech Library on the left side of the hour. 

[MUSIC PLAYING] 

KIM STANLEY ROBINSON: Hi, I'm Kim Stanley Robinson, science fiction writer and a fan of the Rambling Wrecks of Georgia Tech. This is WREK. 

(SINGING) And I know, and I know, and I know that everybody, and I know that everybody be happy, happy as you and me. Because I know, I know. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: Today's show is called 50 Years of Science Fiction. I'd like to read you something from the Library of Congress collections policy statement for fantasy and science fiction, which they link together pretty thoroughly, declaring science fiction to be a sub-genre of fantasy. 

Science fiction usually is speculative in nature, the Library of Congress writes, assumes change as a given, projects a story line into the future or into an alternative reality or history, explores a problem in technology, culture, philosophy, et cetera, beyond its current state, and presents an atmosphere of scientific credibility regardless of the reality. Not all science fiction takes place in the future, involves space travel, describes technology beyond current reality or deals with alien cultures. However, these elements are common in this sub-genre and uncommon outside it. 

There's some part of that definition that I want to take issue with, but I feel like we don't have time. So instead, I'm going to file this set under PZ4.C9178. 

[MUSIC - BILL CARLISLE, "TINY SPACEMAN"] 

(SINGING) Tiny spaceship landed. 

[UFO SOUNDS] 

MARLEE GIVENS: You just heard "In the Year 2000" by Lucia Pamela. Before that, "Living in the Future in a Plastic Dome," by Country Joe McDonald. Before that, "I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship" by the legendary Stardust Cowboy. And we started off with "Tiny Spaceman" by Bill Carlisle. Those were all songs that imagined the future, 50 years ago or more. 

[MUSIC PLAYING] 

CHARLIE BENNETT: Welcome back to Lost in the Stacks. We're talking about science fiction at Georgia Tech today. And our next guest is Catherine Manci, Public Programming and Community Engagement Specialist at the Georgia Tech Library. So Catherine, what's it been like to try and celebrate 50 Years of Science Fiction that you haven't been a part of? 

CATHERINE MANCI: Well, it's been exciting because Georgia Tech has so many resources and so many amazing scholars that we're connected to. But it's also been a bit of a challenge, you know, during a pandemic to put together a suite of programming and to highlight the collections that we have. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: Who has helped you with this? Who's been guiding you through it? Who's been giving you support, both the academic support and logistical support? 

CATHERINE MANCI: Obviously, Lisa Yaszek's passion has really moved us to action with our 50 Years of Science Fiction. And we also have an amazing new scholar here on campus, Ida Yoshinaga, who studies science fiction films. And so, they've been wonderful in planning. 

We also have science fiction author and Japanese professor, Amanda Weiss, involved in the planning. And so, they're our outside group. And then, we have our core library group that's been working on this, specifically Alison Reynolds-- archivist Alison Reynolds-- has done a lot of work to understand our science fiction collection here at Georgia Tech and make the content for the exhibit possible, along with the ever amazing Kirk Henderson putting together an exhibit. He worked with Jason Wright putting together the graphics for this exhibit. 

So it takes a whole team. You are working on the podcast with a lot of these folks. Marlee Givens has helped put together a podcast. And so, it's an interesting team. 

Some of us are absolute science fiction scholars. And some of us, like myself, are kind of experts in planning or in archives. Then, it's come together really nicely for a celebration that, I think, moves science fiction forward at Georgia Tech. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: So what have you taken from the programming that you've done? Has there been anything that, for you, was a revelation or an epiphany about science fiction or its process in the world? 

CATHERINE MANCI: Well, you know, I came from an art school. And something that I've taken away from learning about kind of all of these facets of science fiction that I've been really interested in is the visuals that accompany science fiction. And I've kind of been stewing in that. And we have these wonderful, huge science fiction covers that we've blown up and put on the walls for our exhibit. But I've been thinking a lot about the visual language of science fiction that is so strong and so consistent. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: Well, tell me more about that. So what's the strength and consistency? I don't know that I would-- that's not my first set of adjectives I go for for science fiction pulp magazine covers. 

CATHERINE MANCI: There's a lot of history there in printing. But the color story of pulp magazine covers are-- the color story is pretty tight. You know, you can kind of-- if someone were to show you maybe groups of colors, you could pick out which color stories are science fiction. Right? 

You have that kind of mustardy yellow and some oranges and browns. And I'm really interested in that. I think that visual language tells us a lot, and signifies the way in which we should imagine these stories. And I love that. I think it's really interesting. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: Very cool. So I'm going to make you work a little bit as the Public Programming Librarian. What are the things we've done, for 50 Years of Science Fiction, to celebrate it at the Georgia Tech Library? 

CATHERINE MANCI: Well, we kicked off 50 Years of Science Fiction with a lecture by a Hugo finalist, Gideon Marcus. And he's an-- he's an interesting writer and academic. He produces this podcast, called Galactic Journey, where they're 55 years in the past. And they go through kind of what's happening in the science fiction scene 55 years ago. 

He's also the creator of Journey Press, and is putting out lots of books. And so, we brought him to campus. And he gave a lecture. 

We also have put together an exhibit, which I mentioned, in the gallery of the Price Gilbert Library. We have about 2000 square feet of science fiction celebration, both, you know, the history and also some current stuff that celebrates what's happening now in science fiction and looks towards the future. Charlie, you're working on a project right now, a series of podcasts. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: Sure, so this is almost a soft launch for new takes on genre. Whenever someone asks me to do a project, to present or to interpret some kind of topic, I want to do audio. And I convinced a number of faculty members to do that with me. 

So we've got some LMC and modern languages faculty who are going to interrogate ideas that have been made classic, and try and find new ways to talk about them through the work that's being done by their peers and other contemporary creative and scholarly folks. So like zombies, the global zombie experience as opposed to our Night of the Living Dead-- or I believe, one of them is going to be called Young Feminists Read Old Women Science Fiction, which is a pretty intense title for a guy to say. 

But since it's Lisa Yaszek, I trust her on having a appropriate take on that particular title. And folk horror, Indigenous peoples apocalyptic ideas, it's going to be fun. We're going to drop those on this podcast feed throughout the spring semester. 

CATHERINE MANCI: I'm looking forward to those. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: And you have one more thing in mind. 

CATHERINE MANCI: We do. So we will hopefully be hosting the Eugie Awards Symposium. This will be the second year we've hosted it. And this is an award for a competition for short speculative fiction. And it's named after the late Eugie Foster, who was a prolific science fiction writer in her own right. 

And so, we'll see. That'll probably be online in January. But as you know, it's a moving landscape right now. But we're hoping to finish up 50 Years of Science Fiction with the podcast and then that symposium. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: Has doing all this public programming in the pandemic, has it felt like a science fiction novel to you? What's been your-- what's been your take on this experience? 

CATHERINE MANCI: It has. I mean, I guess maybe I wish it was more like a science fiction novel. You know, I would love like a virtual reality setup where we can feel a little-- a little bit more like we're together. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: [LAUGHS] 

CATHERINE MANCI: It's maybe a little bit less like the Jetsons then we were all hoping behind our screens. But-- but it has been really nice to connect with people all over the globe. I mentioned the Gideon Marcus lecture that we did in person, but we've streamed out. 

And that was an exciting opportunity to connect with all of these enthusiasts, wherever they may be, and to have a vibrant chat during the event. You know, it feels-- that feels maybe a little naughty, but I kind of like that, to have this side channel of everyone chatting and sharing links and reacting. And so, as much as I like being together, I also kind of like the sense of having a back channel conversation during an event. 

FRED RASCOE: You just heard from Catherine Manci, Public Programming and Community Engagement Specialist at the Georgia Tech Library. 

WENDY HAGENMAIER: File this set under PZ4.A13. 

[MUSIC - THE 3-D INVISIBLES, "ROBOT MONSTER"] 

(SINGING) Robot monster. 

[MUSIC - THE PIXIES, "MANTA RAY"] 

(SINGING) My manta ray is all right. All right. 

FRED RASCOE: That was "Manta Ray" by the Pixies. Before that, "Robot Monster" by the 3-D Invisibles, songs about beings visiting us from other worlds with varying consequences. 

[MUSIC PLAYING] 

CHARLIE BENNETT: Our show today is 50 Years of Science Fiction, part of the Georgia Tech Library's celebration of science fiction studies at Georgia Tech, kicked off by Professor Bud Foote in 1971. We heard Bud at the beginning of the show. He said, one of the reasons to study science fiction is because it's fun. And I think that's what I think of when I think of science fiction, the fun of reading it when I was a kid or an older kid or even an adult. But what does science fiction mean to you all? 

FRED RASCOE: I don't particularly read science fiction. I never have, unless Lord of the Rings counts, Charlie? 

CHARLIE BENNETT: Library of Congress thinks that science fiction is a sub-genre of fantasy, so I guess-- 

FRED RASCOE: OK, so I-- 

CHARLIE BENNETT: --you're sort of in the wheelhouse. 

FRED RASCOE: I've read that. But really, science fiction to me reminds me of childhood and pretending to be Star Wars and flying, you know, fighters and shooting laser guns and things like that. It means fun to me. But it was not a reading fun thing for me. 

WENDY HAGENMAIER: Yeah, I think I'm with Fred. I never was particularly interested in choosing science fiction for reading. And I think it's because maybe the worlds felt arbitrary, like there was infinite possibility in what they could be. And so, that what they were didn't hold weight for me. 

But I will say, along with what Fred said, is that the genre of science fiction and sort of the movie landscape and the sonic landscape, to me, feels like a great excuse to make some science fiction sounds for the radio. A little laser beams maybe, Fred? 

FRED RASCOE: [MAKES LASER NOISES] 

MARLEE GIVENS: Can you make any sound? 

CHARLIE BENNETT: Oh, Fred and the pew pew pew. It's your favorite thing to do. 

MARLEE GIVENS: I have seen a video online of someone who taught their parakeet to make R2-D2 noises, which it does for a full minute. It's great. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: And with that, let's roll the credits. 

[MUSIC - JOHN WILLIAMS, "STAR WARS THEME"] 

MARLEE GIVENS: Lost in the Stacks is the collaboration between WREK Atlanta and the Georgia Tech Library, written and produced by Charlie Bennett, Fred Rascoe, Marlee Givens, and Wendy Hagenmaier. 

FRED RASCOE: Today's show was edited and assembled by Charlie, using tools of the future in the immediate past to create this present moment. Whoa. 

WENDY HAGENMAIER: Legal counsel and a pristine copy of the December 1956 issue of Science Fantasy were provided by the Burrus Intellectual Property Law Group in Atlanta, Georgia. 

FRED RASCOE: Special thanks to Lisa, Grace and Catherine for being on the show, to Bud Foote for kicking off the past 50 Years of Science Fiction at Georgia Tech. And thanks, as always, to each and every one of you for listening. 

MARLEE GIVENS: Find us online at lostinthestacks.org. And you can subscribe to our podcast pretty much anywhere you get your audio fix. 

CHARLIE BENNETT: Next week's episode is a rerun of our show, Trust but Verify, all about reproducible results in science. 

FRED RASCOE: It's time for our last song today. In the 50 years since Bud Foote first taught his course at Georgia Tech, a lot of science fiction predictions have come true. For instance, I have several personal devices that allow for remote screen video communication. And some predictions, not so much. Anyone here use a jet pack yet? No? No. 

But whatever is imagined in the science fiction that is written today, it tells us as much about how we see ourselves now as it does how we see ourselves in the future. Tomorrow is here. So let's close with Here it is Tomorrow by Game Theory, right here on Lost in the Stacks. Have a great weekend, everybody. 

[MUSIC - GAME THEORY, "HERE IT IS TOMORROW"]