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Economics in fiction with Stross, VanderMeer, et al

Cory Doctorow at 3:59 pm Mon, Jan 8, 2007

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NPR's Rick Kleffel aired a great segment about economics and genre fiction, with Charlie Stross, Jeff VanderMeer, TC Boyle and others. He's hosting a non-DRM MP3 of the piece, too, so you can be spared the sucky NPR Real stream.
During the Cold War, science-fiction tales of alien invasion mirrored society's fear of Communism, and monsters from Frankenstein to Godzilla have tapped into our unease about the boundaries of science.

But a new type of genre fiction has plots centering around business and economics. A book by T. C. Boyle takes the subject of identity theft and treats it like a horror story.

Several other writers are also turning their attention to our preoccupation with finances and business, and finding fertile ground.

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I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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