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Science fiction when the future is now

Six authors parse the implications of our unhinged era for their craft.
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  1. Lauren Beukes

    1. Lauren Beukes’s latest volume is Slipping, a collection of short stories and essays.

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  2. Kim Stanley Robinson

    1. Kim Stanley Robinson’s latest book is New York 2140.

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  3. Ken Liu

    1. Ken Liu’s latest book is The Wall of Storms, the second entry in his critically acclaimed silkpunk series Dandelion Dynasty.

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  4. Hannu Rajaniemi

    1. Hannu Rajaniemi’s next book will be the alternative-history thriller Summerland.

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  5. Alastair Reynolds

    1. Alastair Reynolds’s most recent novel is Revenger. His next, Elysium Fire, will be published in January 2018.

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  6. Aliette de Bodard

    1. Aliette de Bodard’s latest book is The House of Binding Thorns.

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Illustration by Señor Salme

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AlphaGo, fake news, cyberwar: 2017 has felt science-fictional in the here and now. Space settlement and sea-steading seem just around the bend; so, at times, do nuclear war and pandemic. With technological change cranked up to warp speed and day-to-day life smacking of dystopia, where does science fiction go? Has mainstream fiction taken up the baton?

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Nature 552, 329-333 (2017)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-017-08674-8

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