Global Futurisms, Indigenous Art, and Comics Inform February’s Kappe Reading List
SCI-Arc is proud to present the latest round of acquisitions for the Diversifying the Discourse Project, centered on global futurisms and science fiction. Featured volumes cover future/alternative worlds, worldbuilding, and speculative technologies with a focus on underrepresented authors, publishers, regions, and cultures.
Incorporated in this iteration of the Kappe Library Reading list are some noteworthy selections of speculative fiction as well as graphic novels—one of the best and most accessible mediums for graphic design, storytelling, and worldbuilding—in addition to a richly illustrated exploration of Black culture at its most imaginative, ambitious, and politically urgent; a title highlighting artworks that present the future from a Native perspective and illustrates the use of cosmology and science as part of tribal oral history; a brilliant and hilarious off-world investigation into space settlement; and the definitive visual history of the spaceships, alien landscapes, cryptozoology, and imagined industrial machinery of 1970s paperback sci-fi art.
Each quarter, SCI-Arc releases a reading list, curated by the Kappe Library's Manager Kevin McMahon and Librarian Stefanie Crump, representing a cohesive, interdisciplinary collection of books featuring pertinent themes and authors. The reading lists reflect the overall mission of the Kappe Library to build its collection with representation and inclusivity in mind, but also incongruity, specificity, and relevance to the discourses taking place at SCI-Arc.
GLOBAL FUTURISMS
A City on Mars: Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through? / Kelly + Zach Weinersmith, Penguin Press, 2023
Earth is not well. The promise of starting life anew somewhere far, far away—no climate change, no war, no Twitter—beckons, and settling the stars finally seems within our grasp. Or is it? Critically acclaimed, bestselling authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith set out to write the essential guide to a glorious future of space settlements, but after years of research, they aren’t so sure it’s a good idea. Space technologies and space business are progressing fast, but we lack the knowledge needed to have space kids, build space farms, and create space nations in a way that doesn’t spark conflict back home. In a world hurtling toward human expansion into space, A City on Mars investigates whether the dream of new worlds won’t create nightmares, both for settlers and the people they leave behind. In the process, the Weinersmiths answer every question about space you’ve ever wondered about, and many you’ve never considered:
Can you make babies in space? Should corporations govern space settlements? What about space war? Are we headed for a housing crisis on the Moon’s Peaks of Eternal Light—and what happens if you’re left in the Craters of Eternal Darkness? Why do astronauts love taco sauce? Speaking of meals, what’s the legal status of space cannibalism?
With deep expertise, a winning sense of humor, and art from the beloved creator of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, the Weinersmiths investigate perhaps the biggest questions humanity will ever ask itself—whether and how to become multiplanetary.
In the Black Fantastic / Ekow Eshun, The MIT Press, 2022
A richly illustrated exploration of Black culture at its most wildly imaginative and artistically ambitious, In the Black Fantastic assembles art and imagery from across the African diaspora. Embracing the mythic and the speculative, it recycles and reconfigures elements of fable, folklore, science fiction, spiritual traditions, ceremonial pageantry, and the legacies of Afrofuturism. In works that span photography, painting, sculpture, cinema, graphic arts, music and architecture, In the Black Fantastic shows how speculative fictions in Black art and culture are boldly reimagining perspectives on race, gender and identity.
Standing apart from Western narratives of progress and modernity premised on the historical subjugation of people of color, In the Black Fantastic celebrates the ways that Black artists draw inspiration from African-originated myths, beliefs, and knowledge systems, confounding the Western dichotomy between the real and unreal, the scientific and the supernatural. Featuring more than 300 color illustrations, this beautifully designed book brings together works by leading artists such as Kara Walker, Chris Ofili, and Ellen Gallagher; explores groundbreaking films like Daughters of the Dust and Get Out; considers the radical politics of pan-Africanism and postcolonialism; and much more.
Indigenous Futurisms: Transcending Past/Present/Future / Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 2020
Indigenous Futurisms: Transcending Past/Present/Future investigates a major trend in Contemporary Native Art—the rise of futuristic or science-fiction inspired Native American art. The essays and artworks present the future from a Native perspective and illustrate the use of Indigenous cosmology and science as part of tribal oral history and ways of life. Several of the artists use sci-fi related themes to emphasize the importance of Futurism in Native cultures, to pass on tribal oral history and to revive their Native language. However, Indigenous Futurism also offer a way to heal from the traumas of the past and present—the post-apocalyptic narratives depicted in some of the artworks are often reality for Indigenous communities worldwide. Among the authors of Indigenous Futurisms are IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA) chief curator Dr. Manuela Well-Off-Man, Dr. David Begay (Navajo), Andrea Carlson (Ojibwe), Dr. Suzanne Newman Fricke, and Chelsea Herr (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma).
Indigenous Futurisms highlights artworks that present the future from a Native perspective and illustrates the use of cosmology and science as part of tribal oral history and ways of life. The science fiction and post-apocalyptic narratives depicted in these artworks are often reality for Indigenous communities worldwide. The imagery and narratives also emphasize the importance of Futurism in Native Cultures. Artists use Sci-Fi related themes to pass on tribal oral history to younger audiences and to revive their Native language. The works in this exhibition create awareness about how cultural knowledge and tribal philosophies are connected to the universe, science, and the future.
Worlds Beyond Time: Sci-Fi Art of the 1970s / Adam Rowe, Abrams, Inc., 2022
In the 1970s, mass-produced, cheaply printed science-fiction novels were thriving. The paper was rough, the titles outrageous, and the cover art astounding. Over the course of the decade, a stable of talented painters, comic-book artists, and designers produced thousands of the most eye-catching book covers to ever grace bookstore shelves (or spinner racks). Curiously, the pieces commissioned for these covers often had very little to do with the contents of the books they were selling, but by leaning heavily on psychedelic imagery, far-out landscapes, and trippy surrealism, the art was able to satisfy the same space race–fueled appetite for the big ideas and brave new worlds that sci-fi writers were boldly pushing forward.
In Worlds Beyond Time: Sci-Fi Art of the 1970s, Adam Rowe—who has been curating, championing, and resurrecting the best and most obscure art that 1970s sci-fi has to offer on his blog 70s Sci-Fi Art—introduces readers to the biggest names in the genre, including Chris Foss, Peter Elson, Tim White, Jack Gaughan, and Virgil Finlay, as well as their influences. With deep dives into the subject matter that commonly appeared on these covers—spaceships, alien landscapes, fantasy realms, cryptozoology, and heavy machinery—this book is a loving tribute to a unique and robust art form whose legacy lives on both in nostalgic appreciation as well as the retro-chic design of mainstream sci-fi films such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Alien: Covenant, and Thor: Ragnarok.
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Bionic / Koren Shadmi, Top Shelf Productions, 2020
Bionic is a coming-of-age tale for the digital generation, taking place in the near future. It's the story of Victor, a geeky teenager on a hopeless quest to win the love of the gorgeous Patricia -- but when she returns from a horrible accident with astonishing new robotic parts, both their lives will be changed forever.
Koren Shadmi (Highwayman, The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television) presents a hypnotically illustrated story of warm flesh and cold metal. It's the story of a love that was never meant to be, of overwhelming emotions, trauma, rebellion, loss of innocence, and the fear that wanting something may not be enough.
Black Science Compendium / Rick Remender, Image Comics, 2023
Scientist Grant McKay has done the impossible: He has punched through the barriers of reality in a desperate bid to unravel the mysteries hidden within the prime universe at the center of the Eververse. But what lies beyond the veil is not epiphany, but chaos. Now Grant and his family are lost, living ghosts shipwrecked on an infinite ocean of alien worlds, barreling through the long-forgotten, ancient, and unimaginable dark realms. The only way is forward, through the delirium of a million universes, with no way home. The Black Science Complete Story edition collects the entire run of the seminal series that launched the multiverse craze by the critically acclaimed team of RICK REMENDER (LOW, DEADLY CLASS) and MATTEO SCALERA (KING OF SPIES, Batman).
Decorum / Jonathan Hickman, Image Comics, 2022
The highly lauded, mouthwateringly illustrated miniseries Decorum from the bestselling, comics titan Jonathan Hickman (House of X, Powers of X, East of West) and acclaimed artist Mike Huddleston (Middlewest, House of X) now collected in its entirety in a stunning hardcover edition for the first time.
Decorum blends the high impact, event level storytelling of Hickman's recent re-envisioning of X-Men with the sprawling, addictive worldbuilding of the recently concluded East of West. In the world of Decorum, there are many assassins in the known universe. Decorum is the story of the most well-mannered one.
The perfect standalone story for fans of epics like Star Wars and assassin action tales like John Wick-but set in a lush science fiction world where the stakes are even higher.
Eve, Vols. 1 & 2 / Victor LaValle, BOOM! Studios, 2022
When the ice caps melted, most of humanity was lost to the hidden disease that was released. Now, a mysterious girl named Eve has awoken in secret and must deal with a world that’s nothing like the virtual reality she was raised in. In order to save her father, Eve must embark on a deadly quest across the country, but she has no idea of the threats that await her—or the price she will pay to restore life to a dying planet.
Made in Korea. Vol.1 / Jeremy Holt, Image Comics, 2022
A Korean nine-year-old named Jesse is adopted and sent to live with a lovely couple in America. Equipped with a seemingly encyclopedic brain but socially awkward, the young girl’s journey through the complexities of race, gender, and identity hits a fork in the road when she discovers she’s not entirely human…yet. Adolescence just got a lot more emotional for the world’s first true AI system.
Project Arka: Into the Dark Unknown / Romain Benassaya, Humanoids, 2023
In the not-too-distant future, the Earth has been destroyed, its orbit withering and its citizens desperate to escape to the stars. The solution? The Arka project, massive vessels bound for the distant planet of Leonis.
When the passengers of Arka III awaken from their long intergalactic journey, they realize they’re not on Leonis. Not only that, their journey has taken much longer than the planned two hundred years, and has landed them in a starless, seemingly endless void. Eric Rives, the ship’s second-in-command, and his partner Jia Tang are sent on an exploratory mission to investigate the dark labyrinth that surrounds them…but what they find is beyond belief.
E-BOOKS
The Future is Female!: More Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women: Volume Two: The 1970s / edited by Lisa Yaszek, Library of America, 2023
Space-opera heroines, gender-bending aliens, post-apocalyptic pregnancies, changeling children, interplanetary battles of the sexes, and much more: a groundbreaking new collection of classic American science fiction by women from the 1920s to the 1960s
SF-expert Lisa Yaszek presents the biggest and best survey of the female tradition in American science fiction ever published, a thrilling collection of twenty-five classic tales. From Pulp Era pioneers to New Wave experimentalists, here are over two dozen brilliant writers ripe for discovery and rediscovery, including Leslie F. Stone, Judith Merril, Leigh Brackett, Kit Reed, Joanna Russ, James Tiptree Jr., and Ursula K. Le Guin. Imagining strange worlds and unexpected futures, looking into and beyond new technologies and scientific discoveries, in utopian fantasies and tales of cosmic horror, these women created and shaped speculative fiction as surely as their male counterparts. Their provocative, mind-blowing stories combine to form a thrilling multidimensional voyage of literary-feminist exploration and recovery.
Palestine + 100 / edited by Basma Ghalayini, Deep Vellum, 2022
In this bold, inspiring anthology of short fiction, Palestine +100 gathers 12 stories of speculation about the future of Palestinians, holding space for conversations about trauma, memory, and contemplation of change.