Marooned! On Mars With Matt And Hilary

After another unexpectedly long hiatus, Matt and Hilary are back to talk about our favorite topics--Martian and Chicagoan politics and Martian and Chicagoan weather! "Natural History" is a Sax chapter, and finds our favorite jumble of rats in a lab coat juicing himself up with crocodile DNA. Sax is radically hybrid in both body and mind, but he's also still mystified by the women in his life. To Hiroko and Ann is added the math genius Bao Shuyo, and it's hard for him to wrap his mind around the hybrid she presents to him--a woman math genius! Who knew? "What's this Bao episode doing here?" Hilary asks Matt. Matt babbles for a while and stumbles into an answer about feared loss of patriarchal dominance. Of course this chapter is also about nostalgia and the passing of time. Sax stumbles onto a project to give Mars a new moon, Pseudophobos, a talisman in the sky that will concretize a past moment and prove he has control over things once again, as Hilary puts it. This appears to be a nostalgic project that re

We're back, after an unexpected and unexpectedly long hiatus! This chapter finds Nirgal trying to find himself, to locate and perhaps localize himself on the planet Mars, amid the network of force relations constituted by his family, the Martian political system, the changed and changing environment, and the mythology of his own existence.  Matt starts by making a joke about blackface, which is so last week. Hilary is teaching Aurora for the first time, and it's a very emotional book! It doesn't help that it's Winter Quarter at the University of Chicago, the longest and most stressful quarter there is. They also talk about the Green New Deal and how important and good and awesome it is. Then they get into it. Mars is, as predicted, working as a kind of psychological safety-valve for the people of Earth, or that's how it seems to William Fort and his crew. This chapter is about scale and scalability in many ways--how the problems of a single person, or two people, or a bunch of weird micro-micro-microo

In this episode, Matt and Hilary discuss the Nadia chapter "Making Things Work," as Nadia figures out what it means to be the first President of Mars, ponders what it will be like to have a new pinkie finger, and wishes she could get her hands dirty with some real work. Matt and Hilary share tales of the polar vortex, which include chickens coming indoors to roost and watching a bad-ish Mars movie from the late 1990s. Then it's on to the KSR talk. Nadia is frustrated for much of this chapter, as the groundwork is laid for the future political processes of Mars. Is process more important than outcome? This is a lesson hard-learned by Nadia. A different kind of groundwork is happening with the construction of soil, a task which Nadia is surprisingly able to lend a hand in. (Get it?) Nadia's regrowing finger gives us a picture of life as recursive rather than linear, but Art's desire for a child seems to point to a residual element of human living-together--the persistence of the couple and the family form! It s

This episode Matt and Hilary discuss the masterful chapter, "Ann in the Outback." Matt and Hilary love love love this chapter, perhaps to the point where words fail them. Well, words fail Matt. Hilary, as always, is killing it. It's very cold in Chicago--perfect, Marslike weather for discussing Ann and the many (two) bears she meets, her awkward conversation with Sax, and the shittiness of eco-tourism. Tune in until the end when one of the luminaries of New German Cinema makes a surprise appearance! Extra Extra! Head on over to iTunes where The Spirit of Space, composer of our theme song, is selling his wares. It's an album called--you guessed it--"Extra Extra"! Thank you for listening, and thank you to our donors! Rate and review us on iTunes Email us at maroonedonmarspodcast@gmail.com Tweet us @podcastonmars Leave us a voicemail using the Anchor.fm app! Music by the aforementioned Spirit of Space --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/marooned-on-mars-with-matt-and-hilary/support

This week, Marooned on Mars discusses Part 5 of Blue Mars, "Home at Last." In this part, Michel returns home to his beloved Provence to find everything changed and unrecognizable. Matt and Hilary ponder psychologist Michel's weird psychology, where his whole identity is wrapped up in the woman he's in a relationship with. In Matt's words, he sees himself as "a worm who eats uncured olives." We think about personal history versus world history, the curiosity of memory, looking at old photos of yourself, Roman aqueducts, and, of course, how to get Tom Hanks to give us a million dollars. Or maybe Sigourney Weaver. Email: maroonedonmarspodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @podcastonmars Rate and review us on iTunes or wherever you download your podcasts Leave us a voicemail on the Anchor app! Music by The Spirit of Space --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/marooned-on-mars-with-matt-and-hilary/support

On this episode of Marooned!, we're discussing Part 4 of Blue Mars, "Green Earth," a Nirgal chapter. Nirgal, Sax, Maya, and Michel have traveled to Earth as a Martian delegation to attempt to normalize relations to the home planet and help out where they can. Nirgal goes off on a series of disorienting and hallucinatory adventures and comes back sick! Matt and Hilary spend some time chatting about what they've been up to since the last episode. Hilary "moderated" a "panel" at an event co-sponsored by the Chicago Humanities Festival and Humanities Without Walls as part of the MLA conference (or something). N. Katherine Hayles and Evan Selinger had a lot to say! Delightful weirdos who strangely think the humanities are important were in attendance--including the president of the MLA! In our "Mars in Popular Culture Roundup of the Week" segment, which will doubtless be expanded to a weekly extra episode once Tom Hanks gives us a million dollars, Matt watched two Mars-related movies that were bad: Capricorn One a

Happy New Year! This episode follows Art Randolph as he helps in the drafting of a new constitution! Matt and Hilary share some tips and tales about articles, definite and indefinite. Before we get to the chapter itself, we chat again about RED MOON (great book), which leads us to share some of our experiences over the holiday. Matt also would like someone to write an MA thesis about how SF is imagining China right now, specifically in RED MOON and MR. ROBOT. "A New Constitution" centers on Art as the decentralized coffee- and kavajava-brewer for the constitutional congress, which Nadia, wielding "the charisma of the sensible," is de facto chairing. We talk about the folkloric prologue that finds Mars's little red men becoming one with the Dalai Lama, and producing a structure of feeling conducive for the collective project of constituting the present in this opening of potentiality in history. We talk about Vlad's epic takedown of Antar at the table of tables, and the concept of generationality, of which Hil

Schoooooool's out for winter! Schoooooool's out for Solstice! Schoooool's out for Marooned! on Mars with Matt and Hilary! In this Sax chapter, Matt and Hilary discuss Sax's inability to leave Ann alone and let her die already. General Sax is up to his old tricks of acting unilaterally, this time at the end of the chapter to save Ann's life. But before that, he partakes in the dream of every red-blooded American male: driving across the surface of the planet, free! Matt and Hilary talk about Sax's difficulty with symbolism and psychoanalysis, and Michel's pathologization of Ann's interest in science and her whole ethical project. We question the autonomy of nature and find some gaps in Sax's etymological studies, and we ponder the role of language in forming constitutional nation-states. And....Hiroko, the oceanic mother of freedom, is back! Or...is she??? At your holiday meals, divide into Green and Red teams (the Christmas colors!) and have an argument about eco-Marxism! Happy Solstice! Rate and review us on

The first part of BLUE MARS starts with a chapter from the perspective of Ann Clayborne, who we've only seen through the eyes of others since way back in GREEN MARS, "Long Runout"--something like 500 pages! A lot has changed since then, but BLUE MARS picks up right after the end of GREEN MARS, with no delay. Ann finds herself alienated from the Reds, the revolutionary faction she leads, and especially from the radical sect the Kamakaze, led by Kasei and Dao. In Hiroko's absense, Ann's son, Peter, is the head of the Greens. The Reds and Greens are arguing about taking the space elevator down again, and Ann is caught in the middle! Tension all around! Matt and Hilary discuss Ann's struggle to sort out what she believes and whom she aligns herself with. Is she a politician or a scientist? A revolutionary or a stateswoman? Regardless, she's in surprisingly good shape considering she's 150 years old and stopped taking the gerontological treatments 25 years ago. This chapter has it all: themes of loss and uncer

In this episode, Matt and Hilary wrap up their discussion of GREEN MARS before starting the final book, BLUE MARS, next week. We share various uncooked thoughts about the second book in the trilogy, including the relationship between ageing (or not ageing, or life-prolongation) to history, the relationship of ritual to ideology ("practice, practice, practice"), Coyote's revolutionary economy, the Iran-Contra scandal, following the rules, repetition and exhaustion, and probability and contingency. We share our favorite memories and moments from GREEN MARS and talk about what we're looking forward to in BLUE MARS. Matt tells a story about meeting a fan, and we give away Matt's renegade mandoline slicer. It's all happening! You have a few days to find BLUE MARS at a used bookstore or put in your order at an independent bookseller! Rate and review us on iTunes Follow us on Twitter @podcastonmars Email us at maroonedonmarspodcast@gmail.com Send us voicemails on the Anchor app. Tell your friends! Music by The

We're back! Finally! After an unanticipatedly long hiatus, Matt and Hilary are back to discuss KSR's new novel, RED MOON. We both really love this novel, and talk about it at length (spoilers!). But first we recap our Thanksgivings, sharing harrowing stories of lacerated fingers and the death of the humanities and pondering the mysteries of regional beer regulations. New Glarus, we're looking at you! Then we get to the spoilers. Seriously, if spoilers are a thing for you, it's probably a good idea to skip this episode until you've read RED MOON. But we don't believe in spoilers as a concept. If all you're reading a book for is to find out the plot, you're doing it wrong! We talk about the adventures of Fred Fredericks, Ta Shu, and Qi as they navigate the murky waters of internal Chinese politics, international intrigue, artificial intelligence, quantum mechanics, feng shui, poetry, and the historical struggle to make change happen. All this in a political thriller that keeps the reader on the edge of their s

in which i drone on about some good sf books & how recording an episode without matt is much less fun. also happy american thanksgiving to those who celebrate it.

Matt goes rogue with a mini-sode recorded into his phone with a little weird music in the background just for laughs. Updates on the show (we’ll be back soon, we miss you!) and other science fictional adventures, including Born in Flames (Lizzie Borden, 1983) and Looker (Michael Crichton, 1981). Our regularly scheduled programming will resume after Thanksgiving (probably, or a little later).

In this belated episode, Matt and Hilary discuss Part 10 of GREEN MARS, “Phase Change,” where the revolution happens! We talk about how the revolution comes about, Nadia’s role as “designated arbitrator,” and just how cool and amazing this chapter is in general. We talk about how important it is to find and use the right words to frame what’s happening, to make the revolutionary argument an effective one rhetorically, and using language to conjure something out of nothing. We will be on hiatus for the next week or so, as Hilary gets over the cold Matt gave her during the recording of this episode, Matt and Hilary teach their classes, and Matt submits himself to the whims of the academic job market. Our next episode will likely be a discussion of KSR’s fantastic new novel, RED MOON, followed by a wrap-up episode for GREEN MARS, before plunging into the thrilling finale of the trilogy, BLUE MOON. Stay tuned, and thanks for listening! Rate and review us on iTunes Follow us on Twitter @podcastonmars Email us

Matt and Hilary met Kim Stanley Robinson last week and had dinner with him! We lived to tell the tale, and this is the episode where we tell it. We'll be back later in the week with our episode about the final part of Green Mars, "Phase Change." Rate and review us on iTunes Follow us on Twitter @podcastonmars Email us at maroonedonmarspodcast@gmail.com Send us a voicemail using the Anchor.fm app. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/marooned-on-mars-with-matt-and-hilary/support

Sorry this is late! We’ve been teaching and Matt has time-management issues! Matt and Hilary start by talking about what they're teaching, which are both, in their ways, cyborg manifestoes. Then, into the chapter, where Maya wrestles with histories both personal and political as she furiously plans (and patiently waits) for the future of Mars. Michel does some opti-Maya-zation (thank you, you're welcome), Sax is mysterious, and Coyote knows all. One thing that's really cool about this chapter is Maya's realization of the power of laughter in imagining the future and hooking into youthful energy, as well as the twin needs of organizing personal & political erotics while forestalling any premature...uh, rash acts. Plus, we follow Maya as she dives into “Frank’s whole deal of being weird,” as Matt so eloquently puts it. Frequently, there are cats on the table. Email: maroonedonmarspodcast@gmail.com Rate&review on iTunes Leave voicemails on Anchor app! Twitter: @podcastonmars --- Support this podcas

In this episode, Sax Russell goes rogue! The former Stephen Lindholm makes some unilateral decisions about the future of Mars, i.e., blowing up the soletta and shooting Deimos out of orbit. Why does he do this? Matt and Hilary discuss! Theory 1. Sax is a changed man after all jacked up on sea star (not starfish!!!) DNA. Theory 2. John Cusack:boombox::Sax:soletta. We talk about the weirdly ironic voice in the chapter – we're with Sax, yet not. And we talk about the ever-evolving relationship between Ann and Sax. One of them is changing – why won't the other?? Rate and review us on iTunes! Email: maroonedonmarspodcast@gmail.com! Twitter: @podcastonmars Send us voicemails using Anchor app! Music: Spirit of Space --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/marooned-on-mars-with-matt-and-hilary/support

In the second part of our discussion of Part 7 of Green Mars, "What is To Be Done?," Matt and Hilary talk about pot luck dinners, constitutional conventions, and William Fort, the ancient dolphin! First we recap why we like this chapter so much (because it's about writing a constitution) and why we're drawn to the idea of writing a constitution (because we need a new one). Matt botches the "freedom is an endless meeting" joke yet again, and Hilary explains why writing a constitution is the most deeply science fictional thing you could do. We read through the 7 work points for a Martian government...but with a twist! References: Richard Grusin, "Culture, Technology, and the Creation of America's National Parks. Chicago politicians/ candidates Matt mentioned: Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, Ugo Okere, Byron Sigcho, and Amara Enyia. Rate and review us on iTunes! Email: maroonedonmarspodcast@gmail.com! Twitter: @podcastonmars Send us voicemails using Anchor app! Music: Spirit of Space --- Support this podcast: https:

In this episode, Matt and Hilary cover the first half of Part 7, "What Is to Be Done?" This part is about the pivotal Dorsa Brevia conference, where hundreds of representatives of the various groups of the Martian demimonde gather to create a constitution. Matt & Hilary discuss the gift economy, the old/new Ann/ Sax debate, the role of Nadia, Art, and Nirgal in the Dorsa Brevia conference, and ponder the age old question: Why do the Swiss refuse to wear jumpsuits? There's just too much to talk about in this part, so we're going to be releasing two episodes. (I won't claim that this episode couldn't use some editing...) This discussion ends just before William Fort arrives. Rate and review us on iTunes! Email us at maroonedonmarspodcast@gmail.com! Follow us on Twitter @podcastonmars Send us voicemails using the Anchor app! Music by The Spirit of Space. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/marooned-on-mars-with-matt-and-hilary/support

In this episode of Marooned! on Mars with Matt and Hilary, Matt and Hilary respond to your voicemails! We received three voicemails from listeners that provided the opportunity to do a whole mess of TALKING. This one got away from us a little bit, but responding to your voicemails was really fun and provided a nice opportunity to sort of regroup before we discover "What is to be done?" at the Dorsa Brevia conference and tackle Part 7 of Green Mars, which we'll do in two parts, the first of which will be released soon. Here, for your listening pleasure, we talk a bit about other KSR novels, the possibilities of social change, folktales, and Martian mass culture. YOU can leave us a voicemail on the Anchor.fm app! (Thanks to Chris, Bill, and Phil for being the first brave souls to do so.) YOU can email us at maroonedonmarspodcast@gmail.com! YOU can rate and review us on iTunes (and the Anchor app)! YOU can follow us on Twitter @podcastonmars! Music by The Spirit of Space. --- Support this podcast: http