Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, Joseph D. Olander, eds., The End of the World (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 1983, $19.95). Pp. xv, 204. ISBN 0 8093 1033 3. - George E. Slusser, Eric S. Rabkin, Robert Scholes, eds., Coordinates: Placing Science Fiction and Fantasy (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 1983, $19.95). Pp. xii, 209. ISBN 0 8093 1105 4.

1984 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 458-459
Author(s):  
Peter Messent
2019 ◽  
pp. 23-38
Author(s):  
Dan Dinello

This chapter looks at Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men in terms of one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse — Pestilence. It explains how Children of Men is described between apocalyptic and dystopian, two concepts that are often used interchangeably, but are actually different. It points out that dystopia suggests the perfection of a pernicious order, such as the rise of a dictatorial regime and oppression of minorities, while the apocalypse suggests the End-of-the-World. The chapter discusses the End-of-the-World fiction that exploded in the wake of 9/11 as it revealed breaches in security. It mentions Kirsten M. Thompson, who states that apocalypticism has a close connection to the science-fiction genre.


Hard Reading ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 89-102
Author(s):  
Tom Shippey

As a form, science fiction conceals homogeneity beneath apparent diversity. The diversity can be seen by looking at the range of paperbacks in any bookshop. One finds lumped together ‘end of the world’ stories, galactic empire stories, stories of the near future and, via time travel, of the very far past, as well as stories that have nothing to do with science at all but depend on magic, or the fantasy type known as ‘sword and sorcery’. One might well think that the inclusion of all these under one heading is just a mistake, that the diversity is genuine. There are two reasons for thinking that is not so: that there is something holding all this diversity together. One is temporary and practical; the other is an element that regular readers recognise, something that forms a large part of the genre’s appeal....


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