It’s dreary out there, folks. Not just because Punxsutawney Phil cursed us with six more weeks of winter, either—the world has become a particularly dark place over the past few weeks.

With that in mind, this week Tertiary hosts Heaven-Leigh and Justin crack a window to let in a little fresh air and tackle questions like: How can art be a survival tool? What does speculative fiction have to teach us, not only about enduring difficult times but imagining better worlds? Winding their way through examples of dystopian action thrillers, post-apocalyptic survival films and bingeable zombie series, this episode considers the open question of humanity’s survival from a bird’s eye view.

Speaking of birds, Justin and Heaven-Leigh also find time to settle the Pigeon versus Crow debate, speculate whether the Last Supper was the first murder mystery, and—as appears to be a recurring topic—discuss the importance of reality TV, “white noise” television, and other forms of mindless entertainment.

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Assigned Reading

• The Left Hand of Darkness, 50th Anniversary Edition (Ace, 1987), by Ursula K Le Guin, “Author’s Note” (find the edition referenced here)
• The Road (Vintage, 2007), by Cormac McCarthy (find it here)
• “Doomsday Preppers and the Architecture of Dread” (Geoforum, December 2021), by Bradley Garrett (read it here)

Further Reading / Watching

The Once and Future King by T. H. White; Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements edited by Adrienne Maree Brown and Walidah Imarisha; The Road, narrated by Tom Stechschulte, and the film; Tales from Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin; Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler; Solaris by Stanisław Lem.

And as promised, ”A Bird Hit My Window and Now I’m a Lesbian.”

Our intro and outro music comes from “Cloud Dancer” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0.