In 2015 I was implanted with a spinal cord stimulator to treat neuropathic pain caused by a small cyst in my spinal cord. I had just turned twenty and I was scared. The idea of having a battery inside me was an odd one, and one of my primary coping mechanisms was to call myself a cyborg. My new robotic identity was fully embraced, and I like to think it's what made me dip my toe in the world of all things posthuman.
I've always been a lover of fantasy and science fiction. As a young girl I devoured Linda Chapman's two main series' My Secret Unicorn and Stardust (and bombarded her with letters... sorry, Linda!). As I got older, R. J. Anderson's faerie series caught my attention and I've been hooked ever since. Magic provided for me, as it does for a lot of people, an escape. But it wasn't until my job as a bookseller in Waterstones, or indeed my science fiction module in my final year of my English degree, that I truly appreciated the world of science fiction in all its glory.
Of course, science fiction is a broad term, if not a contentious one; different people have different definitions but here I'm using it to mean fiction that imagines the unknown - whether scientific or fantastical, this planet or our own. It's a genre that has caught my eye and grabbed my heart, and I just can't seem to let go of it - not quite yet.
As a full time Master's student at the University of Kent studying The Contemporary, I have to complete a 12,000 word dissertation. I've chosen to look at posthuman bodies, and how literature can be a space in which to imagine bodies outside of ideological policing and control. (It's all still in the planning stages, bear with...) As a (sporadic) blogger at practicallyalice.blogspot.com, I decided I'd like to create blog dedicated to not only my academic research, but my personal interest and love of all things sci-fi.
I'm planning on using this space to write about posthuman texts I read (such as Naomi Alderman's The Power), television shows I see (did someone say Orphan Black?) and all things academic (or not) that I consume over the next couple of months (and hopefully beyond!)
I hope you will find some interest in my journey (if anything I can just ramble about science fiction and the joys of being a cyborg without having to eat anyone's ear off) and find some joy in perusing the texts I discuss. If you'd like to chat to me, I'm reachable on twitter or feel free to bob a comment below.
Grab a cuppa, and let's delve into the wonderful world of science fiction...
I've always been a lover of fantasy and science fiction. As a young girl I devoured Linda Chapman's two main series' My Secret Unicorn and Stardust (and bombarded her with letters... sorry, Linda!). As I got older, R. J. Anderson's faerie series caught my attention and I've been hooked ever since. Magic provided for me, as it does for a lot of people, an escape. But it wasn't until my job as a bookseller in Waterstones, or indeed my science fiction module in my final year of my English degree, that I truly appreciated the world of science fiction in all its glory.
Of course, science fiction is a broad term, if not a contentious one; different people have different definitions but here I'm using it to mean fiction that imagines the unknown - whether scientific or fantastical, this planet or our own. It's a genre that has caught my eye and grabbed my heart, and I just can't seem to let go of it - not quite yet.
As a full time Master's student at the University of Kent studying The Contemporary, I have to complete a 12,000 word dissertation. I've chosen to look at posthuman bodies, and how literature can be a space in which to imagine bodies outside of ideological policing and control. (It's all still in the planning stages, bear with...) As a (sporadic) blogger at practicallyalice.blogspot.com, I decided I'd like to create blog dedicated to not only my academic research, but my personal interest and love of all things sci-fi.
I'm planning on using this space to write about posthuman texts I read (such as Naomi Alderman's The Power), television shows I see (did someone say Orphan Black?) and all things academic (or not) that I consume over the next couple of months (and hopefully beyond!)
I hope you will find some interest in my journey (if anything I can just ramble about science fiction and the joys of being a cyborg without having to eat anyone's ear off) and find some joy in perusing the texts I discuss. If you'd like to chat to me, I'm reachable on twitter or feel free to bob a comment below.
Grab a cuppa, and let's delve into the wonderful world of science fiction...
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