Fiction Predictions Podcast
1) Catch 22 in 2019 (ft. Andy Hamilton)
Like '1984', 'Catch 22' is one of those books that's become a part of our everyday language.But when it comes to contemporary society, what exactly did Joseph Heller's famous satire predict?This is th...Show More
2) Neil Gaiman on 'Good Omens'
'Good Omens' is a book written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, 30 years ago.This year it also became a TV show.There's a reason for that. Now, with international tensions and the shadow of climate...Show More
3) 1984 in 2019, Part II
'1984' turned 70 years old today, but it doesn't feel outdated. In fact, it's constantly coming back to dominate the news. Just a few days ago, CNN's Jake Tapper tweeted a quote from the book that wen...Show More
4) Podcast Special: "We are all handmaids now"
A few weeks ago, a New Yorker cartoon of a bookstore employee moving a stack of dystopian novels from the 'fiction' section to the 'nonfiction' section went viral.It naturally set off a polarised...Show More
5) 1984 in 2019, Part I
George Orwell's '1984', a book about a dystopian future in which a totalitarian regime assumes full control over an individual's body and mind, suddenly shot to the top of the Amazon best-seller list ...Show More
6) How 'The Simpsons' predicted the cacophony of American politics
The Simpsons is constantly going viral for the ways it seems to predict aspects, both small and big, of our contemporary life.Politics is no exception. With the help of Mashable's Marcus Gilmer, we br...Show More
7) The novel that predicted the sinking of the Titanic
The sinking of the Titanic is one of the most infamous disasters of the 20th century. Almost everyone has heard of it.What far fewer people have heard of is a novel published 14 years earlier. A novel...Show More
8) How Stephen Merchant’s comedies predicted two existential crises we face today
This week's episode features an interview with writer/director Stephen Merchant, and two predictions for the price of one.For the first, Nik explores how The Office predicted a grim trend in work cult...Show More
How Stephen Merchant’s comedies predicted two existential crises we face today
33:22 | May 3rd, 2019
9) The 18th century prison that predicted the rise of our global surveillance society
We think about surveillance as a contemporary phenomenon. It's not.It all goes back to an 18th century prison design called the panopticon. If you've ever watched Guardians of the Galaxy or Lord ...Show More
The 18th century prison that predicted the rise of our global surveillance society
35:53 | Apr 26th, 2019
10) The 1979 Stephen King novel that predicted Donald Trump's rise
A controversial, anti-establishment politician with a frenzied fan-based. Plenty of people would read that description and think of Donald Trump.But it also describes a character that features in Step...Show More