Today we introduce a series of questions from high school student Jason doing on a project on expertise, who asks: “I’m writing a story in which one can steal powers from those they kill. What fictional or real-world sources can I draw from?”
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Jeanne asks: “What about a medical apocalypse? Either as the cause or effect of the collapse of civilization?”
Resources Mentioned
1491 by Charles C. Mann
Earth Abides by George Stewart
The Stand by Stephen King
The Walking Dead (TV and comic series)
Resident Evil film series
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
The Omega Man (film)
The Last Man on Earth (film)
I am Legend (film)
28 Days Later
The Last Man by Mary Shelley
The Scarlet Plague by Jack London
World War Z by Max Brooks
Jeremiah TV series
12 Monkeys
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
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Robert asks: As a follow up to ep 499 – How would being a slave shape a character’s personality?
Resources mentioned
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
The Gulag Archipeligo by Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn
How the Scots Invented the Modern World
David Hume: The Essential Philosophical Works
Two Treatises of Government, John Locke
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
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Simons asks: Are there any incorrect or inaccurate tropes that you just can’t stand?
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Robert asks: How do you get into the mindset of an invader culture?
Resources Mentioned
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Paths of Glory
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Tarquin asks: “Everyone is talking about cultural appropriation. What’s the deal?”
Resources Mentioned:
The Mikado
Soviet War Crimes
Pol Pot
Great Leap Forward
Nazi extermination camps
Rape of Nanking
Unit 731
Native Americans in the United States
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Simon says: “I want to learn more about history and science. Where should I go?”
Resources Mentioned:
Hardcore History
EconTalk
Planet Money
Naked Scientists
Commonwealth Club of California
Today I Found Out
VisualPolitik
James Burke’s The Day The Universe Changed, and Connections
Richard Feynman Lectures
OpenCulture
Long Now Foundation
Council on Foreign Relations
The Bible Geek
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Charles asks:
“What’s the big deal about pulp? What did the pulp writers do right? What did they do wrong? What can we learn?”
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Resources:
The Rocketeer
The Knife Slipped by Earl Stanley Gardner
The Case of the Backward Mule by Earl Stanley Gardner
The Pulp Jungle The Definitive History of the Pulp Era
The Invaders Plan by L. Ron Hubbard
The Robert Silverberg Science Fiction Megapack
Doc Savage: The Sinster Shadow by Kenneth Robeson (Lester Dent)
The Girl With the Deep Blue Eyes by Lawrence Block
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Alaska by James Michner
Exodus by Leon Uris
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JR asks:
“How is an author different from a writer?”
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