GIVEN THAT SHE writes so eloquently, there’s a certain irony in Arkady Martine’s abiding interest in what happens when people don’t understand each other. “I am deeply fascinated by a communication failure,” says the author (real name AnnaLinden Weller), “and the places where people, worldviews or conceptions of reality just don’t match up, in such a profound way that people stop thinking about each other as people.”
It’s a theme that runs through Martine’s duology, A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace. The books centre on Mahit Dzmare, an ambassador from a space station sent to the heart of the Teixcalaanli Empire, a place where being an outsider equates to being uncultured, a barbarian.
In part, her fascination is rooted in our current troubled times, where different groups construct their own realities. But it’s also an interest that reaches back to growing up as “a strange child” who felt “as if all the other children were aliens – or it was probably me since they all seemed to have figured it out”.
Then there’s the 1532 encounter between conquistador Francisco Pizarro and the last Inca emperor, Atahualpa when suspicion escalated into the Spanish killing thousands in the Massacre of Cajamarca. Martine came across an account in an article when she was a student*, and it made a lasting impression.
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Denne historien er fra March 2021-utgaven av SFX.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Making Alien - Jaws in Space - Forty-five years on from its original release, Alien continues to terrify. We dissect what arguably remains the most chilling instalment in the saga
The seven-strong crew of the commercial mining spacecraft the Nostromo seal their fate after reluctantly responding to a mysterious distress signal on a hostile planet. Here, a face-hugging alien from a derelict ship impregnates and later kills executive officer Kane (John Hurt) after its offspring is birthed onboard. After being unleashed, the fearsome newborn with acid for blood proceeds to dispatch the remainder of the crew.Ridley Scott's much more convoluted prequels have yet to reveal how the knowledge that led to this initial interception was acquired. However, the premise of the original Alien is perfect in its uncomplicated purity.
PURE AND SIMPLE
IN THE FINAL PART OF OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, SHOWRUNNER RUSSELL T DAVIES TALKS RELAUNCHING DOCTOR WHO
TO CAP IT ALL OFF
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF THE BBC SERIES THE TRIPODS
FRENCH REVOLUTION
THE WALKING DEAD SPIN-OFF SHOWRUNNER DAVID ZABEL ON BEING GIVEN THE TOUGH TASK OF REUNITING DARYL AND CAROL IN FRANCE
SILENT KILLERS
THE DIRECTOR OF HOLLYWOOD'S SPEAK NO EVIL REMAKE ON HORROR, COMEDY AND JAMES MCAVOY
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
THE GHOST WITH THE MOST RETURNS FINALLY - IN BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
TEENAGE DREAM
JOE LOCKE HITS THE ROAD RUNNING
MOB RULE THE PENGUIN
GOTHAM'S UP FOR GRABS IN BRUISING NEW CRIME SAGA BUT WHERE IS THE BATMAN?
SEASON OF THE WITCH
AS MARVEL TELEVISION CARVES OUT A NEW PATH FOR ITSELF, WE SPEAK TO CREATOR JAC SCHAEFFER, PLUS A CAST OF STARS LED BY KATHRYN HAHN AND JOE LOCKE, ABOUT THE MAGIC OF WANDAVISION'S SPIN-OFF AGATHA ALL ALONG
Ghouls Allowed
Even silence can't save you at this year's Halloween Horror Nights