Sci-fi and Fantasy for Peasants

Rite Gud

[Full transcript available here.]

Science fiction and fantasy can imagine many things–impossible worlds, unthinkable technology, fantastic creatures, magic, gods and monsters–but for some reason, a lot of SFF authors have a hard time imagining stories about poor people. Fantasy stories often focus on royalty. Sci-fi protagonists tend to be middle or upper class: tenured professors, scientists, white-collar astronauts, federal agents, military officers, that kind of thing. Even when a story starts with a poor protagonist, by the end they’ve usually achieved knighthood or become captain of a spaceship or something like that. But what’s wrong with writing about poor people or working class people? Don’t they have stories worth telling?

Links:

• About the Kinsey Institute
• We Will Support You: The Story of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners
• Christian Smalls: A New Kind of Labor Leader
• The Smol Bean Emperor
• The Wage Gap Among LGBTQ Workers in the United States
• The Disturbing Story of Death and Insanity at Wales’ Most Remote Lighthouse
• Qualia Redux: Is Twitter Dead?

About Rite Gud: Raquel S. Benedict is an author, appearing in Fantasy and Science Fiction and Gardner Dozois’ The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year’s Best Science Fiction. Matt Keeley, founder of Kittysneezes, is producing Rite Gud for KS Media, LLC. Rite Gud is a Kittysneezes production. If you have questions, comments and concerns, email ritegud – at – kittysneezes – dot – com. Rite Gud is also on Patreon, at patreon.com/ritegud. Patrons receive access to the official Kittysneezes Discord, exclusive episodes and more.

The Rite Gud theme is by OK Glass. Follow them on Twitter, YouTube and Bandcamp, and at OK.Glass.

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