ABSTRACT
The entrainment of neoliberal ideology in the production of science fiction (SF) makes much contemporary SF complicit in perpetuating the inevitability of a dystopian future world. The prospects of a sustainable world are better served by “critical” forms of utopian and dystopian SF which demand a cognitive response whose ethical and empathetic ramifications may extend into readers’ lives beyond the text. This chapter offers a theoretical framework and practical guidance to facilitate creative writing students’ dialogic activity in responding to cognitive SF and creating and critiquing their own SF stories. Crucial to the usefulness of both the stories and the pedagogical processes discussed is the provision of “space” in which the reader’s or student’s authentic responses may emerge.
