In The Zone

Interesting chats with Mike and Josh

Snow Crash and the virtual world

In this episode, Mike and Josh talk about Snow Crash (1992) by Neal Stephenson. In the novel, the author presents the concept of the ‘Metaverse’ – a utopian vision of a collective virtual world. But is such a world even possible? Download the latest episode of the In The Zone podcast to find out!

Man Plus by Frederik Pohl

In the latest instalment of the In The Zone Book Club, Mike and Josh talk about Frederik Pohl’s Man Plus (1976) – a tale of biological transformation and computer control.

The noir crime fiction of James Ellroy

In the latest instalment of the In The Zone Book Club, Josh talks about the writer James Ellroy – an author who courts no small amount of controversy in his topics and approach to character.

Flowers for Algernon

In the first instalment of the In The Zone Book Club, Mike talks about his favourite novel, Flowers for Algernon (1966), and some of the philosophical implications of Charlie Gordon’s journey to genius.

Super-soldiers in sci-fi

In this episode, Mike and Josh discuss some of the early depictions of super-soldiers in science fiction, from Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers (1959) to Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War (1974).