This week's #FreeFictionResponse essay is "The Purpose of Punishment" by Randy McDonald in response to @monicabyrne13.bsky.social "Golden Rule" from @issuesinst.bsky.social McDonald relates fundamental principles of correction to the justice system in "Golden Rule". issues.org/futuretensef...

This week's #FreeFictionFriday is 'Golden Rule' by @monicabyrne13.bsky.social. A legal system built on the concept of “an eye for an eye”; if you commit a crime, your punishment is that someday a network of state agents will perpetrate the same crime against you. issues.org/futuretensef...

Our latest issue of Imaginary Papers, our quarterly newsletter, is out now, featuring CY Ballard on the video game “Mutazione,”; Jason Nabi on the short story “Runaround”; and Vandana Singh on An Educator’s Guide to Climate Science and Colonialism. mailchi.mp/asu.edu/imag...

If climate fiction is your thing, don't miss this. June 10 I'm hosting Vandana Singh, Sheree Renée Thomas & Wole Talabi on how speculative storytelling shapes what futures feel possible. Free on Zoom | 11am ET. RSVP here: luma.com/19l5xgr9 #CliFi #Solarpunk #Climate #Fiction

This week’s #FreeFictionFriday is “Three-World Cantata” by Vandana Singh, part of the “Climate Imagination: Dispatches from Hopeful Futures” collection, a story of three manifestations of our current reality where realistic questions meet idealistic concepts. www.climatealmanac.org/pub/ud2xkkx1...

The Veterans Imagination Project is returning this fall! Our initiative to improve the transition from military service to civilian life using design thinking and strategic narrative foresight is free to all veterans in Arizona with paid research opportunities. Learn more: csi.asu.edu/veterans/apply

In mid April, speculative fiction magazine @strangehorizons.bsky.social published a review of "Climate Imagination: Dispatches from Hopeful Futures". Seamus Sullivan reflects on the diversity of adaptations relating to anthropogenic climate change around the world strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...

This week’s #freefictionfriday is “Notes for Adda” by Hannah Onoguwe. People from all walks of life grapple with the friction of readjusting to life after a contagious parasite shakes the community. How can the common good flourish when hope is shared? Read here: direct.mit.edu/books/oa-edi...

We couldn’t have wrapped this marvelous semester at CSI without the brilliant contributions of our student workers. Congratulations to our new graduates, Eliza DelaPaz, Laura Hechel, and Ethan Van Gils! Thank you for imagining with us. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for each of you!

Happy publishing day to our very imaginary friend @solarshades.club for the release of his debut novel, "Absence". Check out our interview with him for a closer look at his creative process: csi.asu.edu/projects/int.... "Absence" is available here: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/803125...

In March, Vector Magazine, critical journal of the British Science Fiction Association, released a review of our book "Climate Imagination: Dispatches from Hopeful Futures". The writer analyzes utopian futures and points out the uniqueness of collective imagination. vector-bsfa.com/2026/03/28/a...

This week’s #FreeFictionFriday is “Tomorrow is Another Daze” by @ernesthogan.bsky.social, a look at the relationship between rapidly growing technologies and the lives we’ve had without it. When the future shows up at the door, how do we define house-rules on the spot? csi.asu.edu/story/hogan-...

Fiction lovers! The Protopian Prize Fiction Contest invites artists, storytellers, and dreamers to share their vision of people working toward liberatory futures, meeting obstacles, & making real change. Hosted by @metagov.bsky.social and the Public AI Network. Learn more at protopianprize.com.

Steve Willis is a chemical engineer and Genevieve Hilton is an author and journalist. Together, they are the coauthors of Fairhaven: A Novel of Climate Optimism. For their fellowship project, they will present sessions on climate fiction storytelling. More info here: csi.asu.edu/community-cl...

In an article from Vector magazine, by the British Science Fiction Association, Ed Finn and Joey Eschrich discuss zoefuturism, and examine how the term relates to us as a collective of collaborators focused on imagining hopeful futures in a realistic way. Read here: vector-bsfa.com/2026/03/27/r...

Journalists, filmmakers, and content creators: Join us at the Outrider.org Nuclear Media Summit in Los Angeles on October 22–23! This free, two-day event will focus on how #nuclearweapons issues intersect with AI, community health, #climatechange, and outer space. APPLY: outrider.org/conference/2...

Marilinda Guerrero Valenzuela is a writer and storyteller who explores the boundaries between the real and the imagined. For her fellowship project, She will create a storytelling workshop on climate change, community realities, hope, and alternative futures. More info: csi.asu.edu/community-cl...

Happy Earth Day! Through books and essays, from community hackathons to United Nations convenings, and stories exploring everything from the depths of the ocean to the Atmosphæra Incognita above, we are delighted to share this corner of the galaxy with you. Photo: Earthset, Christina Koch/NASA

In celebration of Earth Month, the ASU Book Group's April 2026 reading selection is “Climate Imagination: Dispatches from Hopeful Futures,” edited by Center for Science and the Imagination Managing Editor Joey Eschrich and Director Ed Finn. Register here: asuevents.asu.edu/event/asu-bo...

This week’s #FreeFictionFriday is “When We Call a Place Home” by Chinelo Onwualu. Centuries of dark chronology for our world finally ends, and the blank slate it leaves behind gives way to a human-wide rebirth. From the wounds of the old world blooms a utopia. Read here: csi.asu.edu/story/chinel...

Vicky García Toloza’s career is a lawyer with a postgraduate degree in Pedagogy of Differences. For her project, She will create a set of three “Rolling Trees,” moveable shade structures, acting as community spaces for reflection, action, and connection. More info here: csi.asu.edu/people/vicky...

This week's #FreeFictionFriday is “Things That Bend, But Don’t Break” by S.B. Divya. Increasingly frequent storms worsen in Puerto Rico, but push for clean energy revitalizes the island. Read more here: csi.asu.edu/story/san-ju...

Tan Su Lin is an award-winning journalist, communications specialist, science communicator, and media trainer. Her fellowship project will take place in Sabah with the Kadazandusun people, the largest Indigenous group in Sabah. Read more here: csi.asu.edu/community-cl...

This week’s #FreeFictionFriday is “The Lullaby-Dirge” by Mason Carr. Climate change causes a slow-rumbling population crisis to reach an dire low, and the country comes to grasp a desperate solution. The nation learns to adapt, and new communities blossom. More here: csi.asu.edu/story/the-lu...

Today, NASA launched #ArtemisII, the first crewed mission to the Moon since 1972. Om Gawali talked to Dr. Anastasia Klimchynskaya about how Jules Verne’s stories have inspired spaceflight; youtu.be/pgGL_J1o7K8. 'From the Earth to the Moon' is open for preorder here mitpress.mit.edu/978026255386...

This month’s #FutureTenseFiction story is “The Pocket Box” by Gunnar Anderson. A new discovery breaks the bounds of physics as we once understood them. Quickly, scientific awe morphs into commercial prospecting—with little regulation and horrifying consequences. More here: issues.org/futuretensef...

This weeks #FreeFictionFriday is “Night Shift” by Eileen Gunn. Nights are slow at NASA for Sina as she supervises her evolving AI companion, Seth. When a problematic feature of Seth’s programming arises, it puts his ascribed personhood into question. Read here: csi.asu.edu/books/vvev/

Happy Sun Devil Giving Day, our imaginary friends! Every action we take builds a better tomorrow, so please consider giving to the future today. Thank you for your enthusiasm, your big ideas, and your support! Donate at csi.asu.edu/donate

This week’s #FreeFictionFriday is “The God of the Sea” by Barakat Akinsiku. After a natural disaster ruffles her close-knit beachside community, Layi unearths a curiosity within her for the powerful yet serene neighbor lapping at her home shore. Read more here: csi.asu.edu/books/everyt...

Wen Di Sia is a writer and researcher based in Malaysia. She was trained as a journalist, spent a decade in advertising, and now dedicates herself as a collaborative partner to Peninsular Malaysia’s Indigenous communities through Gerimis Art. Find our more here: csi.asu.edu/community-cl...

In a new episode of 'How We Future' by Lisa Kay Solomon releasing today, guest speakers Ed Finn and Ruth Wylie discuss the responsibilities of engineers and innovators towards both their crafts and their communities. Link here to listen: open.spotify.com/episode/1Xtt...

Our book "Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All Kinds" was recently mentioned in a Public Books article analyzing famous deviations of Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" that have arisen in the centuries since its release. Read here: www.publicbooks.org/victor-frank...

This weeks #FreeFictionFriday story is “Heart of the City” by Amy K. Nichols. In preparation of his last concert, Ari, a seasoned violinist, must reckon with his last performance. As he takes the stage, he realizes a truth about empathy and harnesses kinship. Read here: csi.asu.edu/books/sounds...

Diana Seecharran is a lecturer in the Department of Biology at the University of Guyana. For her Community Climate Fellowship project, she will host workshops on climate change and resilient futures for Grade 9 students from four schools in Georgetown, Guyana. More here: csi.asu.edu/community-cl...

“Our Radioactive Neighbors” was recently mentioned in an ASU News piece bringing perspective on the challenges we face with rising energy, how we’re addressing waste storage, and how to see these problems through a hopeful lens that our book strive to provide. Read here: news.asu.edu/20260218-sci...

This week's #FreeFictionFriday story is "What would Akanda do?" by Samit Basu from Issues magazine. Find the link to read the story here: issues.org/futuretensef...

Ebi Robert is a lawyer and speculative fiction author. His Community Climate Fellowship project is based in Yenagoa, Nigeria, where he will lead a set of activities to raise awareness of climate issues and encourage people to envision climate futures. More info here: csi.asu.edu/community-cl...

A State Press article on the growth of AI was recently published featuring Ed Finn. He was quoted for his ideas on the way human samplings are used by AI, and how this can lead to controversial AI responses that would otherwise appear to be system error. Read here: www.statepress.com/article/2026...

Earlier today, 'Symphony From the League of American Orchestras' published a news brief on "Sound Systems", one of our newer collections. Symphony gives a brief discourse on concepts found in the book, and provides a synopsis on its origination! Link for more here: symphony.org/sound-system...

The latest Imaginary Papers issue is out now, featuring Anne Johnson on speculative documentary films, Brenda Cooper on the novel Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, and Troy Wiggins on applying Afrofuturism to community futures. mailchi.mp/asu.edu/imag....

This week’s #FreeFictionFriday piece is “Pursuant to the Agreement” by Andrew Dana Hudson. Disputes over nuclear waste storage have reshaped the nation. Through artifacts, documents, private messages, and letters, we see rising tensions that began splintering the states. csi.asu.edu/books/radnei...

Mito Reyes is a writer, editor, and researcher who holds a PhD in Hispanic Literature. He'll lead a sci-fi writing exercise for exploring the relationship between humans, the natural world, and the cosmos according to the tenets of Ayöök thought. More info: us5.campaign-archive.com?e=__test_ema...

In this week's #FreeFictionFriday story, “Generating Hope” by Carter Meland from the Our Radioactive Neighbors collection, a touch between a girl and nuclear waste brings on a transcendent connection and sparks a decades-long companionship. Find the link to read here: csi.asu.edu/books/radnei...

Our third climate community fellow is Rodrigo Bastidas Pérez, based in Pasto, Colombia, a university professor who holds a PhD in Literature, as well as the general editor of the publishing house Ediciones Vestigio. Read about his fellowship project here! us5.campaign-archive.com?e=__test_ema...

Join CSI and our friends from the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics and the Humanities Institute for Douglass Day’s annual Transcribe-a-Thon, gathering thousands of people from around the globe to create new & freely available resources for learning Black history. Learn more at csi.asu.edu/events

In this weeks #FreeFictionFriday response essay to Andrew Liptak's 'Deficiency Agent', Candace Rondeaux asserts a new "lack of intelligence" emerging in real-life conflict zones and reflected in the world of 'Deficiency Agent'; the new "human hesitation" in the place of human error.

In this #FreeFictionFriday, "Deficiency Agent," author Andrew Liptak follows a platoon of soldiers who receive counterintuitive commands from TION, an AI navigation system, and find themselves in a dangerous situation that sets human judgment against algorithmic authority. issues.org/futuretensef...

In this piece from the Climate Fiction Writers League,  our own Ed Finn and Joey Eschrich share a list of writing tips, tricks, and tools inspired by our latest publication, "Climate Imagination" Visit the link below to dive in! climatefictionwritersleague.substack.com/p/imagining-...

This week’s #FreeFictionFriday is ‘Welcome to Hillsville’ by Justina Ireland. The peaceful city of Hillsville is tucked comfortably into the bustle of suburban life until conversations about nuclear storage disrupt the daily routine. Read here: csi.asu.edu/story/city-o...

Join us for a free virtual event as part of the 2026 Learning Planet Festival, hosted by the Learning Planet Institute and UNESCO! Learn more and see the full program of events running from January 21-28 at learning-planet.org. Link to register here: asu.zoom.us/webinar/regi...