fiction

Sci-Fi’s Lessons in Neutrality

By Suspending Reality, We Can Better See What Is Possible

Can we, and should we, ever really be neutral? In a new series, Zócalo explores the idea of neutrality—in politics, sports, gender, journalism, international law, and more. In this essay, philosopher Matías Graffigna explains how science fiction and fantasy can help us contemplate a wider range of possibilities.

“I just wanted to be honest. I don’t want to get mixed up in this conflict. I want to remain neutral,” Geralt of Rivia tells his good friend Yarpen, a dwarf. “It’s impossible!” yells Yarpen in response. …

by Matías Graffigna |

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A man helps a young girl with her fishing pole, which currently has a large book at the end of the hook.

Fishin’ for Summer 2024 Books to Read?

Zócalo’s Friends and Contributors Have Reeled in Some Fresh Nonfiction for You

Once again, Zócalo has cast our net wide, asking friends and contributors to take part in a beloved Public Square tradition: our annual compilation of nonfiction book recommendations for summer. …

California Is Full of Sh–t

And So Is Zócalo’s Regular Columnist. Inspired by the Oscar-Nominated American Fiction, I’m Taking Over This Column to Deliver Hard Truths

by VIC T.R. FRISBEE |

I walked by Billy Hearst’s old headquarters in L.A.’s stinking downtown, chatting up the bums and streetwalkers. Turned out I was married to one of the gals back in ’02, …

Los Angeles Is an Unreliable Narrator | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Los Angeles Is an Unreliable Narrator

The Truest Thing About the City: We Are All Just Making It Up as We Go Along

by David L. Ulin |

Los Angeles is an unreliable narrator. The very cityscape is an illusion, albeit on the grand scale—streets and buildings, the human design of it, erected on a bed of sand …

Can Fiction Teach Us How to Live in a World Full of Suffering?

Reading and Writing Can Help Us Understand the Difficult Past and Imagine Better Futures

by Adria Bernardi |

Any work of fiction is an investigation of aftermath, borne of the world that has already occurred. Fiction offers readers as well as writers the possibility to explore past transgressions …

Zócalo’s 2023 Summer Reading List Delivers Much-Needed R&R

Your Season of Rest and Reads Is Here, Courtesy of Our Friends and Contributors

This summer, we could all use a little R&R—rest and reads, that is. And while Zócalo can’t help you with the first part (though if we could send a beach …


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