Mark Bonnar

For this episode, we do something a little different and host a discussion with up-and-coming UK-based writer Dave Hartley.

Based in Manchester, England. Dave Hartley is a writer of science fiction and fantasy stories and fairly recently published his latest story called ‘Pigskin’, which is somewhat of a modern take on George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’.

Dave’s Works and Interests

As well as discussing his Phd, Dave Hartley also discussed some of his works of fiction. Some of the focus was on one of his most recent releases, “Pigskin”, a dark, twisted fable about the horrors of industrial farming. It’s available from the wonderful Fly on the Wall Press, which has published many other science fiction works, and other speculative fiction. Dave’s very much a writer who draws on what he believes in. For example, he’s an enthusiastic and dedicated animal rights activist. But we chose to stick with what we know most about, and further explore depictions of autism within the world of science fiction, within books and also in film and TV, too.

Autism Within Science Fiction

Dave’s favourite film is the fantastic Blade Runner (1982), from the wonderful Ridley Scott. His theses focuses on how it may well be a narrative concerning autism. Consequently, we considered other characters that might also be codified representations of autism. The obvious ones included Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Data (Brent Spiner), from the Star Trek franchise. But there were other interesting characters too, that emerged during the conversation. But we don’t want to tell you everything we discussed, you can listen for yourself. If you’ve some of your own favourite representations, then by all means leave us a comment and let us know what you think.

You can keep up with up and coming releases by Dave Hartley on his website and blog. His latest collection, “Incorcisms” is out now. If you’re interested in autistic representation, Dave runs Autism Through Cinema, his ongoing podcast series freely accessible on his site. 

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