Story Archives - Center for Science and the Imagination

Story

A busy space port with a clear ceiling looking up into the vastness of space.

Concluding Thoughts

Section V: Concluding Thoughts When we first arrived, and for twenty years after that, Mars was like Antarctica but even purer. We were outside the world, we didn’t even own

Illustration for Vandana Singh's story "Shikasta," showing an orbiter circling a planet, mostly in shadow, with its sun in the background.

Exoplanets

Section IV: Exoplanets Suddenly Nadia felt a breeze swirl through her nervous system, running up her spine and out into her skin; her cheeks tingled, and she could feel her

Illustration for Ramez Naam's story "The Use of Things," showing an astronaut grappling on the surface of an asteroid, along with several small mining robots.

Asteroids

Section III: Asteroids Back in the socket, on the other side of the cable, upbound elevator cars were being loaded with refined metals, platinum, gold, uranium, and silver. Then the

Mars

Section II: Mars She tumbled, landed on a knee and both hands. Her gloves broke through the duricrust. It felt like a layer of caked sand at the beach, only

Illustration for Carter Scholz's story "Vanguard 2.0." A spacecraft with a mechanical arm protruding from it, capturing a the tiny Vanguard orbiter.

Low Earth Orbit

Section I: Low Earth Orbit “But the General Assembly can’t be happy that you’ve given the first concession to an old South African weapons manufacturer!” Helmut shrugged. “Armscor has very

Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities: A Collection of Space Futures

That is utopia … especially for primitives and scientists, which is to say everybody. Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars You are reading the HTML version of Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities: A Collection

ORN Essays

You are reading the HTML version of Our Radioactive Neighbors: Collaborative Imagination, Community Futures, and Nuclear Siting Practices. Visit the book’s home page to download it for free in other formats,

Pursuant to the Agreement

Pursuant to the Agreement Andrew Dana Hudson You are reading the HTML version of Our Radioactive Neighbors: Collaborative Imagination, Community Futures, and Nuclear Siting Practices. Visit the book’s home page to

Generating Hope

Generating Hope Carter Meland You are reading the HTML version of Our Radioactive Neighbors: Collaborative Imagination, Community Futures, and Nuclear Siting Practices. Visit the book’s home page to download it for

City of Hillsville

City of Hillsville Justina Ireland You are reading the HTML version of Our Radioactive Neighbors: Collaborative Imagination, Community Futures, and Nuclear Siting Practices. Visit the book’s home page to download it

Return to Sender

Return to Sender Sarena Ulibarri You are reading the HTML version of Our Radioactive Neighbors: Collaborative Imagination, Community Futures, and Nuclear Siting Practices. Visit the book’s home page to download it

Our Radioactive Neighbors

Sound Systems: The Future of the Orchestra

Edited by Alex Laing, Joey Eschrich, and Ed Finn You are reading the HTML version of Sound Systems: The Future of the Orchestra. Visit the book’s home page to download it

A colorful, visually dense composition organized around a circle outlined in white. The circle may or may not resemble an eye, and its interior, as well as the space around it, are filled with colorful marks and patterns in shades of green, yellow, red, and purple.

Orchestra as Infrastructure

Orchestra as Infrastructure You are reading the HTML version of Sound Systems: The Future of the Orchestra. Visit the book’s home page to download it for free in other formats, including

Illustration of a circular planet, with visual motifs reminiscent of circuitry, and an eye, inside the circle. From the edge of the circle grow 9 trees of different shapes and colors. The trunk of each tree resembles a real or fictional musical instrument.

Orchestra as Network

Orchestra as Network You are reading the HTML version of Sound Systems: The Future of the Orchestra. Visit the book’s home page to download it for free in other formats, including

Illustration of a violin superimposed over a crowd of people. Around the edges of the violin, buildings sprout, like a skyline. From the crowd in the background, rainbow strands of light emanate, and form a heart that rings the violin.

Orchestra as Game

Orchestra as Game You are reading the HTML version of Sound Systems: The Future of the Orchestra. Visit the book’s home page to download it for free in other formats, including

An illustration combining sheet music with a layered set of horizontally layered natural scenes: a sky with clouds, trees, a ground layer with bugs and amphibians, and a water layer with fish.

Orchestra for Public Good

Orchestra for Public Good You are reading the HTML version of Sound Systems: The Future of the Orchestra. Visit the book’s home page to download it for free in other formats,

Introduction: New Stories, New Games

You are reading the HTML version of Sound Systems: The Future of the Orchestra. Visit the book’s home page to download it for free in other formats, including .epub and .mobi.

A collage art piece with the following text on the image: Image description Collage art piece, an aerial view of an island made up of paper stained green with descriptive text cut into short phrases printed from a typewriter onto parchment-like paper. The island is surrounded by multiple rings of ink on watercolor paper

The Island, by Elsa Sjunneson

A story about ability and disability, journalism, and creating adaptable communities.

Sympathy, by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

A story by Suyi Davies Okungbowa about children, robots, and bureaucracy.

A paint and paper collage of a wrought iron fence over grass transitioning to tall sunflowers over rich brown soil.

University, Speaking, by Phoebe Wagner

A story by Phoebe Wagner about reimagining universities as radically open to their communities, and better attuned to addressing local challenges.

Becoming Birch, by Carter Meland

A story by Carter Meland about rock music, unexpected connections, and northern Minnesota forests.