Us in Flux

Us in Flux is a series of short stories and virtual gatherings that explore themes of community, collaboration, and collective imagination in response to transformative events.

We are currently on hiatus. While we’re taking an indefinite pause on publishing and events, Us in Flux was recently the focus of a special symposium section in the Winter 2021 issue of the journal SFRA Review, an open-access publication of the Science Fiction Research Association. The symposium features several pieces of fiction from Us in Flux, alongside analytical essays from scholars of speculative fiction, an essay from science fiction author, physicist, and climate researcher Vandana Singh, and concluding reflections from Ed Finn, director of the Center for Science and the Imagination.

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“Tomorrow Is Another Daze” by Ernest Hogan

A story about Aztlán, creative reuse, and making technology work for you.

Conversations—Ernest Hogan and Frederick Luis Aldama

“Even God Has a Place Called Home” by Ray Mwihaki

A story about environmental health, technophilia, and transcendence.

Conversations—Ray Mwihaki and Christopher Rowe

“The Wandering City,” by Usman T. Malik

A story about temporal anomalies, public spaces, and a new global consciousness.

Conversations—Usman T. Malik and James Graham

“A Cyber-Cuscuta Manifesto” by Regina Kanyu Wang

A story about big data, emerging life forms, and a plea for coexistence.

Conversations—Regina Kanyu Wang and Athena Aktipis

“Notice” by Sarah Pinsker

A tale of unanticipated mail and the limits of self-reliance.

Conversations— Sarah Pinsker and Punya Mishra

“Fourth and Most Important” by Nisi Shawl

A tale of coded messages, clandestine drone deliveries, and surprising alliances.

Conversations— Nisi Shawl and Ayana Jamieson

Two portraits embroidered on a quilt. The portrait on the left is stitched with black thread on white linen and the portrait on the right is stitched with various colored thread on a dark denim patch.

“Skating Without Streetlights” by Tina Connolly

A story about virtual reality, friendship, and the unexpected benefits of impersonation.

Conversations— Tina Connolly and Dennis Bonilla

A couch in front of a window, but it is pieced from multiple fabrics and quilted. It is fragmented and multicolored.

“A Room of One’s Own” by Tochi Onyebuchi

A tale of quantum entanglement and self-care.

Conversations—Tochi Onyebuchi and Michael G. Bennett

Fabric resist and dye piece depicting the moon over the ocean.

“When We Call a Place Home” by Chinelo Onwualu

A utopian tale of historical memory, the dangers of forgetting…and vampires.

Conversations—Chinelo Onwualu and Robert Evans

Green linen embroidered with the white outline of a squirrel, and five leaf shapes cut from multiple colors of fabric secured to the linen with cross stitches in various colors.

“An Attempt at Exhausting My Deck” by Kij Johnson

A short story about backyard ecology, interspecies communities, careful observation, and solitude without loneliness.

Conversations—Kij Johnson and Jessie Rack

Illustrationdone in fabric, quilted landscape with small person looking over vast hills covered in crops.

“The Parable of the Tares” by Christopher Rowe

A short story about food, monoculture, and communities that draw together the human and nonhuman.

Conversations—Christopher Rowe and Michael Bell

Five separate works by Nina Miller for the Us In Flux series. From left to right; a quilt sewn with black thread, embroidered leaves, fabric resist and dye piece, a second quilt sewn with white thread, a woman embroidered with thread

The Art of Us in Flux: An Interview with Nina Miller

A conversation about art that visualizes the future, creative expression in moments of crisis, and how art can be a path into fictional worlds.