The Dystopian Present

Fantastic Blackness is an irregular podcast by Shanté Paradigm Smalls focused on Black Queer Trans art, politics, aesthetics, and news. Features interviews with artmakers, reviews of art shows, stage plays, books, film and television, and topical discussion.Guest: andré m carrington is a scholar of race, gender, and genre in Black and American cultural production. He is Associate Professor of English at the University of California, Riverside where he also directs the program in Speculative Fictions & Cultures of Science. His first book, Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction (Minnesota, 2016) interrogates the cultural politics of race in the fantastic genres and fan cultures. He is editor of The Black Fantastic (2025), the Library of America anthology of contemporary short speculative fiction by Black authors. His forthcoming book, Audiofuturism, on radio adaptations of Black speculative texts. He is a past recipient of fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard and the National Humanities Center. His writing appears in journals, books, and blogs including Verso and Black Perspectives. He lives in Riverside and he enjoys birding.SPS: tell me about what brought you to sci fi, speculation, fantasy?SPS: why do you write about sci fi, blackness, gender, and genre?SPS: how is West coast US sci fi different from East coast US sci fi?SPS: if you had to pick a dystopian work to describe our world right now, what would it be?SPS: let’s talk about your books: first, tell me about your forthcoming work Audiofuturism (2026) and then let’s talk about The Black Fantastic (2025) which came out in Feb 2025 and then your first book, Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction (2016)SPS: what sci fi film, books, comics, or music are you grooving to right now?SPS: thank you so much for joining us todayShow notes: Media we discussedThe Girl with All the GiftsThe Black FantasticThree Body ProblemThe Girl Who Was Plugged InAndorRogue OneIdiocracyKinning by Nisi ShawlSpeculative Relations: Indigenous Worlding and Repair, Joseph M. PierceThe End of the World as We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand

A special solo episode from Shanté Paradigm Smalls, The Dystopian Present, explores a new magazine-style format where the podcast covers several different topics.

Hosts Shanté Paradigm Smalls and Tavia Nyong'o dig into why horror is trending in Black entertainment today. They discuss how horror, like comedy, allows space for the unsayable or the indelicate, and how Black horror can directly address the everyday horrors of racism and gender terrorism, heightened by and contrasted with more supernatural effects.

Hosts Shanté Paradigm Smalls and Tavia Nyong'o discuss Shanté's new book, Hip Hop Heresies: Queer Aesthetics in New York CityThanks to our ace producer Alex van Gils and to NYU Press for the cover image of Hip Hop Heresies. Artwork by Qrky. Music in this episode by B.Q.E. “Understand/Overstand” and Blocka Beats, “Peace and Grow.” Peace Out! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this two part conversation with MacArthur Genius Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Shanté and Tav discuss making black theater and television now. In addition to Branden’s work on adapting Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred (1979) and Alan Moore’s Watchmen (1986) to the screen, topics discussed include #WhiteTheaterWeSeeYou , #BlackLiveMatter, and the enduring influence of Performance Studies on all three.Part 2 of 2. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this two part conversation with MacArthur Genius Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Shanté and Tav discuss making black theater and television now. In addition to Branden’s work on adapting Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred (1979) and Alan Moore’s Watchmen (1986) to the screen, topics discussed include #WhiteTheaterWeSeeYou , #BlackLiveMatter, and the enduring influence of Performance Studies on all three.Part 1 of 2. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the first episode of season two of Fantastic Blackness, hosts Tav and Shanté discuss Lovecraft Country, and what could have been (and may still be if picked up by another streaming service or network) on Season 2.For show notes, check out the substack: https://fantasticblackness.substack.com/p/spooky-pride-2021-hbos-lovecraft Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosts Shanté and Tav sit down with author Zakiyyah Iman Jackson to break down her new book: Becoming Black: Matter and Meaning in an Antiblack World. You can find Professor Jackson's book on her website: https://www.zakiyyahimanjackson.com.Cover art contains artwork from the book's original cover art by Nandipha Mntambo, the piece is called Europa, from 2008. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosts Shanté and Tav discuss things Black and Fantastic from within the COVID-19 pandemic and a heightened anti-Black racial pandemic. Our hosts reflect on academia, performative allyship, and share their pandemic playlists and reading lists. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosts Shanté and Tav welcome guest Jayna Brown (Media Studies, Pratt Institute) to discuss Octavia Butler’s Parable series and her forthcoming book, Black Utopias.Recorded via videoconferencing during COVID-19 quarantine.This episode's image contains original book cover artwork by John Jude Palencar. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.