The Posthuman in the Schismatrix Stories and Eclipse Phase
The Posthuman in the Schismatrix Stories and Eclipse Phase
This chapter examines exemplary texts within science fiction, Bruce Sterling’s Schismatrix stories and the TRPG, Eclipse Phase (EP). It begins by looking at SF as a mythic form of storytelling, one rooted in modernity. It uses literary theorist Istvan Csicsery-Ronay’s ideas in The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction (2008) to argue that tropes within SF are often highly fantastic, the cyborg transforming into posthuman tropes far beyond simple human-machine interfaces. In Sterling’s stories we see this dynamic in extreme forms of posthuman imaginings. With Sterling, he represents both transhuman and posthuman possibilities, some as extreme as biological space stations. In EP, players can choose a variety of characters to play that go beyond normative human forms into the strange and exotic. This provides a template for posthuman subjectivity.
Keywords: Bruce Sterling, Schismatrix, Science fiction, Fantasy, Tabletop role-playing games, Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Posthumanization
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