Are there times when you wonder what sort of world our children and grandchildren will inherit? Grace Chan has created an online world called Gaia in which the people of 2080 take refuge from the climate ravaged earth. Gaia is clean, beautiful and exciting and it’s just announced the opportunity for citizens to shake off their bodies entirely and permanently upload their consciousness to it. Gaia seems to have everything, but is it enough?

And…

Join Annie Hastwell’s discussion with retired ABC Radio host Annie Warburton about Phillip Roth, the author whose book “Portnoy’s Complaint” was considered so filthy in 1969 it was banned from being imported into Australia. The ensuing court battles helped define Australia’s censorship laws and ensured an end to book bans in this country.

Guests:

Grace Chan, author of “Every Version of You”

Annie Warburton and Annie Hastwell discuss Philip Roth’s books “Portnoy’s Complaint” (1969), “The Breast” (1972), “My Life as a Man” (1974), “The Human Stain” (2000), “The Plot Against America” (2004) and “Nemesis” (2010)

Our Random reader: Mads

Grace’s tsundoku contains “Empathy” by Fay Lee, “Everything Feels Like the End of the World” by Else Fitzgerald, “Terminal Boredom” by Izumi Suzuki, “I’m waiting for You” by Bo-Young Kim and “Where the Stars Rise: Asian Science Fiction and Fantasy” edited by Lucas K. Law and Derwin Mak

Mads was first inspired to read by the Ramona Quimby books by Beverley Clearey, then “Tomorrow When the World Began” by John Marsden and the complete works of Jane Austen. These days she’s reading “Raising Girls” by Maggie Dent, “Seeing Other People” and “Love and Virtue” by Dianna Reid, “The Paper Palace” by Miranda Cowley Heller and “A Room Made of Leaves” by Kate Grenville.

Music composed by Quentin Grant 

Insta: @gracechanwrites
Insta: @affirmpress