Same here: re genre and publishing in general. Something around villains having a backstory, great for empathy, but still gotta call out the bad decisions and choices, often (exclusively?) for selfish reasons. We teach our kids this in black and white terms, but nuance /= excuse.

I highly recommend We Will Rise Again: Speculative Stories and Essays on Protest, Resistance, and Hope, edited by Malka Older, Annalee Newitz and Karen Lord. I wouldn't say it's "utopian" but def. about many ways to fight for, and build, a better future

www.simonandschuster.ca/books/We-Wil...

I've been increasingly bothered by absence of will to call out bad things as bad. And harmful people as harmful.

These conversations and "excavations" of who and why we are, are so good and so generative. Thank you to all the writers and thinkers on this panel!