Dr. Susan Bernardo, Professor of English and Chair of the English Department, who teaches courses on science fiction, nineteenth-century British literature and literary theory, has edited a book called Environments in Science Fiction: Essays on Alternative Spaces (McFarland 2014).
Prior to this book, she has published a co-written volume on the works of Ursula K. Le Guin, an essay on Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and Nicola Griffith's Slow River, and a chapter on C.J. Cherryh's Cyteen. She has also presented papers at conferences that focus on science fiction television. This new volume includes her essay on Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
The different essays collected in Environments in Science Fiction all respond to the question, How do spaces in science fiction, both built and unbuilt, help shape the relationships among humans, other animals and their shared environments? Spaces, as well as a sense of place or belonging, play major roles in many science fiction works. This book focuses especially on depictions of the future that include, and often move beyond, dystopias and offer us ways to imagine reinventing ourselves and our perspectives; especially our links to and views of new environments.