Welcome to Disasters Maybe, a podcast about disaster imagination in contemporary fiction. I’m Jordi Serrano-Muñoz, and in this show, I talk with scholars and writers about what imagining catastrophe can -and cannot - do for our understanding of the different crises we are living through.
Disasters Maybe is part of the research project “Disaster Distortion: Climate Crisis Representation in Contemporary Transpacific Literature”, funded by the European Union through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Grant 101146614.
In this final episode, I talk with Australian author Rose Michael about how resilience can emerge not just from survival, but from reimagining normality itself. Her latest novel, Else, questions the arbitrariness of social acceptability and explores how neurodivergent experiences can be attuned to environmental collapse. Rose’s approach invites us to see disaster not only as an endpoint, but as a space for new relationships with land, non-human life, and ourselves. Her framing offers a hopeful, expansive outlook that emphasizes interconnectedness, experimental forms, and the power of storytelling to reshape our collective future.
Rose Michael is a novelist, critic and academic based in Melbourne, Australia.
Works discussed:
Else (2025) - Rose Michael
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Disasters Maybe is part of the research project “Disaster Distortion: Climate Crisis Representation in Contemporary Transpacific Literature”, funded by the European Union through the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action Grant 101146614. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union.
28 Jun 2026
Ecoanxiety and Young Adult Fiction - with Chiara Xausa
Eco-anxiety is a problem of our times and younger generations are the more affected. What is the role of narratives in mediating these emotions and in articulating a possible path for action? In this episode, I talk with Chiara Xausa about how young adult climate fiction can foster agency rather than helplessness, turning individual anguish into social mobilization.
Chiara Xausa is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bologna and the University of Idaho who specializes in young adult climate fiction and econarratology.
Works mentioned:
A Children's Bible (2020) - Lydia Millet
How Beautiful We Were (2021) - Imbolo Mbue
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Disasters Maybe is part of the research project “Disaster Distortion: Climate Crisis Representation in Contemporary Transpacific Literature”, funded by the European Union through the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action Grant 101146614. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union.
28 Jun 2026
In Awe with Solarpunk - with Ciarán Kavanagh
The climate crisis is known for inspiring many a dozen dystopian, disastrous futures, but what about fiction that could inspire hope instead of despair? This episode uncovers how solarpunk, an optimistic, community-driven branch of science fiction, reframes our relationship with disasters. We discuss Becky Chambers Monk and Robot series searching for ways to imagine how to inhabit better tomorrows.
Ciarán Kavanagh is a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University and KWI Institute Essen, focusing on science fiction, reader response theory, and more recently awe emotions.
Works mentioned:
A Psalm for the Wild-Built (2021) - Becky Chambers
The Solar Grid (2021) - Ganzeer
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Disasters Maybe is part of the research project “Disaster Distortion: Climate Crisis Representation in Contemporary Transpacific Literature”, funded by the European Union through the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action Grant 101146614. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union.
28 Jun 2026
Writing Sci-Fi and Cli-Fi - with Andrea Chapela
While many works of climate fiction focus on spectacular scenes of destruction, Andrea Chapela's Todos los Fines del Mundo takes a different approach. Instead of depicting apocalyptic chaos, she explores how climate collapse is used to explore the desire for interpersonal connections, turning the focus inward to emotional distances, regrets, and the fragile ways we try to hold on to care.
Andrea is a novelist and short story writer based in Mexico City whose work mixes science fiction, climate change, and questions of communication.
Works mentioned:
All the Ends of the World [Todos los fines del mundo] (2025) - Andrea Chapela
"Borromean Rings" ["Anillos de Borromeo"] (2021) - Andrea Chapela
Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep? (2021) - Seo-Young Chu
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Disasters Maybe is part of the research project “Disaster Distortion: Climate Crisis Representation in Contemporary Transpacific Literature”, funded by the European Union through the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action Grant 101146614. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union.
28 Jun 2026
Narrating the AIpocalypse - with Marco Caracciolo
Most stories about AI and disaster tend to fall into two camps: AI as an unstoppable solution or AI as an imminent threat. But what if the way fiction depicts AI suggests something deeper about our cultural fears and hopes? And how does AI imagine its role in a disaster provoked by itself when prompted to write a story about it?
In this episode I talk with Marco Caracciolo, professor of English literature at Ghent University, about cultural imaginaries surrounding AI, disasters, and climate fiction.
Works discussed:
Contemporary Fiction and Climate Uncertainty: Narrating Unstable Futures (2022) - Marco Caracciolo
The Overstory (2018) - Richard Powers
Playground (2024) - Richard Powers
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Disasters Maybe is part of the research project “Disaster Distortion: Climate Crisis Representation in Contemporary Transpacific Literature”, funded by the European Union through the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action Grant 101146614. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union.
28 Jun 2026
The Climate Crisis Not as an Asteroid
Most stories about climate change fixate on dramatic disasters like floods, or fires to ignite our emotional response. But what if these catastrophes are just one side of a much bigger cultural story?
In this first episode, I explore how fiction’s obsession with sudden disaster obscures the slow, invisible, and often societal nature of the ongoing environmental crisis.
Works discussed:
The Day After Tomorrow (2004) - Michael Emmerich (dir)
Don't Look Up (2021) - Adam McKay (dir)
Your Name [Kimi no Na Wa] (2016) - Shinkai Makoto (dir)
Unsheltered (2021) - Clare Moleta
Night in the M Zone [La noche en la zona M] (2019) - Alberto Chimal
Scattered All Over the Earth [Chikyu ni Chiribamerarete] (2018) - Tawada Yoko
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Disasters Maybe is part of the research project “Disaster Distortion: Climate Crisis Representation in Contemporary Transpacific Literature”, funded by the European Union through the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action Grant 101146614. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union.
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