RADIUM AGE 2Q2026
By:
June 29, 2026
Under the direction of HILOBROW’s Josh Glenn, in 2022 the MIT Press launched its RADIUM AGE series of proto-sf reissues from 1900–1935.
In these forgotten classics, sf readers will discover the origins of enduring tropes like robots (berserk or benevolent), tyrannical supermen, dystopias and apocalypses, sinister telepaths, and eco-catastrophes. With new contributions by historians, science journalists, and sf authors, the RADIUM AGE book series recontextualizes the breakthroughs and biases of these proto-sf pioneers, and charts the emergence of a burgeoning literary genre.
RADIUM AGE SERIES UPDATES: 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 1Q2026 | 2Q2026. FULL SERIES INFO.
Below, please find updates on the RADIUM AGE project from 2Q2026.
As of Spring 2026, the RADIUM AGE series will publish one title per season (Spring / Fall), for a total of two titles per year. During 2Q2026 the Radium Age team worked on getting the following titles ready for publication:
- Fall 2026: Olaf Stapledon’s Last and First Men (abridged edition; originally p. 1930), with a new Introduction by Matthew De Abaitua. “Last and First Men is a seminal work of cosmological SF — a philosophical examination of the future evolution of humanity, inspirational to Arthur C. Clarke and so many of Stapledon’s successors. Great to see it included in The MIT Press’s Radium Age series.” — Charles Stross.
- Spring 2027: Mothership Rising: Afrofuturism in the Radium Age (anthology), edited and afterword by Lisa Yaszek, introduced by Nisi Shawl. We’ll see page proofs in August.
More exciting installments in this series, including anthologies and collections, some of them currently being translated into English, are in the works. For the latest updates, keep an eye on this page.
Here at HILOBROW, during 2Q2026 Josh continued to share his Radium Age-related research. For example…
In April, Josh kicked off EMANATIONS, a series of posts featuring 10 of his favorite examples of Radium Age-era fine art that explore a particular proto-sf-adjacent theme. The series’ 2Q2026 installments include:
CATASTROPHE: DECLINE & FALL | DYING EARTH | ECO-CATASTROPHE. COSMIC AWE: DEEP TIME | STARS WHEEL IN PURPLE | IS THERE LIFE ON MARS. DEHUMANIZATION: CYBORG MANIFESTO.
The series’ 3Q2026 installments will include:
DEHUMANIZATION: MECHANIZATION. DISENCHANTMENT: ATOMIC SUBLIME | CHROMATIC SUBLIME | DIAGRAMMATIC SUBLIME | GEOPHYSICAL SUBLIME | RE-ENCHANTMENT | SCIENCE FANTASY | STOP MOTION.
HILOBROW published further installments in the series RADIUM AGE POETRY. Here’s a sampling of the 2Q2026 lineup:
e.e. cummings’ “SHE BEING BRAND/-NEW” | Babette Deutsch’s FOURTH DIMENSION | Zora Neale Hurston’s PASSION | Harriet Monroe’s BEYOND THE SUNS | Mykola Bazhan’s ZURMA SWARM | Hirato Renkichi’s POEM OF DIRECTNESS | Leslie Pinckney Hill’s TO THE CHINESE | Lola Ridge’s REVEILLE | Don Marquis’ UNREST | Ambrose Bierce’s FAME | Mina Loy’s HUMAN CYLINDERS | Aleksei Kruchenykh’s AIR-FORTRESS.
Here’s a sampling of the 3Q2026 lineup:
Aleksei Kruchenykh’s THE WORLD HAS ENDED | Kenneth Fearing’s NO CREDIT | I-to Wen’s THE DESERTED VILLAGE | Richard Wright’s I HAVE SEEN BLACK HANDS | Hirato Renkichi’s ENSEMBLE | William Carlos Williams’ LIGHT BECOMES DARKNESS | Edith Södergran’s A LIFE | Olaf Stapledon’s “IF GOD HAS NOT NOTICED…”
Josh has surfaced over 500 proto-sf-adjacent poems; so far, he has published ~200 of them here at HILOBROW. To see the RADIUM AGE POETRY lineup, organized thematically, please visit this page.
During 2Q2026 Josh has continued to build out the RADIUM AGE POETRY index linked to above, as well as the RADIUM AGE ART index. He has also begun sorting — into the same categories as these other indices — the Radium Age proto-sf novels and stories collected in the earlier series RADIUM AGE TIMELINE. Here are the RADIUM AGE TIMELINE installments that were retrofitted during 2Q2026:
1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | 1919 | 1920 | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926
Here at HILOBROW, as we have been doing for a decade now, during 2025 we serialized some of Josh’s favorite Radium Age proto-sf stories and novels. Here’s the 2Q2026 lineup:
- Frigyes Karinthy’s Voyage to Faremido (1916, excerpt)
- Michael Williams’ “The Mind Machine” (1919, excerpt)
- Edmond Hamilton’s “The Metal Giants” (1926)
Here’s the 3Q2026 lineup:
- Jack London’s “Goliah” (1908/1910)
- Gertrude Atherton’s Black Oxen (1923, excerpt)
- Fred C. Smale’s “The V Force” (1913)
- Arthur Machen’s The Terror (1916/17)
Here’s a sampling of 2Q2026 series publicity:
- In an April talk, titled “Sex-Change Science Fiction in the Radium Age, 1900-1935,” at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research, Distinguished Visitor and Faculty Research Fellow Susan Stryker presented insights from her forthcoming anthology of works on this topic, currently scheduled for publication in 2027 with MIT Press. Here’s a write-up.
- I’m grateful to the Hugo- and Eisner Award-winning graphic novelist John Jennings for helping Lisa Yaszek spread the word about Mothership Rising, an anthology (edited by Lisa Yaszek; intro by Nisi Shawl) of Radium Age proto-sf examples of Afrofuturist fiction, poetry, and illustrations. Recently announced; forthcoming in February.
On to 3Q2026…
MORE RADIUM AGE SCI FI ON HILOBROW: RADIUM AGE SERIES from THE MIT PRESS: In-depth info on each book in the series; a sneak peek at what’s coming in the months ahead; the secret identity of the series’ advisory panel; and more. | RADIUM AGE: TIMELINE: Notes on proto-sf publications and related events from 1900–1935. | RADIUM AGE POETRY: Proto-sf and science-related poetry from 1900–1935. | RADIUM AGE ART: Proto-sf and science-related fine art from 1900–1935. | RADIUM AGE 100: A list (now somewhat outdated) of Josh’s 100 favorite proto-sf novels from the genre’s emergent Radium Age | SISTERS OF THE RADIUM AGE: A resource compiled by Lisa Yaszek.