Indeed, the scenarios that play out in the book may have roots in present-day reality, but they take things to a distinctly fictional realm. But these stories are exaggerated versions of real-life situations, so it seems only fitting that the bike is bestowed with exaggerated powers. Obviously, in the real world, cycling probably can’t accomplish all of these things, all of the time. In different scenarios, it’s used to maintain health, pedal away from danger, provide an alternative to cars, evade restrictions on women’s movements, and provide entertainment. But the short stories that collectively make up Biketopia show how versatile a bicycle can be. Biketopia combines these two threads, centering the bicycle as a means of achieving independence from both fossil fuels and gendered constraints on mobility. Sci-fi has long been concerned with the possibility of social and ecological collapse, and eminent writers like Margaret Atwood and Doris Lessing have injected socially aware sci-fi with a feminist sensibility. It’s an odd-sounding concept, but the book isn’t alone in this genre: It is actually Volume 4 of the Bikes in Space series. Biketopia can best be described as feminist science fiction themed around bicycling.
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