Category: Fact

I am in Tartu! I’m attending Transitions, the 2024 annual conference of the Science Fiction Research Association. Tartu is also hosting Futures Better and Worse as a part of the Tartu Internationa Literary Festival, so it promises to be an action-packed week.

My presentation will be on Friday, the 10th of May at 15:30.

Navigating the Final Frontier: The Journey into Old Age in ‘Star Trek: Picard’

This paper explores themes of leadership, legacy, and the human aging process in ‘Star Trek: Picard’. Traditionally, Star Trek has suffered from persistent ageist tropes, most blatantly celebrating old age in alien races while depicting human elders as frail, emotionally unstable and unfit for leadership. ‘Star Trek: Picard’ explores human old age through the character of Jean-Luc Picard, who is forced to confront the challenges of aging: loss, regret and the need for reinvention. As he reunites with the crew of ‘The Next Generation’, the series has the opportunity to explore many facets of old age and aging across a range of personalities. This analysis focuses on the first series and whether ‘Star Trek: Picard’ promises a a more nuanced view of old age or reinforces those very stereotypes that have dogged the Star Trek universe from the beginning. The author seeks seeks to contribute a deeper understanding of how popular science fiction influences and reflects societal attitudes towards aging. ‘Star Trek: Picard’ may not have broken the barriers of ageist stereotypes, but the first series undeniably sets a course for new discussions.

If you are in Tartu this week for either of the events, please let me know; it’d be great to say hello!

I’ve recently returned from a month-long artist residency in Hrísey, a small island in northern Iceland’s Eyjafjörður fjord. During this intensive period, I completed the first draft of a new manuscript exploring themes of isolation, adaptation, and finding connection in unexpected places.

The unique setting – a remote island village with a population of 150, accessible only by ferry – provided the perfect backdrop for deep focus on the work. It took me about a week to get going. I spent a lot of that time sleeping. I needed some time to think my way into the project and work out how to start chipping away at it. I had the workroom to myself and I loved having two walls that I could just cover with my project. I wanted to be able to visualise things because I knew I would struggle without my computer and full-sized monitor.

I completed a manuscript of 98,000 words which turned out to be a lot more heartfelt and emotional than I had planned. I’m giving it one more pass and then it will begin its journey toward publication.

I’m very pleased that my report on Disruptive Imaginations, the joint annual conference of the Science Fiction Research Association & the Gesellschaft für Fantastikforschung Joint Annual Conference was published in the November issue of Locus magazine.

Report on the Disruptive Imaginations Conference

There remains a story I didn’t tell, about going hiking in a nightgown, but that will have to wait for another day.

Memory Alpha is a collaborative project to create the most accurate and accessible Star Trek resource on the Internet, thoroughly exploring every aspect of the franchise. It is effectively a living encyclopedia of all things Trekkie.

And now, I’m a part of it! My name is listed on the site for my chapter on Age and Aging in the Routledge Handbook of Star Trek. This is an unexpected and exceptionally pleasing validation of my work.

in: Documentaries, Star Trek literature: The Routledge Handbook of Star Trek

I’m excited to share that the documentary Mythos has released their intriguing special on the Bermuda Triangle, which includes me trying to recreate the circumstances of Flight 19 in an Airbus A320 simulator; probably the closest I’ll ever get to flying an airliner.

Probably a good thing too, as I crashed.

For some reason I’m referred to as Riley instead of Wrigley but I swear it is me. The episode aired on the 13th of January but will be repeated on the 9th and 17th of February on ZDFInfo. However, you can watch the entire thing (me in English, dubbed into German!) on their website here:

Mythos: Das Bermudadreieck (43 minutes)

I’m am thrilled that my essay The Train Station Ateljee is featured as a long read (seven minutes, apparently) in northeast, an online magazine about art and culture in Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn and Helsinki.

I’ve never been back to that train station but I’d love to think that he is still there and that people are still stumbling upon his ateljee and coming out changed.

I wrote a long update as I’ve been terrible about posting news.

The past six weeks have been a whirlwind and I’ve just finally had a chance to sit down and take a deep breath. Some of my friends have talked about how much more free-time they have during the pandemic, because they aren’t going out and they are working from home. Somehow, this hasn’t happened to me at all, even though I’m not travelling.

You can read all about it here: What I was Doing While I Wasn’t Here

I’ve been very lucky to be able to work on a number of excellent documentaries and I’m excited to share that, despite not being able to travel, this is still happening. Last week, I met with a Tallinn camera crew who filmed me doing a COVID-safe interview via Zoom. The producer and I talked for three hours about an accident they are featuring on the television series which inspired me to write the Why Planes Crash books and which is still my my favorite crash show. The episode will probably end up with me saying about three words in the final version but it was exciting all the same. It’s also an unbelievable sequence of events that I’m glad to see being covered. I’ll tell you more as soon as it is out and I am able to share the details!

Why Planes Crash Case Files: 2001 is free for a limited time as a special promotion of the series.

Why Planes Crash focuses on 21st century aviation investigations and breaks them down into key factors.

In this, the first of the series, Wrigley has deconstructed eleven of the most interesting incidents that the world saw in the year 2001. These include a detailed analysis of the disastrous runway incursion at Linate, the passenger interference leading to the Avjet Aspen Crash and why an Airbus A300 disintegrated over Queens.

From bad weather to the engineering faults in the aircraft, the author critically looks into every factor that could have led to the crash.

It is available from all major e-book sellers.

Sylvia Spruck Wrigley was born in Germany on the 7th of March 1968. She spent most of her childhood in Los Angeles but escaped at the end of the 1980s. After a few years of drifting, she moved to England where her accent was irretrievably damaged. She now lives on the south coast of Spain and writes full time.

You can contact her at [email protected].

Note: This blog is simply a feed to my primary website: www.intrigue.co.uk