This wide-ranging and timely collection of essays from transdisciplinary scholars in humanities, arts and sciences shows how speculative fiction can be used to think through pressing issues in academic research.

The terms 'speculative' and 'speculative fictioning' are growing in popularity in the field of education and interdisciplinary research methods, describing approaches based on asking 'what if' questions that reconsider the quotidian certainties of the past, present, and future.

Ideal for those wishing to incorporate speculative fiction into their teaching and research, an introduction by Sarah E. Truman and a preface by major speculative fiction scholar, Steven Shaviro, provide a theoretical framework for understanding speculation as a creative research method and pedagogy. Each chapter includes reading guides, discussion and writing prompts for use in classrooms and research seminars. These essays show speculation in practice, with contributions from twenty-six international authors on issues as broad as climate justice, disability justice, racial justice, prison abolition, genetics, AI, the future of work, multi-national educational technologies, and gender. In reflective narratives and critical analyses contributors draw on speculative fiction texts to explain their field and introduce their personal research topics, covering works, authors and topics including Star Trek, Gattaca, Octavia Butler, meditation, 12th Century Islamic Science Fiction, H.P. Lovecraft, Philip K. Dick, Orson Scott Card, Borges, Severance and Arrival.

By interweaving diverse global perspectives with accessible writing on issues at the cutting-edge of contemporary scholarship, this work is an indispensable resource for educators, practitioners, students and scholars committed to imagining and building otherwise.