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Riverside Chats

Geitner Simmons on the Efficacy of Parody in a World Run by Self-Parodists

 Image of book cover for novel "Android Run." An image of the Capitol and artistic renditions of characters' faces are above text reading the author's name and book title.
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"Android Run" is a satirical sci-fi novel about a scheming android who serves as the President's chief policy advisor. Simmons is a former Omaha-World Herald columnist and is currently the senior writer with IANR Communications, which provides breaking news and information about the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Satire uses exaggeration to critique something about the world we live in, but what happens if the world is crazier than any satirist can come up with? How does one parody, as Kurt Andersen has put it, "the greatest self-parodists of all time?"

On today's show, Tom Knoblauch is in conversation with Geitner Simmons, author of the new book "Android Run" a sci-fi thriller with a heavy dose of satire to discuss the societal role of fiction and journalism, and the pervasive absurdity no one can escape.

Courtney is back in her hometown after graduating from the University of Kansas in 2019 with degrees in journalism and film. While at KU, she was the arts and culture editor of the University Daily Kansan and had a summer internship at KCUR, Kansas City's NPR member station. She has three pet rats and has seen almost every Audrey Hepburn movie.
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