Alexis Hall turns Moby-Dick into a wild sci‑fi adventure

In this episode of Science Quickly, author Alexis Hall discusses Hell’s Heart, their sci‑fi reimagining of Moby-Dick. Hall dives into how a lockdown reread of Herman Melville’s novel sparked a vision of space whales, artificial intelligence navigators, and Jupiter’s wild physics and explains the blend of real science, irreverent humor and queer storytelling that powers the novel. 

Recommended Reading:

Hell’s Heart. Alexis Hall. Tor Books, 2026

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Science Quickly is produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was co-hosted by Bri Kane and edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

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