Speculative fiction is all about the world that could be. It takes cues from science fiction and fantasy. From H.G. Wells to Margaret Atwood, authors have been following the trajectory of technology and cultural trends, turning their fictions into predictions and in some cases warnings. On Monday, Dartmouth College is hosting the first Neukom Literary Arts Awards ceremony , which celebrates new works of so-called ‘spec-fic.’ Dan Rockmore is director of the Neukom Institute for Computational Science. NHPR’s Peter Biello spoke with Rockmore about the four winning authors. [This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.] Before we get into the winners and what they were writing about, let me ask you to talk a little bit about speculative fiction and its predictive abilities. You have written in other venues, for example, that Winston Churchill had a high opinion of H.G. Wells because he was able to see into the future, so to speak, with his fiction. What about that predictive power