ConCERNing Science and Fiction
Posted by ewan17 on November 10, 2009
By Ewan Angus
Recently the University of Manchester was home to the release of an anthology that was a little bit different in its approach. It wasn’t just a anthology of short stories, it wasn’t just an anthology of science fiction. It was an anthology of science fiction writers writing the stories with real scientists bringing the science fact. Named When it Changed, the book has a vast pull of British Sci Fi Greats.
It was, in effect, a team up of britain’s leading scientists and Science fiction authors. Think of it like a real life literature version of an issue of Marvel Team Up.
Taking 14 leading authors and asking them to write a short story that is scientifically relevant and realistic was the main goal of the project and has been made even more plausible by the inclusion of afterwords by the scientists to back up the science in the stories. Headed up by Geoff Ryman, author of the critically acclaimed Was, a surreal take on the Wizard of OZ and Air. as editor of the anthology I spoke to him about the process, how it came about and the reasoning behind it.
The premise of the book is to make the science in science fiction novels more believable by giving the facts held within to back up the plot. A large goal and one that is strangely unique.
“In 2002 I started a movement called the Mundanes with a bunch of young writers who didn’t like where a lot of SF was going. In those days, even then, people didn’t seem to be taking on board the difference that peak oil and climate change might make to our future. You got faster than light travel, very fast travel with no time dilation, time travel… the commericial wing of the genre (not the really good stuff) seemed trapped writing about ideas that were not only very unlikely to ever become true and which were getting stale.”
“I felt that maybe we needed another approach, one that specifically identified more positively what we actively wanted, not just what we didn’t want. I can’t now remember who had the idea for this specific anthology me or the publisher. I do know Ra Page came to me asking if I wanted to edit a short story anthology. No matter who contributed what to the final idea, there was no doubt in my mind that it was a great idea. The Manchester area is full of unis and research institutions full of people doing brilliant work. Marry them up with writers and see what will happen. The idea got huge amounts of support from within the University of Manchesrter and from the Manchester Area Beacon, Dame Nancy Rothwell. There was then a lot of work, getting writers to agree, then scientists, then introducing them to each other, then watching sometimes as the collaborations didn’t quite work. It took a year longer than scheduled, but it worked in the end.”
Authors such as Ken Macleod, author of the critically acclaimed trilogy Engines of Light and the Orwellian Night Sessions, was teamed up with Dr Richard Blake, the director of STFC’s Computational Science and Engineering Department at Daresbury Laboratory. their story revolved around the possible horrors of future supercomputers. This isnt Ken’s first anthology as he has featured in Nova Scotia, an anthology of Scottish Science Fiction Writers with the likes of Hal Duncan.
Marvel comics scribe and part of the Doctor Who 2005 revival, Paul Cornell took time out of his busy schedule to contribute a story revolving around a facility that is akin to the current Large Hadron Collider. His current work on A list Comic titles such as Dark Reign: Young Avengers, Dark XMen and the celebrated, Captain Britain and MI:13 has been lauded for its tight plotting and in depth character growth. The subject is one that scientist Dr Rob Appleby is very clued up on, he works at the LHC with CERN in Switzerland.
Other authors for the anthology include Adam Roberts, author of Stone and Swiftly, Gwyneth Jones, Feminist Science Fiction author who is known for comparisons to Ursula K. Le Guin.
Editor of the anthology Geoff Ryman contributed a short story centering on how current technology may help us to explore and learn more about artifacts from Mars.
“My scientist gave me all kinds of great information about how physics is now used in archaelogy and the study of artefacts. I went away and wrote the story, but the good bit was having someone to check the result out with. Not just to correct errors, but to tell me if there were any bright new directions or ideas that I was missing.”
The Book is available now from Amazon.co.uk.
MikeT said
The best way that we could find out if there is life elswhere in the Universe is to travel to other planets ourselves. Unfortunately the limitations of our crude ion propulsion engines make interstellar space flight impractical. I suggest that the only solution to this is to achive faster than light space travel using the Slip Wave Field as suggested on the Super Relativity Website.
Einstein was right about the shortcomings of Quantum Mechanics and so therefore String Theory is also the incorrect approach. As an alternative to Quantum Theory there is a new theory that describes and explains the mysteries of physical reality. While not disrespecting the value of Quantum Mechanics as a tool to explain the role of quanta in our universe. This theory states that there is also a classical explanation for the paradoxes such as EPR and the Wave-Particle Duality. The Theory is called the Theory of Super Relativity.
This theory is a philosophical attempt to reconnect the physical universe to realism and deterministic concepts. It explains the mysterious.