An otherwise fine evening
Barring the sad news that Elisabeth Sladen had passed away :( which I found out when I got home, yesterday was an otherwise fine an interesting evening that I had intended to write about. I went down to the Grant Bradley Gallery in Bedminster with a few people I know and quite a lot of people I didn't, to take part in a "Science Inspired Fiction" open mic night organised by Bristol University as part of their "Art in Science" event.
The host talked for a while about how she liked science, and she liked fiction, and how she had always wondered if there was a way of combining the two, which led to a few stifled giggles from our corner of the room and Chris *cough!sciencefiction!cough!* Very earnest and rather sweet. I read the first few pages of "Pirates", explaining that the science part revolved around climate change and extreme miniturisation of personal communication devices, and kind of bluffing over the fact that most of the actual "science" in the story was just made up to serve the plot and had no basis in fact. I don't think anyone minded all that much.
Colin Harvey read from "Spindizzies", from Dark Spires, and there were a few microstories and poems that were remarkably good. One that stuck in my head was about love as Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, read by a very nervous geeky boy. It made quite a change not to be the most nervous person reading at an event! Oh, and free wine, which is always a treat :)
The four readings the host liked the most won free books, and I was most surprised but very pleased to be among the winners (my money was on the girl who had written a very funny poem about how she wanted Professor Brian Cox to have her babies!) All the prizes were science-related books, and I got a copy of "Periodic Tales - The Curious Lives of Elements" by Hugh Aldersey-Williams, which looks fascinating - hebinnewzealand has already bagged first borrow on that one!
I hope the University runs similar events in the future, I'd certainly enjoy seeing more of this kind of event.
The host talked for a while about how she liked science, and she liked fiction, and how she had always wondered if there was a way of combining the two, which led to a few stifled giggles from our corner of the room and Chris *cough!sciencefiction!cough!* Very earnest and rather sweet. I read the first few pages of "Pirates", explaining that the science part revolved around climate change and extreme miniturisation of personal communication devices, and kind of bluffing over the fact that most of the actual "science" in the story was just made up to serve the plot and had no basis in fact. I don't think anyone minded all that much.
Colin Harvey read from "Spindizzies", from Dark Spires, and there were a few microstories and poems that were remarkably good. One that stuck in my head was about love as Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, read by a very nervous geeky boy. It made quite a change not to be the most nervous person reading at an event! Oh, and free wine, which is always a treat :)
The four readings the host liked the most won free books, and I was most surprised but very pleased to be among the winners (my money was on the girl who had written a very funny poem about how she wanted Professor Brian Cox to have her babies!) All the prizes were science-related books, and I got a copy of "Periodic Tales - The Curious Lives of Elements" by Hugh Aldersey-Williams, which looks fascinating - hebinnewzealand has already bagged first borrow on that one!
I hope the University runs similar events in the future, I'd certainly enjoy seeing more of this kind of event.