We’re delighted to welcome Manchester’s Comma Press, part of the Northern Fiction Alliance, to bluedot to host a How to Write Science Fiction session.

Comma are bringing three science fiction authors – Adam Marek, Adam Roberts and Sara Maitland – who not only write novels but have also had stories featured in multiple collections from Comma’s genre-defying ‘Science-Into-Fiction’ series which includes Litmus, When It Changed, Bio-Punk, Beta-Life, Spindles, and the latest instalment, Thought X.

The panel will be chaired by Dr. Rob Appleby who has been a scientific consultant in three of the anthologies, and co-edited Thought X. Together they will give audiences an insight into the mind of a sci-fi writer, their process, and working on commissions such as these where fact meets fiction and how to blend those into the perfect science fiction story. There will be a Q&A with a chance to ask questions of the authors at the end.

Since 2009, Comma has been coordinating this series of science-inspired short story commissions, inviting authors and research scientists to collaborate on stories around particular areas of technology, theory, treatment or science history. The Science-into-Fiction series is designed to exploit the ‘portability’ of the short story, enabling literary authors to consider new areas of scientific thinking in a way that is both informed and engaging. The series pairs writers with scientists to produce scientifically accurate stories accompanied by short, explanatory afterwords, written by the consulting scientists themselves and contextualising the research behind the stories.

More more information on Comma Press and the Science Into Fiction series, visit commapress.co.uk