I’m still enjoying my review free holiday, which will end this weekend with a couple of FantasyCon related items, until then I’d like to share some interesting information that popped into my inbox this morning.
Science Vs Science Fiction in Leicester Central Library
Science meets Mad Science in a battle for the ages where everybody wins. On Friday 7th October, Peter F.Hamilton will step into the debating ring with Professor George Fraser to discuss how science fiction’s vision meets, and conflicts, with the realities of science.
Hamilton is the UK’s best-selling science fiction author. His work is epic, fascinating, crammed full of ideas and entirely driven by character, Hamilton continually using the small, fragile needs of his painfully human protagonists to highlight the massive scale of his ideas and show their human cost. He’s a dizzyingly inventive author, and his most recent short story collection, Manhattan in Reverse, only cements his reputation as a figure at the top of his field.
Professor George Fraser is an equally heavyweight figure in the field. The Director of the Space Research Centre at the University of Leicester, Professor Fraser has been involved with projects that have gone to the Moon, Mars and beyond. The Space Research Centre is a major hub in everything from planetary instrumentation to drilling and sample technology that is used to return samples to Earth and as its head, Professor Fraser is uniquely versed in the current state of space science and what the future will hold.
These two titans of their fields will meet to discuss the burning questions of the day. Will men ever travel to other stars? Are alien civilisations watching over us? How do the big ideas of Sci-Fi measure up against the latest developments in space research? Will refreshments be served? That last one at least, can be answered with a definitive yes. After all, working out the future of humanity is hard work.
Discussion commences from 7pm in the Everybody’s Reading Room of Leicester Central Library and entry is free so, whichever side you’re on, come down and check it out. The future starts here.
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