Posted 5:23 pm by Ken

The shape of things to come: books

Orbit have done a cover launch for my forthcoming space opera The Corporation Wars: Dissidence and very good it looks too.



They've also announced that it and the rest of the trilogy is to be published by Orbit in the US. The second volume, The Corporation Wars: Insurgence is due to be published in December 2016, and the third (provisionally titled The Corporation Wars: Emergence) in spring 2017.

Labels: coming attractions, self-promotion, skiffy

Posted 5:02 pm by Ken

The shape of things to come: events

Here's my schedule of public events for the coming year:

Next weekend, 17-20th March I'm a Guest of Honour at Deepcon 17, Fiuggi, Italy. (The other guest is Walter Koenig.) A small ebook collection (in English, and in Italian) of three of my short stories is coming from Future Fiction.

Friday 6 May at 7 pm I'm giving a talk, reading and signing at Central Library, Stirling for Off the Page, the Stirling Libraries' Book Festival.

11-12 June, Justina Robson and I are Guests of Honour at Fantasticon, Copenhagen, Denmark.

On Monday 1 August I'm giving a Creative Writing Masterclass at the Scottish Universities International Summer School.

29 October: Fangorn, Sarah Pinborough and I are Guests of Honour at Bristolcon, Bristol, UK.

And finally (for now) ... next year, I'm the NESFA Press Guest at Boskone 54, which will take place on Presidents Day Weekend (February 17-19, 2017) in Boston, MA at the Westin Waterfront Hotel.

Labels: coming attractions, self-promotion, skiffy

Posted 2:58 pm by Ken

Impending Manifestations

I have two public events coming up, this month and next.

First, there's the Futura Sci-Fi Convention, a one-day event on Saturday 15 June in Wolverhampton's innovative arts centre the Light House. My fellow guests of honour are Adam Roberts and Ian R. MacLeod, so I feel honoured indeed, and I'm very much looking forward to it. The day and evening event has all the usual features of an SF convention: panels, GoH readings, kaffeeklatches, signing sessions, book stalls, a real ale bar etc, without the hassle of hotels and all for a modest £25 (or £100 for a group of five). Details and bookings here.

 

My second upcoming public event is in July. Napier MA Creative Writing student Anni Telford has made canny use of her contacts to set up a series of workshops for writers featuring three-quarters of the Napier MA Creative Writing course team. Stuart Kelly talks about writing creative non-fiction next Friday (7 June). I'll be talking about writing SF and fantasy on Friday 5 July. David Bishop will teach the dark arts of writing graphic novels on Tuesday 23 July. Full details and bookings here and the same with a downloadable flyer from the group putting on the workshops, the Booktown Writers.

Labels: coming attractions, local, skiffy, writing

Posted 11:50 am by Ken

Where Rockets Burn Through

For the second time in forty years, I'm a properly published poet, and in very distinguished company at that. Anthologies of science fiction poetry are almost as infrequent: this is the first I've seen since Frontier of Going and Holding Your Eight Hands came out in the Seventies. Edited by scholar and poet Russell Jones, introduced by Alasdair Gray, and inspired by (and featuring) the science fiction poetry of the late great Scottish Makar Edwin Morgan, Where Rockets Burn Through should rise higher and travel farther than its predecessors.

Free launch events: Edinburgh, Thursday 29 Nov and London, Thursday 6 December.

The Edinburgh event will feature readings by several local writers, including me. You have been warned.

Thursday 29 November, 6.00pm (Update - not 6.30, as I had before!)
Blackwell’s 53-59 South Bridge Edinburgh
FREE

Labels: coming attractions, local, self-promotion, skiffy, writing

Posted 8:56 pm by Ken

Cell Culture - Examining how science and literature interact

I've been remiss in not proclaiming earlier that I'm taking part in an event this Saturday, 14.00 to 15.45, at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on the High Street:

How accurately does modern literature portray the life sciences? In what way is the use of science within fiction evolving to create new genres such as “lab-lit”? Is there more in common, than is often imagined, between the way in which both writers and scientists work?

These are some of the fascinating topics that are up for discussion in an afternoon of fact and fiction examining how fiction portrays life sciences and genetics. The event is being produced by the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum, in conjunction with the Scottish Storytelling Centre, on Saturday 3 November 2012.

Cell Culture will feature participants including: Dr Jennifer Rohn, cell biologist, editor of Lablit.com and author of Experimental Heart and The Honest Look; Ken MacLeod, celebrated science fiction author; and Pippa Goldschmidt, short story writer and former writer-in-residence at the Genomics Forum.

The authors will read from their work before engaging in a public discussion which will be chaired Professor Stuart Monro, Scientific Director of Dynamic Earth.

Tickets £5 - booking details here.

Finally, speaking of events, a wee reminder that Iain Banks and I are manifesting on Friday evening at the Linlithgow Book Festival.

Labels: bookfestival, coming attractions, genomics, local, public engagement, self-promotion

Posted 9:08 am by Ken

More Manifestations

I'll be speaking (very briefly) at the Edinburgh City of Literature Salon this evening, along with Emily Dodd. We'll be talking about our residencies - mine at Napier, hers at Leith Library.

Speaking of speaking, you can hear me here being interviewed about The Night Sessions by Daniel Nexon, who blogs at The Duck of Minerva.

On Sunday 21 October, I'll be on a panel, Banning the Brave New World? The ethics of science at the annual Battle of Ideas festival of public debate, which this year is at the Barbican.

And finally ... Iain Banks and I are doing our well-known double act at the Linlithgow Book Festival. In the Masonic Halls, which is a first for me and probably Iain too. Eight quid gets you in (no funny handshake required).

Labels: coming attractions, local, self-promotion, writing

Posted 10:27 am by Ken

Edinburgh International Book Festival notes

Next Monday (27 August, 8:30pm - 9:30pm) I'm doing a Book Festival event, Scary Futuristic Fictions, at Peppers Theatre with Chris Beckett. (Tickets £10.00, £8.00 conc.) I've received (courtesy of the Book Festival) a copy of Chris's latest book, the widely praised Dark Eden, and I can't wait to read it.

Chris is replacing G. Willow Wilson, an author I was greatly looking forward to meeting and who regretfully had to cancel. Her new novel, Alif the Unseen, looks intriguing - a supernatural post-cyberpunk thriller from the storm centre of the Arab revolution. I hope Willow can be a guest at the festival (and/or a British science fiction convention - she has a deep background in comics fandom, comics writing, and political commentary) in the future. Meanwhile, best wishes to her from me and Chris.

In other news, the Genomics Forum again has a team covering the festival for Genotype. Because of work I couldn't commit to being on the reporting team myself, but has that stopped me blogging events for Genotype? No! My latest contribution is on last Saturday's appearance by Jennifer Rohn and Neal Stephenson, and contains enough controversial remarks to incite (I hope) a few comments - if so, over on Genotype, please, not here.

The third and last of Forum's own Book Festival events, The Scientist in Fiction: Creative or Crazed Genius? is on tomorrow Wednesday) at 7 pm.

Labels: bookfestival, coming attractions, genomics, local, self-promotion, skiffy, writing

Posted 12:54 pm by Ken

I have a new job!

I'm delighted to say that my appointment as Writer in Residence at Edinburgh Napier University has just been officially announced. The university's innovative MA in Creative Writing course, open to full-time and part-time students, is both practical and challenging, with a strong genre component. Over the past few years, I've met and been greatly impressed by its lecturers, course leaders and students, and I very much look forward to working with them.

The 2010-2011 Writer in Residence, Robert Shearman, has some interesting and slightly scary things to say about what the job involves. For more, equally enlightening and entertaining information about the course and its objectives, take a look through the blog - and expect to see some contributions there from me in the coming months.

Labels: coming attractions, local, self-promotion, writing

Posted 6:52 am by Ken

Stem cell comic hits the spot, say scientists

European stem cell research consortium OptiStem yesterday launched Hope Beyond Hype, a short educational comic that tells the story of stem cells from discovery to therapy. The comic, now available online and as attractive hard-copy

'starts with the true life story of two badly burned boys being treated with stem cell generated skin grafts in 1983. We then follow the successes and setbacks of a group of researchers working together to use stem cells to cure blindness, whilst being introduced to knotty issues that are part of the process, including stem cell regulation and the controversial ethical issues surrounding the subject. Whilst some of the story lines sound like science fiction they are in fact all true, despite the fact the script was written by the well-known Scottish Science Fiction writer, Ken Macleod. Comic book artist Edward Ross illustrated the script with his clear, friendly and attractive artwork, whilst stem cell researchers from OptiStem provided the real-life examples of their research and experiences.'

The comic was produced by a team led by Cathy Southworth, Optistem and EuroSyStem's Public Engagement, Outreach and Communications Manager, who works at the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine. She came up with the idea, recruited the team, showed us around the marvellous building in which the Centre is housed, introduced us to her colleagues, and arranged the immense privilege of an hour for us all with stem cell pioneer Professor Michele De Luca.



Cathy and I consulted graphic-novel guru David Bishop at Napier, who explained how comics scripts are written and suggested books to read. I went off and read them, then wrote the script. Comics artist Edward Ross and his colleague, Glasgow University PhD student Jamie Hall, did the design and artwork. Meanwhile Edward and Jamie were just finishing a rather longer comic on malaria, and Edward and his wife were expecting a happy event (now happily eventuated, as you can see from the pram handle in the picture below), but they took it all in their stride. The script (and some panels - none of us will forget the blastocyst picture) went through several iterations, as we and some of Cathy's colleagues tore successive drafts to shreds.

For all that, we finished on time and in budget, and it was a proud moment when we all got the finished article in our hands.

Labels: coming attractions, public engagement, writing

Posted 6:18 am by Ken

Upcoming manifestation in New York

I'm delighted and honoured to have been invited to be on a panel on 'Life in the Panopticon' on Saturday May 5th at the Cooper Union in NYC, as part of the upcoming PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature.

Tiny surveillance drones that hover and stare. An Internet where every keystroke is recorded. The automated government inspection of hundreds of millions of e-mails for suspicious characteristics. The technological advancements spurred by the computing revolution have improved our lives, but have also diminished our privacy and enhanced the government’s power to monitor us. Writers and directors who have grappled with technology’s mixed blessings join civil liberties advocates to discuss ways of preserving our freedom in an era in which we all dwell in Bentham’s Panopticon—a prison that allows our wardens to observe us at all times without being seen themselves.

Labels: coming attractions, libertarian, self-promotion

Posted 11:40 am by Ken

Impending Manifestations

I have a number of public events coming up, starting tomorrow!

Friday 13 April, 5.30 pm: Human 2.0, a panel on transhumanism/posthumanism with bioethicist Andy Miah, SF writer Justina Robson and sociologist Professor Steve Fuller at the National Museum of Scotland, as part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival.

What does it means to be human, past, present and future? As we re-engineer the human body, and even the human genome – through technology, drugs and genetic manipulations – how do we define and value our humanity? What are the social, political and cultural challenges inherent in our enhanced future? As part of our Future Human mini festival, sociologist and author Professor Steve Fuller, and sci-fi writers Ken MacLeod and Justina Robson, join ethicist Andy Miah to mull over these compelling questions. Are we facing a re(evolution) of the species?

The following morning, I expect to bounce out of bed, shower, get dressed, pack, grab some toast and rush to the station to travel to Leicester, to arrive mid-afternoon for:

Saturday 14 to Sunday 15 April: I'm one of the Guests of Honour heading up a guest list that most SF/F cons would kill for at the lively and highly commendable annual 'fantastic weekend for readers and writers of science fiction, fantasy and horror', now in its sixth year, Alt.Fiction, Phoenix Digital Arts Centre, Leicester.

And that's not all! Later this month, I have another two events one night apart:

Genetic Fictions: Genes and Genre, Tue 24 Apr 2012, 18.30 - 20.00, at the Conference Centre, British Library, London, Price: £7.50 / £5 concessions.

Join leading Social Scientists from the ESRC Genomics Network, including Dr Joan Haran (Cesagen, Cardiff University) author of the forthcoming book 'Genetic Fictions: Genes, Gender and Genre', along with award-winning playwright Peter Arnott and Science Fiction author Ken MacLeod as they consider how genes and genetics are represented in literature and theatre. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion. The evening will be chaired by Jude England, Head of Social Sciences at the British Library. [Further details here.]

Another day, another sci/lit event:

Wednesday 25th April 9:30am to 5pm in Zochonis TH A (B5), University of Manchester: a day-long workshop 'Putting the Science in Fiction' Interfaculty Symposium on Science and Entertainment.

Many people look suspiciously at science in fictional media and may ask themselves: Why don't the creators of fiction ever talk to real scientists? In fact, those who write novels, craft television scripts, create movies, and produce stage plays do speak with scientists on a regular basis. This workshop explores how science provides challenges and opportunities for the creators of fiction. By bringing together leading entertainment professionals, novelists, arts scholars, and scientists the workshop will forge new relationships between the scientific community and the arts/entertainment community. One goal of the workshop is to begin discussions about creating a "Science and Entertainment" collaboration programme in the UK equivalent to the Science and Entertainment Exchange run by the National Academy of Sciences in the US.

This event is free but spaces are limited - you can see how to book a place by clicking on the link.

Labels: coming attractions, local, self-promotion, skiffy, writing

Posted 11:23 am by Ken

The fruit-fly at the end of the universe

Genomics forum Playwright in Residence Peter Arnott has spent a year reading, talking and thinking about genomics, evolution, life, the universe and everything. I've seen the stacks of books on his desk and I've seen him working, and I can say he has worked hard, throwing himself into a whole new field of knowledge with admirable enthusiasm and application. Never content with received wisdom, Peter has delved deep and thought for himself, as his earlier production on the Scopes Trial showed.

Tomorrow night (7.30 pm) at the Traverse we have an opportunity to enjoy the fruits of his intellectual and artistic labour, with his theatrical production Talent Night in the Fly Room.

Somewhere in the far future, the last genetically engineered survivors of the human race come together one last time in the library at the end of time. Stored here in the bowels of Antarctica is the sum total of all human knowledge, as well as a DNA library of every species that has ever lived. Unfortunately, everyone has forgotten how to read.

Tickets are only £6 and can be booked by calling the box office on 0131 228 1404 or clicking the 'Book Now' button on the website.

Labels: amazing things, coming attractions, genomics, local

Posted 6:58 pm by Ken

Singularity&Co.

A great SF publishing project from the amazing Cici James (thanks, @ashkalb):

Labels: amazing things, coming attractions, skiffy

Posted 2:53 pm by Ken

enLIGHTen switches on

The launch yesterday afternoon of enLIGHTen exceeded expectations. After a deal of mingling, sipping, and nibbling in one of the Royal Society of Edinburgh's splendid halls, followed by introductory speeches, I read out my own story, with additional Scottish voices and accents supplied by Gavin Inglis, and Sam Oliver doing an impression of Ben Franklin. Photos from the event are here.

Then enLIGHTen project manager Sara Grady led the crowd out to St Andrew's Square, where we waited for enough dusk to gather for the projection to be switched on. William Letford recited his evocative poem, we all counted down, and Ali Bowden threw the switch.

And then, flickering up the column in the centre of the square, came a jumble of letters that seemingly self-assembled into a quotation from David Hume: 'Truth springs from argument amongst friends.'

On the bus home I passed Charlotte Square, where the project's installation is a truly eye-filling illuminated and ever-changing globe in celebration of the most famous phrase of Hutton.

Labels: amazing things, coming attractions, local

Posted 9:02 am by Ken

Lights! Camera! Action!

My new novel Intrusion is published today, and is available from Amazon and all good booksellers (one of which will have signed (and, if you like, personalised) copies any day now).

(Update: Cory Doctorow's enthusiastic review is now up on BoingBoing. Yay!)

The story's premise is:

A single-dose pill has been developed that corrects, without risk, many common genetic errors in a developing foetus. When a pregnant woman refuses to take The Fix, as the pill is known, she divides friends, family and even the law with a moral dilemma. Is her decision a private matter of individual choice, or is it tantamount to wilful neglect of her unborn child?

To celebrate the book and the source of some of its inspiration, the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum is sponsoring a launch event at Pulp Fiction (43 Bread Street, Edinburgh, EH3 9AH) on 21 March, 6.30 - 8.30 pm. The event will include me reading from the book and discussing it in conversation with Stuart Kelly, literary editor for the Scotsman newspaper group. Also: free drinks!

The event is free but spaces are limited: book online here.

There's a quite different launch event today, for enLIGHTen, an ambitious celebration of the Scottish Enlightenment, and I'm delighted and very much honoured to be taking part in it by reading (with Gavin Inglis and Sam Oliver doing the voices) my flash fiction in honour of Adam Smith.

Invitation only for that one, but a full account - including a link to all the stories and readings - tomorrow, if we're spared.

Labels: amazing things, coming attractions, local, self-promotion, skiffy, writing

Posted 9:31 am by Ken

City of Lit does city of light

I'm very pleased to be a small part of the Edinburgh City of Literature Trust's imaginative project, enLIGHTen, celebrating the Scottish Enlightenment with light and sound. My contribution is a flash fiction inspired by a quote from Adam Smith:

‘Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition’

The quote will be projected near the Royal Society building in George Street, with my story as an accompanying audio download.

To tell you the truth, though, the story was just as much inspired by the nearby statue of James Clerk Maxwell, which shows the great man apparently contemplating a CD. No spoilers, but if I say 'post-singularity', seasoned SF readers will be able to take it from there.

Labels: amazing things, coming attractions, local, self-promotion, writing

Posted 8:19 pm by Ken

Coming soon: US paperback of The Night Sessions

Via i09, I see that the forthcoming Pyr edition of The Night Sessions is now available for pre-order. The cover, by Stephan Martiniere, is just ace - I've seen it before, of course, as editor Lou Anders took me through various stages of the design process, but this happens to be the first time I've seen it walking the mean streets by itself.

The book itself is a near-future police procedural, featuring atheist detectives, presbyterian terrorists, creationist science-park animatronic hominids, a gothic lolita secret policeman, and Calvinist robots in space.

Or, as the publisher more soberly puts it:

A bishop is dead. As Detective Inspector Adam Ferguson picks through the rubble of the tiny church, he discovers that it was deliberately bombed. That it’s a terrorist act is soon beyond doubt. It’s been a long time since anyone saw anything like this. Terrorism is history.

After the Middle East wars and the rising sea levels, after Armageddon and the Flood, came the Great Rejection. The first Enlightenment separated church from state. The Second Enlightenment has separated religion from politics. In this enlightened age there’s no persecution, but the millions who still believe and worship are a marginal and mistrusted minority. Now someone is killing them.

At first, suspicion falls on atheists more militant than the secular authorities. But when the target list expands to include the godless, it becomes evident that something very old has risen from the ashes. Old and very, very dangerous. . .

Labels: coming attractions, self-promotion, skiffy, writing

Posted 2:05 pm by Ken

Known manifestations

My engagements so far for 2012:

Thursday 2 to Sunday 5 February: with many other authors, as well as noted SF/F fans and artists at SFX Weekender 3, Pontin's Holiday Park, Prestatyn Sands, North Wales. It's hoped (but not promised) that pre-publication copies of my new novel, Intrusion (Orbit, 1 March 2012), will be available for signing in the dealers' room.

Intrusion is, of course, already available for pre-order in hardcover and Kindle editions. Cory Doctorow, who has kindly allowed me to quote from his forthcoming review, describes it as

a new kind of dystopian novel: a vision of a near future "benevolent dictatorship" run by Tony Blair-style technocrats who believe freedom isn't the right to choose, it's the right to have the government decide what you would choose, if only you knew what they knew. ... a haunting, gripping story of resistance, terror, and an all-consuming state that commits its atrocities with the best of intentions.

Iain M. Banks calls it a twistedly clever, frighteningly plausible dystopian glimpse.

Friday 13 April, evening: a panel on transhumanism/posthumanism with, among others, Justina Robson and Steve Fuller at the Edinburgh International Science Festival.

Saturday 14 (evening) to Sunday 15 April: Guest of Honour at the lively and highly commendable annual 'fantastic weekend for readers and writers of science fiction, fantasy and horror', now in its sixth year, Alt.Fiction, Phoenix Digital Arts Centre, Leicester.

Labels: coming attractions, self-promotion, writing

Posted 11:15 am by Ken

Year's Best SF 29

The table of contents for Gardner Dozois's 2012 anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Ninth Annual Collection is now online, and I'm very pleased to say that I have two stories in it: 'Earth Hour' and 'The Vorkuta Event'.

Given the eldritch viccissitudes that the latter story went through before its eventual (and still viccissitude-dogged) truly splendid publication, I am even more well chuffed than you might expect.

Labels: coming attractions, self-promotion, skiffy, writing

Posted 1:31 pm by Ken

Battle of Ideas 2011

This Saturday I'm taking part in a discussion on 'Sci-fi and the future' at Battle of Ideas 2011. Having been at this annual event a few times already, I'm expecting a hard-hitting and focussed discussion, and a lot of other interesting debates over the weekend. It's one of the few conference or festival-type events I've been to where almost every discussion you overhear or or join in the corridors and bars is about ideas.

On Thursday evening I'm hoping to meet some SF fans for a few drinks in a pub in the Covent Garden area. If you'd like to join us, please email (address at left) or DM me on Twitter today.

Labels: coming attractions, politics, self-promotion, skiffy