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British Science Festival 2011

Over the weekend, I hopped up to Bradford to take part in a panel discussion on “Science fiction and religion”. You can read more about the panel and my excellent co-contributors here. (Make sure you read the comments from the Doctor’s parish priest!) It was a very enjoyable session; lots of enthusiasm for Doctor Who, and some great discussion about, for example, how a theologian might approach writing sf, what sociology can bring to the mix, and much more. Here’s the text of my talk. Alien conmen and mad computers: Doctor Who, Star Trek – and...
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How do we understand TV as a literary me...

These are the notes I made in advance of the BSFA/SFF panel. The discussion went off in other and equally interesting directions, but I thought these notes might be of interest anyway. How might we be using the term ‘literary’? One might be synonymous with ‘quality’: what makes ‘good’ television according to some general standard of ‘good’ culture? This could quite quickly get bogged down into a discussion of high vs. low culture which even now forms a background pulse to television studies, as an unspoken justification...
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London, Weekend, Television

As previously mentioned on this journal, I had an early morning panel in London on Saturday, at the BSFA/SFF AGM and minicon. We also had theatre tickets on the Friday night, so we decided to bunk off on Friday and do the tourist thing in Our Nation’s Capital. Our hotel was in Westminster, so we wandered along the river through Victoria Tower Gardens. London has most often been a barrier to me, a place I have to pass through to get somewhere else, so it’s good to be able to stop and take the time to look. We dropped into the National Portrait Gallery,...
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BSFA AGM and minicon

Tomorrow morning I’ll be saying what I think about the question: “How do we understand TV as a literary medium?” at the BSFA AGM and minicon, which co-panellists Rob Shearman and Adam Roberts. That’s at the Royal Astronomical Society, Burlington House, London, if you’re in that part of the world (map).
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Alt.Fiction

I’m looking forward to the Alt.Fiction event in Derby this Saturday, a one-day festival of alternative fiction, with panels on TV tie-in writing, SF writing, screen writing, and discussions such as ‘genre books you must read’. I’m not on any panels, so I can sit back and enjoy myself, see some friends, and hopefully meet some new folks. Say hello if you’re there.
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Conflicts available for pre-order

The Conflicts anthology, which includes my short story “War Without End”, is now available for pre-order at the NewCon Press website. You can see a preview of the cover there too. The anthology is going to be launched at Eastercon in April. Hope to see you at Eastercon if you’re going!