I am remiss in not mentioning this sooner! I’ll be at the Manchester event of the Gollancz Festival on 16 October. Unlike the London event, which is sold out, there are still some tickets available.

I’m doing two panels:

6.45 – 7.15
Predictions of the future in SF: does reality matter?
Stephen Baxter; Ian McDonald; Justina Robson; Gavin Smith; Tricia Sullivan (mod)

8 – 8.30
Human modification in SF
Stephen Baxter; Ian McDonald; Justina Robson; Gavin Smith (mod); Tricia Sullivan

So, I’m moderating the one on ‘Does Reality Matter,’ which is a bit of an old chestnut but I don’t think it ever gets tired, because predicting the future is widely thought to be synonymous with science fiction. So we have to keep answering this question again and again in different ways in every generation and from many different viewpoints. It’s a lovely open question to be working with and I look forward to hearing what everyone has to say.