When It Changed: 'Real Science' Science Fiction [Paperback]

Geoff Ryman (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2010

Collaborating between leading scientists and literary authors, this unique experiment creates a new strain of science fiction by extending the repertoire of the genre beyond the common places of space travel, time travel, and artificial intelligence. Through the use of diverse, credible, and contemporary research areas—from Planck length to plankton and virtual conversations between Wittgenstein and Turing to future civilizations torn asunder by differences over particle physics—these stories reinstate the furnace of scientific endeavor. Comprised of research from practicing scientists at Manchester University and the stories of established authors—including Frank Cottrell Boyce, Geoff Ryman, Patricia Dunscker, and Sara Maitland—this anthology attempts to take science fiction into new, scientifically realistic fields while explaining the theory and technology behind each story.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Geoff Ryman is an author and editor whose work includes Air, Pol Pot’s Beautiful Daughter, and Tesseracts Nine. He is the founder of the Mundane Science Fiction movement and edited the Mundane Special Issue of Interzone magazine in 2008.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Carcanet Press Ltd.; 2 edition (April 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1905583192
• ISBN-13: 978-1905583195
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,658,330 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for classic science fiction readers, July 24, 2010

By 

E. J. Hillard "Book Collector" (Rural Southern Oregon) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: When It Changed: 'Real Science' Science Fiction (Paperback)

As a fan of Fred Hoyle ('The Black Cloud', etc.) I found this book to be a great read. I had concluded that sf had exclusively gone to fantasy. This is a refreshing reminder of what fiction about science can be.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly good and well-balanced, June 18, 2010

By 

mianfei - See all my reviews

This review is from: When It Changed: 'Real Science' Science Fiction (Paperback)

Although I have had pretensions of writing fantasy myself (in part because of my interest in stories of miracles that my relatives say cannot be true) I have had a tendency to follow most literary critics and believe that there is actually little of literary value in most fantasy novels and/or that they are essentially written for children.

I came to read "When It Changed: 'Real Science' Science Fiction" through my knowledge of Sara Maitland and her short story "Moss Witch" which I found interesting in light of the scientific knowledge shown from a learned woman of a very much pre-punk school. "Moss Witch" itself becomes much more interesting when one actually reads the full story: Maitland invents a very large life-form that is intelligent but absorbs water like it was a plant. Scientist Jennifer Rowntree, who is currently doing her own doctorate, does an excellent look at Maitland's story.

The other stories in the book are completely different, but I found them much better than I would have guessed from their actual content, most of which focuses on typical science-fiction topics from the possibility of water on Mars to the future of technology and how it could influence society. Such stories as Geoff Ryman's "You", Ken MacLeod's "Lifeforms" and Michael Arditti's "In the Event Of" have a maturity that is most unexpected from the world of science fiction because they actually allow for real intimacy with the characters and never appear disjointed. There is also an interesting story at the beginning about improving the resolution of electron microscopes enough that they have the ability to see carbon atoms and how strong the bonds between them are, and about particle colliders and determining the Planck Length. There is even a story with elements of astrology in it, though my knowledge of the topic makes me a little less favourably inclined thereto.

Although the stories may not be perfectly accurate, the way in which the scientists in "When It Changed: 'Real Science' Science Fiction" serve to in effect help the contributors who are: it is very much enjoyable to read the comments on each story in the anthology - something very rarely done with science fiction except in handbooks about writing it. For this reason, I would recommend this book to those interested in short stories and how fiction can learn from science - and vice versa.