When It Changed

Justina Robson · Paul Cornell · Sara Maitland · Ken MacLeod · Gwyneth Jones · Adam Marek · Geoff Ryman · Michael Arditti · Simon Ings · Frank Cottrell Boyce · Kit Reed · Chaz Brenchley · Liz Williams · Patricia Duncker · Adam Roberts

Dec 2013 · Comma Press

About this ebook

 'Highly engaging and fascinating... this thought-provoking collection reminded me why I used to like science fiction so much... Eventually, one hopes, science fiction will regain its rightful place - as once again stranger than science.'

- The Guardian, 20 Dec 09.

'All hit, no miss... thought-provoking at worst, and stunning at best... shows that science can inspire anyone and everyone.'

– New Scientist, 5 Dec 09.

'Inspiring'

– THE, 19 Nov 09.

'A diamond of compression.'

– Financial Times, 20 Dec 09.

When It Changed is an attempt to put authors and scientists back in touch with each other, to re-introduce research ideas with literary concerns, and to re-forge the alloy that once made SF great. Composed collaboratively – through a series of visits and conversations between leading authors and practicing scientists – it offers fictionalised glimpses into the far corners of current research fields, be they in nanotechnology, invertebrate physiology, particle physics, or software archaeology. From Planck's Length (the smallest indivisible distance) to Plankton (potential saviours of the Earth's ecosystem), from virtual encounters between Witgenstein and Turing, to future civilisations torn asunder by different readings of the Standard Model, together these stories represent a literary 'experiment' in the true sense of the word, and endeavour to isolate a whole new strain of the SF bug.

* * Featuring Sara Maitland's 'Moss Witch' - Runner Up in the BBC National Short Story Prize 2009.* *