Monday, November 28, 2016

The Science Fiction by Scientists Anthology is out!

Today
I am happy to announce that a new anthology of Science fiction short stories written by active scientists and writers who'd trained as scientists is finally hitting the electronic and real book shelves. The anthology is edited by Michael Brotherton, an astronomer whom you know as an author of Star Dragon and Spider Star novels (Tor), and founder of the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop for Writers. I am thankful to Springer, an academic publisher for their interest in the project, and to Michael for picking up the task and doing such a great job of working with us. This anthology renews the tradition of Isaac Asimov's Great Science Fiction Stories by the World's Great Scientists series, and it is something I dreamed of doing one day -- although I am even happier that Michael has stepped up to the plate first and did all the hard work, leaving to us the pleasure of story writing. We were told to base our stories on real science (as theory, fact, or occupation) but not forget to thrill and entertain, as good fiction supposed to do.
Here is a quote from the original call for submission:  "Our goal is a balanced volume, ideally covering multiple disciplines such as physics, astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer science, geology, planetary science, robotics, etc., without being focused too heavily in only one or two areas. ...  Show us what’s fascinating, exciting, or important about science.  Bring us a sense of wonder.  Share what it is to think like a scientist.
Inspire us to want to support science.  Point out the dangers and responsibility ever increasing knowledge brings.  Write a story that puts the science in science fiction
."
Check out how we did!

Back in the day
Yes, I have a story in this anthology, titled The Gatherer of Sorrows. It is inspired by one of the quiet scientific revolutions afoot today: the study of epigenetic regulation of the human genome in general and of epigenetic inheritance in particular.  As I write this post I have not yet received my author's copy. I hope to add more material to this post once I get to read the whole book!  In the meantime, here are links to other resources related to this anthology:
Available from Amazon
A review in Nature Physics