Avid sf readers can contribute to the discussion on their preferred science fiction writers. Respond to Science fiction for children: what would you recommend?, or to Wanted: your favourite science fiction writers.

Get an insight from the author of ‘The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction‘ at this Q&A with the Founder.

Listen to a podcast on Science fiction now and tomorrow.

Look up which were the Top 10 Sci-Fi Movies Of 2011.

Awards galore for sf authors:

The Importance of Science Fiction Awards in Elevating Geek Culture. Winners are to be announced on 3 February 2012 at an award ceremony to be held at the SFX Weekender. For looking up the shortlisted works, visit Kitschies.

Shortlists revealed for British Science Fiction awards. Look out for the winner of the British Science Fiction Awards, to be announced in April, at Eastercon in London

The Arthur C. Clarke Award will be announced on 2 May 2012 as part of the SCI-FI-LONDON film festival.

It is likely that readers of these pages would have taken the time off to visit the unique summer show.  Tom Hunter, Director of the Arthur C Clarke Award opines that 2011 may well be a landmark year for Science Fiction. This is what he has to say in a guest blog – “…. in my humble opinion at least, an incredibly noteworthy year for SF&F.”

Read about Tom Hunter’s take on what’s made 2011 such a landmark for the sf genre in Guest blog 2011 – A Pretty Good Year.

SFFWorld.com discussion forum

What science fiction device would you like to try? discussion from The British Comedy Guide’s forum

Forums at SFF Chronicles

‘Science fiction has turned into reality’: Astronomers hail extraordinary discovery of ‘Star Wars’ planet with two suns

Science fiction into science fact – Ten things science fiction promised us and where it’s at now

Intel recruits sci-fi writers to dream up future tech

When algorithms control the world

There seem to be some thinkers who have even wondered whether SF should be the next subject to be added to curricula adapted for life in the 21st century, along with subjects like Attention Economics and Reality Engineering. Apparently, these topics are believed to be crucial for humanity’s survival in the future. ‘Welcome to the New Liberal Arts. Fancy a BA in Science Fiction?‘, opines a writer of weird and speculative fiction.

Amazon offers these sf fans exclusive free digest (Kindle edition) to the monthly magazine titled Fantasy & Science Fiction, often said to be “the best fiction magazine in America”.  The magazine  has completed over60 years in existence, having been founded in 1949. The periodical has won awards, and is the original publisher of several classics like Stephen King’s Dark Tower, Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon, and Walter M. Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz.

What does the free exclusive digest includes? Amazon explains – “All nonfiction content: editor’s recommendations, “Curiosities” (odd books of enduring interest), film reviews, book reviews, cartoons and humor, and “Coming Attractions” (highlights of each issue)”.

Over and above these features, you will also get to read one full story from the current full issue of the magazine as well as brief descriptions of the longer version’s stories and novelettes.

You can subscribe to the extended edition if you wish to read the stories in full.

It is a simple challenge for you to attempt to answer the eight questions. titled ‘Quiz: Science fact or fiction?‘

For more sf related quizzes, visit Sci-Fi fun stuff.

Here’s yet another sf quiz - Quiz: Science fiction facts.

Interested in space travel and the search for extraterrestrial life.? Take this NASA – JPL quiz.

Test what you know about adventures in space, time and fantasy – Funtrivia sf quiz

“Can science fiction still predict the future?”

“Did the Brontës write the first Sc-Fi?”

“Joe Cornish: Why I wanted aliens to invade south London”

Find these phrases intriguing? Then have a look at the string of eminently readable reviews about the ongoing science fiction exhibition at the British Library, aptly titled ‘Out of This World’. The British Library invites you to explore plenty of “imaginings that have provoked hopes and dreams, exhilaration and fear – and see how science fiction has influenced scientific discovery”.

‘My Science Fiction Life – The story of science fiction in Britain’ is the title of one of the websites of the BBC, albeit no longer undated.

There is an interestingly compiled timeline on the site. Look it up here. It’s interactive, and loaded with bits and bytes of extremely unusual snippets of information.

This is what the British Library says of the novel event – “Science Fiction is revealed not merely as a popular literary genre but as a way of looking at today’s world and presenting alternatives: radical ideas about science, politics, society, the future… and the nature of reality itself.”

That’s right – the British Library intends to use literature, film, illustration and sound to let visitors explore sci-fi which claims immense following from among book enthusiasts. The aim of the show is to trace how science fiction has metamorphosed, over centuries, from a select hobby to a colossal worldwide phenomenon. The exhibits are designed to project “the world of the future, alien worlds, parallel worlds and virtual worlds, and speculate on how our universe might change”.

Here are a few highlights of the exhibition -

• Lucian of Samasota’s True History, a work from the 2nd century, possibly the first known text in the sci-fi genre
• Manuscript of Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s 1871 story The Coming Race
• Luigi Serafini’s Codex Seraphinianus – an encyclopaedia of an imaginary world
• Events featuring well-known science fiction writers like Iain M Banks and Michael Moorcock
• Interactive displays for visitors

Venue – PACCAR Gallery, British Library

Entry – Free

It is possible that while being a fan, you must have sometimes felt like a critic of the sf work yourself. Or you may have a fertile imagination that is quite competent to produce plots, themes and fiction plans that you could really build upon to produce a near-masterpiece!

If you do there is help for you at hand – a fiction writing course offered by one of UK’s foremost open learning providers and a market–leader in innovative training techniques. The Fiction Writing - Level 3 Course has been designed for anyone interested in becoming a professional author. The self-study course aims at providing a comprehensive guide to the skills and techniques necessary to write fiction with some degree of competence.

Yet another resource is a complete course on science fiction and fantasy writing from a published author, who helpfully offers two approaches to the interested learner – a short-cut “Quick Launch” approach and a deeper and longer route “Hyperspace”.