Science fiction beams up into the British Library

Worlds: Alien, Future, Parallel, Virtual, Perfect and End Of

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in Media, 20th May 2011 11:40 GMT

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The British Library exhibition of the history of science fiction opens today.

The exhibition takes the long view of the genre starting with Lucian of Samosata's A True Story, a satirical trip to outer space powered by a giant water jet.

The exhibition is divided into Alien Worlds; Future Worlds; Parallel Worlds; Virtual Worlds; the End of the World and the Perfect World.

Works covered include H G Wells’ The War of the Worlds and Thomas More’s Utopia.

The exhibition is also being promoted on the Discovery channel, starting this Sunday at 10.30pm.

There are also a series of live events during the exhibtion. These include talks by Iain M Banks (6 June), David Lodge and Stephen Baxter (8 June), Michael Moorcock and Brian Aldiss (21 June).

Astral traveller and inventor of P-funk George Clinton and Nona Hendryx will talk about sci-fi influences on their music on 18 June.

The exhibition is free, although you may have to pay for events. It runs until 25 September.

A Vulture operative is being dispatched to check out the full show - we'll have a full review next week.