Of This and Other Worlds - Science Fiction Reading Group

Please note that places for this reading group are very limited. If you book a place and can’t make it, we would be grateful if you could let us know as soon as you can so that we can offer your place to someone else.

Starting this February, we’ll be kicking off our Fantasy and Science Fiction reading group, exploring worlds both fantastical and horrific, monstrous and utopian. Whether your interests lie in exploring the ruins of a lost civilization, challenging fiends to save the world from ruin or delicately navigating the politics of a corporate interstellar McEmpire™ (Ask about our franchising options and get a free McNuke™!), I do hope you’ll join us on every 3rd Monday of the month.

For the next reading group of 2023, we’ll be heading to the twin worlds of Anarres and Urras, where two very different societies have formed. One an anarcho-syndicalist commune, the other a capitalist economy.

The Principle of Simultaneity is a scientific breakthrough which will revolutionize interstellar civilization by making possible instantaneous communication. It is the life work of Shevek, a brilliant physicist from the arid anarchist world of Anarres.

But Shevek's work is being stifled by jealous colleagues and social obligations of manual labour, so he travels to Anarres's sister-planet Urras, hoping to find more liberty and tolerance there. But he soon finds himself being used as a pawn in a deadly political game.

Trapped between two worlds, Shevek must find a place for himself and the terrible power of his creation.

The tenth session will be on December the 18th - Join us in the bookshop for a great conversation and some wine, snacks and pleasant company! Don’t worry if you couldn’t make it to any of prior sessions or have missed one, no knowledge of the prior reading groups is required.