I often do book recommendations.  Seemed like time for a bit of a travel recommendation. This one is especially for science fiction writers and fans.  The World Future Society’s annual meeting this year is themed “What if?” – a core question for science fiction fans, and certainly the starting question for many science fiction books and stories.

I’ve been helping them some with organizing the a science fiction symposium within the convention, and the speakers are fabulous.

• Glen Hiemstra has been my futurist mentor from Futurist.com, and in a life a long time ago, I was his first webmaster.  He’s one of the best futurist keynoters I know; thoughtful and thought-provoking both.
• I’ve recommended Ramez Naam for his fiction books Nexus and Crux and for his non-fiction The Infinite Resource:  The power of ideas on a finite planet.  Mez is a crack speaker, and doing a lot of international travel to talk to global audiences.  He’s also local to me, and one of our fastest-rising stars in Seattle.
• Madeline Ashby is also one of our new, fresh voices in science fiction and a fellow futurist. Read my interview with Madeline as a 2012 guest post for SF Signal.  I really enjoyed her books, iD and vN.
• One of my oldest and best friends from Florida introduced me to Brad Aiken, a doctor who writes science fiction about the future of medicine.  We were both part of a group dinner in San Antonia last Worldcon, and I found him smart and well-spoken, and very, very knowledgeable.
• I’m looking forward to meeting Trevor Haldenby, an exciting futurist who is using science fictions storytelling in his scenarios.  I haven’t seen him work, but I’ve heard from others who have, and I think he’s going to be great.
• In case that’s not enough, we’ll also be joined by techno-philosopher Gray Scott,  by volcano surfer Zoltan Istvan, and by the outgoing CIO of the World Future Society, Timothy Mack.  And more.

In addition to the symposium, many of us will also be speaking in the other tracks of the conference.  I’ll be there talking about my Backing into Eden concept blog, with a particular focus on ethics and GM animals.

So what happens when a techno-philospher, a volcano surfer, and a CIO walk into a bar…come to the World Future Society Science Fiction Symposium and you might just find out.

The conference is in Orlando in July, and registration is open.  There’s even a discount if you sign up by the end of April.  Join me for some of the best conversations of the year.