Turkey City workshop, July 2005

Turkey City is a science fiction writing workshop where people gather and critique each others’ stories (which they have read in advance). Traditionally it’s followed by a party in the evening, where the writers, according to Bruce Sterling, try to repair their damaged relationships with booze.

The July 23rd, 2005 Turkey City had Ted Chiang as a star guest. Ted Chiang describes himself as “occasional writer” and at that time he had only one book out, a story collection “Stories Of Your Life And Others”. His stories take concepts from several different areas of science, intertwine them in unexpected but very elegant ways, and show the philosophical impact of certain scientific ideas. I had been blown away by those brilliant stories and was very excited to meet the author. A decade later, the title story of the collection, “The Story of Your Life”, was adapted into the movie “Arrival”.

Participants of the July 23rd, 2005 Turkey City science fiction writing workshop. Second row, from left: Mikal Trimm, Richard Buttner, Lawrence Person, Stina Leicht, Ryan McReynolds. First row, from left: Chris Brown (then known as Chris Nakashima-Brown), Steve Wilson, Ted Chiang, Jessica Reisman.