Birmingham Science Fiction Group Committee Members

Christopher Priest - Honorary President
Chris Priest was a major writer and influence in the SF genre.
Cinema fans will know of his novel 'The Prestige' adapted to a successful film starring Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) and Christian Bale (The Dark Knight).
His works include Inverted World, The Affirmation, The Separation and the recent An American Story, through Gollancz.
He has won multiple awards including the BSFA, World Fantasy Award and has had multiple Hugo nominations.
Chris was a regular guest and attendee at BSFG Meetings and at Novacons, with over ten appearances.
Chris sadly passed away in Februrary 2024, and will be greatly missed by everyone in our group. We were extremely privileged to have him as our Honorary President.

Carol Goodwin - Chair
Came to Birmingham to study Biology and found Andromeda SF bookshop (and bought far too many books). I have moved around since but keep ending up back in Birmingham, where I discovered the Brum Group in 2011.
I was introduced to SF and Fantasy very young (both books and TV/films) – early influences were my Dad’s Edgar Rice Burroughs and L Sprague de Camp collections. Early TV/films were Dr Who, Forbidden Planet and late night screenings of the old Universal horror classics.
I am an avid reader and will try most genre fiction as I look for good plot and characters rather than worry about the label. That said I mainly like hard SF, Space Opera and well-written Fantasy. I am also still a big fan of fantasy/SF in other forms – films, TV and video games etc.

Pat Brown - Treasurer
Now retired from teaching but busier than ever;
I have been a fan of SF since childhood, my introduction being the Flash Gordon Saturday serial cliff-hangers in the 50s/60s before discovering the classics. Enjoy SF with characterisation, travelling, real ale, exotic/foreign foods, manouche, Otis Redding, Gilbert & Sullivan and Carousel. Dislikes include Fantasy and people who misuse their power and abilities.

Dave Corby - Secretary
Currently employed by Severn Trent Water as a Business Analyst. He has a Biochemistry degree and an almost exclusive enjoyment of just Science Fiction and Fantasy. Having enjoyed Tolkien since he was 7 he is now an active Tolkien Society member and was Chair of the Middle-earth Weekend in 2008 to 2010.
He has enjoyed just about all the SF he has ever read, ranging from Hard SF through Fairytale. He has also played and games-mastered tabletop Role-playing Games for 20 years.
Other interests include: Rock and metal music (from progressive 70s synth to 90s Scandinavian Black with everything in between!), Marvel and many indie comics and performance cars!

Ian Morley - Membership Secretary

Born and bred in Birmingham, Ian has had a varied working life mainly in IT and graphic design, as an employee, self-employed and at director level. However for the last ten years he has found his true calling as an online bookseller from his website www.durdlesbooks.com. He sells books in all genres, but he specialises in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Modern Fiction.

Ian enjoys classic and space opera science fiction novels that he read in his teens, especially Brunner, Shaw, Silverberg, Tubb, Clarke, Vonnegut, but has a particular liking for Clifford D Simak’s pastoral SF. In recent years he has been ploughing through the novels of Iain M Banks, Alastair Reynolds, Neal Asher, and has long list of other contemporary SF writers, whose work who he intends to read. He also enjoys science fiction and thriller films, good ales, and friendly poker nights. He dislikes haircuts.

Robin Kilsby - Publicity Officer

I came to Birmingham in 2018 after ten years of working overseas in a variety of projects in China, South Korea and the US. I enjoy literature in all genres but science fiction is my passion, both classic and modern. I love books with excellent world building, compelling characters and intriguing concepts. Some of my favourite authors include Alastair Reynolds, Cixin Liu, H. G. Wells, Ursula K. Le Guin and Philip José Farmer. I also enjoy SFF in other visual media i.e. television, film and video games.

I have a YouTube channel where I discuss and review SF books:

www.youtube.com/@bookspin

Theresa Derwin - Ordinary Committee Member

Theresa Derwin writes horror, fantasy romance and dark comedy.

She recently achieved her MA degree in Creative Writing. She is the 2019 HWA Mary Shelley Scholarship recipient.

She has over sixty anthology acceptances, including a story titled "Shift Left for Love" in Brigid's Gate Press' Weretales which made Ellen Datlow's 2021 recommend long list.

She has published four collections and edited ten anthologies. Her forthcoming books include God's Vengeance from Crystal Lake Publishing.
She has been a member of BSFG for twelve years or so, and has worked various roles on the committee including Publicity Officer (formerly) and Ordinary Committee Member.

Nick Foster - Ordinary Committee Member
I was originally lured to the Birmingham Science Fiction Group in 2013 by Brian Aldiss telling a story about Margaret Thatcher and her attitude towards science fiction. Aldiss recounted this story as he felt it illustrated how Mrs Thatcher totally misunderstood what science fiction was about. It was not about prediction of the future, but for people who “liked the disorientation” (the essence of science fiction in Aldiss’s view) of portraying an unfamiliar landscape and trying to work out what would hold true under different circumstances. 10 years later (well I needed to think about it!) I returned, attending my first meeting online and have never looked back! I am still fairly new to SFF but am looking forward to learning a lot, from a starting point of particularly loving Kim Stanley Robinson, Iain Banks and Ursula Le Guin. I write a blog which sometimes talks about science fiction at www.weknow0.co.uk