The LonCon3 Speculative Biology event

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

A LonCon3 SpecBio montage: at far left, CG head of a Furahan rusp by Gert van Dijk (c) at centre,giant penguins from Dougal Dixon's After Man (c).

I've just returned from LonCon3, the 72nd Planet Science Fiction Convention, held at the enormousExCel Exhibition Centre in east London. Yeah, I know, sci-fi isn't specifically a typical element of theTet Zoo remit but, on this occasion, there really is overlap given that I was there for a set ofparticular Speculative Biology talks and discussions. Initiated and organised by Gert van Dijk of theoutstanding Furahan Biology and Allied Matters weblog (and connected internet sites), the eventalso involved author and exobiologist Lewis Dartnell, Memo Kosemen of Snaiad, All Yesterdays andnumerous other projects, the inimitable 'Father of Speculative Zoology' Dougal Dixon (Dixon 1981,1988, 1990, 2010), and myself.

At back: Gert van Dijk (l) and Memo Kosemen (r). Seated: Darren Naish (l) and Dougal Dixon (r).Lewis Dartnell was elsewhere when this photo was taken.

A couple of general comments on the occasion initial. LonCon3 is most likely the biggest meetingI've ever attended: vast, sprawling, attended by thousands, and with an absurd number of parallelsessions (much more than 15). I often end up feeling so overwhelmed by events of this size that Ifinish up taking refuge at the bar, or sitting in sessions that are not of special interest to me (buttypically prove worthwhile anyway: I liked the panel discussion I attended on Spanish sci-fi!).

And the event was so packed that some things I did want to attend ('Just 3 Cornettos' and 'The Stateof British SF' among them) were inaccessible when I attempted to get in (that is, the rooms havebeen at full capacity). I got wrapped up in meetings and drinking and missed lots of items I plannedto attend, or could not make them due to overlap: I missed Tori Herridge's speak on the evolution ofpygmy mammoths, panel discussions on scientific fakes and frauds, sexism, and the a single titled'"Your 'realistic' fantasy is a washed out colourless emptiness compared to the Rabelaisian reality."Discuss'. Cosplay and such was much less in proof than I was hoping, but, then, I didn't go to thegrand social events nor attend each and every single day of the meeting. I did see jawas, aSlenderman, pixie women, and had my photo taken with Elio and Linda of Thronecast fame. GeorgeR. R. Martin was baberos personalizados con nombre busy (he was there, by the way).

Montage of Snaiad creatures by Memo Kosemen. Significantly more on Snaiad below!

Anyway, our Speculative Biology events kicked off on Thursday 15th August with an hour-lengthypanel session. We have been supposed to indulge in an interactive discussion of some sort, takequestions from the keratina audience and that sort of point. Alas, confusion over the amount of timewe had allocated and a cancellation and redacted cancellation from one member of our group led toan 'innovative' strategy and we ended up carrying out much more presenting of thoughts andsignificantly less discussing of tips. By no means mind no one complained (except the guy in theaudience shouting about segmented worms. Man, we had some, err, memorable audience members).

Lewis Dartnell discussed information and fallacies regarding exobiology, focusing in certain on thecolours and types that plants (or plant-like organisms) may well adopt according to gravitationalregimes and the spectral traits of nearby stars. It was then more than to me: I focused completely onspeculative zoology. I offered a brief, selective historical review of speculative zoology as portrayedby means of literature, Television and cinema just before going on to go over the overlap amongspeculative zoology and cryptozoology (Conway et al. 2013, Naish 2014), and the role and 'value' ofspeculative zoology. This is really the identical talk I gave at TetZooCon seeing as there was %overlap in audience membership I figured this was ok.

Montage of photos connected to Speculative Zoology, from my talk: featured pictures by Steve White(bottom left), Brian Choo (best centre), John Sibbick (best right), Darren Naish and Tim Morris(bottom correct).

Gert van Dijk was up next and discussed a couple of suggestions relevant to the creatures of Furaha.Some tips that may appear neat when 'creature building' prove challenging to maintain whenphysical and biological constraints are deemed. Gert utilized balloon creatures as a case study,describing how he had initially planned to have the atmosphere of Furaha populated by floating gas-bag 'ballonts' of diverse sizes. But, no, physics disallows such organisms in view of difficultiesconcerning gravity, the mass of the tissues that have to be involved, and the mechanisms obtainablefor creating lift (if you're interested in the complete discussion see Gert's write-up on the issuehere). More on Gert in a moment.

Dougal Dixon discusses SpecBio at LonCon3 -what a treat! Photo by Darren Naish.

Memo Kosemen then offered a brief overviewof the art of speculative biology - he suggeststhat we now have a unique and independentSpecBio 'movement' that warrants widespreadrecognition by way of exhibitions and books.Yes, bring it on. Dougal Dixon - surely theprincipal draw of the occasion for most of theaudience - was up next. I know Dougalreasonably nicely (you might recall thecurrent interview published right here at TetZoo) but this is the very first time I've seen aDougal Dixon presentation in public. I haveguilt right here, since my personalpresentation on the history of speculative zoology meant that I'd robbed Dougal the opportunity totalk about the background to his own perform... yikes. Anyway, in the end, he provided a rapidautobiographical evaluation of the story behind After Man, The New Dinosaurs and Greenworld -extremely much a prelude to the longer, Greenworld-focused talk he gave a handful of days later.

On Furaha and Snaiad

Gert van Dijk discusses the origins of Furaha and his early career in illustrating the cover of sci-fibooks. Photo by Darren Naish. (c) Gert van Dijk.

Fast forward a day, ignore the adventures in in between (ha ha: TetZoopodcats in the Pub!), and wecome to a choice of correct, devoted SpecBio talks. Gert and Memo both now had time to speakabout their personal respective planet-creating workouts. Gert is an incredible artist who started hisadventures in sci-fi by painting the covers of novels. He became bored with requests to illustrateexplosions and laser guns and took to concentrating as an alternative on alien animals and plants,eventually producing his own fictional planet - Furaha - populated by a diversity of organisms.

Just a couple of of the numerous organisms developed for Furaha and viewable at Gert's weblog.Photos (c) Gert van Dijk.

As readers of Gert's blog will know, he often aims to test and answer questions surroundingbiomechanical solutions to difficulties of locomotion. The lifestyles and designs of movementobtainable to huge hexapods of the sort present on Furaha have been discussed (yes, Avatar got itreally wrong), as had been choices obtainable to spider-like walkers, multi-legged animals likeFuraha's sauropod-sized rusps, and Gert's swimming cloakfish. A book on Furaha has primarily beencompleted (or even wholly completed) and requirements publishing - I feel Gert is trying to find apublisher [UPDATE: see comment # 8 under].

Memo reveals some of his very earliest illustrations of Snaiad's alien creatures. Photo by DarrenNaish. (c) C. M. Kosemen.

Gert's talk on Furaha was followed by Memo Kosemen's on Snaiad, an alien planet dominated by agroup of superficially tetrapod-like creatures that often possess dorsally positioned, jaw-like organs(truly genital sheaths) and much more ventrally situated, usually elongate feeding structures. Inreality, Snaiad may well effectively break the record as goes the quantity of fictional entitiesinvented so far - Memo has invented a large number of lineages, with numerous a lot more yet tocome and only illustrated in preliminary fashion. Incidentally, the Snaiad site has only lately been re-launched and extended-time readers may well recall it being pointed out right here at Tet Zoo onceor twice in the previous. Throughout the speak, we have been treated to a planet-initial as Memoshowed us never-before-seen, early images depicting Snaiad creatures (invented just before theproject even had the name it has now). The mass appeal of Snaiad was demonstrated by theinvention of Spore versions of Snaiad creatures, by the number of web site mentions, by fan-art ofassorted genres, and by the enthusiasm of the attending audience.

Incidentally, Memo came up with the brilliant concept of generating art prints of numerousillustrations produced for our assorted projects. We all had a bunch of these and individuals couldtake them (or get them signed) for free.

SpecBio postcards printed by Memo: thesecouple of feature (best left) a choice ofSquamozoic animals by Darren Naish,(reduce left) a Snaiad creature by MemoKosemen, and (proper) a GreenworldBounty poster by Dougal Dixon.

Dougal Dixon's Greenworld

Dougal Dixon and guests read excerpts from Greenworld. Note the models on the table. Photo byDarren Naish.

Our selection of talks ended on Saturday evening with Dougal outlet online Dixon's superb andenthralling presentation on Greenworld, his two-volume, multi-generational epic (Dixon 2010).Greenworld - so far only published in Japanese - describes how human colonists establish an off-globe colony on an Earth-like planet and proceed to document, exploit, compete with andexterminate the indigenous species. Throughout the story, we see the world and its indigenousinhabitants through the eyes eliminar celulitis rapidamente and experiences of the human colonists -native creatures are killed off as vermin or competitors, domesticated and exploited, or createdextinct as their habitat is modified or destroyed. At the threat of giving away the project's principalstoryline, the main arc entails the re-playing of the events that occurred on the Earth fled by thecolonists at the commence of the story (Dixon 2010). Issues do not finish nicely.

Some of Dougal Dixon's artwork for Greenworld, on show at the meeting. Photo by Darren Naish. (c)Dougal Dixon.

Dougal Dixon with model Strida (and symbiont). People learnt to remove the symbionts and ride thestridas... but items did not precisely perform out as hoped. Photo by Darren Naish. (c) Dougal Dixon.

Dougal brought along model Stridas (and riders) and other Greenworld creatures and characters, asnicely as photos from the books, pictures of the technical papers published by Greenworld scientistson Greenworld geology and the phylogenetic history and classification of the planet's organisms, andcopies of the books themselves. An English-language version is necessary - I believe that Dougal islooking for a publisher.

Judging by the achievement of our collection of talks overall and by the audiences we toallasattracted, speculative biology in general - and the speculative biology set of talks at LonCon3 -are/have been incredibly well-liked this popularity possibly being at an all-time higher. Publishedworks on Snaiad and Furaha are someplace in the pipeline, Greenworld (Dixon 2010) needs anEnglish translation, and other projects that overlap with the speculative biology remit - like AllYesterdays and my personal Squamozoic project - are set to be expanded in the future.

So, it went nicely. Massive thanks to Gert for organising it all, and thanks to Memo, Dougal andLewis for creating the occasion what it was. We are talking about arranging particular SpecBioevents in the future... watch this space.

For previous Tet Zoo articles on speculative biology, speculative evolution and speculative zoology,see...

Refs - -

Conway, J., Kosemen, C. M. &amp Naish, D. 2013. Cryptozoologicon Volume I. Irregular Books.

Dixon, D. 1981. After Man: A Zoology of the Future. Granada, London.

- . 1988. The New Dinosaurs: An Alternative Evolution. Salem Home, Topsfield (MA).

- . 1990. Man Right after Man: An Anthropology of the Future. Blandford, London.

- . 2010. Greenworld (two volumes). Diamond, Tokyo.

Naish, D. 2014. Speculative zoology. Fortean Instances 316, 52-53.