Review of 'Collision: Stories from the Science of CERN'

Collision: Stories from the Science of CERN by Rob Appleby, and Connie Potter

This is a collection of stories from various SF authors inspired by the science being performed at The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), known as the world's largest particle physics laboratory, home of the famous “Large Hadron Collider” and where the Higgs-Boson particle was finally discovered. After each short story a scientist provides an afterward commenting on some aspects of the plot. The stories are:

• Going Dark (Steven Moffat with afterward by Dr Peter Dong)
• The Grand Unification (lisa luxx with afterward by Dr Carole Waydert)
• Afterglow (Bidisha with afterward by Dr Kristin Lohwasser)
• Marble Run (Luan Goldie afterward by Dr Carole Waydert)
• Skipping (Ian Watson, afterward by Dr Andrea Bersani)
• The Ogre, the Monk and the Maiden (Margaret Drabble, afterward by Dr Tesa Charles)
• End Titles (Adam Merek, afterward by Dr Andrea Giammanco)
• Dark Matters (Lucy Caldwell, afterward by Dr Joe Haley)
• Side Channels to Andromeda (Peter Calu, afterward by Dr Michael Davis)
• The Jazari Principle (Corrtia Newland, afterward by Dr Daniel Cervenkov)
• Absences (Desiree Reynolds, afterward by Jens Vigen)
• Gauguin's Questions (Stephen Baxter, afterward by Prof John Ellis)
• Cold Open (Lillian Weezer, afterward by Prof Gino Isidori)

There are a couple of stories here that go way out there such as “The Jazari Principle”, “Skipping”, and “Gauguin's Questions”, set way in the future, but most are set in or around CERN itself with a number actually talking about the daily lives of scientists. “End Titles” even features ghosts! The afterwards are quite interesting with some pointing out aspects of the stories that are slightly exaggerated for the narrative (or even completely implausible such as the security-breaking events of “Afterglow”) but most pick up on some of the points that the scientists discussed with the author in advance of the story being written.

As with most anthologies, some of the stories are harder to read than others and not all will be to everyone's taste. The mixture of narrative styles does occasionally distract but I have to say that it is generally an interesting read with some intriguing takes on the brief of telling a SF story based around the science of CERN (or the facility itself). My particular favourites are “Going Dark” and “Gauguin's Questions” for sheer readability and interesting plots.

In reading, I did learn quite a bit about what it is like to work there and what they actually do but along the way there were some good SF stories too.

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2025-03-23

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Comma Press

Publication Date: 2023

ISBN: 9781912697687