[photo credit: CALTECH]
Gregory will explore that question with Caltech’s Professor of Comparative Literature Jocelyn Holland on Monday, Nov. 10, at a free Writers in Residence Program event from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Dabney Hall Lounge.
“What happens when simulation is the new reality?” asks the event description. Gregory’s novel, “When We Were Real,” published in April by Saga Press, “tackles the big question at the heart of virtual reality: what is it, exactly, that makes a virtual life worth living?”
The 464-page novel follows an engineer battling terminal brain cancer and a comic book writer as they tour “Impossibles”—physics-defying glitches that have appeared since the simulation announcement. Kirkus Reviews called it “Big-hearted, generous, and beautifully written.”
Gregory, 60, won the 2009 Crawford Award for his debut novel “Pandemonium” and the 2015 World Fantasy Award for his novella “We Are All Completely Fine”. His works span novels, comics and video games, translated into a dozen languages. He lives in Seattle and regularly teaches at the Viable Paradise Writing Workshop.
Holland’s research examines how 18th- and 19th-century thinkers grappled with technology. “My work explores connections between academic disciplines at a historical moment before they became as specialized as they are today,” she said.
The Caltech Writers in Residence Program is administered by the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Caltech Writers in Residence Program: “When We Were Real” by Daryl Gregory will run on Monday, Nov. 10, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Dabney Hall Lounge, 1200 E. California Blvd., in Pasadena. For more information, visit https://events.caltech.edu/calendar/wir-gregory. Tickets: free.
