What sci-fi themes are important to cover in this moment? What stories are resonating? Come with a suggested reading under your belt and ideas about the future of the genre.
We're adding a shared reading component based on feedback from Session 1. Read the short story below before attending. You'll have the first 10 minutes of the session to share your quick reactions — what resonated, what surprised you, what it got wrong.
A short story from Bruce Sterling's landmark cyberpunk collection. Read it before the session — it will anchor our opening discussion.
Read the Story →Quick round-the-room reactions to the suggested reading. What stuck with you? What felt prescient? What felt dated? Keep it tight — everyone gets a minute.
Grab some post-its — it's a quick writing session. Write down your favorite sci-fi themes, tech themes, AI themes, and San Francisco themes. One idea per post-it. We'll stick them on the wall and see what patterns emerge. No overthinking — just gut reactions.
Look at the wall of themes. Write down or select your favorite ideas — the ones that spark something. What themes might inspire a story or world you'd want to write about? You're building the seed of your own idea here.
Split into small groups. Each person shares the idea or story they're most inspired by from the previous exercise. Start developing your individual stories — pitch your concept to the group, get feedback, riff on each other's worlds. The goal: select one or two ideas per group to really talk through and build out together.
Each breakout group shares their top story ideas with the full room. What concepts emerged? Which worlds got the group most excited?
Unstructured mingle time. Continue conversations, make connections, or head out — no awkwardness either way. The structured portion is done.
In Session 3, we'll break into groups and talk about sci-fi ideas we would personally like to work on. Start thinking about yours now.
THE SFSF SALON
BIWEEKLY · BAY AREA · 2026
MACHINE CINEMA