Surprisingly, because this is the evening of the snow fall that hit Bristol's transport system hard, gridlocking the city and leaving hundreds of people stranded.

>> Read the interview with Peter F Hamilton

The audience struggled through the chaos to hear Peter F Hamilton read from his ninth novel, Pandora's Star, and ask questions about this and his other science fiction works, including his much-acclaimed three-volume space opera, Night's Dawn.

Tall, with a mop of curly hair, the author has a clear, deep voice, and an earnest face which always seems to have a smile just under the surface.

He plunges straight into an early excerpt from the book: a description of the upbringing of one of the main characters, and reads for about 10 minutes.

Hamilton's next installment should be out by August

Typically, his work focuses as much on the characters of his far-future world as on its technological advances, a fact picked up in the first question.

First of all, says Hamilton, he builds the world, deciding on its situation and the technologies available - and then out of that comes the characters.

"They then get to abuse the technology, he says. "The fun comes in seeing how the characters are going to apply or misapply the technology I've created for them."

He used to suffer from the "common author fault" of getting carried away with his characters: "I presume most of you are familiar with Night's Dawn. It's bigger than your average book."

This elicits a knowing laugh from the audience, most of whom have happily devoured this 3,000-page epic.

"The characters always drive the story. It's fine thinking up new technologies and new worlds, but you have to see them through human eyes - you have to involve the readership."

Detailed planner

His books explore the impact on individuals of massive upheavals in society: "What happens to everybody is equally important. The best example is World War II, which saw a huge societal change. Women were working in factories on a scale unheard of before, because they had to. And now women are expected to go out and work."

He's asked how he started out writing sci-fi. It stems from his childhood, he said. "I found the science fiction section in the library, and that was such a magnificent escape for a growing boy in the middle of rural nowhere.

"I got completely carried away with it, and absolutely loved it, so when the time came to write, that was what I wanted to do.

"In the mid-80s, my mother was very ill, and I had to go home and look after her. I needed a job which I could do from home, and I thought, 'This is the time. This is make-or-break.' So at 27, I went out and bought a typewriter."

Hamilton is a detailed planner, writing out chapter notes in advance for his books.

"I know novelists, Mike Marshall Smith for instance, who can sit at a totally blank page and just start writing. And come the revolution, I'm going to make sure he's against the wall. I have to have it all planned out."

Hamilton likes his technology to be based firmly in what's logical and possible. He's derisive of sci-fi where the technology doesn't seem to make sense.

Write about what you know

"A great quote from Larry Niven is that 'If you can generate gravity, you can do anything' - which is what annoys me about Star Trek and similar TV shows: they just walk around spaceships. You don't. You float. And the human body isn't adapted for it. Six months in orbit and they're carrying people off Soyuz on stretchers."

He has a good knowledge of engineering and electronics, but admits to not knowing all the scientific details.

"The greatest complimentary e-mail I ever got was from two guys at the Advanced Physics Lab at Leeds University.

One of them wrote and said 'We've both read your stuff. My friend says that you know all the science. I say that you know all the buzzwords. Which of us is right?' I had to write back and say, 'I'm sorry, you're right, I know the buzzwords!'"

Several of Peter's books are set in the Rutland area, where he grew up, and where he still lives. He enjoys using local references. "If you've ever read Fallen Dragon, there's a boy's rugby team which is basically made up of my neighbours."

His first three novels, the Greg Mandel psychic detective series, were set in a near-future UK, where global warming has flooded the Fens, and Peterborough is now Peterborough-on-Sea.

"Basic rule: write about what you know. I knew Rutland well enough to go into a lot of detail."

He also tries to reflect current political issues. "In the Mandel books, set about 12 years ago, the New Conservatives and the PSP, the People's Socialism Party, were reflections of Thatcher and Kinnock, because that was the issue at the time. If I were writing them today they'd be about whether we should go into Europe."

After a round of applause, the audience lines up to get their signed copies of Pandora's Star. Hamilton will follow through with the second half of the story, Judas Unleashed, next year.

"Promise!" he says. "August at the latest."