Just thought I should summarize what I'm up to lately, which is quite a lot:

• I'm finishing The Sunless Countries for Tor.  I just burned a city and the protagonist has sold out to the enemy.  Ah, it warms my heart!
• I'm working on a talking-book novella for a secret project.  It should be announced at Worldcon.  And no, I can't say more.
• I have four other short story/novella commissions I'm trying to meet.  This will be quite a year for short fiction for me.  I rather dried up there for several years, during the period when I was writing Permanence and Lady of Mazes.  But I'm back, and having loads of fun.
• I'm thinking about how to top Virga.  Ha!  No mean feat--but just wait until you see where The Sunless Countries takes us.  After I'm done with you, you'll be willing to believe in Santa Claus again.

As usual, the more productive I'm being on the fiction side, the less frequent my updates on the website.  It's a handy barometer for how hard I'm working, as a matter of fact.  So if you don't hear from me for a while... think 'good stuff coming.'

Tor has told me that they're going to release the Virga books in audiobook format (through MacMillan's audio division) on an aggressive schedule.  I don't have exact release dates, but here's the general timing--and it's quite tight:

1. Sun of Suns will be out in June
2. Queen of Candesce will be released in July
3. Pirate Sun will be out in August, essentially simultaneously with the release of the print version.
   

I've known this was coming for months, but couldn't talk about it.  Now my publisher, Tor, has revealed that Sun of Suns, my rollicking postmodern space-opera, will be next week's free ebook download from Tor.com.  Want a copy?  Then head on over to the new site and register.  It's free, and if you act now, you'll also gain access to a couple of other free ebooks.

Believe me, it'll be worth it to join the new site.  Tor isn't just pasting new art on an old site, here; they're opening up their entire operation.  The new tor.com will be a participatory playground for fans, thoughtful readers, and aspiring writers. It'll also have original art and stories, and stuff I still can't talk about.

This is fun: I'm helping organize a “SciBarCamp” with a diverse group of local people including entrepreneurs, students, artists, and scientists.  The event will take place at Hart House at the University of Toronto on the weekend of March 15-16, with an opening reception on the evening of March 14.

SciBarCamp is a gathering of scientists, artists, and forward-thinking members of the public for a weekend of talks and discussions.  The goal is to create connections between science, entrepreneurs and local businesses, and arts and culture.  The themes are:

• The edge of science (eg, synthetic biology, quantum gravity, cognitive science)
• The edge of technology (eg, mobile web, ambient computing, nanotechnology, web 2.0)
• Science 2.0 (open access, changing models of publication and collaboration)
• Scientific literacy and public engagement (eg, one laptop per child project, policy and science, technology as legislation, science as culture, enfranchising the poor, the young, the old)

In the tradition of BarCamps, otherwise known as "unconferences", (see BarCamp.org for more information), the program is decided by the participants at the beginning of the meeting, in the opening reception.  Presentations and discussion topics can be proposed at the SciBarCamp website or on the opening night.

The talks will be informal and interactive; to encourage this, speakers who wish to give PowerPoint presentations will have ten minutes to present, while those without will have twenty minutes.  Around half of the time will be dedicated to small group discussions on topics suggested by the participants.  The social events and meals will make it easy to meet people from different fields and industries.  Our venue, Hart House, is a congenial space with plenty of informal areas to work or talk.  There will be free wireless access throughout.

Our goals are:

• Igniting new projects, collaborations, business opportunities, and further events.
• Intellectual stimulation and good conversation.
• Integrating science into Toronto's cultural, entrepreneurial, and intellectual activites.
• Protoyping a model that can be easily duplicated elsewhere.

Attendance is free, but there is only space for around 100 people, so please register soon by sending an email to Jen Dodd (dodd.jen@gmail.com) with your name and contact details..  Include a link to your blog or your organization's webpage that we can display with your name on the participants list at www.SciBarCamp.org.

More information can be found at www.SciBarCamp.org.

This site's rapidly evolving, so don't be surprised if parts of it are empty.  In the About folder, though, I've just added a folder called "The Lab."  This is a collection point for cool stuff that I want to keep, and cool ideas I may want to write about but which have no other home on the site.

Incidentally, I'm working up an "Interviews" folder that will hopefully contain some videos as well as links to those print interviews that are online.

And coming very soon:  the Vote Venera in '08 Page!