Slashdot. Ah, Slashdot! So much gets reported there, and so often is it mauled in the comment threads. Take this recent thread on the discovery of a way to increase the CO2 absorbent qualities of a particular plastic. I actually made this subject one of my projects at school, and have posted a tiny summary of our findings elsewhere on this site. 

Slashdot's usual pundits reacted to this little news item with derision and bewilderment. However, if this simple plastic both absorbs and releases its CO2 rapidly, and if it can withstand more than a few hundred cycles of doing it before deteriorating, it could literally save the planet. There's really nothing else out there you could say the same about.

It's like this: if you chase the references at the bottom of my page on carbon air capture, you'll discover that no amount of emissions reductions nor geoengineering of global temperature will prevent climate disaster at this stage. Even if we stopped putting new carbon dioxide into the atmosphere overnight, what's already there will continue to acidify the oceans and alter the climate for centuries. We are already on an irreversible course to mass extinction.

...Unless it somehow became feasible to remove the CO2 that's already in the air. Some of the Slashdot commentators naively suggested planting trees, but that's not actually a viable solution (especially as we are cutting trees down far faster than we can reforest, and the climate will kill forests faster than we can replant them anyway). What's needed is an industrial-scale solution. People like David Keith and Klaus Lackner have experimentally proven that it can be done, and even Keith's system, which uses off-the-shelf chemicals and processes, is economically viable provided there's a high price on carbon. However, if the polyethylenimine results hold up, they'll represent an orders-of-magnitude reduction in the difficulty of capturing atmospheric carbon. This translates to commercial viability at a credible carbon price. 

In other words, we don't have to either bury our heads in the sand or accept the inevitability of mass desertification, mass extinction, ocean anoxia and economic catastrophe. When combined with actual emissions reductions, carbon air capture technology has the potential of returning the atmosphere to pre-industrial levels of CO2 within our lifetimes. It is the only measure that can actually reverse climate change. 

So remember the word polyethylenimine. This unassuming plastic might just save the world.

Aside from the usual financial/social roller-coaster that is the writer's life, I've been doing a lot lately.  I took my first official vacation in years in June--a 2500 kilometer road trip across the Canadian prairies that included stops at the Tyrell Museum in Drumheller, and my first helicopter ride--and have been trying to slow down and enjoy the summer a bit.  But foresight work on the 2020 Media Futures project and work on my Masters thesis (actually called a Major Project since OCAD is a design school) keep dragging me back to my desk.

...Where I'm working through the copy-edit of Ashes of Candesce, and drafting a new novel and an even more Sekret Project.  --Oh, and reviewing the pages for the upcoming graphic novel version of Sun of Suns.  

And, because I'm such an inconsistent and occasional blogger, Charlie Stross has asked me to contribute to his weblog for a few weeks this summer.  That's going to be fun, and hopefully will get me back into the swing of regular blogging.

Which, you know, I'm just sooo good at.

On January 29, 2010, Amazon.com removed all my books from sale on their online store.  I wasn't singled out for persecution; all of my peers who publish at Tor Books, and indeed all authors associated with MacMillan Publishing, had their Amazon.com pages killed.  (You can still see the pages, but you can't buy anything.)

Up until yesterday, I linked from this website to Amazon, as a matter of convenience for fans who might want to buy my books after browsing these pages.  Granted the sheer arbitrariness, pettiness, and anticompetitive nature of the sudden price war between Amazon and MacMillan, I have removed all purchasing links to Amazon from my site, and will not be re-linking even if they restore the frozen pages.

This type of action holds authors and readers hostage to a commercial war between publishing giants.  It puts a lie to the idea that we can choose where to buy books in a free marketplace, because this kind of strong-arm tactic is likely just the beginning.  Things are turning nasty in the book world, and it's authors and readers who stand to lose the most.

I just got the following promotional e-mail from Amazon.ca:

Dear Amazon.ca Customer,

As someone who has purchased or rated books by Karl Schroeder, you might like to know that Nature's Heir will be released on November 1, 2009.  You can pre-order yours by following the link below.

This book does not exist!

Nature's Heir was the original title to the third Virga book, which is now, of course, Pirate Sun.  There is no such book as Nature's Heir, and I don't know where your money is going to go if you pre-order it.  I'm in touch with my publisher and distributor to try to sort this mess out, but in the meantime, spread the news, and don't order the book.

I had surgery on September fifth (the day after my birthday) to repair an ascending aortic aneurysm.  This is an inevitably fatal condition which is almost always asymptomatic, so people who have it often have no warning before it kills them.  Thus, I was very lucky to have it diagnosed (seven years ago) and ultimately repaired.

This period has been an intense and emotionally trying one for me--not to mention physically excruciating.  Thus, I chose not to publicize what was happening; I needed my privacy to deal with the experience. 

The surgery went like clockwork, but I had some heart rhythm problems afterward that kept me in the hospital an extra week.  There were a few trips to the ER once I was discharged, as well.  The first day I was home I was too weak to make it up the stairs, so I slept on the couch, and for weeks I was able to walk only short distances--a few meters initially, later half a block at a time--and could not lift more than five pounds without risking rupture to my sternum.  I came home with a three-page list of drugs I was on, from anti-arhythmics to blood thinners to more exotic things whose ultimate purpose I never learned. 

A number of people were highly supportive during my recovery, and I still haven't figured out how to properly thank them.  I may never be able to do it to my own satisfaction.

I still have a few issues to sort out, ironically with my eyes and balance, but it's no longer fair to keep this to myself.  I'm out and about again--doing the Cryptic ConFusion con last weekend, and Boskone in a couple of weeks--and it's not fair to surprise people with this particular piece of news.  And anyway, it's now in the past.

I'm happy to be back in the game and writing again.  2009 should be a good year.

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.'

Next weekend's first SciBarCamp is now full, with well over 100 confirmed attendees.  The event's happening at Hart House, which is a magnificent location in the heart of Toronto (the University of Toronto takes up a square mile of the downtown core).

Fear not if you were hoping to come but were unable.  We want this event to be the first of a regular series.  Just make sure you follow the news at the SciBarCamp website, and sign up early!

SciBarCamp's deliberately vague schedule

The program for SciBarCamp will be decided in a collaborative way involving all participants on the opening night (Friday night).  This is when all the talks and discussions will be scheduled.

The start and finish times for each day have been decided, and are set out below.  The opening event on Friday night will be integral to the whole weekend, so please plan to attend on this night as well as on the rest of the weekend.

SUNDAY, March 16, 9:00am to 5:00pm

As reported over at The Art Department, Stephan Martiniere, my cover artist for the Virga books, has won the Spectrum Silver Award for book covers, for his cover art for City Without End by Kay Kenyon. The art director was Lou Anders, who just bought a short story of mine.

Not surprisingly, I can't get through on Bakka's phone line; but I don't think they've been caught up in the disaster.  Bakka Phoenix is Toronto's oldest SF bookstore, kind of a Mecca for SF travelers.  It's where Cory Doctorow worked before he published his first novel; myself, Peter Watts, and many other Canadian SF writers have held book launches and signings there.

A six-alarm fire is one level below the maximum on Toronto's scale.  I'm not sure what seven would look like, but this one involves over 100 firefighters, a dozen fire trucks, and essentially an entire downtown city block on fire.

The big problem is the cold and wind chill; I just saw a picture of a fire ladder completely encased in ice up against the side of a building.  Whatever they spray freezes instantly, so the storefronts, streets and sidewalks in the area are quickly turning into a glacial mess.  There's also a lot of smoke and transit chaos--just not a good place to be right now.

I wish the best for everybody affected; nobody's died, which is a blessing, but many people are homeless and local businesses may be devastated.  It's very sad.

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.

...And that about covers it.  The old blog turned out to be perfect spambot chum; it was getting eaten alive by them.  Anyway, it didn't use up to date RSS or ATOM, and that made it invisible to a lot of legitimate web tools, like RSS aggregators. 

The fact is that there was tons of information on the old site, but it was all buried in blog posts that you had to search through.  This time around I'm going to be building separate static pages for my books, and there's a calendar app that puts my appearances etc. in one easily-found place.  There's a home page where I can highlight stuff (like the upcoming Pirate Sun), and I can add new sections as I want.

There's still a lot to do, but I hate those tacky "under construction" signs that people put on websites.  If a page is empty, you can assume I'm working on it.  If it's a bit clumsy looking, you can rest assured I'll improve it.  In particular, I'm slowly adding more graphical stuff and navigation options.  Obviously, the book pages aren't complete yet--but I want them to look really good, so they'll take some time.

In order to keep the spambots out, I've had to require that you login to comment.  Luckily, it's easy and fast to create yourself an account, and I'm hoping to institute OpenID login in the near future.

Anyway, here it is for good or ill.  The site's scheduled to go live on Monday, Jan. 28, 2008.  We'll see if it crashes big-time in the next couple of weeks, or turns out to be stable.  Opinions?  Let me know.