Downloads

Ventus - Complete novel

I've made my first novel, Ventus, available as a free download, as well as excerpts from two of the Virga books. I am looking forward to putting up a number of short stories in the near future.

Complete novel: Ventus

To celebrate the August, 2007 publication of Queen of Candesce, I decided to re-release my first novel as an eBook. You can download it from this page. Ventus was first published by Tor Books in 2000, and and you can still buy it; to everyone who would just like to sample my work, I hope you enjoy this version.

I've released this book under a Creative Commons license, which means you can read it and distribute it freely, but not make derivative works or sell it.

Book Excerpts: Sun of Suns and Pirate Sun

I've made large tracts of these two Virga books available. If you want to find out what the Virga universe is all about, you can check it out here:

Major Foresight Project: Crisis in Zefra

In spring 2005, the Directorate of Land Strategic Concepts of National Defense Canada (that is to say, the army) hired me to write a dramatized future military scenario. The book-length work, Crisis in Zefra, was set in a mythical African city-state, about 20 years in the future, and concerned a group of Canadian peacekeepers who are trying to ready the city for its first democratic vote while fighting an insurgency. The project ran to 27,000 words and was published by the army as a bound paperback book.

If you'd like to read Crisis in Zefra, you can download it in PDF form.

Short Stories

I'll be adding new stories here periodically. First of all, you can try my Aurora-award nominated short story "Hopscotch." The year this was nominated, another of my stories was also nominated: "The Toy Mill," which I wrote with David Nickle. "The Toy Mill" won the award; but I've always been fond of "Hopscotch." Here it is, in its entirety excerpted from my collection The Engine of Recall.

Hopscotch

Personal tools

My Ad Astra schedule

Filed Under:

April 9, 10, and 11 I can be found at the Crowne Plaza Hotel for this year's annual Toronto SF convention

Fri 9:00 PM:

Same Old Settings

What settings are overused and underused in SF, fantasy, and horror works? What would you like to see more of, and what have you seen enough of? If you are looking for more creative ideas for settings, where should you go? What works do you think have the most original settings?

Rick Wilber, Karina Sumner-Smith, Gregory A. Wilson, Karl Schroeder, Derek Kunsken

Sat 6:00 PM:

Putting the Science Into Science Fiction

How can authors effectively use cutting-edge science in their SF works?

Chris A. Jackson (m), Derek Kunsken, Peter Watts, Karl Schroeder,

Sat 7:00 PM:

Body and Person in SF

How SF has treated the connection between the body and the personality, from completely disconnected to very integrated.

J. Keeping, Peter Watts, Karl Schroeder

Sun 10:00 AM:

Writing the Future

How do you create a credible near future (up to 50 years from now)? What things are likely to change and what will stay the same? Technological and scientific changes aren’t the whole story. How do you incorporate probable or possible changes in the environment, economy and politics, culture and social mores into a believable future?

Hayden Trenholm, Karl Schroeder, Rebecca Simkin

Sun 2:00 PM:

Intersection Between SF and Contemporary Issues

Does an average 14-year-old understand that The Forever War is really about Vietnam? Are such allusions wasted effort? Does a writer limit his or her shelf-life by tying work too closely to the present day?

Robert J. Sawyer, Rick Wilber, Karl Schroeder, Ira Nayman, J.M. Frey

Sun 3:00 PM: