How does math influence science fiction?  In my case, I'm functionally inumerate and yet have created hard-SF universes that others have written scientific papers about.  How does that work?  This Saturday myself, Suzanne Church and Tony Pi will be talking about the intersection point of math and imagination--and perhaps, about the idea that there's no real difference between the two.

See you there!

You can enter to win a free copy of my newest book, Lockstep.  Goodreads and Tor Books are sponsoring the draw, which is open until February 25, 2014.  

Early buzz on Lockstep is very flattering (see this blogger's review, and this one).  I had a lot of fun writing this novel; like 2002's Permanence, it's something of an homage to the Andre Norton juveniles I grew up reading. 

One cool aspect of this particular draw is that what you'd be winning is an ARC--an Advance Reader's Copy of the novel.  These are generally the same as the hardcover edition on the inside, but paper-bound and usually without cover art.  Plain, intended for reviewers--and collectible.

So what have you got to lose?  The contest's open to anyone in the U.S. and Canada, and goes for another month.

A couple of years ago I contributed to a paper, "Open Source Biotechnology Platforms for Global Health and Development:  Two Case Studies," whose other authors are Hassan Masum, Myra Khan and Abdallah S. Daar.  The subject was open source models for drug discovery and alternatives to standard patent processes.  The paper has now been published in the book Open Development:  Networked Innovations in International Development (available from various sources, for instance here on Amazon).

Open development is closely related to ideas of collective intelligence (and I contributed to a book on that a couple of years ago) and to radical innovations like Bitcoin and the redesigning of democracy that I discuss in my Hieroglyph contribution.  But in this case, it's the nitty-gritty details that matter rather than the grand sweep of exciting ideas.  What are the open-source alternatives to traditional patents, and how do they operate?  How can open-source ideas be practically applied to the problem of discovering new treatments, particularly for "orphaned" diseases that the big pharmaceutical companies find difficult to address?  Open Development is a book for those who're interested in the details of how we can make a collaborative civilization work.  As such it's important and timely, and I'm proud to have contributed to it if only in a minor way.

The third in our audiobook series of speculations about cities, ecosystems, and the intersection of human and non-human ambition, Metatropolis: Green Space, will be coming out this month. You can pre-order it from this page. 

Green Space takes up the story of the Metatropolis world a generation after the last set of stories. This time, we've got some of the best talent in current SF: the inestimable Jay Lake and Ken Scholes are editing and contributing, and as well Seanan McGuire, Toby Buckell, Mary Robinette Kowal and Elizabeth Bear also supplied stories. Oh, and me too. This is the most complex and audacious Meta yet; I think you'll be impressed. 

Keeping in the spirit of dumping all kinds of news at once, here's my schedule for the 2013 World Science Fiction Convention in San Antonio, Texas, which is taking place over the Labour Day weekend. It's a whirlwind visit as I need to get back to Toronto to continue futuring for my new employer, Idea Couture. Luckily, I've got lots going on. If I'm lucky, I'll even get there early enough Friday night to take over the bathtub bar at the Tor party. We'll see. Meanwhile, here's my itinerary:

Reading: Karl Schroeder

Saturday 10:00 - 11:00

Karl Schroeder 

Autographing: Ellen Datlow, Josh Rountree, Karl Schroeder, Lynne M. Thomas

Saturday 12:00 - 13:00

Ellen Datlow , Lynne M. Thomas , Josh Rountree  , Karl Schroeder 

Consensual Reality: Your Relationship to the World

Saturday 15:00 - 16:00

Google Glasses, augmented reality, kinetic gaming, tactile transmission systems. These and other new technologies are on the horizon to transmogrify sense and sensation. Google glasses are the first step to putting an overlay on the reality we see. This opens the door to hiding the ugly and changing what we see. When we do this socially it leads to possible consensual reality as in the works of Vinge, Schroeder and others. What will such capability mean in reality? Has science fiction explored the societal consequences?

Edie Stern (M), Yasser Bahjatt  , Walter Jon Williams  , Ben Bova  , Karl Schroeder 

Kaffeeklatsch: Nancy Kress, Edward M. Lerner, Karl Schroeder

Saturday 17:00 - 18:00

Edward M. Lerner  , Nancy Kress  , Karl Schroeder 

Speed-Forecasting Workshop

Sunday 10:00 - 13:00

We will do a quick analysis of the future, with the end product being four scenarios that highlight different possibilities. Come take your work to the future!

Karl Schroeder

Have We Lost the Future?

Sunday 14:00 - 15:00

Where science fiction once looked to the future as the setting for speculation, nowadays the focus seems to be on alternate pasts, fantasy worlds, or consciously "retro" futures. We're no longer showing the way to what things might be like. We discuss whether this is connected to the general fear of decline and decay in the English-language world -- or has science fiction simply run out of ideas?

Karen Burnham (M), Brenda Cooper  , Karl Schroeder  , Willie Siros  , Derek Kunsken 

As You Know, Jim...

Sunday 15:00 - 16:00

Exposition is never easy. How can writers communicate the details of a setting, magical system or incredible scientific breakthrough without losing half their audience? What makes a readers eyes glaze over and how do you avoid it?

Michelle Sagara (M) , Tanya Huff  , Karl Schroeder  , Jack McDevitt  , Walter Jon Williams 

First Contact Without a Universal Translator

Sunday 17:00 - 18:00

How do we establish a common conceptual base to communicate with another species? Sure, we have numbers and the hydrogen atom in common, but how far would that get us in a world of beings who share none of our sensory apparatus?

Lawrence M. Schoen (M) , Paige E. Ewing  , Karl Schroeder 

By the way, if you want to plan your days, the entire schedule is or will shortly be online at http://www.lonestarcon3.org/guests/appearing.shtml.  

That's it. See you all there!

I'm going to have the privilege of sitting down with Hugo Award winning author Robert Charles Wilson this Thursday for a public discussion about worldbuilding. You're invited to come down and sit in. Bob and I will be chatting at the International Festival of Authors. The venue is the Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place down at Toronto's harbourfront.

You can find further details here--but briefly, it's starting at 5:30 on Thursday August 22, 2013. Adding structure and sanity to the discussion will be Bert Archer, noted author, critic, journalist and essayist. It should be a lively combination, especially since Bob and I have such widely divergent (but equally rigorous) approaches to presenting our worlds. No hints--you'll have to show up to find out what I mean.