Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Downloads

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.

Personal tools

Image Archive

A folder containing all the public images used on the site.

Image Queen of Candesce
Book II of Virga
Image Pirate Sun
Book III of Virga
Image Sun of Suns
Book I of Virga
Image New blog comix
 
Image Karl
The author in greyscale
Image Sun of Suns banner
 
Image meat-space
 
Image Virga
Image second life interview
 
Image The Claus Effect
 
Image Solaris New SF 2
 
Image Ventus ebook medium
 
Image Ventus ebook thumbnail
 
Image Ventus ebook banner
 
Image Vote Venera
 
Image The Engine of Recall
 
Image The Engine of Recall ppbk
 
Image Permanence
 
Image Boskone Friday
Rick Berry (left) and I happy not to move from the lobby of the Westin Boston Waterfront
Image Little Brother
 
Image Last Chance to nominate
 
Image SciBarCamp
 
Image worldofair
 
Image Perth skyline
 
Image Perth neighborhood
 
Image The Pinnacles 1
 
Image The Pinnacles 2
 
Image Australian sunrise
 
Image Cliffs at Kalbarri
 
Image Kalbarri sunset
 
Image Kings Park
 
Image Kings Park entrance
 
Image Kalbarri street
 
Image Zuytdorp cliffs
 
Image Monkey Mia
 
Image Murcheson river canyon
 
Image Scibarcamp intros
 
Image Scibarcamp scrum
 
Image Scibarcamp day sessions
 
Image Scibarcamp talk proposals
 
Image Scibarcamp solar car
 
Image Scibarcamp robots
 
Image Scibarcamp foresight talk
 
Image Rainbow jungle
 
Image collective
 
Image Ventus Folio SF edition
 
Image Floating to space
 
Image Cafe Scientifique
 
Image Queen of Candesce mm
 
Image Pirate of the Sun
 
Image Metatropolis
 
Image Tesseracts 12
 
Image idiotsguide
 
Image idiotsbanner
 
Image idiotsreader
 
Image idiotsdanger
 
Image idiotsideas
 
Image idiotsinfodump
 
Image idiotswriter
 
Image Ventus
 
Image The Sunless Countries
 
Image New Tunisian retro dog
 
Image Eclipse 2
 
Image No Pressure
 
Image METAtropolis print edition
 
Image The Sunless Countries
 
Image The Sunless Countries large
 
Image Lady of Mazes
Image Japanese SoS
 
Image The Books of Virga
 
Image Rick Berry painting
 
Image Rick Berry studio Feb16 2009
 
Image The Verne Gun
 
Image The Books of Virga
 
Image The Verne gun 2
 
Image Gunnerkrigg Court
 
Image Russian Sun of Suns
 
Image Russian Ventus
 
Image Monstrous Affections
 
Image Alia project
 
Image Dozois years best
 
Image Years best SF 14
 
Image Planet der Sonnen
 
Image The Agenda with Steve Paiken
 
Image Cult-pop interview
 
Image La senora de las Labyrintos
 
Image Metatropolis Tor edition
 
Image OCAD
 
Image Cities of the Air
 
Image Millennium Project
The Millennium Project
Image 2020 Media Futures
www.2020mediafutures.ca
Image Sunburst Award
 
Image Saule der Welten
 
Image METAtropolis: Cascadia
 
Image Pirate Sun paperback
 
Image Segel der Zeit
 
Image Eutopia
 
Image Ashes of Candesce
 
Image Three points of climate intervention
 
Image A bounty on carbon
 
Image Factors affecting CAC adoption
 
Image Polish Sun of Suns cover
 
Image Risks by interconnection
 
Image Risks by likelihood
 
Image Superconnected corporations
 
Image Benetton group
 
Image Sun of Suns Issue 1 Cover
 
Image Sunless Countries Trade edition
 
Image Ashes of Candesce hardcover
 
Image Sunless and Ashes
 
Image Arctic Rising
 
Image The Hero cover
 
Image Ashes trade cover art
 
Image Virga Comix Teaser
 
Image Virga Issue One Cover
 
Image Lockstep Cover 1
 
Image Metatropolis: Green Space
 
Image Analog Lockstep issue 1
 
Image Victor Mosquera Jubilee cover
 
Image Open Development cover
 
Image Fields Institute Event
 
Image Crisis in Urlia
 
Image Sun of Suns Vol 1
 
Image Hieroglyph
 
Image White House Oct 1 2014
 
Image White House Medium.jpg
 
Image Crisis in Urlia Small
 
Image Karl in Colour
 
Image Millennium Project Full Size
 
Image The Claus Effect ebook
 
Image Years Best 32
 
Image License Expired
 
Image Loosed Upon the World
 
Image License Expired Book Launch
 
Image Aurora Award Winner
 
Image Sektor 3.0
 
Image Copernicus Center
 
Image Chasing Shadows
 
Image Seat_14C
 
Image The Million
 
Image Stealing Worlds
 
Document Actions
Log in


Forgot your password?
New user?
About Me

I'm a member of the Association of Professional Futurists with my own consultancy, and am also currently Chair of the Canadian node of the Millennium Project, a private/public foresight consultancy active in 50 nations. As well, I am an award-winning author with ten published novels translated into as many languages. I write, give talks, and conduct workshops on numerous topics related to the future, including:

  • Future of government
  • Bitcoin and digital currencies
  • The workplace in 2030
  • The Internet of Things
  • Augmented cognition

For a complete bio, go here. To contact me, email karl at kschroeder dot com

Example: The Future of Governance

I use Science Fiction to communicate the results of actual futures studies. Some of my recent research relates to how we'll govern ourselves in the future. I've worked with a few clients on this and published some results.

Here are two examples--and you can read the first for free:

The Canadian army commissioned me to write Crisis in Urlia, a fictionalized study of the future of military command-and-control. You can download a PDF of the book here:


Crisis in Urlia

For the "optimistic Science Fiction" anthology Hieroglyph, I wrote "Degrees of Freedom," set in Haida Gwaii. "Degrees of Freedom" is about an attempt to develop new governing systems by Canadian First Nations people.


I'm continuing to research this exciting area and would be happy to share my findings.

 
Twitter

Twitter Updates

    follow me on Twitter
    Mailing List

    Stay informed about new book and story releases, public appearances, readings etc.

    * indicates required
    Coming on June 18, 2019

    "Science fiction at its best."

    --Kim Stanley Robinson

    A Young Adult Scifi Saga

    "Lean and hugely engaging ... and highly recommended."

    --Open Letters Monthly, an Arts and Literature Review

    Sheer Fun: The Virga Series

    (Sun of Suns and Queen of Candesce are combined in Cities of the Air)


     “An adventure-filled tale of sword fights and naval battles... the real fun of this coming-of-age tale includes a pirate treasure hunt and grand scale naval invasions set in the cold, far reaches of space. ”
    —Kirkus Reviews (listed in top 10 SF novels for 2006)

    "With Queen of Candesce, [Schroeder] has achieved a clockwork balance of deftly paced adventure and humour, set against an intriguing and unique vision of humanity's far future.
    --The Globe and Mail

    "[Pirate Sun] is fun in the same league as the best SF ever has had to offer, fully as exciting and full of cool science as work from the golden age of SF, but with characterization and plot layering equal to the scrutiny of critical appraisers."
    --SFRevu.com


    "...A rollicking good read... fun, bookish, and full of insane air battles"
    --io9.com


    "A grand flying-pirate-ship-chases-and-escapes-and-meetings-with-monsters adventure, and it ends not with a debate or a seminar but with a gigantic zero-gee battle around Candesce, a climactic unmasking and showdown, just desserts, and other satisfying stuff."
    --Locus