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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

interviews

Sep 22, 2020

Polyplexus Ask Me Anything session

Sept. 22, 2020 you can join me for a 90 minute conversation about systems--natural, artificial, and in between

On Sept. 22, the gracious people at Polyplexus are hosting me for a 90 minute discussion about our planetary crisis and potential solutions to it that involve systems thinking--and, potentially, a turning-away from the linear, mechanistic industrial culture we currently have.

Go register on Eventbrite or Polyplexus.com to join the session. The session will be moderated by Laura Anne Edwards, NASA Datanaut and TED Resident.

Mar 25, 2020

Two hour interview on Singularity Weblog

This is my second time talking with Nikola Danaylov

About eight years ago, I sat down with Nikola to talk about all things Singularity--or, as it turned out, all the reasons I thought the Technological Singularity is an idea whose time has passed. Now, in spring 2020, we got to talk again, and we had a lot to catch up on. 

What might be most interesting about this interview, which ranges across many topics, is that we did it just pre-COVID-19. The disease was out and ravaging China and Iran, but it hadn't really established a presence in Canada yet. Nonetheless, what I wanted to talk about with Nikola was how we can remain optimistic when humanity's options and power seem increasingly constrained. The context of the discussion was global warming, but the ideas apply equally well to the pandemic.  Head on over to the Singularity Weblog, and hear for yourself.

Dec 26, 2019

Interviewed on the Bitcoin Podcast

Filed Under:

Corey Petty and Demetrick are co-hosts of the highly successful Bitcoin Podcast. We talked about Stealing Worlds, crypto, and the value of optimism.

Just in time for Christmas, the Bitcoin Podcast interviewed me about my work and in particular, my latest novel Stealing Worlds.  This was a really deep and far-ranging conversation--you might think the subject would have been limited to bitcoin and cryptocurrency, but no, we ranged all over from talking about NASA spinoffs, microcommunities, REDDIT and the Green New Deal.  We talked about self-redistributing currencies, but also about the immense pace of beneficial change in battery technology, and how these multidimensional hits by new technologies affect us in so many different ways.

This was a great conversation and you can listen to it right now, in The Bitcoin Podcast: Episode 288.

Sep 10, 2019

Upcoming Appearances

Here's where you can find me through September, 2019.

Aug 05, 2019

My Dublin 2019 Worldcon schedule

How and where to find me during Worldcon

Here's my schedule.  I'm not going to be in Dublin very long, so I'm going to prioritize meeting people and socializing over sightseeing.  You can expect to find me around the con most of the time from Thursday afternoon to Sunday.

Autographs: Thursday at 14:00

 

15 Aug 2019, Thursday 14:00 - 14:50, Level 4 Foyer (CCD)

 

Kaffeeklatsch: Karl Schroeder

 

16 Aug 2019, Friday 13:00 - 13:50, Level 3 Foyer (KK/LB) (CCD)

 

Reading: Karl Schroeder

 

16 Aug 2019, Friday 15:00 - 15:20, Liffey Room-3 (Readings) (CCD)

 

Space opera is for robots; soap opera is for people

 

Format: Panel

 

17 Aug 2019, Saturday 10:00 - 10:50, Liffey Hall-2 (CCD)

 

Will humans ever live long-term in space, or is it easier to let our ‘mind children’ go to the stars, whether as uploaded minds or independent intelligences? If humans (or AI) leave for space, would we miss them?

 

Lauren James (Walker Books) (M),  Diane Duane (The Owl Springs Partnership), Karl Schroeder (Tor Books), Laurence Raphael Brothers

 

What I learned along the way

 

Format: Panel

 

17 Aug 2019, Saturday 15:00 - 15:50, Wicklow Room-3 (CCD)

 

Writing is a many wondrous thing filled with highs and lows, but those lows can be really tough to navigate either after a great success or after a lack of success. Rejection is something every writer has to face, but how do writers keep writing in the face of failure? What lessons have they learned along the way? Our panellists share the ups and downs of a writing life.

 

Aliette de Bodard, Ian R MacLeod (M), Karl Schroeder (Tor Books), George Sandison (Titan Books), Nina Allan

 

 

 

Jan 28, 2019

Interviewed by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers

In advance of my keynote in Austria on April 2, I was asked about the future of journalism

I'll be in Vienna in early April, speaking at the European Digital Media Awards ceremony. To get a sense of the flavour of the upcoming talk, I was interviewed by journalist Chris Sutcliffe.  You can read the interview here.

An excerpt:

“It’s funny: I’ve included augmented reality in my stories for 20 years now. As it finally becomes a viable technology, I find myself doubting it more and more. At first it seemed natural and convenient that we should want to explode the images and interfaces currently inside our screens out onto the physical world. But that may be a terrible idea for a number of reasons...


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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.

 
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    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