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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

website additions

Feb 03, 2010

Writer in residence blog

I have a new weblog over at Toronto Public Library's site, specifically for the Writer in Residence stuff

As if blathering about myself on twitter, facebook, and here were not enough, I can now be found over at the Toronto Public Library as well.  This is all to the good:  I will continue to post updates here about schedule changes (if any) and generally promote the program whenever I can.  Over at TPL, I'll have the opportunity to talk more about the process of writing as such, and about my experiences as writer in residence.  I will not be talking anywhere about the individual writers who've come to me with their work; our discussions are between us and confidentiality is extremely important to me.  But I'll let you know how I'm getting on, how the process gets refined, and any insights and learning that I've come to during my time with TPL.

Oct 22, 2009

Now with video!

Filed Under:

I've figured out how to embed YouTube and some other formats into my webpage

I'm still not able to embed just any arbitrary video, but YouTube comes in just fine (unless you use certain flavours of Internet Explorer [but who would?]):

I've also added a static page for this and other videos I've done.  It's at www.kschroeder.com/about/video.  Check it out, because it also links to spots I've done for TVO's The Agenda and Michigan's Cult Pop videocast.

May 04, 2009

Site admin: removed openID login

Filed Under:

'Cause it wasn't working anyway

I noticed in adjusting the login that this site currently boasts 871 users.  Not bad!  The number of people who comment is low, however, and I'm pretty sure it's partly because having to log in every time you want to comment is a pain.  I was trying to create a Guest ID with low privileges this morning but couldn't get it to work right.  I'll keep trying.

Meanwhile, there's lots of features I could add to the site and probably will, given the time:  video feeds, Flickr-type photo collections, polls etc. 

...Of course, if you see me fiddling around in this way, it's a sure sign that I'm procrastinating, and you should probably tell me to get back to writing.

Apr 20, 2009

Internationalizing the website

Starting with a Japanese page for Sun of Suns

I've created a Japanese page for Sun of Suns (太陽の日曜).  This is an experiment, so if there's anybody out there bilingual enough to interpret what I've done, please let me know if there's any howlers or flat-out insults accidentally rendered into the page.  I used WorldLingo.com's automated translation service, so I have no idea whether any of the text I've dropped in there makes sense. 

If this works, I'm going to create pages for each of the other translated languages/works. 

Dec 08, 2008

Rick Berry proposes cover art

The "New Tunisian retro dog"

So Irene Gallo, Rick Berry and I have been talking art lately, possibly with an eye to doing something on the tor.com website.  Rick wants to do some cover art for me, and has actually been working up samples:

 New Tunisian retro dog

Rick explains that this image is the height of cutting-edge sci-fi illustration and has graciously allowed me to present it to the world.  "Karl, the 'New Tunisian Retro Dog' is fine for your blog. Of course you'll have to explain that the "dogs" of New Tunisia are in fact cultured mollusks but just as friendly as the real thing. Mucus can be a bit of problem though."

Feb 13, 2008

Engine of Recall page added

Filed Under:

I'm continuing to add to the site. This time, the short story collection

The Engine of Recall ppbkI've just added a page for my short story collection, The Engine of Recall.  You can find it under the My Books item in the left-hand menu.

The success of this collection has inspired me to start writing short fiction again.  I'd won awards, and been nominated for awards, with some of my short work--but, you gotta understand, nearly all of it was originally published here in Canada.  Until very recently, American markets snubbed my short stories.  I'd concluded that, if my short pieces weren't actually bad (some were obviously very good) they didn't in any case match American tastes.  The U.S. and Britain being the biggest markets for short fiction, I'd concluded it wasn't really worth my while continuing to write the stuff if I only sold it locally.

Maybe it's because I'm now known because of my novels; maybe what was needed was all my stories combined together into one big indigestible lump for readers to buy; but now, I'm regularly receiving requests for short fiction from the U.S.  I'm happy to oblige--though slightly bemused, too, by the turnaround.

 

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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