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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.

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conventions

Oct 20, 2015

My World Fantasy Con Schedule

See you in Saratoga

I'm not primarily a fantasy writer, but some great works have had a huge influence on me--most importantly, Mervyn Peake's epic Gormenghast.  I read The Lord of the Rings like most kids, and was on my third read of it when I discovered Peake.  After finishing Gormenghast, I didn't return to Tolkien for another twenty years.

I'll be going on about that and other stuff on my panels, but heck, I'm really there just to hang out and talk, so if you're going to the convention look for me.  I'll be around and happy to shmooze.

The schedule:

Thursday:
City Center 2B Magic is the essential ingredient of Epic Fantasy… except when it isn't. 
Can a story be Epic Fantasy if there isn't a spell hurling mage? Do all quests need a wizard? The panel will discuss how magic is used in Epic Fantasy and some of the texts that do things a little differently. 
Paul DiFilippo (mod.), David Keck, Kate Laity, Karl Schroeder

Friday:

1:00City Center 2B The Fantastic Cities of Monstrous Magnitude 
Epic Fantasy has created some of the most arresting and wondrous architecture ever dreamed of. The panel will discuss some of their favorite settings in Epic Fantasy and why those cities and buildings evoke such wonder. 
John Clute, Gemma Files, David Levine, Karl Schroeder
Sunday:
Reading, 11:00, in Broadway 2

Sep 01, 2015

LA Keynote on Sept. 30

I'll be talking fiction as futurism

Wednesday, Sept. 30, I'll be speaking at the Foresight & Trends conference in Los Angeles.  My topic?  The same subject on which I wrote my Master's thesis:  the use of fictional narratives in foresight studies.  This time, though, I'll be getting recursive by reciting several possible "plotlines" that exemplify different aspects of the method. The full agenda description for my talk is:

Plotlines: Using Stories to Analyze the Future

Acclaimed science fiction writer and futurist Karl Schroeder will describe the plotlines of three possible novels. Each of the stories captures the complex essence of one emerging megatrend. Together, they reduce what might be a long, tedious analysis of demographics and drivers to something vital and easily memorable. The stories are, “Decapitation,” about blockchain technology and how Distributed Autonomous Corporations put a company’s CEO, CFO, and upper management out of work; “The Lady (almost) Vanishes,” about how emerging tech is making it impossible for people to disappear; and in “The Garbage Miners,” how a strike by workers who convert trash into feedstock for 3d printers nearly shuts down the country.

So, the talk serves a double purpose--to describe the technique, and to show it in action.  I hope you can be there!

Jul 17, 2015

My Sasquan Schedule (Revised August 19)

I'll be at Worldcon this year. Here's how to find me.

I hope to see you in Spokane.  Here's what I'll be doing:

The Changing Face of Hard Science Fiction

Thursday 16:00 - 16:45, Bays 111B (CC)

Hard science fiction has roots that at least go back to Verne, and it's been a major part of the field -- some would argue it's been the center of the field, or even the only real SF -- since at least the 1940s.  But like the rest of SF, it has evolved and change.  Where is it now and where is it going? 

The Future of Government

Thursday 17:00 - 17:45, 300B (CC)

We like to think that US democracy is the ultimate and best form of government. But the world has seen many different forms of government over the centuries, and even today many different forms exist around the world. What will governments in the US and other countries be like in the next 10, 50, or 200 years? How will changing technologies and world conditions (e.g., climate change) affect those forms? Are there forms of government that have been proposed that have never existed in the real world, but might?

Genre and the Global Police State

Thursday 20:00 - 20:45, 300C (CC)

Thanks to the Five Eyes -- the joint intelligence sharing treaty between the USA, UK, Australia, and others -- and the total penetration of the internet by NSA/GCHQ monitoring, we now live in a society that is a secret policeman's dream. Wikileaks and then Edward Snowden blew the lid off the scandalous subversion of western democracies by unaccountable secret government agencies. In past decades, SF and fantasy provided a vehicle for trenchant social and political commentary on on-going cultural changes (consider "The Forever War" as a comment on Vietnam), but where are the genre works dealing with the global police state?

SF and Futurism (Moderator)
Friday, August 21 2015, 1:00 pm 
with Trina Marie Phillips, Matt Wallace 

Kaffee Klatsche 

Friday, August 21 2015, 4:00 pm 

Reading 
Saturday, August 22 2015, 12:00 pm 

Climate Change and Health

Sunday 11:00 - 11:45, Bays 111B (CC)

The climate is changing in ways that have big implications for the future well-being of humans. There will be direct effects (e.g., heat stress) and indirect effects (e.g., disease-carrying mosquitos moving northward). The panelists will discuss what is happening now, what we can expect in the near future, and what might occur down the road if climate change continues on its present course.

Autographing CANCELLED - TRYING TO RESCHEDULE

Sunday 12:00 - 12:45, Exhibit Hall B (CC)

Apr 07, 2015

Ad Astra schedule

I'll be there this weekend, Saturday 11th and Sunday the 12th of April, 2015

Saturday

A Trillion Is a Statistic ◼Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Room: Markham B

Panellists: Andrew Barton, Ian Keeling

It happens so often in science fiction there's a name for it: "earth-shattering kaboom." From Lensmen to Ender's Game and beyond, sf has been solving problems with genocide for decades. Is this just authorial laziness, motivating heroes with a big enough bang, or is reflective of something dark in the genre's soul?

A.I. and Us: Heuristics of Surpassing the Human Brain ◼Science & Technology

Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Room: Aurora

Panellists: Hayden Trenholm, Madeline Ashby, Nina Munteanu

When the BBC posts an article reporting the world's preeminent theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking warning that AI will eventually spell the end of the human race, all eyes turn to predictions of the Singularity. Those same predictions put it within the prime of the upcoming generation of scientists and engineers, so what teachings can the current generation pass on to insure the singularity doesn't mean the end of the human race? Or is the deprecation of our intelligence inevitable...


Sunday


Readings: Karl Schroeder & Hayden Trenholm ◼Readings & Podcasts

Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Room: Buttonville

Panellist: Hayden Trenholm

Jan 11, 2015

...And on to Boskone

Filed Under:

Boston in February - just like Toronto in February, but with a party

I'll be attending Boskone 52 February 13-15, 2015, and will be on the program. (In particular, I'll be autographing Sunday morning and holding a Kaffeeklatsch that afternoon if you want to drop by and chat.)  Here's my schedule:

The Cutting Edge

Friday 14:00 - 14:50, Harbor II (Westin)

Panelists discuss scientific and engineering developments that are new or emerging, and then venture into the realm of those that may be just a short step from development. What ideas are within our reach that recently seemed like pure science fiction? And what direction will technology likely take in the future?

Tom Easton (M), Guy Consolmagno, Justine Graykin, Mark L. Olson, Karl Schroeder

Energy Futures

Friday 18:00 - 18:50, Marina 2 (Westin)

"We'll freeze in the dark!" "Peak oil is yet to come!" "Solar is the future!" "Coal means energy independence!" There has to be more to the future of energy than mindless slogans, doesn't there? In this panel we discuss what we know, what we can expect, and think about what we don't know regarding energy over the next few decades.
 

Vincent Docherty, Mark L. Olson, Karl Schroeder

Dune — 50 Years later

Saturday 13:00 - 13:50, Harbor I (Westin)

Frank Herbert's Dune, published in 1955, was an epic science fiction saga that won the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award in 1966. Now, 50 years after its publication, we look back at the legacy left by Frank Herbert and his unique vision of a feudal interstellar society that was rocked by political machinations, contentious religious orders, and a very lucrative spice trade — and giant worms! How has this seminal work held up over time? What place might it take in the science fiction hall of fame? Panelists also discuss the impact that Dune has had on their own work as well as on the development of science and science fiction.

Kenneth Schneyer (M), Scott Lynch, Beth Meacham, Joan Slonczewski, Walter Jon Williams, Karl Schroeder

Autographing: A.C.E. Bauer, Darlene Marshall, Leigh Perry (Toni L. P. Kelner), Karl Schroeder

Sunday 10:00 - 10:50, Galleria-Autographing (Westin)

A.C.E. Bauer, Leigh Perry, Darlene Marshall, Karl Schroeder

Kaffeeklatsch: Karl Schroeder

 

Sunday 14:00 - 14:50, Galleria-Kaffeeklatsch 2 (Westin)

 

Back to the Confusion next weekend

Filed Under:

I'm not on any programming, but am happy to visit with old friends and make new ones

I'll be visiting Michigan to attend Back to the Confusion next weekend, January 16-18, 2015.  

Confusion is one of my favourite conventions.  I've made some enduring friendships there, and it's proven to be one of those stealth cons where the most surprising people show up, and you can actually have them to yourself for a while.  Not to knock the big cons, and maybe part of it is because Michigan has a kind of a Canadian vibe to it that helps me feel comfortable there, but really, it's just a great con.

Hope to see you there!

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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