You wait ages (or maybe not) for a piece of online fiction from me, and then another comes along. This one actually went online a few weeks ago, but I neglected to link to it. It's one of two pieces of commissioned fiction I've agreed to do for Auki Labs, an interesting new tech venture, based around the theme of augmented reality. This one (per the invitation from Auki) looks at some of the less great ramifications around big tech and user privacy.
There's more fiction coming to Auki's medium on the broad theme of AR, in addition to the three pieces already up, by me and others. Well worth checking out. I'll be doing another piece for them shortly, this one taking a less dystopian slant. Thanks to my friends Nils and Karen at Auki for starting the ball rolling.
My new story is up on Tor, and I couldn't be happier about the wonderful artwork by Ben Zweifel. Rather than spoil the surprise by posting the image here, I'll just recommend that you head on over to Tor.
A recent round of comments reminds me that you're owed an update on where we are with MACHINE VENDETTA. Unfortunately, for those that are keen to get hold of it, it's now been pushed back to January 2024. While the UK edition could have been out by the end of this summer (the book itself is done except for final proofreading, which normally happens about 6 weeks ahead of actual printed copies appearing) it was thought better to have it come out at the same time in America as the UK, which does make sense in terms of maximising the impact of reviews, publicity and so on. Since US publishers have tended to need longer lead-times for production and scheduling, that's unavoidably meant a push back into 2024. No biggie - it's just an SF book and there should be no shortage of good new material to keep anyone occupied between now and then.
For instance, and just off the top of my head, Naomi Alderman's THE FUTURE is really good and I expect will pick up a lot of attention and good notices in the coming months. I've also just read and enjoyed Tobias Buckell's forthcoming A STRANGER IN THE CITADEL, which I also recommend. I, meanwhile, have been busy on the next book after VENDETTA, entitled HALCYON YEARS, and which is another compact(ish) standalone in the vein of EVERSION. I'm guessing that one will come out in 2025 although since I'm already pretty advanced with it, there might be an outside chance that it will squeak into next year.
I've not got much in the way of additional news, but my short story for Tor, "Detonation Boulevard", will be available later this month. I'll post something here when it goes out.
A few weeks back I did a nice little interview with Robin of the Bookspin Youtube channel, where I (along with others) highlighted some hidden gems of SF. Hop onto the link to see the books I picked, and the tenuous connection between them - and the other recommendations, of course. Thanks, Robin!
Although it's rather late in the day, I'll also mention that I'm taking part in a panel discussion in Cardiff tomorrow evening as part of the National Astronomy Meeting. Here's a link, should you be local and interested in attending:
