Posts Tagged ‘science fiction’

David Brin on EXISTENCE, Google’s Project Glass and the transformative power of science fiction

Cover for the near-future science fiction novel EXISTENCE by David Brin, author of the Uplift novels - with a limited-edition 3D coverAt the end of last year, we here at Orbit received a very exciting treat in our inboxes . . . a new manuscript from the critically acclaimed David Brin.

Author of the classic UPLIFT series, EARTH and THE POSTMAN (made into a major motion picture), he’s widely lauded not just for writing thrillingly addictive science fiction, but also for his track record for accurately predicting the future within his novels.

It’s been ten years since the release of David’s last book, so the arrival of the manuscript for EXISTENCE (UK | ANZ) really was quite an event. And it’s no exaggeration to say that this could well be his pièce de resistance.

It’s an edge-of-your-seat novel of the near-future, where discovery of an alien artefact throws the world into chaos. The absolute compelling nature of this book, and the sheer breadth and brilliance of the ideas expressed within it made me want to find out more about David’s thought processes behind it (beyond the usual questions I’d ask as part of our author/editor relationship!). Read on for an insight into what lead to its creation . . .

David Brin, author of the near-future science fiction novel EXISTENCE - credit Cheryl Brigham
David Brin - photo by Cheryl Brigham

AG: Despite your incredible success as a writer, you’ve mentioned elsewhere that being an author wasn’t your first career of choice. Tell us more?

DB: Writing was the first truly verifiable, repeatable and effective form of magic. Picture how it must have impressed ancient people to look at marks – on papyrus or clay – and know they conveyed the words of scribes and kings long dead. Knowledge, wisdom and art could finally accumulate, and death was robbed some of its sting. Writing still is magical. To create strings of black squiggles that millions of others can skillfully de-code with just their eyes – into emotions and thoughts, or the struggles of believable characters.

Still, every culture had storytellers. I was drawn toward a much newer kind of profession, that only gained real momentum the last few generations. Science. A shared endeavor to find out what is true, despite our preconceptions.  Wow, that too is amazing! And I managed to contribute a few new bits of knowledge.

Still, when a chance came along to combine the two? Who wouldn’t grab such an opportunity?

AG: It’s been almost a decade since the release of your last novel. Have scientific developments over the last 10 years forced you at all to reassess the vision of the future you’ve held in previous books?

DB: Well of course. But remember, good science fiction isn’t about any static view. It should offer thought experiments about change.  How it transforms real societies and realistic characters.  Change has been the one, great constant of modernity and its rate is accelerating.  Many of our social and political squabbles spiral around this one fact. A lot of folks don’t like the staccato pace of disruptions and new ideas, even good ones. 

But if we don’t poke ahead, peering into the fog, how will we ever find our way?  (more…)

Cover Story: 2312 by KIM STANLEY ROBINSON

2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson is coming out at the end of May around the globe (US | UK | AUS).  Last week I posted  some wallpapers, and this week I want to explain some of the thinking that went into the design of the book jacket.

The goal was to create a cover that would signal a big book about space, but we also wanted something that reinforced the timelessness of the  storytelling by bringing in mythic symbolism. The cover isn’t a literal snapshot of anything in the book — it’s a collection of symbols that evoke the story.

I don’t want to give away too many of the book’s secrets (some of which are hinted at in the design) but I will explain why there’s a rooster and a sickle silhouetted against the tree.

The two main characters in 2312 are from Mercury and Saturn. You probably remember that in Roman mythology Mercury (like Hermes) wore winged sandals and bore a caduceus. He was also often accompanied by a  rooster (representing the new day.)  Saturn — the god of agriculture, justice and strength —  held a sickle in his left hand and a bundle of wheat in his right. So these two symbols represent two of the key locations in the book. 

There’s also a very simple visual story in the design. As you roll the book over from the front, to the spine, and to the back, you’ll notice the sun going down on each image.

You’ll also notice that the rooster isn’t on the back cover. Why? There are a few possible interpretations for this.  But there’s also a straightforward scientific explanation in keeping with the rigorous logic of the book. Why isn’t the rooster on the back cover?

… It’s nighttime. The rooster has gone to sleep. ;-)

So that’s a bit of background on the design thinking that went into the cover. You can enlarge the cover below to see the sun setting effect.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

This was a really fun project and one (as I always do) I feel lucky to be a part of.

2312 by KIM STANLEY ROBINSON: Read the Prologue

A very nice review in the May edition of Locus ends: “2312 is as flat-out a celebration of the possibilities of SF as I’ve seen in years … it’s a catalog of wonders.” It reminded me of the opening sentence of the novel:

“The sun is always just about to rise.”

What a great first sentence, for a novel in any genre, but particularly one concerned – from start to finish – with possibilities.

More early praise for this remarkable novel:

 

From SF writer Iain M. Banks:

Intellectually engaged and intensely humane in a way SF rarely is, exuberantly speculative in a way only the best SF can be, this is the work of a writer at or approaching the top of his game.

From thriller writer Robert Crais:

Robinson (Galileo’s Dream) delivers a challenging, compelling masterpiece of science fiction…Robinson’s extraordinary completeness of vision results in a magnificently realized, meticulously detailed future in which social and biological changes keep pace with technological developments.

From Publishers Weekly (starred review):

Robinson’s extraordinary completeness of vision results in a magnificently realized, meticulously detailed future in which social and biological changes keep pace with technological developments.

The book will be available at the end of May (US | UK | AUS) and you can read the entire prologue here.

Writing the Alien: It’s life, Jim . . . but it has to be as we know it. A bit, anyway.

I create and write a lot of non-human characters, and when I call them all “people” I’m not being politically correct. Whether the character’s an extra-terrestrial, a non-human animal, or an artificial intelligence, he, she, or it has to resonate with readers or players enough for them to understand what’s happening and why.  The audience needs points of common reference: all of us do, and the novel is a form that’s very much about the human condition, even if some or all of those humans aren’t human at all. All storytelling – written, spoken, drawn, played — is about producing a feeling in the audience, regardless of the medium.

A creature that’s genuinely alien would by definition be so far outside our understanding that we’d struggle to find any common points. It’s perfectly possible to write a book about the completely impenetrable mystery of an alien life-form, but then the story becomes about the people observing it, not the aliens themselves. We might like to think we’re very different from other animals on our own planet, but we’re not, and the more that biologists have put aside our cultural biases about humans being unique, the more they’ve found we all have in common — communication, emotion, and even mathematical skill.

So novels are about people, using human reactions as a benchmark for the audience, even if the non-humans view the world very differently. What matters is their internal logic — why they see the world as they do — and the points where they mesh with or clash with us. I approach non-human characters exactly the same was as I do human ones, starting with their environment and, for want of a better word, biology. What kind of creature would live in this world?  What would it need to do to thrive?  What would its needs and fears be? I have to be able to get inside every character’s head and see the world as they see it, because that’s what my stories are —  every character’s thought processes and experiences, seen through their own eyes, not through mine. As in real life, characters see the same situation in very different and often conflicting ways, and aliens and other non-humans are one of the richest ways of observing this.

I’ve created an alien species, the Wess’har, whose evolutionary survival strategy was cooperation rather than competition,  but it didn’t make them remotely friendly to humans. I’m currently writing an AI character who has no corporeal form but is constantly looking for analogues in his own systems to reach a better understanding of the humans he works with. In another series, I have non-humans who are actually very human indeed, in that their worst excesses are in fact mirrors of our own that the humans in the story don’t even recognise. (more…)

Wallpapers for 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson

So… I’ve been sitting on this project for quite some time now and super excited to show you. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (UK | US | AUS) is one of those projects that immediately hit home with me. You’ll be able to read more about the design and development of the cover in the coming week. But for now, you get to adorn your digital devices with the in-your-face art from this epic book.

Here’s all the wallpaper download links…if anyone needs a specific dimension made, let us know!

 

 

 

1024 x 768 | 1280 x 800 | 1440 x 900 | 1680 x 1050 |1920 x 1200 | iPhone | iPad | Facebook

An Interview of James S. A. Corey by Daniel Abraham

DANIEL:  Well. This is odd, isn’t it? I mean, I’ve done interviews before, but seeing that I’m half of the team that writes as “James S. A. Corey” and you are James S. A. Corey, this whole project feels a little meta.

JIMMY: Eh. Meta’s for chumps. Meta and twee have been what’s wrong with science fiction for decades. You got me here to ask questions, ask questions. I’ll answer ’em. I got nothing to hide.

DANIEL: All right. So Leviathan Wakes is the first book in the Expanse series. That’s been out for almost a year now.  How has your view of the book changed since it came out?

JIMMY: More distance, mostly. It’s not like I go back and reread it. Did that enough when it was in production. The editing pass, the copy edits, the galley proofs. I still go back if there’s something I’m looking for, but you have to understand, I’m coming in sight of the end of the third book. The opening page of Leviathan Wakes is a long way from here. Like what I remember, though. Not a bad book. Still love that cover though.

(more…)

Wargame!!

Nothing beats a military SF battle!  The hiss of  plasma beams bouncing off body armour.  Computer targeted bullets that hunt their enemy.  And robots that can fight wars.   For many decades, science fiction writers within the space opera and military SF genres have revelled in such wild fantastical extrapolations.

However, when I was writing my first SF novel DEBATABLE SPACE,  I was very struck by the fact that in modern wars then being fought (this was at the height of the Iraq war) such supposed science fictional technology had become  a matter of fact.  We’ve seen smart missiles turning corners and unmanned drones hovering above enemy forces, and peasant guerrillas brandishing surface to air rocket-launchers that fire missiles with computer tracking technology.  The war of the future is with us today;  and my Doppelganger Robots are no more than a minor extrapolation of what is taking place already.

And more recently, I’ve been researching this area from the opposite direction, while writing a three part radio drama for the BBC about contemporary military wargames.  I went to the Defence Academy in the South of England, where soldiers are trained in simulated warfare using computer joysticks and even computers with steering wheels (like Wii games…!)  I tried my hand at the flight simulator, and crashed the darn aeroplane with worrying swiftness (hey, I’m a writer, not a warrior!) And I learned about the army bases with simulation tanks where you can experience flying an Apache helicopter in the midst of combat, with no risk of being killed.

(more…)

Summer internship opportunity at Orbit Books and Yen Press!

Do you love reading about aliens, werewolves, and orcs?  Do you lose sleep at night wondering whether zombies will attack and how you will hoard toilet paper?  Can you pronounce manga correctly? If you’ve said yes to these questions, you should apply to be an intern at Orbit Books and Yen Press!  We are looking for someone who will be excited to work with editorial, art, marketing and publicity within the US division. Candidates should have excellent communication and administrative skills, as well as a demonstrated interest in science fiction, fantasy, and manga. Responsibilities may include:

  • Evaluating submissions
  • Drafting and proofreading copy and correspondence
  • Drafting marketing and publicity materials
  • Market research
  • Data input
  • Basic administrative duties
  • Experience with Adobe Creative Suite a plus

Click here to apply!  Summer Internship Job Posting

Orbit signs up three new Expanse novels by James S.A. Corey!

Published in summer 2011, James S.A. Corey’s LEVIATHAN WAKES (US | UK)  was an instant favorite among space opera fans. Charles Stross deemed it “a slick, fast-paced, old-fashioned yarn,” and George R.R.  Martin called it his favorite science fiction novel of the year. The second volume in the Expanse series, CALIBAN’S WAR (US | UK), is due out this summer, and a third will follow a year after that.

This saga of interplanetary intrigue, adventure, and first contact will only get bigger—so we are thrilled to announce Orbit’s new deal with agent Danny Baror and author James S.A. Corey for three new Expanse novels, plus five new Expanse novellas.

We asked Corey (the formidable writing duo of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) for a hint of what’s in store:

“Brave new worlds and broken old ones, love and loss, noble deaths and stupid ones, unexpected threats and the dangers that we all carry in our back pockets all the time.  And an ending that pulls it all together.  The Expanse is a love letter to the science fiction we grew up with, and we’re grateful that we get to tell the story the way we’d hoped to.”

Read an excerpt from Leviathan Wakes Read an excerpt from Caliban's War

Read an excerpt from CALIBAN’S WAR

Return to the Expanse with James S. A. Corey and read an excerpt from CALIBAN’S WAR (US | UK), the follow up to the critically acclaimed LEVIATHAN WAKES (US | UK) which The Wall Street Journal called “…the future the way it was supposed to be.”

“Snoopy’s out again,” Private Hillman said. “I think his CO must be pissed at him.”

Gunnery Sergeant Roberta Draper of the Martian Marine Corps upped the magnification on her armor’s heads‑up display and looked in the direction Hillman was pointing. Twenty-five hundred meters away, a squad of four United Nations Marines were tromping around their outpost, backlit by the giant greenhouse dome they were guarding. A greenhouse dome identical in nearly all respects to the dome her own squad was currently guarding.

One of the four UN Marines had black smudges on the sides of his helmet that looked like beagle ears.

“Yep, that’s Snoopy,” Bobbie said. “Been on every patrol detail so far today. Wonder what he did.”

Guard duty around the greenhouses on Ganymede meant doing what you could to keep your mind occupied. Including speculating on the lives of the Marines on the other side.

Click to read more