/ / News, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town


Aust Gate, the excellent science fiction bookstore in Oxford, England is offering free UK shipping on signed copies of the paperback of my novel, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, which comes out next month. Just contact the store with your order and inscription information, and I’ll sign and inscribe all the orders on June 19. They’ll also take orders for my other books, and I’m happy to sign/inscribe those too. Just get your order in before June 19!


/ / News


Aust Gate, the excellent science fiction bookstore in Oxford, England is offering free UK shipping on signed copies of the paperback of my novel, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, which comes out next month. Just contact the store with your order and inscription information, and I’ll sign and inscribe all the orders on June 19. They’ll also take orders for my other books, and I’m happy to sign/inscribe those too. Just get your order in before June 19!


/ / News

My story Anda’s Game has been translated into Russian, and my interview with Ray Kurzweil has been translated into Italian. Anda’s Game was translated for publication in Game.EXE, a Russian gamer mag; the Kurzweil interview was translated by Giovanni Elia, a generous reader. I’ve released both translations under Creative Commons by-nc-sa licenses — copy ’em, play with ’em, just don’t charge money for ’em.

Anda’s Game in Russian, Kurzweil interview in Italian

/ / News

An article and a short story of mine from Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine have been translated into Spanish and I’ve released the translations under Creative Commons licenses.

When the Singularity is More Than a Literary Device: An Interview with Futurist-Inventor Ray Kurzweil (pub. June 2005) was translated by Domingo Santos as Cuando La Singularidad Es Más Que Un Recurso Literario: Una Entrevista Con El Inventor-Futurista Ray Kurzweil.

NIMBY and the D-Hoppers, a short story (pub June 2003), was translated by Sebastián Castro as Nimby Y Los Saltadimensiones. Other languages this story has been translated into: French, Chinese, Russian and Hebrew.

They’re both released under Creative Commons By/Share-Alike/Noncommercial licenses that allow you to make your own stuff out of them provided you don’t do so commercially.

/ / News

I’ve accepted a Fulbright Chair at the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplomacy, starting this August. I’ll be researching and writing a book on DRM called SET TOP COP: HOLLYWOOD’S SECRET WAR ON AMERICA’S LIVING ROOMS and teaching a course on the same subject.

I’m really, really excited about this! I’m moving to Los Angeles for a year, and I’ll be dipping my toe in academic waters with more seriousness than I’ve had since I dropped out of the University of Waterloo to program CD ROMs for Bob Stein’s Voyager Company, ten years ago (Small world: Bob’s also at USC).

Even more exciting is the idea of being able to teach and write about this subject that’s so important to me. I think the world has yet to see a really cogent book on how DRM is bad for democracy, speech, and discourse — how it turns technology from something that enables into something that denies. This has profound implications for public diplomacy, and for communications, which is why the USC Annenberg School for Communication is also sponsoring my position at USC.

I’m even planning on trying to transplant the London Copyfighters Drunken Brunch and Talking Shops (where we have a fake-Champagne brunch and give speeches on copyright at Speakers’ Corner) to Venice Beach, substituting Bible-bashers for roller-bladers.

/ / News

I’m giving a talks in three Australian cities in April — hope to see you!

April 13-17: Brisbane — Guest of Honour, ConJure, the Australian national science fiction convention

April 18: Melbourne — Speaking at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, 7PM, AU$15/13 conc (at Federation Square, Flinders Street)

April 19: Sydney — Speaking at Greater Union Bondi Junction, 7PM, Free (Level 6, 500 Oxford Street, Westfield Bondi Junction)