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“Writing for the End of the World” is Up at Nature

My story, "Writing for the End of the World" is up at Nature today. This was a lot of fun to write. From the inspiration for the story, to being able to integrate one of my favorite jokes as a type of parallel to the main story, everything came together in delightful fashion. The initial inspiration came from reading Beth Cato's wonderful little story, "The Library Is Open" over at Daily Science Fiction. It's not the first story of Beth's that deals with a post-apocalyptic world (she has at least two others I know of in the pages of Nature, as well), and what with all the types of apocalypses out there in books, movies and TV, I wondered where the modern end-of-the-world story came from. It's not a very well-kept secret certain more secretive government agencies invite science fiction authors to speak as "futurists" (to which I say: great gig if...

March 8, 2018
Science Fiction, Writing

My Next Story’s Publication Date

I'm pleased to announce my next story, "Writing for the End of the World" will appear in the pages of Nature on March 8th. I can't wait for all of you to see the art selected for the piece, which made me smile, as well as the story itself. I'll be writing a bit more about what inspired me to write the story on its release date, so watch this space....

March 1, 2018
Science Fiction, Writing

Another Acceptance at Nature

I'm still surprised another story of mine was accepted at Nature. I woke up and had to read the acceptance e-mail about five times before it became clear. I'm eager to find out when my story, "Writing For the End of the World" will be published. This will be my third time appearing in Nature....

January 24, 2018
Science Fiction, Writing

Taking Stock – 2017

As 2017 comes to an end, I've been taking account of my writing over the year. As it stands, I submitted stories 64 times over the year, which is less than last year. I've had two acceptances so far in 2017: one was a reprint, podcasted at The Overcast; the other was my second appearance in the pages of Nature. In all likelihood, these may be the only acceptances I'll see this year. However, I have resolved to not be too hard on myself on the lack of acceptances (or writing overall) this year. A death in the family, wedding plans, and welcoming my family into our house because of Hurricane Maria have all been necessary disruptions. I do have several things to look forward to in 2018: I was accepted for the Futurescapes workshop, held in April, I will be attending the Nebulas Conference in May, and I will be attending Capclave...

November 20, 2017
Writing

My New Story, Iago v2.0 Is Now Up at Nature

As mentioned earlier this week, my story, Iago v2.0 is now up at Nature. I have wanted to write something like this ever since Facebook was found to be conducting emotional contagion experiments on users. However, the moment passed, and Facebook was able to paper over or dismiss any worries about their disturbing and unethical behavior. It wasn't until I saw video of Washington University's experiments with algorithms that were able to create believable, synchronized video from audio clips that the idea for this story come to me. The political ramifications of said technology were apparent, but I wanted to delve deeper into what could be plausible. I mean, we currently allow plenty of tech companies to offer us "free" services that are nothing but platforms for more advertising penetration. That's where I got the idea that most telecom companies, if given their druthers, would just have an AI build new episodes of...

November 9, 2017
Science Fiction, Writing