Corridors, a science fiction short story collection, just went live today. Inside are fourteen stories that cover a huge range of themes...everything from electronic insects to mind transfer experiments to an adventure on a mining train on Mars. The cast of characters in the stories are pretty diverse, too, and the lone Mars story, The Mines of Mars, Part I, will lead in to the next book, Fractal Standard Time. There is a Mines of Mars, Part II, but you'll have to wait a few weeks until Fractal Standard Time is released.
The book is available in e-book format at Amazon, Barnes and Noble (soon), Lulu, and on iTunes.
It is also available in paperback on Lulu.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
The Clock Is Ticking
In prior posts, I've discussed the hopes, dreams, and innovations going on in the world of 3-D printing and how it won't be long before such functionality becomes widespread. Today, some of the desktop devices are still a bit expensive and the designs available for download are limited. That's changing on a daily basis and I don't think it will be long before prices drop and 3-D desktop printers start appearing in homes everywhere.
So when I saw this article hit news sites today, I wasn't surprised. The design in question is produced on a higher-end printer, but it highlights some interesting dilemmas that are on the near horizon in terms of technology.
It's one thing to exchange information on a website. The complexity increases when money is exchanged with a commerce site such as Amazon or Walmart and products are shipped to your house or place of business. Now we are moving into an era where information (or designs) can be exchanged online but the product can be manufactured in your own home with the right equipment.
It's probable that such a disruptive technology will force laws to be rewritten, cause licensing systems to be developed, and that controls will be put in place to stop or slow down the exchange of risky designs. Where it gets really dicey is when users will take existing designs, modify them, and build new creations that could have unpredictable consequences. For example, imagine instead of driving to the auto parts store you could download the design of brake pads for your car online, fire up the 3-D printer, and make the new parts in your living room. That would work as long as you stuck with the initial design and did not try to modify it somehow and know how to put the brake pads on your vehicle.
I'm not concerned about toys or things like make-your-own action figures (although I could see Marvel having a licensing fit if users start modifying designs of their action figures). Where it gets to be a slippery slope is when it comes to sharing corporate design secrets or items like the one mentioned in the article above. Although the design in the article was taken offline, over 100K downloads occurred in a two day period. No doubt the design will reappear somewhere else soon, and like an album leak at a certain point it becomes unmanageable to try to shut down every instance of it.
The next objective then becomes one of controlling the consequences...but that is difficult at best because it seems to be a learning curve for everyone involved as the upheaval in the music industry over the past decade has shown us. Where this will lead is anyone's guess, but it should make many people think twice about what possible impact their creations may have before they upload their designs online.
So when I saw this article hit news sites today, I wasn't surprised. The design in question is produced on a higher-end printer, but it highlights some interesting dilemmas that are on the near horizon in terms of technology.
It's one thing to exchange information on a website. The complexity increases when money is exchanged with a commerce site such as Amazon or Walmart and products are shipped to your house or place of business. Now we are moving into an era where information (or designs) can be exchanged online but the product can be manufactured in your own home with the right equipment.
It's probable that such a disruptive technology will force laws to be rewritten, cause licensing systems to be developed, and that controls will be put in place to stop or slow down the exchange of risky designs. Where it gets really dicey is when users will take existing designs, modify them, and build new creations that could have unpredictable consequences. For example, imagine instead of driving to the auto parts store you could download the design of brake pads for your car online, fire up the 3-D printer, and make the new parts in your living room. That would work as long as you stuck with the initial design and did not try to modify it somehow and know how to put the brake pads on your vehicle.
I'm not concerned about toys or things like make-your-own action figures (although I could see Marvel having a licensing fit if users start modifying designs of their action figures). Where it gets to be a slippery slope is when it comes to sharing corporate design secrets or items like the one mentioned in the article above. Although the design in the article was taken offline, over 100K downloads occurred in a two day period. No doubt the design will reappear somewhere else soon, and like an album leak at a certain point it becomes unmanageable to try to shut down every instance of it.
The next objective then becomes one of controlling the consequences...but that is difficult at best because it seems to be a learning curve for everyone involved as the upheaval in the music industry over the past decade has shown us. Where this will lead is anyone's guess, but it should make many people think twice about what possible impact their creations may have before they upload their designs online.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
A Brief Update
Just a quick update tonight, as I am working on finishing off the first book of what may eventually turn into a trilogy.
If you haven't seen this already, here is a stop-motion film from IBM titled "A Boy and His Atom". It's one of those clips that could very well become iconic in a hurry. If that's not enough, here is a clip that describes the sound of atoms being moved around. What would Feynman think of all this if he was still around?
In other news, 80,000 people have applied for a one-way ticket to Mars. I wonder how many of them will drop out of the running once they find out how much initial work would need to be done just to get a basic colony up and going.
I'll post more again shortly, but for now all I can say is there is a lot of new material that will be coming out this summer. Stay tuned.
If you haven't seen this already, here is a stop-motion film from IBM titled "A Boy and His Atom". It's one of those clips that could very well become iconic in a hurry. If that's not enough, here is a clip that describes the sound of atoms being moved around. What would Feynman think of all this if he was still around?
In other news, 80,000 people have applied for a one-way ticket to Mars. I wonder how many of them will drop out of the running once they find out how much initial work would need to be done just to get a basic colony up and going.
I'll post more again shortly, but for now all I can say is there is a lot of new material that will be coming out this summer. Stay tuned.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Random Tech Bits
This should be an interesting project to watch. SpaceX is working on rocket called the "Grasshopper" which is capable of returning back to the launchpad after being fired...vertically.
Here are a couple of other assorted Mars-related videos. One on settling the Red Planet and another about rovers.
In this video, Scott Nicholson holds an in-depth discussion on modern game board design. This has applications not only to board games but to video games as well.
And finally, here is a brief discussion in MIT Technology Review as to what might be holding 3-D printing back from widespread adoption.
Here are a couple of other assorted Mars-related videos. One on settling the Red Planet and another about rovers.
In this video, Scott Nicholson holds an in-depth discussion on modern game board design. This has applications not only to board games but to video games as well.
And finally, here is a brief discussion in MIT Technology Review as to what might be holding 3-D printing back from widespread adoption.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Yet Another Corridors Update, Part II
So far the book has been described as being "like the Twilight Zone". It contains fourteen stories in all and their titles can be found in this post. It covers an immense amount of science fiction ground, from a Martian transport train to dome cities on the Moon to a story that takes place during the Millennium ("Cities of the Plain"). There are electronic insect battles, robotic ants, mind-transfer experiments, and lots more.
This brings me to the cover. There is quite a bit going on in this illustration, and I was surprised that the cover artist incorporated so many story ideas into it (eight or nine out of the fourteen). I added the Twilight Zone style lettering because the stories go in so many different directions. As you can imagine, I'm having a difficult time trying to come up with decent back cover copy for this collection.
If this isn't enough, there is another book on the way that I've talked about in previous posts (Fractal Standard Time). The stories in that collection are tightly interlinked, however. For those that read "The Mines of Mars, Part I" (found in Corridors) there is a corresponding story, "The Mines of Mars, Part II", which will be found in Fractal Standard Time.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
No Ordinary Thread
What's stronger than steel, highly conductive, yet can act like a textile fiber?
Carbon nanotubes.
This is one of those fields that is growing by leaps and bounds all the time. There are a few videos out there on this topic...for example, here and here are videos showing the process of spinning carbon nanotube threads as if they were yarn.
Like so many other things nanotech, carbon nanotubes have all sorts of unusual properties. Some of the potential applications may one day include stronger-than-steel cables, space elevators, and improvements in lightweight armor.
One of the more intriguing developments seems to be in the area of circuits. For years, the idea of Moore's Law has been discussed, but there are also inherent limitations with silicon chips in terms of size. Now there is research being done on carbon nanotube circuits...and one of those articles can be found here. IBM is working on chips that contain carbon nanotube transistors (instead of silicon transistors). That article can be found here.
Regarding textile applications, however, this type of technology could see uses in tear-resistant fabrics, water-resistant fabrics, body armor and even fire protection. Now if they could make a lightweight thread that keeps buttons from popping off of pants and jackets, I'm all for it.
Carbon nanotubes.
This is one of those fields that is growing by leaps and bounds all the time. There are a few videos out there on this topic...for example, here and here are videos showing the process of spinning carbon nanotube threads as if they were yarn.
Like so many other things nanotech, carbon nanotubes have all sorts of unusual properties. Some of the potential applications may one day include stronger-than-steel cables, space elevators, and improvements in lightweight armor.
One of the more intriguing developments seems to be in the area of circuits. For years, the idea of Moore's Law has been discussed, but there are also inherent limitations with silicon chips in terms of size. Now there is research being done on carbon nanotube circuits...and one of those articles can be found here. IBM is working on chips that contain carbon nanotube transistors (instead of silicon transistors). That article can be found here.
Regarding textile applications, however, this type of technology could see uses in tear-resistant fabrics, water-resistant fabrics, body armor and even fire protection. Now if they could make a lightweight thread that keeps buttons from popping off of pants and jackets, I'm all for it.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Fractal Standard Time Update, Part I
Today I'd like to report that what started out five months ago as a collection of twelve short stories with large time gaps between the stories has turned into something more. How much more depends on how the current editing process continues to unfold, but it certainly looks like this book has turned into at least a novella. This happened by accident since I once had plans to release a handful of the short stories out onto Amazon before releasing the whole book. As I've continued to edit the stories, however, they have insisted on "growing" together and towards each other if that makes sense.
Although my technique for creating novels usually follows a much different path, I'm also letting this book run in the direction it wants to go. Here's what makes this so unusual: depending on how things go, I might...just might...turn this into part one of a trilogy.
So...what's this book about?
There are a lot of themes coming together in this book, but here's the short list: Mars, robotics, nanotechnology, and in a limited sense, fractals. The Mars aspect will be obvious as nine of the twelve stories take place there (the first three are on Earth). The robotics angle grows throughout the book and the nanotech themes come to life in the last four stories. The fractal ideas are more subtle and will be found in the structures of the book. I say "structures" as opposed to "structure" because although there is one large narrative arc to the book, there are multiple other arcs within groups of stories and even within the stories themselves. I've tried to align those arcs with one another, but this has proved to be far more difficult than I ever anticipated. The original goal was to write a book that could be chopped up into multiple pieces yet still essentially retain the same story.
Some of the story titles will be, "Racing the Anvil Crawlers", "The Peddler", "The Nanobot Sandbox", and "The Mines of Mars, Part II". Oh, and here's the opening line from the lead story, "Tales From the Front":
Gordyn and Alyssa held hands together in the cockpit for yet another last time.
Although my technique for creating novels usually follows a much different path, I'm also letting this book run in the direction it wants to go. Here's what makes this so unusual: depending on how things go, I might...just might...turn this into part one of a trilogy.
So...what's this book about?
There are a lot of themes coming together in this book, but here's the short list: Mars, robotics, nanotechnology, and in a limited sense, fractals. The Mars aspect will be obvious as nine of the twelve stories take place there (the first three are on Earth). The robotics angle grows throughout the book and the nanotech themes come to life in the last four stories. The fractal ideas are more subtle and will be found in the structures of the book. I say "structures" as opposed to "structure" because although there is one large narrative arc to the book, there are multiple other arcs within groups of stories and even within the stories themselves. I've tried to align those arcs with one another, but this has proved to be far more difficult than I ever anticipated. The original goal was to write a book that could be chopped up into multiple pieces yet still essentially retain the same story.
Some of the story titles will be, "Racing the Anvil Crawlers", "The Peddler", "The Nanobot Sandbox", and "The Mines of Mars, Part II". Oh, and here's the opening line from the lead story, "Tales From the Front":
Gordyn and Alyssa held hands together in the cockpit for yet another last time.
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