David Brin's Annual Summer News Update! So many books & projects.

David Brin’s annual-summer update. This year lots of books & future stuff…
 
FIRST a big re-issue of eight classics with great new covers, new author introductions, and newly re-edited material... starting with The Postman and The Practice Effect. 

Plus I've recently re-released newly edited versions all of my Uplift novels, starting with  Sundiver, followed by Hugo winners Startide Rising and The Uplift War, as well as the Uplift Storm Trilogy, starting with Brightness Reef, and on to Infinity's Shore and Heaven's Reach.  All with corrections and new introductions and better timelines... and great covers!

Best of Brin Short Stories: Subterranean Press is releasing a new collection, “The Best of David Brin," an anthology of my very best short stories as well as some new ones - as well as a play I've written! Now a gorgeous collectable hardcover (beautiful cover art by Patrick Farley). Here, you'll find tales from creepy to inspiring to thought-provoking -- and fun. Certainly some of my best writing. Sample stories free on my website!  

(Also available... especially if you are on a budget... my earlier collections Insistence of Vision and The River of Time.)

== New YA series ==

And now, shifting gears... I'm releasing two great Science Fiction series for teens and young adult readers looking for something different... and yes, for those of you with a youthful yen for adventure!

Colony High: Aliens grab a California high school and relocate it on an alien planet -- and then come to regret it! In the spirit of Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky. Winner of the Hal Clement Award for teen readers! Now expanded with two new sequels, soon to be released from Ring of Fire Press, starting with Castaways of New Mojave co-written with Jeff Carlson (cover art by Patrick Farley), and another upcoming sequel co-written with Steve Ruskin. Sample chapters of this series on my website!  (And there's a full, 3-season TV treatment.)

 

The Out of Time series. If the future asked for help, would you go? A 24th Century utopia has no war, disease, injustice or crime... and no heroes! They reach back in time for some.. but only the young are able to go. Maybe you?

Adventure novels by Nebula winners Nancy Kress, Sheila Finch etc. plus great newly added novels for that teen, pre-teen or young-soul -- starting with The Archimedes Gambit by Patrick Freivald -- soon to be released. Next up: Storm's Eye by October K. Santerelli. Stay tuned for updates.

And for a pandemic era. Sci fi that’s too pertinent? My Hugo-nominated short story, “The Giving Plague” explores our complex relations with viruses. Free access on my website or download this story free on Kindle. Also included in my collection, Otherness.

== Provocative nonfiction... and comedy! ==

Vivid Tomorrows: Science Fiction and Hollywood. 
Explore our love of far-out cinema, and how sci fi flicks may have saved us all. Wish your favorite directors would notice their repeated clichés? Pass 'em a copy! 

Here I offer chapters on 2001, The Matrix, Dune, LOTR, Ayn Rand, King Kong, zombies...and of course, Star Wars and Star Trek. 

Polemical Judo: Memes for Our Political Knife-Fight  Here you'll find political insights you’ve not seen before. 100+ practical tactics off the hoary left-right axis, to defend our Great Experiment - and forge a better future. Sample chapters available on my website.

And how about trying some comedy... in these trying times?

Feed your under-nourished guffaw-neurons! Comedy is hard! Some say that The Ancient Ones: A Space Comedy - lifted spirits in a particularly challenging year. 

Others say “Brin’s nuts!” 

Try sample chapters and decide. 

"Life... death.. and the living dead... will never be the same."


== A screenplay, a stage play and more ==

I've written a screenplay based on my novella "The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss." It offers vivid action and unusual visuals deep.... under the oceans of Venus. (The novella is also included in my Best of Brin collection!) And yes, show the script to directors! Know any? ;-)

And a stage play!

A smart-aleck argues with the devil. Yeah that old trope, redone from a distinctly modernist perspective. My play, "The Escape: A Confrontation in Four Acts" is wry, pointed… and a bit intellectual. Perfect for your table-reading or local theater group. (Contact me if interested!)

On the side....take a look at Speeches and consulting: See over 300 NGOs, companies, activist groups and agencies I’ve consulted or given keynotes about a future that slams into us with wave after wave of onrushing change.

== And a novel from another Brin! ==

The Melody of Memory. Cheryl’s first novel - a moving tale of growing up while overcoming tragedy on a colony world that seems cursed, doomed to forget... and repeat the mistakes of the past. 

Terrific opening line! 

Sample the first chapters or see the compelling video preview of her wonderful novel.

== Cool watchables! ==

Brin on Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)  
Will humanity diversify?  
The plague of getting ‘mad as hell.’  
Shall we lift the Earth? 
The fabulous-fun trailer for Existence!
Others range from SETI to ESP to colonizing the galaxy.

And I read (for you) the prologue opening of EARTH. It seems to have been written for today.

== And maybe most important... ==

Sci-fi-nerds save us all? 

Picture any weird event. Starships fulla inky squids. Trees walk. Cyber-newborns talk! Panels advise governments.* Might 80 years of thoughtful SF tales prove useful? 

Volunteer programmers** are building TASAT - There’s a Story About That - to rapidly appraise what-if scenarios and maybe someday save us all. Subscribe. Join the Group Mind! 

*I'm on some.       ** Volunteers... like you?

Podcasts, blogs, interviews, YouTubes & social media.

Hot topics. Astrophysics, transparency/privacy, SETI, UFOs, innovations in spaceflight, history... And yeah, cool science fiction.

Want more? News and views at the always-provocative Contrary Brin.

Or see me on Twitter / Facebook

The David Brin site offers free stories, samples, favorite books, videos, nonfiction, ideas and more. As well as advice for new writers!

Finally: what a Sci-Fi-Twilight-Zonish year! But an ambitious, worthy future is possible! 

Do your part. Make it so.

David Brin's 2020 Newsletter & Updates

Our first newsletter in three years has gone out! Here’s the web version. Lots to report and new books to enjoy!

First, alas, I must report that Escape From Kithrup - the awaited next chapter of the Uplift Saga isn’t ready! (By a fair amount, alack.) But meanwhile, here’s good stuff to (star)tide you over! Starting with...

* The Ancient Ones: My very new novel - a light-hearted space comedy - will feed your under-nourished guffaw-neurons! Kindle and POD editions go live on the equinox (3/19/20). Star Trek meets Hokas & vampires. 

Is comedy hard? Groan and laugh at sample chapters, then pre-order! 

Demmies aren’t so bad. They mean well. Impulsive and exasperating, sure. Often brilliant, cheeky, moronic, volatile, always astonishing... did I mention exasperating? The Alliance of Worlds wouldn’t be the same without them. Some would prefer it!

With a lovely-fun cover by Patrick Farley!

== And more 'items' of interest! ==

* Veering from the comically absurd to the seriously insane, I skewer today’s crazy politics in Polemical Judo. Our current crisis needs fresh perspectives! 100+ tactics may help our struggle for civilization. Sample chapters here - then help fight for a better future.

* A Need for Heroes: a stand-alone story about courage - and saving the world, now on my website (Excerpted from Earth).

* Sundiver, my first novel, came back into our hands after 38 years. We made corrections, gave it a new cover and introduction. Now available as an ebook and paperback versions on Kindle/POD. But - Shout if you want that long-awaited, collectable hardcover! 

* All my short story collections - including The River of Time, and Otherness as well as Insistence of Vision - are back! (My best work.) We've also re-released Heart of the Comet ( my collaboration with Gregory Benford). 

* The video for Existence, by web artist Patrick Farley, is 3 minutes of sheer, chilling beauty. 

* In the recently released volume After Shock: Reflecting on 50 Years of Future Shock - a hundred futurists explore bold ideas about the human future; I have an essay debating the ideas of Yuval Harari. A volume with some Big Thinkers!

 * Chasing Shadows was called “the decade's best theme anthology.” Stories by Cat Rambo, Rob Sawyer, James Morrow and other masters — plus William Gibson & Damon Knight classics —  examine benefits and pitfalls of our coming transparent world. Co-edited by Stephen Potts.

== And we need you... yes, YOU! ==

Sci-fi-nerds save the world? Picture some weird event. Starships fulla inky squids. Trees walk or cyber-newborns talk! A commission (I’m on some) hurriedly advises governments. Might 80 years of thoughtful SF tales prove useful? With UCSD's Arthur Clarke Center, I set up TASAT - There’s a Story About That - to host discussion of wide-ranging what-if scenarios - and maybe someday save us all. Subscribe. Join the Group Mind! (Web-admin folks needed.) 


* Speeches and consulting: See over 300 NGOs, companies, activist groups and agencies I’ve consulted or given keynotes about a future that slams into us with wave after wave of onrushing change, both down here and in space.

* Cool watchables!
 

Brin on Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)  


Will humanity diversify?  


The plague of getting ‘mad as hell.’  


Shall we lift the Earth? 


“Project Neo.”  

Others range from SETI to ESP to colonizing the galaxy.

Want more? Find frequent news and views on the always-provocative Contrary Brin blog.

Or follow me on Twitter / FaceBook or Quora.

The David Brin website offers free stories, samples, favorite books, videos, nonfiction, ideas and more.

I may speak in your area. So check my calendar. This summer, I'll be in D.C. as well as in Seattle in July - for Westercon: The 73rd West Coast SF& F convention.) See you in the future!

Finally: Okay it's been a Sci-Fi'ish year, even Twilight Zonish! But there's hope for an ambitious future and worthy civilization. Make it so!

===

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Brin-News

Okay, this one is all about... your humble host. And first, an encomium for which I literally bled, eighty times...

A ten gallon hat! That's what you get for donating 10 gallons of blood! (Across the span of some years...) And a nice little plaque. Match that! Schedule an appointment through your local Red Cross or Blood Bank. 

My short story The Giving Plague explored a creepy-hopeful-scary scenario wherein blood donation changes the future of humanity... (it's free on Kindle or my website). 

== Recent and upcoming honors ==


The Potomac Institute’s Navigator Awards recognize individuals who have sought bold solutions to national challenges.  I am honored to be one of this year’s three recipients, along with Congressman Mac Thornberry and Alan Shaffer, Director of the office at NATO that coordinate R&D toward defense and civilian progress. Past recipients include leaders in government service as well as science & technology pioneers like Elon Musk. My citation is for shaking up assumptions by constructing “unconventional settings and raise serious questions about the nature of humanity, the fate of Earth, and other cosmic considerations.”  A big gala event in DC. I'll have pictures soon.


Also in October 2015 I’ll be the first annual National Endowment for the Humanities/Hannah Arendt Center Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Bard College, and keynoter at Bard’s October 15-16 conference: What do we lose when we lose our privacy? with a Skyped appearance by Edward Snowden.

== Insightful gab or hot air? ==

The Future Seen Through the Eyes of a Writer: I was onstage with epic Sci Fi novelist and AI theoretician Ramez Naam (author of the chilling near-future Nexus), as well as Peter Schwartz (author of The Art of the Long View) discussing possibilities about what lies beyond tomorrow, at the huge Dreamforce Conference in San Francisco, September 2015. Here's a clip of the video from the event.

Join me in New York City: Is Science Fiction the Science of the Future? An evening meet-up with the Philip K. Dick Festival in Manhattan on October 12 at 7 pm. 

Where you can find me next month: My travels include New York, Washington DC, Seattle, Amsterdam, and Dallas... Check my website for updates ... or follow me on Twitter.

== Brin Sampler == 

I frequently answer questions on Quora. Join the often thought-provoking discussions over there, with queries like: Why hasn't there been a coup d'etat in the United States.

Trekspertise released a nicely edited, image-rich video of a talk I gave exploring: What is Science Fiction?  See more articles and Speculations on Science Fiction.

At the borderlands between science and science fiction are the highly elevated interviews of Robert Lawrence Kuhn’s “Closer to Truth” television series. I was honored to be included along with mavens like Francisco Ayala, Paul Davies Max Tegmark, Alan Guth and so on.  In this mashup, Kuhn alternates some of my excerpts with those of Nick Bostrom, Martin Rees, Marvin Minsky and Ray Kurzweil, creating in effect a debate over whether or not we are currently living in a simulation. See Is Our Universe a Fake? nicely repackaged by Space.com. Or browse the list of insightful topics at the show’s main site. 

== Samples!  Free samples! (heh heh)

Warning, you’ll be hooked! Do not read this sampler from Brightness Reef!  About Alvin and Huck and their pals, in the lost colony of Jijo.  Where refugees from six races hide from the sky… but a set of alien teenagers make a weird discovery…

How would you like to be able to make a temporary duplicate of yourself, any day? Kiln People is almost universally called the “most fun” Brin novel. (Some hold out for The Practice Effect.) Try chapter one, here. You decide if it’s hilarious or just the strangest sci fi premise you ever saw.

"The most light-hearted serious science fiction novel I've read." -- Vernor Vinge.

I’ve got a weakness for mind-jarring opening lines. Here’s the starter sentence in GLORY SEASON.  “Twenty-six months before her second birthday, Maia learned the true difference between winter and summer.” Adventure. Pirates. Sea voyages and dark mysteries and fun and thought-provoking speculations about human reproduction.  Read chapter one here.  And watch the vivid one-minute trailer!  

Sample the final adventure of Hari Seldon, in Foundation's Triumph -- wrapping up Isaac Asimov's Foundation universe. (And yes, this is the "official"  final word... for now.)

My short story collection, Otherness, recently re-released in paperback and ebook. Here you'll find some of my best stories, such as The Giving Plague, Dr. Pak's Preschool, Detritus Affected, and others. 

== Miscellaneous News ==

Contrary Space: Listen to my episode on Robot Overlords.

Arte Mudou o Mundo: the article is in Portuguese, but my video interviews are in English. 

Here's the complete set of Uplift-related schwag that Cafe Press offers! 

Both the Chinese translation of my story "The Warm Space" and the accompanying interview have been published.  

Is there more?  Sure?  Browse davidbrin.com for freebies galore. Thrive! Enjoy!