Update on Sean Williams’ Twinmaker series

While Dr Williams is of at World Fantasy Con in Brighton, swanning around with half the Australian speculative fiction community he has released some goodies for fans.  First up I give you the product advertisement for DMat.

But you might want to check out the book website at Twinmaker.

Not sure what I am talking about?  My review of book one is here and the audio interview for Galactic Chat can be found here.

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Sean Williams On Matter Transmission and the World of Jump: Twinmaker

At the beginning of October I had a chat with Sean Williams about his new YA book Jump: Twinmaker you can listen to us talk here at Galactic Chat.  I had the opportunity to ask some follow up questions below:

Please enjoy:

 

1. Jump features Fabbers or fabricators, with more widespread use of 3d printing how close do you think we are to seeing technology like them?

On the one hand, you can see existing technologies like cheap 3-D printers and online libraries of downloadable 3-D models heading in exactly this direction, so it’s easy to believe it might be just around the corner. On the other hand, the sheer amount of data and fine-scale manipulation required to make things like food and the Mona Lisa seems far beyond us. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Printing objects in hard-to-supply places like space or a battlefield has obvious utility for organisations with enormous R&D budgets, so work is being undertaken right now that will eventually filter down to the mainstream. How long until I can fab a convincing steak that required no animal slaughter? I’d guess twenty years, plus or minus ten. The Mona Lisa? Probably sooner. A living person? A very long way off indeed.

2. What do think would be the most monumental change wrought by matter transference technology if it were to occur now?

That’s a hard question to answer because I suspect everything would change.

Our notion of space and time would shift, since being able to step literally anywhere in a moment or two removes all concept of “between” from everyday life. Once a city on the other side of the planet becomes closer in a very real sense to a destination two blocks away, where you might walk instead of d-matting, that leads to a fundamental restructuring of how we view the world. This goes beyond polyglot societies and complicated national identities. This speaks to how we inhabit the universe around us, and leads to powerful new metaphors for finding our place within it.

Then there’s the way we imagine ourselves as creatures with physical bodies and coherent identities inhabiting those bodies. Any device that can scan your every atom and rebuild you at will leads inevitably to the possibilities of copying, mutation and erasure, all of which put severe pressure on our sense of self. If you can change your physical form any time you like, who are you really? If you can make two or more identical versions of you, which one is really you? If you are deleted en route to your destination, are you really dead? This notion of what’s real and what not is relatively easy to answer when the matter we’re made of is mutable. When it is, we’re in a whole new, and very fascinating territory!

3. Jump doesn't go into detail on economics, how does the world of Jump operate when you can live in Australia but go to school in the US, how do people make money when people don't have to pay for consumer items?

I talk a little about the economics in the world of Twinmaker in “Face Value”, a short story featuring characters who will appear in the sequel.

What lies at the heart of the economy of this world is that the one irreproducible commodity people can trade is time. You can make a thousand copies of a roast lamb dinner for no cost at all, but if you want someone to make you the original that the copy is taken from, that will cost you, because it takes time to cook the meal. So it’s the ultimate service economy, but with every transaction conducted electronically, of course; there’s no physical money since that could be easily copied too. It’s not fundamentally different from our world in some ways, but utterly different in others.

Governance reflects that. Things like passports and state borders don’t exist anymore, since they just can’t survive in the face of d-mat technology. This is something you’ll see a lot more of in the sequel. I don’t want to burden the books with the nuts and bolts of world-building, but I do want observant readers to know that they are there.

 

Many thanks to Sean for answering my questions.  You can buy your choice of three versions of Jump: Twinmaker (or all three if you really want to make Mr Williams happy) at Booktopia.

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Book Review – Jump: Twinmaker 1 by Sean Williams

 Jump, called Twinmaker in the US, is Sean Williams’ foray into teen science fiction, he’s well known as a NY Times bestselling novelist of adult scifi and he’s also done a great children's series in conjunction with another Australian author Garth Nix - Troubletwisters.

In the world of Jump we have solved our environmental and power problems, we can teleport from anywhere on the face of the planet to anywhere else there is a D-mat booth. We can fabricate and recycle the goods that we need.  It’s a post scarcity world.  Fully connected through the Air (an outgrowth of the Internet).  You can live in Switzerland and go to school in California.  It wasn’t all smooth sailing to get here though, there were the water wars, global warming has submerged islands and Manhattan’s streets lie underwater.  But the world is safer.

Or so our protagonist believes.

Clair and Libby are best friends, Libby is the go getter, the popular girl.  Clair is the plodder, together they balance each other.  Libby rushes headlong into things and Clair picks up the pieces. Then there’s Zed the jock who is going out with Libby but harbours feelings for Clair, feelings that Clair thinks she shares.

And here the reader might pause and think – this sounds familiar.  Two friends fall out over a boy and we have a novel about mean girls ripping each other to shreds over him.  I must admit that not being a heavy reader of fiction marketed at Teens, even I raised an eyebrow at this setup.  Indeed I am aware that some readers walked away at this point thinking that the novel might deteriorate into a form of slut shaming where Libby would blame Clair for any intimate action with Zed and Zed would get off scot-free.

Clair and Zed kiss and she realises it’s a mistake, a betrayal of friendship (we never quite get to hear his thoughts due to the novel’s point of view) but before they can both talk to Libby,(secretly unhappy with her appearance) she chooses to try out Improvement - a spam message that promises she can change what she dislikes about herself.

And from this point we are led on an adventure as Clair, Zed and a host of outcasts try to undo the damage Libby has done to herself.  In the process they discover the world and technologies that they thought were safe, aren’t.

Other reviews have expressed concerned or have been unsure about the cheating (the kiss) mentioned above. It’s a very real scenario, people cheat.  What’s important here is the character’s reaction.  The reader can experience that reaction vicariously and be aware of what it might be like to cheat on someone or be cheated on, they can begin to develop empathy in that regard.  Not all teens learn, nor should they learn from first hand experience.  I would have though that’s one of the great advantages of storytelling in any format.

I don’t want to say anymore.  Williams plays with reader expectations to good effect, I think the setup above is necessary for him to surprise the reader in the rest of the novel.  A novel that is more about growing up, accepting consequences and discovering the meaning of true friendship.  It’s about the complexity of growing into adulthood with the added bonus and pressure of having to save the planet.  Big stakes emotionally and physically.

What I like about Clair is her growing self confidence, along side her introspection.  There’s a tendency in some fiction to present strong women in terms of what it means for men to be strong i.e. they have to be able to kick ass and take names, carry a sword or a gun.  While Clair does carry a gun she’s never comfortable about it and her first thought is to use her smarts.  When she does attempt physical conflict, even when she wins, she hurts herself  - as an untrained teen would do.  She feels very real to me.

With that story at its core the wonderfully envisaged future world is icing on the cake.  Williams does a great job of extrapolating current technologies, trends and social behaviours to give us a familiar yet exciting future.  The text is sprinkled with a dusting of ideas that hint at a fully realised world.  And for much older readers I am pretty sure that there’s a Devo reference somewhere around page sixty.

Jump is a well paced action adventure with a great female protagonist.  I eagerly await more books in the series.

 

This review is based on an ARC bearing the American cover.

You can pre-order the book through Booktopia.

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The Subjects–A reminder

Just a quick reminder to … erm remind you that a team of very dedicated creatives is undergoing a very wacky experiment in the name of science and entertainment.

The experiment proper has started and its interesting peering into the heads of Sean Williams and Jennifer Mills as they articulate feelings and relay observations of the effect of isolation and sleep deprivation.

Here’s a few choice snippets from Day 1:

I’m writing in my ‘free time’ between tests. These are checking my cognitive functions: response time, comprehension, and judgement. The tests are strange and very repetitive. There’s a device called a PVT which looks like it should be part of a 1980s robot. There’s a dinky little driving simulator (I crashed). Another test shows us the word Yellow coloured green, or the word Red coloured blue, and asks us to distinguish between the colour and the word. I already feel an estrangement between words and things. Partly in response to this, I have started to draw the objects in my room.

My ‘free time’ is neither, and soon interrupted for another test. Addition and subtraction. When my screen reads “2+2=” I think of Winston Smith, my imaginary companion in this dim cell. Should I put 5? Only the scientists have the answer.

Jennifer Mills

 

After our tour and intro, we settled in for a practice run. (Have I used “practice” right? This is something I always get wrong, and now I can’t check. Life without the web is going to be tough, particularly as the protocol kicks in and our brains melt into mud. As Jenn says, let’s have an embargo on typos, okay?) The tests are not especially riveting, but that’s not unexpected either. The first is a test of our response times (“PVT” it’s called, I found out later: Performance Vigilance Task). We hold a box and push a button when the screen lights up. A number tells us how fast we reacted. I already hate this test, because the box is heavy and it involves both my hands, and I have to sit grimly in place for ten minutes. It feels like an hour. At the end of the first run, my muscles were screaming. My results were slightly slower than average, but that could be because I was using my left hand. Or I was too distracted by the discomfort to pay attention properly. Or I’m just rotten at it.

Sean Williams

and from Day 2:

After an age, instructions come through the intercom on the wall above my bed: Keep your eyes open for thirty seconds (am I allowed to blink? I have to blink. I’m blinking. I’m not in trouble for blinking!); blink five times slowly (Ah, sweet blinking). Winston would remember this bit. At last, with much gratitude, the lights go down to “moonlight setting” and I sleep until Scientist Xuan wakes me. It’s long enough to dream a little. The only thing I remember about my dreams is that I played the role of babysitter. Waking, I feel more like the baby. Xuan tells me I will be put back to bed again after a short time. This means the electrodes stay in, and I rush to the bathroom to see what I look like. I look like this:

Jennifer Mills

 

 

 

The sound of air-conditioning could be fake. I deduced this while doing some stretches. The ever-present hissing sound is actually coming from what appears to be a speaker set into the ceiling, near the vent. My guess is they’re pumping in white or pink noise to cover up the sounds around us (the centre is on a very busy arterial road) and perhaps for some psychological benefit, too, as background noise helps the mind function under some circumstances. When I asked about, I got a weird reaction, like it was a big secret. Like I had opened the wrong door and seen THE ALIENS. I changed the subject immediately. Who wants to be put in the grinder for KNOWING TOO MUCH? (Alternatively, that “speaker” is an intake vent, which might explain why I can’t feel any air movement when I put my hand near it. That’s the sane explanation.)

Sean Williams

Please do go and read all the entries(start here).  It’s interesting comparing the subjects observations which often parallel each other.  And it’s amazing how quickly thoughts seem to edge slowly toward paranoia.

Note: “The Subjects” experiment is being run and the participants observations published by the Australian Network for Art & Technology (ANAT).  The material quoted here is published under a Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. 

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The Subjects – an experimental and experiential project

 

I was made aware some time ago of a project to place some creative folk under duress, in this case sleep deprivation, and then see how that effected creative outcomes.  That project is begins on the 9th of Feb.

The Australian Network for Art & Technology (ANAT), in partnership with Central Queensland University’s Appleton Institute, is running The Subjects.

The participants are

• Artists Thom Buchanan
• and Fee Plumley
• Author Jennifer Mills
• and  New York Times best selling novelist Sean Williams

They will be spending a week in residency at CQU’s Sleep Research Centre.  Their sleeping patterns will be disrupted and they will be under constant surveillance.

And considering we live in a Big Brother future (though not quite the same one Orwell was thinking of) we can peer into the experimented minds and interact with the test subjects.

You can read about the experiment here

You can view the bios of the test subjects here

You can ask them questions here

I plan to follow this next week.  I know two of the participants and know they are excited by the prospect of participation.  Good luck folks

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Midnight and Moonshine -The Otherworld Launch

 

 

A good number of writerly and readerly folk braved what could only be described as hellish weather to attend the Otherworld launch of Midnight & Moonshine by authors Angela Slatter and Lisa L Hannett.  Adelaide turned on 40 degree heat and about 5 mm of rain to make it positively tropical.

 

Where are the Norse gods when you need them eh?

Audience and dignitaries soldiered on though and Russ was able to ramble without being lynched.

 

 

After Russ said nice things about almost everyone in the room and thanked us all for supporting independent press and awesome aussie authors it was over to Kirstyn and Mondy Jason who did a wonderful job of introducing the writers and the text and finally launching the book.

 

 

 

Dr Slatter gave us a reading from near the beginning of the book, braving the trying conditions and keeping us all wrapt and envious of the characters in the icy Nordic
paradise.

The Dr Hannett gave us a reading set 1000 years in the future.  An interesting piece that to my ear seemed to tie in nicely with Dr Slatter’s, perhaps foreshadowing an intricately woven series of connected tales.

CAKE!!

Damn fine chocolate cake with the beautiful cover image by Kathleen Jennings

And before I forget a never before seen picture of the evil Dr Brain?  Not penned by Kathleen Jennings but nevertheless a lovely piece of comic art.

It was a wonderful night and when refrigerated aircon was discovered in the restaurant on the ground floor the group absconded to Brunelli’s for some great pizza. 

I rounded off the night with dinner companions my wife Alison, Jason Nahrung, Kirstyn McDermott and a groovy hat wearing Sean Williams.  Much bookish chat was had

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Adelaide Supanova 1

 

So yesterday I traversed half the state (maybe an exaggeration, looking at the map) driving the two and a bit hours into Adelaide City for our inaugural Supanova. I think it’s important to support pop culture events like this even if I suspect that they won’t largely by my thing.

First up, great location.  The organizers get bonus points for the venue at the Adelaide Showgrounds.  The entire event was hosted inside a huge pavilion with air con – very important when the crowds start milling in.

Cosplayers we a bit light on comparing it to my Brisbane experience but there were a wide variety ranging from the “thrown together in an afternoon” to the professional.  I tried taking some shots but have decided that I either need a new camera or a better photographer.  Storm troopers and Daleks were out in force, combated by a smattering of Jedi and a small cadre of Fez wearing Doctors.

As always the author signing table (provided by Dymocks Adelaide) was good value.  Located right near the entrance of the exhibitors pavilion it was easy to find.  The one thing I love about Supanova, indeed the only reason I really go is to meet and chat with authors.  Thank goodness they don’t charge signing fees.

I was able to have a good chat with Sean Williams – who despite living in Adelaide has been a hard man to track down.  I got to meet Joe Abercrombie in person (have recorded an interview with Galactic Chat) and discover his talent for signing.  Seriously, the man can sing.

It was lovely to meet Trudie Canavan who also introduced me to her talented photographer husband/partner Paul while being careful not to give me spoilers for her book. Trudie was another guest on Galactic Chat and although we were both at the Natcon we hadn’t met previously.

I had to sheepishly confess to Fiona McIntosh (whose workshop I attended last year) that I had not completed my manuscript  but had been writing short work.  I bought a book and she seemed okay, signing it with “keep writing”.

Sean introduced me to DM Cornish, whose name I had come across but whose work had a eluded me.  The surprise of the day was meeting up with Colin Taber, a Perth author who I interviewed last year who has his trilogy coming to an end and is now writing an alternate history.

If I have one criticism for the day its Supanova’s treatment of the non headline acts.  Now I know the big draw cards are the Felicia Days and the James Masters - they were held in carpeted arenas.  The comic book artists,writers and authors were held in the acoustic equivalent of a cordoned off shopping mall ie tiled floors high ceilings.  Consequently it was at times hard to hear them speak or they were interrupted by announcements. This isn’t an Adelaide problem, I observed the same thing in Brisbane last year.

I did take time to sit in on some of the big names – Luke Perry and Malcolm-Jamal Warner did a wonderful free flowing talk about Jeremiah and show biz in general. They filled about half the seating area.  Felicia Day was standing room only, so to anyone who says she doesn’t have influence in the “Nerd/Geek/Scene” can go and eat their hat as far as I’m concerned.

Will I go again? I’d like Supanova to provide a better experience for fans of Comicbook artists, writers and authors in general.  While the MC for the author/comic book artist events was wonderful I felt that the venues chosen were poor and possibly effected attendance.

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Meet the Author–Sean Williams

Emily Craven, from The Ebook Revolution Blog is hosting a Meet the Author Webinar this coming Tuesday with Australian Sci-Fi Novelist Sean Williams.

Date: Tuesday 16th of October 2012
Time: 7:30pm (Australian Central Time)

You need to register for the webinar here.  You’ll also be invited to think of some questions to ask Sean.

Be quick as there are a limited number of spaces.

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Sean Williams on Adelaide 891

The link below leads to an interview with Sean Williams and Writers Week Director Laura Kroetsch on Adelaide 891.  It’s a nice short discussion where Sean and Laura squeeze some spec fic goodness into about 20 minutes.

[audio download]

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Heads Up–Armoured–Anthology by John Joseph Adams

Hat tip to the very busy Sean Williams for this news story.  Baen have  released an anthology by John Joseph Adams called Armoured( in ebook form here). 

Here’s the jacket copy:

[Edit: I had a copy of a place holder description of the book what follows is the final copy]

PART HUMAN. PART MACHINE. ALL SOLDIER.

Decades ago, Starship Troopers captivated readers with its vision of a future war in which power armored soldiers battled giant insects on hostile alien planets. Today, with the success of Iron Man, Halo, and Mechwarrior—and with real robotic exoskeletons just around the corner—the idea of super-powered combat armor and giant mecha has never been more exciting and relevant.

Now acclaimed editor John Joseph Adams brings you the first-ever original anthology of power armor fiction. Join leading SF authors Jack Campbell, Brandon Sanderson, Tanya Huff, Daniel H. Wilson, Alastair Reynolds, Carrie Vaughn, and others as they explore the limits of what a soldier of the future might become—with the aid of the right equipment.

Imagine power armored warriors battling at the bottom of the sea, or on nightmarish alien worlds, or in the darkest depths of space. Imagine armor that’s as smart as you are, armor that might keep on fighting even after you’re no longer willing … or able.

The possibilities are endless, but some facts remain constant: The soldier of the future will be fast. The soldier of the future will be deadly. The soldier of the future will be ARMORED.[source]

The cover artwork above is by the talented Kurt Miller.

 

The TOC includes:

Foreword by Orson Scott Card
Introduction by John Joseph Adams
The Johnson Maneuver by Ian Douglas
Hel's Half-Acre by Jack Campbell
Jungle Walkers by David Klecha & Tobias S. Buckell
The Last Run of the Coppelia by Genevieve Valentine
Death Reported of Last Surviving Veteran of Great War by Dan Abnett
The Cat's Pajamas by Jack McDevitt
Find Heaven and Hell in the Smallest Things by Simon R. Green
Power Armor: A Love Story by David Barr Kirtley
The Last Days of the Kelly Gang by David D. Levine
Field Test by Michael A. Stackpole
Trauma Pod by Alastair Reynolds
Contained Vacuum by David Sherman
You Do What You Do by Tanya Huff
Nomad by Karin Lowachee
Human Error by John Jackson Miller
Transfer of Ownership by Christie Yant
Heuristic Algorithm and Reasoning Response Engine by Ethan Skarstedt & Brandon Sanderson
Don Quixote by Carrie Vaughn
The Poacher by Wendy N. Wagner & Jak Wagner
The Green by Lauren Beukes
Sticks and Stones by Robert Buettner
Helmet by Daniel H. Wilson
The N-Body Solution by Sean Williams

For discussion:

• Note the gender breakdown is   27.1% Female 72.9% Male.
• [Edit this question now superfluous]Note that none of the talented female writers were used in the blurb.  Is that a marketing decision?
• Is military science fiction an sub genre that women write in in sufficient numbers. Comments?

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Exciting Publishing news

No, not for me, that would mean I’d been motivated and, you know, written some fiction in the last 2 months ¹ .

Establishing Momentum

No, this is some interesting news brought about by the “digital revolution baby”². Pan Macmillan have released their digital only imprint called Momentum.  They have 22 novels which can be bought through Amazon, Google and iBookstore (though I note some books aren’t available in all three).

Here’s their press release:

MOMENTUM, Pan Macmillan Australia’s new digital-only imprint, has launched today with 22 ebooks available for sale. Pan Macmillan is the first major book publisher in Australia to launch a digital-only list. Momentum’s list is an exciting and vibrant mix of books from established and emerging authors. Publishing ebooks and utilising print-on-demand (POD) technology, Momentum aims to make new and old books more accessible than ever before.

Momentum combines all the editorial expertise of a traditional publishing house with strong and highly focused marketing and promotion. The dynamics of ebook publishing allow Momentum to publish globally and at highly accessible prices, with new titles under $10 and previously published titles under $5.

[read more]

Interesting that they have been more or less forced to come down to the $10 mark, not sure if that’s good or bad or just plain necessary.

In the Land of the Midnight Sun

The second bit of news is the establishment of Midnight Sun a local (based in Adelaide) publisher.   Internode founder Simon Hackett did the ribbon cutting honours and the music was provided by New York Times best selling novelist Sean Williams³ .  Here’s their press release:

February is here and the time has finally come to let MidnightSun Publishing stand on its own two feet. Last night, 10 Feb 2012, the company was officially launched at an amazing party in Adelaide. Well-known businessman Simon Hackett did the honours and did so beautifully, talking about the need for people to be passionate about what they love and actually transform their passions into businesses.

The night was a huge success with 150-200 people attending, many of them taking advantage of the exclusive sale of our first book, Anna Solding’s The Hum of Concrete, a month before its actual launch at Writers’ Week. To see so many well-loved writers (Sean Williams, Carol Lefevre, Ruth Starke and Amy T. Matthews to name a few)

[read more]

So keep your eyes peeled for the times there are a changin’

H/T to SA Writers Centre

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^{1. Book still languishing at the 40K mark↩}

 ^{2. Imagine Austin Poers saying that ad it doesn’t sound too sexist..↩}

^{3. A man of many talents it seems↩}

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Lifetime membership of SA Writers centre awarded to Sean Williams

Australian Speculative Fiction Author Sean Williams received an honorary lifetime membership from the South Australian Writers Centre. 

Only two previous life memberships have been awarded.  It’s great to see Sean recognised for his work and support of the the South Australian Writing scene.

So, congratulations Mr Williams.

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About the Author: 

Sean Williams is a New York Times best selling novelist with 35 Award winning novels and 75 short stories to his name. 

He’s most widely known internationally for his work on the Star Wars franchise but has a written a slew of original science fiction works.

You can check out Sean and his work over at his blog.

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