AI Week

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AI Week is my free weekly newsletter about AI and society.
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of my 2019 novella about AI in the workplace,
"The Auditor and the Exorcist."

ShopLocal instead of Amazon

TIL about Canada’s answer to bookshop.org: ShopLocal. Given an ISBN, it pops up a map to local indie bookstores with that book. Example:

I’m going through my blog and adding ShopLocal links to all the relevant posts. To use it yourself, add the book’s ISBN to the end of this URL: https://shoplocal.bookmanager.com/isbn/

Or use the ShopLocal URL generator I created here: https://nrmroshak.com/shoplocal-book-finder/

Climate Fiction panel

My favourite thing about the virtualization of the Nebulas is that online conferences don’t have to end. SFWA’s still organizing writing dates and programming on the virtual airship. This past Saturday, I had a terrific time discussing cli-fi with Aya de Leόn, Premee Mohamed, and Octavia Cade in this panel moderated by Brandon Crilly. If you were at the 2022 Nebulas, you can catch the replay here (login needed): https://events.sfwa.org/events/climate-fiction-adaptation-to-a-new-literary-landscape/

Starblinded: Guest post on WWP blog

World Weaver Press invited me to write a guest post about “By the Light of the Stars”, my story in their solarpunk anthology Multispecies Cities. I took the opportunity to write about nocturnal light pollution, known as skyglow, and its cost to humans and animals.

In January 1994, a 6.7-magnitude earthquake shook Los Angeles. The Northridge earthquake rumbled through at 4:30 AM, waking residents and taking out the power grid. People poured out of their homes and into the darkened streets. And some of them dialed 911, not about the earthquake, but about what they saw in the dark sky: a strange “giant, silvery cloud” arching over the stricken city.

That mysterious cloud? It was the Milky Way.

Head on over if you’d like to read more about how skyglow inspired this story. https://www.worldweaverpress.com/blog/starblinded

2019 award eligibility post

The end of the year is a time to look back, to reflect on the new stories I’ve had published this year… and to note which of them are eligible for genre awards, in case anyone’s tempted to nominate one.

Here’s my list of award-eligible fiction for 2019. I note also that it’s my second year of eligibility for the Astounding award.

SFF Short Stories
🚀 “The Zest for Life,” – published in Future Science Fiction Digest, Issue 2, March 2019.
The plastic-pollution problem is solved by our appetites.
Kori and Nori Go Out For T. A. C. O.s – published in Young Explorers’ Adventure Guide Volume 6, December 2019.
Two adventurous child-droids go on a mission. Outrageous puns, post-apocalyptic adventure, and maybe even a TACO at the end.
SFF Novelette
🚀 “The Auditor and the Exorcist” – published in Working Futures, October 2019.
A story about the future of work in a near-future world with AI-mediated social credit.
Literary Flash Fiction
🚀 Salt, Spices, Fat, Honey – published in Flash Fiction Online, January 2019.
A brief meditation on hunger, need, and co-dependency.

New story: Kori and Nori Go Out For T. A. C. O.s

I have a story in the Young Explorers’ Adventure Guide, Volume 6, which is now available on Amazon. YEAG is a fantastic anthology series packed with fun SF for middle-grade explorers of the universe. Plus, I’m sharing a TOC with Nancy Kress! Woot!

My story, “Kori and Nori Go Out For T. A. C. O.s”, features two adventurous child-droids on a mission. I promise outrageous puns, post-apocalyptic adventure, and maybe even a TACO at the end.

If you have any elementary-aged science-fiction readers in your life, the Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide is stuffed with new worlds and new adventures written for kids. Or, as the Kickstarter put it, “24 more amazing science fiction stories for girls, boys and robots of all ages.”

Advance Reading Copy

Galaxy Press sent out a PDF Advance Reading Copy of my story and others in WoF 34. Anyone want to be an Advance Reader? Copies are free but Galaxy Press kindly asks that you leave an honest review wherever you buy your books (or otherwise post your reviews… goodreads, blog, etc) when the book comes out in April. Message me via FB, Twitter or the comments section if you’d like a copy.