The Genius Plague was nominated for the Prometheus Award! It’s one of 9 nominees, and the winner won’t be announced until next summer, but still very cool. The Prometheus Award has been given every year since 1979 by the Libertarian Futurist Society for science fiction that “dramatizes the value of freedom and human rights, exposes…
Goodreads giveaway of The Genius Plague!
My publisher is giving away copies of The Genius Plague on Goodreads! Enter the giveaway here: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/261888-the-genius-plague
Fan Letters
I’m not so famous an author that I get a lot of fan letters, but with The Genius Plague newly out on the street, I’ve been receiving some this month. Maybe if I were George Martin or Andy Weir I’d be tired of such things and shrug them off, but for me, there’s no greater…
Ode to Ephemerides
I had some ephemerides; they came to me one day As classic two-line elements; I thought them here to stay. We met each other’s needs with sympathetic reciprocity While cheerfully extracting time, position, and velocity. Their charming eccentricities were known on every side. Their propagating following was wonderfully wide. Our pastor even praised their inclination…
Why You Should Say Bad Things About My Books
For an author, customer reviews are like gold. The more people review our books on Amazon (or Goodreads, Audible, etc.), the more likely customers are to take the book seriously, and — even more importantly — the more Amazon’s AI bots will promote the book and combine it with others. (“People who bought X also…
TGP in the WSJ!
Hey, The Genius Plague was reviewed in the Wall Street Journal! Here’s the review: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-best-new-science-fiction-1507924123 I think you need a subscription to read it, but here’s the best quote: “Walton has brought hard sci-fi roaring back to life.”
The Plague Is Spreading!
THE GENIUS PLAGUE is out! I’m delighted to finally bring this book to all of you that I’ve had only in my head for so long. I’m really pleased with this one. If you want to know what it’s about, I think the best description of it is what I wrote on John Scalzi’s blog….
The Genius Plague excerpt
Only three days left before the Plague starts spreading across the nation! If you can’t wait that long, however, you can start reading right now. I just posted an excerpt of the novel. “A page-turner of the highest order.” —Kirkus Reviews “Original and frightening.” —Publishers Weekly “Beautifully done.” —Mira Grant, New York Times–bestselling author of Feed “A triumph from…
Escape Velocity
I had a great time at the Escape Velocity convention in downtown Washington D.C. this weekend. I got to chat with Joe Haldeman for half an hour and then be on a panel with him (about Drones, AI, and Military SF). He was articulate, insightful, and brought a perspective to the topic of having fought…
Another shot at Hollywood
It looks like the SUPERPOSITION television series possibility is not quite dead yet. The big company that bought the option originally officially invested in it for a while, but ultimately decided not to renew let the rights revert to me. However, the screenwriter who was working on the show (Harley Peyton, who was a principal…
Historical Research Tips from Beth Cato
My friend Beth Cato is visiting my blog again, this time to share some tips on historical research! Her latest book, CALL OF FIRE, comes out on Tuesday. It’s the sequel to her acclaimed novel BREATH OF EARTH, which takes place in an alternate 1906 San Francisco. Both books required an incredible amount of research,…
Choosing a narrator
All my books have audio versions available, which is a delight to me, since I love listening to audio books. So far, however, I’ve had no input on who the reader is or any aspect of the performance. For my new book coming in October, THE GENIUS PLAGUE, however, I’ve had the privilege of being…
THE GENIUS PLAGUE
The publishing process is a long one, but it’s moving forward on schedule for THE GENIUS PLAGUE. We’re in the copyediting process right now, which addresses the details of punctuation and grammar and the consistency of details to make sure everything is perfect. (It’s amazing what an eye for detail copyeditors have!) Advance review copies…
THREE LAWS LETHAL
THE GENIUS PLAGUE doesn’t come out until October, but I’ve just finished writing a new novel (yes, another one!), and I’m excited about it, so I’m going to talk about it anyway, even though it will be a while before it comes out. (The traditional publishing business is slow.) THREE LAWS LETHAL is a novel…
Cover reveal for THE GENIUS PLAGUE!
The cover for THE GENIUS PLAGUE has just been released to the world! The art is by Eric Nyquist, who did the covers for Jeff Vandermeer’s ANNIHILATION series. So why is there a giant mushroom with a map of the continents on it? Read on… What if the pandemic you thought would kill you made…
“What’s Your New Book About?”
I haven’t said a whole lot yet about my new book, THE GENIUS PLAGUE, which is coming out on October 3. My publisher’s marketing department asked me to list the major topics or themes that this book covers, so they know how to market it. This is what I told them. THE GENIUS PLAGUE is…
Chasing Shadows
The story list for the new Chasing Shadows anthology from Tor Books reads like a Who’s Who of award-winning, bestselling science fiction authors… and somehow I’ve got a story in there, too. It’s a bit of a rush to share a table of contents with David Brin, Neal Stephenson, Vernor Vinge, William Gibson, Robert J. Sawyer,…
Life as a jetsetting internationally bestselling author
I spent last week in Istanbul! I was invited to come as a guest of the Black Week Festival, a literary convention specifically focused on crime fiction. I gave a speech, TED-Talk style, talked to journalists, signed hundreds of books, and appeared on national Turkish television. The Turkish version of Superposition came out there two months ago, and…
Turkey after Turkey
I traveled to Thailand last month for my day job, and many people asked my wife, “Oh, is he there because of his books?” We laughed and said no, he never travels overseas because of his books. Well, never say never… No sooner was I home from Thailand when I received an invitation to attend…
Superposition in Turkish
Superposition will hit bookstores in Turkey in a few weeks. It was translated by Kıvanç Güney, an accomplished and well-regarded translator of many books in the genre. I have to say, this is the coolest business in the world to be in, seeing my work translated into all these different languages! Here’s the Turkish book cover:
davidwaltonfiction.com 