InterstellarNet: happy anniversary

Some of my most popular fiction -- the InterstellarNet series -- takes place in an alternate/future history that splits off from our familiar timeline in 2002.  The triggering event: a radio signal from extrasolar aliens. 

First novel of three

I never specified an exact date that year when the signal was recognized, beyond that the weather in Geneva was warm. So: I declare today, in the story's timeline, the twentieth anniversary of the series.

If you're not familiar with this corner of my work, what began as a standalone novelette ("Dangling Conversations") in the November 2000 issue of Analog eventually grew into a three-novel series. 

Along the way, InterstellarNet collected a goodly share of recognition. "Creative Destruction" (the second story in the series -- expanded, along with its predecessor, into the opening of InterstellarNet: Origins) marked my first appearance in a "year's best" anthology. Downstream, "Championship B'tok" got me a Hugo Award nomination. And InterstellarNet: Enigma -- novel #3, and the culmination of the series -- won the inaugural Canopus Award for "excellence in interstellar writing."

Canopus Award for 3rd novel

SETI. First Contact. Second Contact, up close and personal. Aliens, obviously. AIs -- and alien AIs. Hackers extraordinaire (you did notice the "Net" aspect of InterstellarNet, right?). Galaxy-spanning, mind-bending intrigues. InterstellarNet has all that -- and more. 

Curious? To learn more about any of the novels in the InterstellarNet series, click its cover in this post's righthand side.

The Best of Edward M. Lerner

You know what I imagine must be every author’s least favorite questions? “What’s your favorite from among your books?” And, “If I want to try one of your books, which should it be?” These are like asking a parent, “Who’s your favorite child?” 

Kindle link

In any event, they’re among my least favorite questions, and they’ve often left me tongue-tied … till now. Today, at long last, I have a definite answer(*): my newly released, career-spanning collection The Best of Edward M. Lerner. 

(*) Oh, and the favorite child thing? Trick question. I don't pick favorites. Just sayin'.

The new book offers fourteen wide-ranging works at every length from flash fiction to novella. 

As the publisher put it: 

Here are the gems! The gateway to the many worlds of Edward M. Lerner!

 While you probably know Ed from his SF novels, including the InterstellarNet series and the epic Fleet of Worlds series with Larry Niven, Ed is also a prolific author of acclaimed short fiction. This collection showcases his finest and favorite shorter works.

 Faced with the common question of which of his books should someone read first, he has carefully selected these stories to cover his wide range. Now he can answer, “This one!”

Alternate history. Parallel worlds. Future crime. Alien invasion. Alien castaways. Time travel. Quantum intelligence -- just don't call him artificial. A sort-of haunted robot. Deco punk. In this book, you'll find these -- and more -- together with Ed’s reminiscences about each selection and its relationship to other stories, novels, and even series that span his writing career.

 These are the best, as determined by awards, award nominations, and the selective tastes of eight top editors and choosy Analog readers.

 Each excellent story stands alone -- you won't need to have read anything prior -- but you’ll surely want to read more of Ed’s books afterwards.

This being a commercial announcement, I’ll share Amazon links for the Kindle, hardback, and trade-paperback editions. Other etailers carry the book, of course (including all popular ebook formats). If you’re a brick-and-mortar shopper and your favorite bookseller doesn't have a copy in stock, s/he will happily order a copy for you. Title and author generally suffice, but the print-edition ISBNs may also be helpful: (in hardback: 979-8447246174 and in trade paperback: 979-8446419043).

And a final comment: if you read, and enjoy, Best of (or any other book, by any author!) consider posting a review on Amazon, Goodreads, Librarything, or the review venue of your choice. 

I have somehow arrived

The package in today's snail mail has me beaming. Mainly I'm grinning at the notion that I have somehow Arrived. Because who *else* is in the SF Historical Trading Cards collection? Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, and Robert Heinlein, to name a few.

As a bonus, it tickles me to have joined such august company bearing number 360. (Yes, cards of the aforementioned have much lower numbers. But still.) Maybe it's from some association with 360 degrees in a circle. Or an ancient Babylonian gene expressing itself. 

Theories welcome.

It's here(ish) ... The Best of Edward M. Lerner

Updated May 9, 2022

Official release in print and all popular ebook formats remains on track for May 23rd—but Amazon has just made The Best of Edward M. Lerner (Kindle edition only) available for pre-order in all three editions. That's hard back, trade paperback, and Kindle.

If you usually read on a Kindle and this is a book you'll be considering, why not consider it, well, now? 

As the publisher has written about the collection (with a touch of reminder about me) ...

Kindle link

"One of the leading global writers of hard science fiction."

—The Innovation Show

Here are the gems! The gateway to the many worlds of Edward M. Lerner!

While you probably know Ed from his SF novels, including the InterstellarNet series and the epic Fleet of Worlds series with Larry Niven, Ed is also a prolific author of acclaimed short fiction. This collection showcases his finest and favorite shorter works.

Faced with the common question of which of his books should someone read first, he has carefully selected these stories to cover his wide range. Now he can answer, "This one!"

Alternate history. Parallel worlds. Future crime. Alien invasion. Alien castaways. Time travel. Quantum intelligence—just don't call him artificial. A (sort of) haunted robot. Deco punk. In this book, you'll find these—and more—together with Ed's reminiscences about each selection and its relationship to other stories, novels, and even series that span his writing career.

These are the best, as determined by awards, award nominations, and the selective tastes of eight top editors and choosy Analog readers.

Each excellent story stands alone—you won't need to have read anything prior—but you'll surely want to read more of Ed's books afterwards.

"Lerner's world-building and extrapolating are top notch."

—SFScope

Coming May 23rd

 For anyone caring to mark their calendars ...

Sneak peek

 Do you know what I suspect are every author's least favorite questions? (Certainly, they're *my* least favorite.) "What’s your favorite book?" And, "If I were to try one of your books, which should it be?"

They're both like asking a parent, "Who's your favorite child?"

But guess what? Pretty soon, I'll have an answer for the non-child questions. As in ... the forthcoming career-spanning collection of my most acclaimed short fiction. More news as it happens, but meanwhile, a cover reveal.

The Scientists

 I recently finished reading The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors, by John Gribbin. This was, unquestionably, among the most fascinating nonfiction books I've read -- and so thoroughly enjoyed -- in years.

Amazon link

In a nutshell, Gribbin reviews 500 years of scientific history, basically from 1500 to 2000 -- centuries that saw the emergence of astronomy, physics, chemistry, geology, and biology. He covered many familiar people, of course: Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, and Einstein. Darwin, Wallace, Mendel, and Crick and Watson. Bohr, Schrodinger, Pauli, Pauling, Dirac, and de Broglie. Lyell and Wegener. Avogadro, Lavoisier, and Mendeleev. Halley, Herschel, and Hubble. And so many more. 

Why start around 1500? Because that was a watershed. The ancient Greeks (as Gribbin points out) had some profound insights. Because they didn't have the scientific method, those insights -- and some glaring misunderstandings -- came of pondering and philosophizing, without confirmation (or invalidation) from experiment or observation. The ancient Romans -- as terrific as they were as engineers -- added little to those earlier musings. The so-called Dark Ages and Middle Ages similarly saw some significant engineering advances, but nothing we'd understand as science.

Betrayed by my own title?

 For months now, the most visited post on this blog --  by a substantial margin -- has been Betrayer of Worlds. 

It is, in general, a Good Thing when a post is popular. But the announcement of the fourth book in the five-novel Fleet of Worlds series? Approaching twelve years after the book's initial release? With no corresponding show of popularity in the novel itself (judged by sales comparisons with other titles in the series)? 

It's puzzling.

Is the phrase "Betrayer of Worlds" inadvertent clickbait? If so, well, the click-throughs must be generating considerable surprise. Because what political content the novel offers concerns alien species, centuries from now, light-years from here.

Now to see what kind of traffic this innocent speculation generates ....