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It's one thing to read about censorship in a news article; it's another to become aware of the threat at a nearby library or school. For Banned Books Week this year, we reviewed hundreds of documented appeals to remove materials from a local public library, school library, or course curriculum. Below are 30 books that [...]

An anthology of short stories about video games, Press Start to Play is the brainchild of Daniel H. Wilson and John Joseph Adams. Whether you grew up playing River Raid, Tomb Raider, or Assassin's Creed, there’s something here for every generation of video game aficionado. Books mentioned in this post Press Start to Play Daniel [...]

Like many writers, I'm constantly haunting coffee shops with a laptop out and my headphones on. I listen to a lot of music while I write, and songs do eventually get tangled up with certain characters. My novel Robogenesis is a techno-thriller that largely takes place in the country, pitting high-tech machines against decidedly low-tech [...]

I was at the Champaign Public Library a few weeks ago and saw that the local public school has Daniel H. Wilson's Robopocalypse on its list of summer reading. What a treat for local high school students who select it!

Wilson is Cherokee (enrolled) and has a new book due out, by the way, titled Amped. Kathy Ceceri of Wired said "Wilson has a voice and style very much like Stephen King. But unlike King, Wilson also had the chops to base weird things in his stories on science." I liked Robopocalypse and look forward to Amped.

Heyo all you cool cats out zig zagging around the blogosphere. Got some good stuff for ya this time, so lets get the show on the road.

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson - First off this book is a little different from most that I review for this Blog in that it is an Adult Title, but as I read it I found that it had a heavy octane infusion of Teen Appeal ( 16 and up)!!!! This book is basically about an Artificial Intelligence, in the not so distant future, taking over all things run by computers all over the world to eliminate the human race. The Artificial Intelligence is named Archos and once activated it slowly but effectively starts to destroy humans through the all so many things we utilize that require computers to operate. Smart Cars run down people in the streets, elevators drop people to their deaths and these are the simple electronic/basic computer controlled items that are used to start the War. Soon afterward simple, yet as we find complicated, human looking domestic robots used by civilians to those used by the military as pacification units start to turn on humans also. Next complex weaponry, missiles and humanities most wicked of weapons of war are being used against them. In the later stages of the game, Archos devises frightening mechanical horrors of all shapes and sizes to use in it's war. Thankfully all is not lost, as the human race adapts for survival purposes (as it has been known to do). Humanities strongest weapon against Archos  is it's inventiveness and wit, it's determination to keep going when all looks to be lost.

As if librarians didn’t have enough to worry about already, scientists have developed a robot team (or “swarm”) capable of working together to grab a book. In the remarkable video embedded above, you can watch the team in action.

Check it out: “Swarmanoid is a heterogeneous robot swarm in which different groups of robots have different capabilities: some robots are specialized in manipulating objects and climbing, some in moving on the ground and transporting objects, and some in flying and observing the environment from above. This video presents the Swarmanoid project, a 4 year research project coordinated by Marco Dorigo and funded by the Commission of the European Union.”

Visit the website of novelist Daniel H. Wilson for tips on how to survive a robot uprising at your local library. (Via io9)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

I went to Willamette Writers' monthly meeting here in Portland yesterday evening where we always have a speaker, and I ALWAYS learn something. Last night I mostly just had a great time watching a young fellow describe his experience of "winning the writer's equivalent of the lottery." (Quote by Cynthia Whitcomb who introduced him.) Daniel is the man who sold his first fiction novel -- when he had written 100 pages -- to Steven Spielberg. The finished book "Robopocalypse" opened in 13th place on the NY Times Best Seller list. He's been consulted all this past year by Dreamworks about the robots they're building, and rightfully so because he has a Ph.D in robotics.
See this isn't really a lottery. This is a smart guy writing about what he knows and what he has a great passion for. Everything he has written (non-fiction up to now) has been successful because he is a hard worker, clever, quick-witted, and passionate. And yes there was some luck involved, but not as much as you might think.
What did I learn this time? Don't hold back, use everything I have, this might be the only book I write so do my best, and follow every lead for a shot at publishing/agent/etc. Daniel has used everything he learned in academia to aid him in his writing career. Smart man.

21-year-old Stephen Lunsford has won Doubleday’s book video contest, creating a one-minute short for Daniel H. Wilson‘s new novel, Robopocalypse.

The young filmmaker won $750 for his video. We’ve embedded his winning entry above–what do you think?

Lunsford explained his video  in the release: “The definite inspiration for the short was the Alien (1979) trailer; in my opinion it’s the best movie trailer of all time … While I would have liked to have had more shots to add to the film, ultimately my cast/crew was mostly unavailable save for one afternoon and night. We shot the whole thing in about four hours in Toluca Lake/Burbank.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.