Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder (/ˈʃreɪdər/) (born September 4, 1962) is a Canadian science fiction author and a professional futurist. His novels present far-future speculations on topics such as nanotechnology, terraforming, augmented reality, and interstellar travel, and are deeply philosophical. More recently he also focuses on near-future topics.[1]

Karl Schroeder
Born (1962-09-04) September 4, 1962
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
OccupationAuthor, technology consultant
GenreScience fiction
Notable worksVentus, Permanence
Website
kschroeder.com

Biography

Schroeder was born in a Mennonite family in Brandon, Manitoba. In 1986 he moved to Toronto, where he now lives with his wife Janice Beitel and daughter.[1] After publishing a dozen short stories, Schroeder published his first novel, Ventus, in 2000. A prequel to Ventus, Lady of Mazes, was published in 2005. He has published seven more novels and is co-author (with Cory Doctorow) of the self-help book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Science Fiction. Schroeder currently writes, consults in the area of futures studies.[2]

In October, 2011, Karl Schroeder was awarded a Master of Design degree in Strategic Foresight and Innovation from OCAD University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[1]

Philosophy

Two of Schroeder's novels, Ventus and Lady of Mazes, explore themes that have recently become central to the self-identified speculative realism movement in philosophy. Although speculative realism was not labeled as a movement until 2007,[3] K. Schroeder claims that both Ventus (2000) and Lady of Mazes (2005) ask questions that are very similar to those posed by speculative realists such as Jane Bennett, Ian Bogost, Graham Harman, Quentin Meillassoux, and Timothy Morton. Speculative realism places ontology at the center of philosophical inquiry, and Ventus and Lady of Mazes both interrogate ontology, inventing new forms of relationship both between subjects and objects, and between objects in the absence of subjects. A primary example of this form of invention is the idea of thalience explored in Ventus.[4][5]

Thalience is a concept proposed by Schroeder in the novel Ventus to explore a realm of entities that are not quite subjects, but not entirely objects either. As presented in the novel, the concept sometimes refers to a form of inquiry, specifically an attempt to determine whether non-human sentient systems are truly independent minds, or whether they are merely "parrots" that give back to human researchers what the researchers expect to hear. The novel says that the word was deliberately chosen as an allusion to "silent Thalia". However, Ventus also more consistently refers to thalience as a state of being. Entities are considered "thalient" if they succeed in developing their own categories for understanding the world.

Awards
  • 1982. Pierian Spring Best Story award for The Great Worm.
  • 1989. Context '89 fiction contest winner for The Cold Convergence.
  • 1993. Prix Aurora Award for Best Short Work in English for The Toy Mill.
  • 2001. New York Times Notable book for Ventus.
  • 2003. Prix Aurora Award for best Canadian SF novel for Permanence.
  • 2006/2007: Sun of Suns: Kirkus Best Book of 2006,[6] 2007 Aurora finalist,[7] 2007 nomination for the John W. Campbell Memorial award [7]
  • 2012. Audie Award for best Original Work for METAtropolis: Cascadia, a shared-world audiobook anthology in which Schroeder's contribution was the short story Deodand.

Selected bibliography
Main article: Karl Schroeder bibliography
  • The Claus Effect (with David Nickle). (Tesseract Books, 1997) ISBN 978-1-895836-35-6
  • Ventus (Tor Books, 2000.) ISBN 978-0-312-87197-0
  • Permanence (Tor Books, 2002.) ISBN 0-7653-0371-X
  • Lady of Mazes (Tor Books, 2005.) ISBN 978-0-7653-5078-7
  • Crisis in Zefra (Directorate of Land Strategic Concepts, National Defence Canada; 2005.) ISBN 978-0-662-40643-3
  • Lockstep (Tor Books, 2014.) ISBN 978-0-7653-3726-9
The Virga series
  • Sun of Suns (Tor Books, 2006.) ISBN 978-0765354532
  • Queen of Candesce (Tor Books, 2007.) ISBN 978-0765315441
  • Pirate Sun (Tor Books, 2008.) ISBN 978-0765315458
  • The Sunless Countries (Tor Books, 2009.) ISBN 978-0765320766
  • Ashes of Candesce (Tor Books, 2012.) ISBN 978-0765324924

References
  1. "About Me", at the Karl Schroeder official website
  2. Karl Schroeder official website, accessed September, 2008.
  3. http://crln.acrl.org/content/71/6/305.full
  4. http://www.kschroeder.com/my-books/lady-of-mazes/the-dignity-of-the-real-speculative-realism-in-lom
  5. http://www.kschroeder.com/my-books/ventus/thalience
  6. Sun of Suns in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
  7. 2007 Award Winners & Nominees
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