Mark McClelland's Blog, page 3

Interview On Good Mornings! with Chris Oaks, WFIN-AM

It’s up! Check out my radio interview on Good Mornings! with Chris Oaks: http://www.goodmornings.net/download/audio/0329-7a.mp3

It starts about a minute 38 seconds in, and runs roughly eleven minutes. You’ll know it’s coming when you hear the musical lead-in: Gordon Lightfoot singing, “If you could read my mind”. (Now I’ve got that song stuck in my head.)

A big thank-you to Chris for having me on the show. He did a great job framing the conversation and moving it along fluidly — clearly a pro.

I’m also thrilled to see that the interview is prominently featured today on the WFIN-AM home page and the Good Mornings! program page.

ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Award - 2012 Finalists in Science Fiction

I got a happy bit of news today. My novel, Upload, is a Finalist in Science Fiction for ForeWord Reviews' 2012 Book of the Year Award.

Curious about the other finalists in Science Fiction? I was, so I compiled a list of Goodreads links to the books and their authors. (In the case of State of Union, I couldn't find the book on Goodreads. I suspect it's a sequel to State of Mind.)

Document 512, by Thomas Lopinski
God Bless The Dead, by Evan Geller
Six, by Calvin J Brown
State of Union, by Sven Michael Davison
The Death of Eve, by Shaun Penney
The Samsara Effect, by Paul Black
The Serpent's Grasp, by C. Kevin Thompson
The Water Thief, by Nicholas Lamar Soutter
The Webs of Varok, by Cary Neeper
Upload, by Mark McClelland (me)
Wildcatter, by Dave Duncan

What is this award? In their own words, "ForeWord's Book of the Year Awards program was created to highlight the year's most distinguished books from independent publishers."

If you're looking for some good fresh sci-fi, this seems like a great place to start!

Support a Local Bookseller – Use IndieBound

I just discovered that Upload is now on IndieBound, which means you can easily order the print edition from a local bookseller.

When I typed in my own zip code, I saw Chicago’s The Book Cellar at the top of the list, so I clicked through, and sure enough, you can add Upload to your cart, right there.

Then I noticed that The Book Cellar has partnered with Kobo to bring you eBooks through your local bookseller. How cool is that? The easiest way is to search for the eBook by ISBN: 9781300206705. I tried that on The Book Cellar’s website, and came up with this link to buy the eBook. Cool stuff. This looks to be an easy way to avoid the Amazon monoculture.

The Human Brain Project

The Human Brain Project won one of two billion-Euro research grants from the European Union. Over the next ten years, it aims to create a complete computer simulation of the human brain.

As the author of Upload, a thrilling sci-fi story about the first person to upload his consciousness into a computer, I'm keenly interested in this cutting-edge research into cognitive computing. It has the potential to bring futuristic technologies like those in Upload much closer. It also makes my fiction feel all the more relevant, as thought-leaders struggle with the possibilities and ethical implications surrounding simulation of the human mind.

There's a pretty good introductory video up at the Human Brain Project's website. Exciting stuff -- check it out. And then read my book to help stir your imagination!

Review of Ready Player One

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


An escapist romp set in the near future, Ready Player One is the story of Wade Watts, a teenaged boy obsessed with winning a treasure hunt that demands deep knowledge of 80s pop-culture and video games. The winner will inherit the vast wealth and thriving business empire of the man who created the hunt, James Halliday, a recently deceased computer genius born in 1972 and freakishly nostalgic about his childhood. Halliday's empire includes OASIS, the virtual world where most of humanity spends most of its time. The value of the prize is so great that Innovative Online Industries, cold-hearted giant of the network-infrastructure industry, creates a department of expert contestants under contract to sign over their winnings should they be the first to find the coveted egg. The head of this special department, Nolan Sorrento, is the villain -- caricature of the calculating, cutthroat executive -- leading his army of corporate drones in a brutal, no-rules race to beat Wade and his friends to the egg.

I can see why this book has been so popular -- very high word-of-mouth potential. The number of 80s nerd-culture references is staggering, and it's hard not to want to mention this book to a nerd friend. But the story sometimes feels like a vehicle for movie, video-game, and anime references. For me, the thrill of nostalgia for Zork, Adventure, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Star Blazers (a personal favorite), Joust, Devo, etc. wore off pretty quickly. The core story was fun, albeit predictable, but I found the pure escapist enjoyment a little lacking. To give me escape, a book has to transport me. I too often found myself distracted by the pop-culture references, thin character development, and obvious mechanisms of storytelling. I also didn't come away feeling at all enlightened or inspired; the morals of the story -- seek satisfaction in reality-prime, true beauty lies within, and we nerds should get outside more -- all felt rather tacked on. I understand that this book wasn't meant to change my life, but I love it when a light read turns out to give me a surprisingly inspiring little push. (Neverwhere comes to mind.)

Ready Player One is a good example of the increasing overlap between sci-fi and fantasy. The use of v-worlds in sci-fi allows the writer to incorporate fantasy elements into a story that's ultimately grounded in reality-prime. I did a fair amount of this in my own novel, Upload, but I always tried to keep it relevant to the speculative heart of science fiction. In Ready Player One, I didn't find much to chew on in terms of ideas and questions about the future. It felt heavy on the fantasy, light on the sci-fi. Which is great -- just don't pick up Ready Player One expecting a lot of thought-provoking speculation on where we humans are headed. Think "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World", not I, Robot.

Kirkus recommends Upload as similar to Ready Player One. I was downright ecstatic when I saw my book placed alongside such a popular title, and I do think someone who liked Ready Player One will probably enjoy Upload, but the two books are very different in feel. Ready Player One is fun and pretty fluffy, and felt to me like it was written for a teen audience -- and for children-of-the-80s looking for a little nostalgia. Upload is a good deal more intense, more noir, more adult. In both, the hero had a difficult childhood and received much of their "parenting" in virtual reality. Both stories also have the hero on the run. But in Upload there's a lot more internal struggle, meatier relationship issues, more focus on science, and serious questions about where technology is taking us.

For me, Ready Player One gets three stars. Would I recommend it? To a trivia hound or 80s pop-culture fanatic, yes. Otherwise, no, because I think there are lots of books equally as fun but with more artistry, more charm, richer characters, or a more compelling world.




View all my reviews

Publication Omens

Beautiful post by friend Lesley Hazleton on the joy of receiving a copy of her new book, The First Muslim: The Story of Muhammad, direct from the printer. In particular, she was moved by the final cover art, which had been tweaked in a way that took her by surprise -- in a good way.

"So I'm still kind of amazed at the physical existence of my own book. Is this stunning production really the same creature as the innumerable drafts of much-scrawled-on typescript pages strewn around my study for years? It's as though with publication it's achieved a separate existence. Like a teenager leaving home, it will now make its way in the world on its own terms, an independent agent only tangentially related to me. All I can do is wish it well, cheer it on, defend it when it needs defense — and trust that others will agree that it lives up to the sheer elegance of its cover."

For anyone who loves books, I strongly recommend reading the original blog post in its entirety, on her blog, The Accidental Theologist.

Winter Reading Discount: "Upload" eBook Only $2.99

Download Upload now for your eReader, while winter pricing lasts! Only $2.99 for a great read -- 4.8 out of 5 stars on Amazon, and 4.5 out of 5 here on Goodreads.

This new low price is now available if you buy direct from Lulu. Pricing should catch up soon on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBookstore, Google Play, and Kobo.

"Upload" Giveaway – Only 8 Days Left

Enter to win a free signed copy of Upload here on Goodreads. Seven copies available, eight days left to enter. Giveaway ends January 13.

Can’t beat the price, right?

Paperback Edition on Barnes & Noble, Too

I mentioned yesterday that Upload is available on Amazon as a paperback, in addition to ebook for Kindle. Barnes & Noble was only one day behind: you can now order Upload from B&N as paperback or Nook Book.

I'm disappointed to see that reviews for the Nook Book don't carry over to the print edition on Barnes & Noble. I can see how reviews of a Nook Book might not apply to the print edition, if the reviewer was annoyed by formatting issues particular to the ebook… but now someone who first lands on the paperback edition of Upload will think nobody has reviewed it. Once again, score one for Amazon.

Upload now available as paperback on Amazon!

I just discovered that the printed edition of Upload is now available on Amazon! Very exciting. And I'm happy to see that they correctly paired the paperback and the ebook, so reviews and other info are common for both.

And you know... I think there's still time to order it as a Christmas present for the reader in your life. :) They even offer gift wrap!

Check out Upload here on Goodreads for more info about the book.