Novel Experientia Ltd

01/05/2024

Stories of Your Life and Others, by Sci-Fi author Ted Chiang, is the source of today's

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19/04/2024

With book bans ever more prevalent in the US, the American Library Association for Intellectual Freedom has some excellent resources to see what, and where, books are being banned.

A good resource to lobby elected officials, set up campaigns to save books from the ban list, and to find some fun, creative, titles as well!

The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has released new data documenting book challenges throughout the United States, finding that challenges of unique titles surged 65% in 2023 compared to 2022 numbers, reaching the highest level ever documented by ALA. Read the f...

16/04/2024

Happy centenary to Simons and Schuster! A publishing success story founded by a couple of 20-year-olds whose crossword book went on to help them become a publishing powerhouse!

The publisher has gone through a lot of changes since its founding in 1924. Its current chief executive, Jonathan Karp, talks about the company’s history and its hopes for the future.

29/03/2024

As the capabilities of AI advances, how companies deal with using author's books for data is key to ensuring the rights of writers.

It's highly likely that Google will use information put into Gemini's giant context window as training data for future AI models.

27/03/2024

Some excellent news for UK libraries and museums, as the government has committed to additional investment! Long may it continue.

The latest round of cultural investment will enable local councils to upgrade their services and help ‘libraries play an increasingly important role in our communities’

13/03/2024

We're really happy to see the recent love for science fiction on the silver screen and TV studios. From Bradbury to Asimov, we love a good adaptation. What are your favourites?

Iconic sci-fi novel Neuromancer is coming to AppleTV+ – Read the book before the series starts - The father of the Cyberpunk movement may be coming to a screen near you courtesy of AppleTV+

07/03/2024

Happy World Book Day! We love a good book or two, and have plenty on sale online or at your local bookshop.

You can pick up a copy of Carys Bateman's newest novel, Wandering Magik online here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1919614583

05/03/2024

With world book day this coming Thursday, there are plenty of ways to celebrate without breaking the bank!

Local libraries are a great place to find something new to read, or to get ideas for the family. Services can often now be accessed digitally as well, for those without an easily accessible physical library.

Some schools report that the annual call for children to wear book-themed costumes has been dropped to avoid further stretching family budgets

15/02/2024

What if there were another way to create computer systems that allowed them to learn from their environment? Today's is The Cybernetic Brain: Sketches of Another Future, by professor Andrew Pickering.

In the early to mid 20th century, a group of thinkers from the world of psychology, philosophy, mathematics and robotics came together to create a new way of thinking. This new field considered how to create artificial thinking processes based on biological systems. This came to be known as cybernetics. Differing from the physics based computing disciplines prevalent in the 40s and 50s, it sought to use biology as the main inspiration for replicating thinking, as opposed to pure logic. Andrew Pickering investigates the key figures behind the movement, their colourful history, personalities and ideas.

This is a fascinating read which looks at the fascinating field of cybernetics in the mid 20th century. The book focusses on the very British based cyberneticists such as Walter Grey, Stafford Beer, W. Ross Ashby and Gordon Pask. The book takes a great look at the motivations behind the cyberneticists, and the time period to their work, which directly affected the direction it took. From the viable systems model of Stafford Beer for United Steel and Project CyberSyn, to the artistic endeavours of Gordon Pask's Musicolour and chemical computing.

This is a relatively under-reported area of computing history, and one which makes for a fascinating read - a counterpoint to today's digital world. Today's cybernetic society contains such members as David Deutsch, the late James Lovelock and Kevin Warwick - all colourful characters of their own. We'd strongly recommend a read for any computer enthusiasts with a creative streak, or an interest outside the narrow confines of what computing "should" be.

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07/02/2024

Great news for audiobook lovers! Spotify now have a larger supply of Audiobooks available on their platform for subscribers only.

Job cuts add to costs for streaming service but it gains 10m premium subscribers in fourth quarter

05/02/2024

We're proud to announce the second book from Carys Bateman's Chronicles of Yerat series : WANDERING MAGIK

Danielle Wintersborne has finally arrived in the land of Mertram. Having escaped from her former captors, and the slave state of Bisra, she finds herself adrift with dubious travelling companions, the loss of her friends still keen in her heart.

As she feels the familiar hidden magik within her pulling her towards an unknown destination, Danielle embarks on a new journey to reach the magikal Freelands. A journey that will take her to new lands, greet her with new friends and foes, and see a renewed hope for the future.

A story of adventure, new beginnings and, most importantly, hope in a world of Wandering Magik.

Get your copy online today from your local bookshop! Or:

Get an e-book from independent retailers: https://books2read.com/u/bPzqdz

Or from Amazon.co.uk at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1919614583

20/01/2024

How is the concept of physical "space" used to tell stories? Today's Sci-Fi commentary post is about geography and physical location is used in science fiction stories to communicate ideas.

Check out the full version on our new SubStack: https://substack.com/

Settings set in space often use locations such as spaceships, space stations and different planets as backdrops to their plots. Even space itself can be a location, with astronauts drifting into the inky, black, abyss a stable trope across the genre.

Andy Weir's The Martian takes one man and strands him in an incredibly inhospitable environment. It allows The Martian to look at the more practical side of space exploration, while providing readers with a main character who is relatable in his use of language and attitude to his situation.

Then there are science fiction novels which take a look at different dimensions, or realities. The ways these locations differ often reflect the social and cultural themes books observe, or can act as a means to break-down the actions of a character.

An exploration of scientific concepts and social commentary comes from Planet of the Apes, a book where human astronauts end up on a different planet where apes are the dominant, intelligent, species. Written by French author Pierre Boulle, the book uses the setting to consider what would happen if humanity grew too comfortable with subordinate labour and evolved to let other species become more intelligent. Boulle's novel allows the reader to empathise more clearly with species with lesser intelligence and how they are treated in our own cultures.

Interestingly enough, the themes of nuclear war, and time travel which appear in the film adaptions are not actually present in the book, but were themselves added to add cultural relevance to the new, American, adaptation - the location of Hollywood, and the threat of nuclear war and hubris linked to the cold-war mindset of mutually assured destruction.

Locations can act as crucibles of change or wallowing, stagnant, morasses. They can represent aspects of human lives, or be a challenge that must be overcome for a character to grow or learn more about the world they live in.

19/01/2024

We can finally announce the upcoming release of author Carys Bateman's second novel: Wandering Magik!

Danielle Wintersborne has finally arrived in the land of Mertram. Having escaped from her former captors, and the slave state of Bisra, she finds herself adrift with dubious travelling companions, the loss of her friends still keen in her heart.

As she feels the familiar hidden magik within her pulling her towards an unknown destination, Danielle embarks on a new journey to reach the magikal Freelands. A journey that will take her to new lands, greet her with new friends and foes, and see a renewed hope for the future.

A story of adventure, new beginnings and, most importantly, hope in a world of Wandering Magik.

Release date to be announced shortly!

11/01/2024

As class action legal cases in the United States roll on for technology companies using copyrighted work in their generative AI products, there is a new world of AI drawn and written content being made by authors.

With many people's jobs, and livelihoods on the line, it's important to understand how AI is being used, and the legality of using AI created content.

As a company, we think that the voice of the author, and the stories that people have to tell, is key to good stories and informative books.

Comic book writers and animators fear the growing impact of artificial intelligence.

01/01/2024

Welcome to 2024!

Happy New Year from us at Novel Experientia! We've working hard behind the scenes for some releases early this year, so watch this space for more from our amazing authors!

13/12/2023

With the right writer, the future can become closer to us than ever before!

Non-fiction can tell us the here and now, and how scientific advances might affect us. Fiction can help our imaginations understand how living in future societies might affect us, and change how we live our lives.

With our books, we aim to inspire, entertain and educate.

A century ago, a little-known series of books about the future tackled everything from science to monogamy. Max Saunders argues that it deserves to be rediscovered.

08/12/2023

Hay Festival is back for 2024! A great opportunity to allow authors, and public figures, to get together to speak about fascinating, topical, ideas.

The annual festival will once again unite ‘great minds and fascinating people who’ve looked at the world from different viewpoints’ for a week of wide-ranging debate

06/12/2023

We've mentioned BookTok before, but what exactly is it? BookTok is a loose collection of people banding together on the social media platform TikTok, who all make short video content about books!

It's all the rage, and great for talking about your favourite books. Come and find us there at: www.tiktok.com/

Author Adam Beswick says the never-ending TikTok hashtag has altered the publishing industry.