@eliotpeper.bsky.social’s new book comes out to day. Here’s what I thought about it. 👇

I've been an @eliotpeper.bsky.social fan for years now. I read this cover-to-cover in one sitting. Can't recommend ENSORCELLED more highly. bsky.app/profile/elio...

Recent Reads: Ensorcelled. Eliot Peper's novella is a love story, to the mountains of the High Sierra and to the power of storytelling and gameplaying. It's also the story of a life well-lived and, oh so much more, all packed into a little volume that shows we can still make beautiful books. Worthy.

This week @eliotpeper.bsky.social’s new novella ENSORCELLED has been living in my jacket pocket, with me on my commutes I’m transported to a mountain lake, the wilderness in vivid 15 minute spells I was lucky enough to get an advance copy It’s out today eliotpeper.substack.com/p/ensorcelle...

My new book drops today! Ensorcelled is a coming-of-age adventure about a boy who goes on a camping trip that changes his life, opening his mind and rewilding his attention. At just 90 pages, it's a one-sitting read that will suck you in, make you think, and leave you changed.

I wrote a book!

Straight out of an @eliotpeper.bsky.social novel. His novel Foundry, specifically. A recommended near-future thriller about the geopolitics of silicon.

Fun to stumble upon this in Paul Roe's mega-guide to cyberpunk

The opposite of fear

This evening Anthropocene Magazine is producing a Climate Parables show at the Aspen Ideas Festival. The SF performance sold out, so get tix while they last!

James Somers gets it

“This is how I wish the world was different” is one of my least favorite genres of discourse. On the other hand, “here is a concrete plan for making this particular aspect of the world better” is one of my favorites.

"If identity is the stories you tell yourself about yourself, culture is the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves." @eliotpeper.bsky.social every.to/thesis/ai-is...

Fresh order ready to go! I’ll be out of town for the next couple weeks, so if you want a signed copy, order ASAP so I can drop it off at the post office today.

IRL Veil www.theguardian.com/environment/...

What is fear’s opposite? Not courage. Courage is what it takes to overcome fear, and cannot exist without it. The fearless have no courage, and no need for it.

Every Inc. just published a fun deep-dive into my creative process. every.to/thesis/where...

LLMs don't just generate media, they are a new narrative medium, akin to the advent of printed books, radio and film. I've been experimenting with this new medium at Portola and it's working: 800k downloads/#1 app store ranking/millions in ARR. Here's what we've learned. every.to/thesis/ai-is...

🔥🔥🔥

Just finished the rough draft of a new novel. ✍️

Shipping a couple of complete collections today!

Orders going out to Nat Eliason and Robin Sloan 💫

I built my own little internet bookstore. It’s very simple. You can order my novels at their normal list price, and I'll personally sign and mail them to you. That’s it. I hope you like it. store.eliotpeper.com

Peers make the best teachers. Experts know so much they've forgotten what it's like to be a beginner. Fellow students know your struggle. So learn together, and then teach each other what you learn.

Wise words from Kevin Kelly

About to drop into a book club that just read Foundry. If your book club is reading one of my novels, hit me up and I’ll call in for a quick Q&A.

Current advances in AI make a lot of science fiction feel obsolete, but Ian M. Banks’s Culture novels and Hannu Rajaniemi’s Quantum Thief trilogy hold up surprisingly well.

The inimitable @robinsloan.com remixing Gibson and Faulkner open.substack.com/pub/eliotpep...

A study of solar farms in East Anglia in the United Kingdom has shown that they host nearly three times more birds than surrounding croplands. Solar sites maintaining diverse habitats, uncut grass, and hedgerows create vital refuges for declining farmland species. buff.ly/4hTbmBC #ShareGoodNewsToo

What science can perceive shapes the way it describes the world—from Philip Ball’s How Life Works.

Fresh newsletter drops tomorrow morning. ✍️ Subscribe at eliotpeper dot com

😆

Those of us working with AI now are swimming in unpredictable currents, both technological and political. [cont'd] #AI #Midjourney

With social media squashing links and moving to algorithmic feeds, it’s gotten much harder to share and discover good writing online, so now I read more books and fewer blog posts.

Fresh newsletter just dropped. ✍️ eliotpeper.substack.com/p/trust

Fresh newsletter drops tomorrow morning. It's the best way to follow my writing, way better than social feeds. Sign up at eliotpeper dot com

For me, writing a novel feels eerily similar to reading one: at the beginning I’m trying to figure out what’s going on and by the end I can’t wait to find out what happens next.

“Poetry is not some abstracted art, it’s how human beings speak when they’re trying to create language against which there are no defenses.” -David Whyte

“Living a joyous life is the best revenge.” -Craig Mazin

Writing a novel appears to be executing a grand plan, when in fact it’s an act of discovery. You are constantly adjusting course, reevaluating everything, and figuring out what happens next. But no matter how many novels I write, I still expect the next one to be straightforward.

I felt that same creeping sense of panic writing Reap3r.

The climate crisis tipping point in @eliotpeper.bsky.social's Analog trilogy is the wildfire destruction of San Diego. I guess none of us really considered LA as being as vulnerable as it seems to be...

The best books I read in 2024:

One of my favorite hobbies is saying nice things about people behind their backs

“Laney had recently noticed that the only people who had titles that clearly describe their jobs had jobs he wouldn’t have wanted.” -William Gibson, Idoru

I’d be surprised if there isn’t a hedge fund doing something similar right now.

The best books I read in 2024:

I’ve always thought of the internet itself as the true AI, not just the underlying protocol, but everything layered on top: LLMs, platforms, URLs, fiber, memes, tech employees, chips, Section 230, VCs, etc.—an avalanche of systems, infrastructure, and human effort expanding the horizon of computing.

My Old Ass is the best time travel movie—it handles the central conceit so deftly that all other time travel movies look clumsy by comparison.

It’s good, folks.