A sly variation on the traditional cyberpunk novel, Edelman’s sequel to 2006′s Infoquake views a stunning new technology through the eyes of the cutthroat executives vying to market it. MultiReal, a reality-altering tool combining biological programming and quantum physics, threatens to plunge a far-future world into chaos, but before it can penetrate the furthest reaches of society, Natch, an entrepreneur and rebel, must find a way to market and distribute it. He faces tremendous resistance from legislative bodies, competing business concerns and the ominous black code embedded in the mechanisms that enhance his body. Edelman brings fresh air to the technological thriller, but his characters remain somewhat anemic and caricatured, particularly Jara, Natch’s second-in-command. MultiReal itself is firmly established as one of the most fascinating singularity technologies in years, and the inconclusive feel of this installment will build anticipation for the third Jump 225 book.

It’s a tremendous relief to see a respected third party reviewer say things like “MultiReal itself is firmly established as one of the most fascinating singularity technologies in years,” because I’ve been worrying about how people were going to respond to this book for a long time now. Of course, you know that there’s a dark, slobbering portion of my soul that’s hopping up and down in distress at the “anemic and caricatured” part of the review. But that’s why I keep him locked in the attic, where he can fret quietly to himself without bothering the neighbors.

You can read the review on PW‘s website, right after a starred review for my fellow SFNovelists.com member Gregory Frost’s Lord Tophet: A Shadowbridge Novel. (“Frost brings the charm of an ancient storyteller and the wit of a contemporary tale-spinner to this dramatic tale.”) Congrats, Gregory.

• I’ll have two new books on the shelves in Summer 2008: Solaris’ mass-market paperback of Infoquake, and Pyr’s trade paperback of MultiReal. (The trade paper of Infoquake will still be available as well, natch.)
• There will be a new look for the Jump 225 series, with matching covers across the series. I’ve heard some very encouraging news about what these new covers are going to look like, but I can’t tell you yet.
• Solaris’ distribution deal with Simon & Schuster in the U.S. should put copies of Infoquake and MultiReal in just about every bookstore across the country. Which means I’ll no longer hear that complaint I’ve heard a hundred times now: “I went out to buy your book today, but I can’t seem to find it in any of the stores.”
• Solaris has also optioned mass-market paperback editions of MultiReal and Geosynchron, which means there’s a good chance I’ll see mass-market versions of these books in the stores as well.

Extreme thanks go to George Mann and Christian Dunn of Solaris, who were just the coolest guys at Readercon this year. Thanks also to Lou Anders of Pyr, who is automatically the coolest guy in any room he enters that Keith Richards isn’t already in.

More when I catch my breath.

• The Agony Column Audio Interview. Rick Kleffel of The Agony Column discusses Infoquake with me. Says Kleffel in his introduction to the 32-minute audio interview, “I loved this novel, and the more I think about it, the more I like it. It stayed with me, this economic vision of the future as one giant marketing meeting and product development push.” The interview is available in both MP3 and RealAudio formats. Portions of the interview are scheduled to appear on KUSP radio and NPR’s Weekend Edition.
• SFFWorld Interview. SFFWorld’s Rob H. Bedford (the man who recently called Infoquake “THE SF book of the year, if not the past five years”) conducts an in-depth interview with me about Infoquake, 9/11, the critics, and DeepGenre. Favorite quote: “Before 9/11, there was a lot of talk about how we had left the standard economic cycle behind and were living in this fairy tale land of perpetual wealth. People really believed this, and the original draft of Jump 225 reflected this attitude.”

And there are also two new reviews to link to:

• William Lexner: Infoquake “Obvious Frontrunner” for Philip K. Dick Award. In a stellar review for his I Hope I Didn’t Just Give Away the Ending blog, William Lexner says: “David Louis Edelman keeps the action coming at a breakneck pace, and despite the lack of SFnal tropes such as interstellar travel and space battles, Infoquake never lacks in excitement…. Infoquake seems an obvious frontrunner in the race to win this year’s Philip K. Dick Award.” He goes on to praise the appendices and historical timeline, calling the world of Infoquake “as rich with history as our own, and only rivaled in speculative fiction by J.R.R. Tolkien and perhaps George R.R. Martin.”
• L.A. Splash: “Thought-Provoking and Terribly Imaginative.” L.A. Splash magazine weighs in with a brief rave review for Infoquake, calling it “a thought-provoking and terribly imaginative book.” The reviewers further go on to say: “Infoquake is one of those books that hooks you into the story and makes you never want to put the book down. But once you have decided that you must get some sleep before work the next day, you put the book down and find yourself unable to stop thinking about the questions raised by the story.”

My next appearances will be at CapClave in Silver Spring, MD (October 20-22) and, hopefully, World Fantasy Convention in Austin, TX (November 2-5).

A very quick update on new developments this month for my novel Infoquake:

• Download Infoquake Excerpts in PDF, DOC and TXT
  The new downloads page contains downloadable files of Infoquake chapters 1-3. Files are available in Microsoft Word (DOC), Adobe Acrobat (PDF) and Plain Text (TXT).
• New Exclusive Background Article: On Government
  New background article On Government, exclusive to the Infoquake website. Descriptions of the L-PRACGs, the Congress of L-PRACGs, the Prime Committee and the Defense and Wellness Council, as well as a listing of important High Executives of the Council.

As a reminder, Infoquake is scheduled for release in July of 2006 (five months away, for the mathematically challenged). Pre-orders are available now on Amazon.com and Booksense and a handful of other places as well.

• A full three-chapter excerpt from the novel, including original artwork by Josef K. Foley
• The full glossary and timeline from the book’s appendices
• Background articles about topics and concepts from the world of the book, including one essay exclusive to the website
• Suggestions for further reading on the ideas in the novel
• A little article Pyr asked me to write for publicity purposes on Why I Wrote Infoquake
• A press area with author photos, book jacket photos and more
• A full website search
• For the technically inclined, an RSS feed to help readers keep on top of news about the book

Over the next several months, I am also planning to include on the website:

• Additional background articles on the world of the novel that will be exclusive to the website
• MP3 audio recordings of the author (me) reading excerpts of the book
• Online forums for readers to discuss the book
• A preview of MultiReal, the second novel in the Jump 225 trilogy
• Exclusive content for owners of the book, that can be “unlocked” only with a copy of the actual book
• A kitchen sink (space permitting)

News of all this new content has already hit the blogosphere via my intrepid editor Lou Anders (and damn, did he have nice things to say about the book). From there, word rapidly spread to John Scalzi‘s blog, Tobias Buckell‘s blog, Chris Roberson‘s blog and Cheryl Morgan’s Emerald City blog.

Whew. The ride’s just beginning!