obituary for spirit rover

I've got an article up at Popular Mechanics Online lamenting the recent (sort of) death of the Spirit rover that's been trundling around Mars for over half a decade. I modeled the piece directly on the obituaries featured in the New York Times, so it was kind of fun. Sad, sad fun. Adios, Spirit.

Click here to read the article.

uncommon goods, uprising

I've been busy writing ROBOPOCALYPSE and haven't had a chance to post in a while, but I had to point out this stunning combination of items available at uncommon goods.

It's a plush BUNKBOT doll laser burn to the face, followed by a ROBOT UPRISING chainsaw-arm sucker-punch to the gut. Get some!

me and my exoskeleton

Ever wondered what it's like to wear an exoskeleton? Well, wonder no more! I've got a post up on Gizmodo today describing "me and my exoskeleton."

And just like the awesome guy in this photo and his exoskeleton, me and my exoskeleton are super best friends. It's exoskeleton party time everybody!

exciting news

Dear Internet,

Be advised. My robot armies are on the march. I sold a new novel called "Robopocalypse" to Doubleday, and DreamWorks has optioned the film rights. You can read more by clicking on this article in Variety.

Sincerely,

Daniel

PS. For book related inquiries please contact my literary agent, Laurie Fox:
laurieannfox@comcast.net

PPS. For film, television, or dramatic inquiries, please contact my manager, Justin Manask:
justin@literaryadaptation.com

PPPS. For anything related to robots or awesomeness, please contact me:
contactdhw@gmail.com

Bruce Willis + Robots = !!!

A new movie called Surrogates is coming out, in which pale, dumpy human beings lay around at home, controlling better-looking robot versions of themselves. It's all good fun and it's based on the idea of tele-presence, which is a real technology.

CNN.com interviewed me for an an article about it, so click it and read on...

carnegie science center

The Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA is hosting me for a HOW TO BUILD A ROBOT ARMY weekend! Any mad scientist kids who live in Pittsburgh should please come out to the science center THIS WEEKEND to learn all about robots and how to build an army of them. I'm giving a talk on Friday and on Saturday about my experiences with robots and the books I've written on the subject.

Step 1: Learn about robots.
Step 2: ?
Step 3: Profit (while your massive robot army takes over the world).

Click here to learn the details

i'm at bumbershoot monday, 9/7

Next Monday, I'll be at Bumbershoot in Seattle to discuss the relative dangers of vampires versus robots with fellow NW author Kevin Emerson. It's going to be some nice vampire on robot action that you don't want to miss.

Seattle Weekly has even deemed it a recommended show!

From the article:

"Quick: In a battle between the mechanical and the eternal, who would prevail? Vampires have sharp teeth, but robots don't bleed. (Also: encased in metal.) Vampires fight (and bite) best at night, but robots have infrared vision. Local author Kevin Emerson (of the Oliver Nocturne YA fiction series) will here debate Daniel Wilson, responsible for How to Build a Robot Army and How to Survive a Robot Uprising (among other robo-centric works)."

robot uprising saves human life

It finally happened, "How to Survive a Robot Uprising" has saved a human being's life.

"When the robots came, I'll be the first to admit: I was arrogant. I've been in a few fights, I've seen upwards of two Bruce Lee movies, and my blood alcohol content was the stuff of legends, so I figured I'd be immune to pain. However, two stumbling, poorly aimed swings later and it became quite clear: Robots are immune to punches. Nobody warned me about this kind of thing in Robot Fighting School, which was probably all just a fevered hallucination now that I think about it."

Click here to read the full Amazon review.

sacre bleu! mad scientist in french

I just got word that French rights for "The Mad Scientist Hall of Fame" have sold. Soon, French audiences will be able to read about some french-speaking mad scientists, including Marie Curie (Polish but became a French citizen), Auguste Piccard (Swiss, but probably floated over France in a dangerous balloon of his own design), and the bumbling Professor Cuthbert Calculus from the TinTin comics (written and drawn by Serge, an honest-to-god Frenchman). I'll post the cover once I receive it.

I wonder what the French translation of the subtitle ("Muwahahaha!") will be? Hmm...

Contest Winners Announced

The results are in on the contest I'm judging over at Tor.com. To summarize the contest:

Last week, in honor of Daniel H. Wilson’s short story “The Nostalgist,” we ran a Robot Overlord contest, which asked our readers to imagine that they were in the midst of a vast robot uprising and persuade our robot overlords why they should be allowed to live.

You can view the results by clicking here.

Here is a snippet from what is probably my favorite entry. This is just the beginning bit of a really funny song:

(Intro, spoken in Barry White voice):
You know it gets awful lonely, wandering the wastelands. And sometimes, while I'm rooting through the wreckage of human civilization for something to eat, I think of the missiles that you launched from your arm-cannons and how they honed in on human brainwaves and killed most everyone I know -- and I won't lie: I get angry. But then I think of your laser-eyes, and how red they shine when inferior entities of flesh challenge your supremacy, and my heart melts just like their faces. Maybe I'm delirious from outrunning hover-sentries for six days straight without sleep, or maybe I'm lonely because I can't remember the last time I saw a human face. But I get this feeling, baby, and there's only one thing to do --