My Favorite Five Books About Robots EVAR!

An interview just went up on The Browser today, in which I discuss my five favorite books about robots and robotics. It was a great interview and I got to talk about a lot of my favorite things, from science fiction to science fact.

Because after you read a book like this, you look at any problem that is out there, and you think to yourself, ‘Oh I can build a machine that can figure this out better than a human, with better accuracy, and more quickly.’ They say that once you have a hammer everything begins to look like a nail. That’s absolutely true, and Machine Learning is one hell of a hammer.

Click here to give it a read!

I'm Confused and Excited About This!

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, a book that I co-authored with Dr. Anna C. Long -- THE MAD SCIENTIST HALL OF FAME -- was recently translated into French and released with a brand-new (very cool) cover by the Calmann-Levy publishing house.

Now, it seems that the book has been put on a short list of potential nominees for a French prize for fantasy/sci-fi, called the "Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire." Doesn't that sound impressive? Everything sounds better in French.

Unfortunately, I can't speak or read the language very well (and Google Translate is worse at it than I am). But from what I can gather, there will be another round of cuts and then a final prize announced in March.

Compliments of Google Translate...

GPI, or Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire, is the oldest French prices still in business - since 1974 - and the most prestigious devoted to "Literature of the Imagination." The term "imaginary" covers all of these "wrong kinds" that are science fiction, fantasy, as well as various fusions of these genres and still "transfictions" where, for example, some elements insidiously slip in a literature known as "general."

We're honored just to be pre-nominated. :)

Tulsa World

The Tulsa World newspaper (in my hometown) printed a great breakdown of what I've been up to (and will be up to this year), as well as a summary of A BOY AND HIS BOT. Nice!

The day before Wilson sold "Robopocalypse" to his publisher, his manager called from Los Angeles and said, much to Wilson's surprise, "Hey Daniel, we have an offer from Dreamworks for this book."

Click here to read the article.

A BOY AND HIS BOT

...is released today!

Written for ages nine to twelve, my first middle reader novel explores the fate of a boy who stumbles upon an experimental world built and abandoned by an ancient human civilization. Traveling with a speck sized robot named Peep and a ten-foot-tall atomic slaughterbot named Gary, young Code Lightfall must find a way out of Mekhos, and a way to save the lives of his friends.

The first review is in, over at the Michael Belfiore Blog.

"Drawing from his background as a CMU-trained robotics expert, Wilson creates a world every bit as amazing as Harry Potter’s. Actually, even more amazing, as it doesn’t depend on magic; it all could, conceivably, come true, and therein lies the real magic."

Please check it out!

Amazon Barnes & Noble Borders Powell's

Publishers Weekly Write-Up

The folks over at Publishers Weekly called last week and very politely asked me -- now, just where in the hell did you come from? I responded, and they wrote it up into a very flattering little bio.

An avid science fiction fan, Wilson started writing short stories in high school and submitted pieces to a number of SF zines. All the stories were rejected. Without much thought to a career as a writer, he enrolled at the University of Tulsa and got his degree in computer science.

 Publishers Weekly

Nice Little Review of Bro-Jitsu

A fun review of Bro-Jitsu: The Martial Art of Sibling Rivalry has gone up over at Collateral Bloggage. (Plus bonus interview!)

No, this isn't a how-to manual; it's a nostalgia piece, reminding us of what we endured and perpetrated as kids. Particularly funny to me were the tactics for succeeding at sibling irritation while also avoiding detection by Parental Referees, and even better, getting the victim into trouble for something you actually started. Awesome.

SH: In the book, you warn about the dangers involved in trying Bro-Jitsu moves on Only Children. What advice can you give the father who wants to train his Only Child in the ways of Bro-Jitsu?

DW: Sadly, the sacred bond of brother or sisterhood cannot be replicated in an only child. But there is an easy and fun solution: Make another baby immediately. (Agreed.)

AMP sells to Summit and Director Alex Proyas

After long and difficult negotiations, I have decided to sell film rights to my upcoming novel AMP to Summit Entertainment. Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City, I,Robot, Knowing) is attached to produce and likely direct. Couldn't be more excited about the potential for this project!

Click here to read the scoop at Deadline Hollywood!

Doubleday is getting "AMP"ED!

I'm very happy to report that I've sold my next novel to Doubleday. The novel is called AMP. I'll be working with editor Jason Kaufman once again, and I should be busy for the next 12 to 18 months!

Read the full announcement at Publisher's Weekly.

"Agent Laurie Fox at Linda Chester closed the deal. Wilson wrote the forthcoming Robopocalypse, which Doubleday is publishing in June and which picked up a significant amount of press after it was announced that Steven Spielberg will be adapting the novel for Dreamworks in a planned 2011 feature. Amp is a techno-thriller that, as Fox explained, "explores and expands the definition of what it means to be human." Justin Manask is handling the film rights for the book."

A Boy and His Bot -- Pre-Review

My next book, a young adult novel called A BOY AND HIS BOT, will be released in January 2011. And let me say, I loved writing this book. So many crazy ideas that couldn't fit into my other "adult" books made it into this one, from feral robots lost in the woods to "infinite" robots that never stop being built. It's a few months until it hits shelves, but for now I'm very excited by this positive-sounding (and accurate, in my opinion) description of the book from Publisher's Weekly:

"Wilson brings the expertise of his adult titles How to Survive a Robot Uprising and How to Build a Robot Army (and a Ph.D. in robotics) to his first middle-grade novel, a campy down-the-robot-hole adventure. Shy sixth-grader Code Lightfall is not a boy of action, but on a field trip, he falls down a hole in Mek Mound, an ancient Oklahoman pyramid where his grandfather disappeared a year earlier. Code finds himself lost in Mekhos, a metallic land of robots ("Mekhos makes no sense!" he complains. "You robots are impossible. Everything is either too small to see or too big to figure out"). When Code discovers that his grandfather is being controlled by the evil Immortalis, who is holding captive the sacred Robonomicon, he teams up with friends Peep, a robot bug, and Gary, a crazed "atomic slaughterbot," and travels through treacherous territory to the Celestial City to prevent the destruction of the robot and human worlds. With a goofy sense of humor and plenty of action, Wilson presents a coming-of-age journey with shades of Alice in Wonderland and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. " --PW

Spielberg officially directing ROBOPOCALYPSE

Uh, hmm. Sort of at a loss for words here. Somebody pinch me?

Deadline Hollywood has the full story.