Award-winning sf writer Karl Schroeder has just released his debut novel, Ventus under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- NoDerivs license, meaning that you can download it, share it and copy it as much as you like. Karl's one of my favorite writers in the field, and has been a pal of mine since I was a teenager — he's always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else (he was the first person to use the word "fractal" in conversation with me). It's an indication of just how far ahead he is that this seven-year-old book still feels like it's on the cutting edge, with its object-oriented sapient planet, bizarre copyright wars, and assorted grace-notes.
See also:
Karl Schroeder's Ventus gets raves
Sun of Suns: novel of sky-pirates, awesome worldbuilding
Karl Schroeder: Colonize the Earth
Karl Schroeder, brilliant sf worldbuilder, interviewed
Karl Schroeder interviewed by John Scalzi
Karl Schroeder: Show me your Virga RPG maps!
Karl Schroeder's Permanence wins the Aurora Award!
