Free read here: http://windupstories.com/pumpsix/the-people-of-sand-and-slag/

Has any book cover art in the contemporary era come close to surpassing Saturn’s Children as most embarrassing to read in public? I love Stross, but seriously, that cover cost him sales.

http://lavonardo.net/wp/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/saturnschildren-uk.jpg

For what it’s worth though, I actually like the shiny purple US cover too.

It’s a tall order: creating believably nonhuman post-people means that you necessarily give up on a certain amount of empathy and sympathy for your characters who are, by definition, doing things whose motivations we can’t purely understand.

I don’t see this as *necessarily* true. Perhaps a post-person would have superior empathy, like a Bodhisattva, and be someone who exemplified our most noble traits. My point is, we can’t know for sure what it would be like until we see one. Speculation is cool and fun, but that’s all it is.

Given that there’s no way there’d be an Australian publication of this novel, why are Amazong doing this shit? Bah.

To the poster #1: An ebook version is coming as soon as the first hardcover print run is close to being sold out. Which is hopefully soon, as only 3000 copies have been printed so far.