Books by Bruce Sterling

OVEREXPOSED is composed of a series of nine unauthorized photos of high-ranking U.S. intelligence officials of the NSA, CIA, NI, and FBI who were related to Edward Snowden's revelations. The appropriated material was found by monitoring photos and selfies published on Internet public platforms without the control of the officials. The images were reproduced with the street art HD Stencils technique, and they were disseminated onto public walls throughout major cities. The artwork satirizes the era of ubiquitous surveillance and overly-mediated political personas by exposing the officials accountable for secretive mass surveillance and over-classified intelligence programs. New modes of circulation, appropriation, contextualization, and technical reproduction of images are integrated into this artwork.

Produced to honour the centenary of Sir Arthur C. Clarke's birth, this anthology acts as a fund raiser for the Arthur C. Clarke Award.Original SF stories of precisely 2001 words from some of the biggest names in science fiction, including 10 winners of the Clarke Award and 13 authors who have been shortlisted, as well as non-fiction from thrice-winner China Miéville and former judge Neil Gaiman.Contents:IntroductionGolgotha - Dave HutchinsonThe Monoliths of Mars - Paul McAuleyMurmuration - Jane RogersOuroboros - Ian R MacLeodThe Escape Hatch - Matthew De AbaituaChildhood's Friend - Rachel PollackTakes from the White Hart - Bruce SterlingYour Death, Your Way, 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! - Emma NewmanDistraction - Gwyneth JonesDancers - Allen StroudEntropy War - Yoon Ha LeeThe Ontologist - Liz WilliamsWaiting in the Sky - Tom HunterThe Collectors - Adrian TchaikovskyI Saw Three Ships - Phillip MannBefore They Left - Colin GreenlandDrawn From the Eye - Jeff NoonRoads of Silver, Paths of Gold - Emmi ItärantaThe Fugue - Stephanie HolmanMemories of a Table - Chris BeckettChild of Ours - Claire NorthWould-Be A.I., Tell Us a Tale! #241: Sell 'em Back in Time! by Hali Hallison - Ian WatsonLast Contact - Becky ChambersThe Final Fable - Ian WhatesTen Landscapes of Nili Fossae - Ian McDonaldChild - Adam RobertsProvidence - Alastair Reynolds2001: A Space Prosthesis - The Extensions of Man - Andrew M. Butler (non-fiction)On Judging The Clarke Award - Neil Gaiman (non-fiction)Once More on the 3rd Law - China Miéville (non-fiction)

A guide to the next great wave of technology—an era of objects so programmable that they can be regarded as material instantiations of an immaterial system."Shaping Things is about created objects and the environment, which is to say, it's about everything," writes Bruce Sterling in this addition to the Mediawork Pamphlet series. He adds: "Seen from sufficient distance, this is a small topic."Sterling offers a brilliant, often hilarious history of shaped things. We have moved from an age of artifacts, made by hand, through complex machines, to the current era of "gizmos." New forms of design and manufacture are appearing that lack historical precedent, he writes; but the production methods, using archaic forms of energy and materials that are finite and toxic, are not sustainable. The future will see a new kind of object; we have the primitive forms of them now in our pockets and briefcases: user-alterable, baroquely multi-featured, and programmable, that will be sustainable, enhanceable, and uniquely identifiable. Sterling coins the term "spime" for them, these future-manufactured objects with informational support so extensive and rich that they are regarded as material instantiations of an immaterial system. Spimes are designed on screens, fabricated by digital means, and precisely tracked through space and time. They are made of substances that can be folded back into the production stream of future spimes, challenging all of us to become involved in their production. Spimes are coming, says Sterling. We will need these objects in order to live; we won't be able to surrender their advantages without awful consequences.The vision of Shaping Things is given material form by the intricate design of Lorraine Wild. Shaping Things is for designers and thinkers, engineers and scientists, entrepreneurs and financiers; and anyone who wants to understand and be part of the process of technosocial transformation.