Daniel Suarez, last year’s Prometheus Best Novel winner for Critical Mass, has shared with his fans some exciting developments.
Among the big news: the launch of a series of separately published short stories; some progress with film and TV adaptations of his works; and an update on his next novel, due out in 2025 by Dutton.
However, it won’t be the novel many expect.
Meanwhile, Heir Apparent, the first story in the new series, has just been published.
Suarez, perhaps best known for his sci-fi-laced techno-thrillers, first won a Prometheus Award in 2015 for Influx, a gripping dramatization of the evils of totalitarian control over people’s lives and a suspenseful cautionary tale about the dangers of government control of information.
Critical Mass, his 2024 Best Novel winner, focuses on a courageous band of astronaut-entrepreneurs striving to alleviate Earth-based problems through commercial space projects – including asteroid mining and the first orbiting solar-power satellite and refinery – despite shortsighted opposition from Earth governments and shifting global political alliances.
Fans of Critical Mass, book two in his DELTA-V series, will have to wait a bit longer for book three in that series, though.
“Many readers have asked when they can expect the 3rd book in the DELTA-V trilogy (DV3). The research required for DV3 has been significant, and I want to take the time necessary to do it right,” Suarez explained in his recent email update to his fans.
For that reason, Suarez has switched gears. He’s currently under contract with Dutton to deliver his next novel later this year, as a “stand-alone action-thriller.”
He hinted that his next novel will focus on an “exciting topic” that he’s already researched and “which has become incredibly relevant of late.”
Meanwhile, the third book in the Delta-V series will benefit from the extra time, he said. “I appreciate the patience and understanding of DV series fans as I bring the trilogy to a satisfying conclusion.”
SUAREZ’S SHORT STORIES
Partly “to tide my readers over until my next book is released,” Suarez plans to publish several short stories, which he describes as “edgy fiction that covers a variety of high-tech and sci-fi topics.”
Heir Apparent, 37 pages long, is now available on Amazon for $1.50 as a Kindle ebook.
Suarez describes the story as an exploration of the legal and ethical boundaries of AI and robotics during the twilight years of the Millennial generation.
Here is the somewhat longer description on Amazon:
“Sonny is one of the most popular and professional nurse’s aides at Brookside Nursing Home. Always willing to listen or to put a smile on a resident’s face. Sonny is also an AI-powered robot. When one of the residents bequeaths her entire estate to Sonny, her distant relations contest the will, and the resulting trial becomes a media circus that tests the boundaries of business, AI, and human compassion.”
SUAREZ’S FILM/TV PROJECTS
Sony Pictures, which has the rights to adapt Influx for the screen, has finished a script and, Suarez reports, is now searching for a director.
“Fingers crossed there,” he said.
Meanwhile, unfortunately, an independent TV adaptation of another Suarez novel ended recently after several years of development, he said.
“The considerable time spent on both of these projects has admittedly delayed my book output — but nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Suarez said.
“I think many of us would really like to see a film or TV adaptation of Influx, Daemon, or one of my other books, and I want to help make that happen.”
ABOUT SUAREZ
Before becoming a full-time writer, Suarez designed and developed software for the defense, finance, and entertainment industries. He has been a speaker at TED Global, MIT Media Lab, and the Long Now Foundation, among other organizations and events.
An avid PC and console gamer, his own world-building skills were bolstered through years as a pen & paper role-playing game moderator. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS:
* Prometheus winners: For the full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – including the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards – visit the enhanced Prometheus Awards page on the LFS website, which now includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of more than 100 past winners since 1979 fits the awards’ distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.
* Read “The Libertarian History of Science Fiction,” an essay in the international magazine Quillette that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.
* Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies (including the recent 2023 ceremony with inspiring and amusing speeches by Prometheus-winning authors Dave Freer and Sarah Hoyt), Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.
* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Facebook page for comments, updates and links to Prometheus Blog posts.
* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, join the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.
