Charlie Stross packed the house in the Central Nexus yesterday for a very special Salon, courtesy of Delos Books and Eliver Delphin. With a peak concurrency of 74 people with minimal lag, a bright, well-informed and orderly audience engaged Charlie for an hour of open discussion on topics ranging from beer to the economics of publishing to the Singuarity.

An unedited transcript of the session is available here.

An article excerpting Charlie's answers, along with photos of the event, in a highly readable format, is available on our new events blog, here.

Photo by Vidal Tripsa, all rights reserved.

Award-winning novelist Charles Stross will be our guest at Sophrosyne's Special Salon, Saturday, June 21, from 1-2:30 pm SLT, in the Salon Room, Central Nexus at Extropia Core, Second Life (http://slurl.com/secondlife/Extropia%20Core/128/124/22).

(New to Second Life? With the Second Life client installed, and an account set up, click on the link above to teleport to the lobby of our conference facilities)

Courtesy of Delos Books and co-hosted by Delos' Eliver Delphin, Charlie will discuss the Singluarity in fiction, cutting-edge technologies, his Hugo-Award finalist novel Halting State, about virtual worlds and augmented reality, and his upcoming novel Saturn's Children.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Stross published some role-playing game articles for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the White Dwarf magazine. Some of his creatures, such as the death knight, githyanki (borrowed from George R. R. Martin's book, Dying of the Light), githzerai, and slaad (a chaotic race notable for their rigid caste system) were later published in the Fiend Folio monster compendium.

His first published short story, "The Boys", appeared in Interzone in 1987. His first novel, Singularity Sky was published by Ace Books in 2003 and was nominated for the Hugo Award. A collection of his short stories, Toast: And Other Rusted Futures appeared in 2002. Subsequent short stories have been nominated for the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and other awards. His novella "The Concrete Jungle" (available online) won the Hugo award for its category in 2005. His novel Accelerando (also available online) won the 2006 Locus Award for best science fiction novel, was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the year's best science fiction novel, and was on the final ballot for the Hugo Award in the best novel category. Glasshouse won the 2007 Prometheus Award and was on the final ballot for the Hugo Award in the best novel category. His novella Missile Gap (likewise available online) won the 2007 Locus Award for best novella and most recently he was awarded the Edward E. Smith Memorial Award or Skylark at Boskone 2008.

In addition to working as a writer of fiction he has worked as a technical author, freelance journalist, programmer, and pharmacist at different times. He holds degrees in Pharmacy and Computer Science.

Charlie comes to us courtesy of Delos Books, an Italian publishing house devoted mainly to Science Fiction.Since its creation, it has published many Hugo and Nebula Award winning authors,including Greg Egan, HarryHarrison, Frederik Pohl, Robert J. Sawyer and, recently, Charles Stross. In 2007, its SF magazine "Robot" won the European ScienceFiction Society (ESFS) Award for best magazine.

Delos Books is also very active on the Internet: it runs the leading Italian SF website,Fantascienza.com, and its Delos Science Fiction Magazine (ESFS Award in 1999, and one of the first web magazines ever, online since 1994) isthe leading SF magazine in Italy.

Since May 2007, Eliver Delphin runs Delos BookClub in Second Life, a meeting place for SF readers and authors, where to discuss culture, literature and art.

Delos BookClub is in Amberaldus (218,242,80) http://slurl.com/secondlife/Amberaldus/218/242/80

• Sophrosyne's Special Salon: Between the Covers With Tom & Hamlet: Hamlet Au (Wagner James Au), author of The Making of Second Life and Tom Bukowski (Tom Boellstorff), author of Coming of Age in Second Life join Soph for a discussion of their two new books, of differences between anthropology and journalism, and of the future of virtual worlds. Monday, June 9, 12 noon-1:30 pm SLT, Salon Room, Central Nexus, Extropia Core.
• Book Club: Soph leads a discussion of Charles Stross's Accelerando. Sunday, June 15 from 1-2:30 pm SLT in the reading lounge in the Central Nexus, Extropia Core. The Club meeting will be cancelled if no attendees have read the book.
• Fishing Tournaments: Tuesday and Thursday, 5-6pm SLT, at Tycho Pleasure Beach, by the flagpole. $500L each evening to contest winners!
• Board Office Hours: Please see the Google Calendar for expanded Directors' Office Hours.
• New Apartment Complex! Our myPod starter housing has been such a hit, we've expanded into a new complex. If you'd like to be part of Extropia but can't commit to a full parcel, come rent a gorgeous, big apartment with a stellar view! IM Sophrosyne Stenvaag, or just follow the parcel directions to rent!
• Custom Islands Available! If you want your won private island, sized and terraformed to suit, IM Galatea Gynoid. Prices and Covenant as per the "Tier" and "Covenant" tabs on this website.
• Follow Extropia through social networking!: We're on Twitter as "Extropia," on Facebook as "Extropia," on Flickr as "Extropia," and on Eventful as "Extropia" And, don't forget our Google Calendar in the box to the right!
• New to SL? Looking to put down roots? Rent a myPod in Extropia: We have a new housing option in NeoVenice! Our myPods are only $L250 a week, come with 102 prims, and spectacular views of Extropia! Perfect to give you a home location and a workshop or well-furnished room! Find your Pod on the west side of the Extropia sim.
• Commercial, Organizational and Residential land available! IM Sophrosyne Stenvaag or Galatea Gynoid for details: information on policies and prices under the “Join Us” and “Tier” tabs of this website.

Photo by Vidal Tripsa. All rights reserved.

The two-day conference, The Future of Religions/Religions of the Future concluded Thursday afternoon. Eleven presenteds provided fascinating material for a robust discussion, which drew approximately 60 people on the first day and 30 the second. Presentations ranged from concrete discussions of the creation of religious facilities in Second Life, to a mixed-media improvisational performance, to an announcement of a new organization seeking inspiration through advanced technology. 

 DJs Nicki Petrichor and Cynthia Wilder concluded the sessions with their signature mixes of electronica and contemporary Middle Eastern music, allowing the discussion to continue in a more relaxed environment.

 We at Extropia would like to express our deepest gratitude to our DJs for providing ritual and fun as a conference element; to presenters, for the quality of their work and their cheerful cooperation; to our attendees for contributing to a fascinating, safe and civil event; and especially to our partners in The Al-Andalus Project for their hard work in ensuring the conference's success. 

Full edited chatlogs of the entire event, along with the presenters' text or slides where available, will be up on the conference website within a few days.