I delivered  the final (pretty much?) version of Sherwood Nation to the publisher yesterday, and an ARC is expected soon (cough cough excitement!). And so I’ve revived the appearances page as things begin to line up toward a book launch in 2014 (not sure when exactly this is yet, will need to ask @smallbeerpress). I’ll probably be hanging out here more often, as I decide what to do with the space. Do I even want to keep this domain name? Levin has a nice domain I might use: levinofearth.com. Would I be comfortable over there?

In the meantime, I’m happily back to working on the co-written project with David Naimon (check out his podcasted interviews with authors, if you haven’t already), getting the tykes started with school (1st grade!  4th grade!), reading Bring Up the Bodies (this probably needs no introduction), and a book I’m completely digging:  Decoding the Heavens: A 2,000 Year Old Computer – And the Century-Long Search to Discover its Secrets by Jo Marchant.

The book is about the Antikythera mechanism, a 1st century BC machine, dug up from a shipwreck in 1901. If you like science history and ancient civilizations and well-told stories, this book is for you. Here’s a winning quote about the mechanism from Wikipedia:

“This device is just extraordinary, the only thing of its kind. The design is beautiful, the astronomy is exactly right. The way the mechanics are designed just makes your jaw drop. Whoever has done this has done it extremely carefully … in terms of historic and scarcity value, I have to regard this mechanism as being more valuable than the Mona Lisa.”

—30 November 2006 / Professor Michael Edmunds of Cardiff University

(p.s.: if you’re in Portland, come to Laura’s Street Books celebration)

Author: Benjamin Parzybok

My name is Ben Parzybok and I'm a novelist and programmer living in Portland, OR. @sparkwatson