Derek Künsken answers your questions

Hi! I just read the Quantum series and absolutely loved it! I can't wait for book 4!! Will it be out soon?! SO glad I ran across the series and I'm now a huge fan of your work. I just started reading The House of Styx and I'm really enjoying it! Have you considered writing books from other characters' perspectives? I am so curious and want to know more about the puppets/Numens, the homo eridanus, etc. Thank you!!

Derek Künsken Hi Lorraine! Thanks so much for this note and your question :) You made my day.
The Quantum Temple will be coming out in fall, 2025. I actually have to write it - I'm a bit late because we have a new baby and he sleeps a little less than I expected :)
On writing from other characters' perspectives, I'm open to that - I think I need to see which character is the right character for the story I want to tell. I have a few things I want to be working on (including Puppet stories - they're endlessly fascinating to me), but 2022 and 2023 have been time crunched, but things will be improving soon :)

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Somehow I failed to notice that The House of Styx was set in the same universe as the Quantum Evolution series until I started reading The Quantum War. That was a delightful, if terribly delayed ""ah ha!" moment. Have you considered adding some information on the setting to your website? I'd love to refresh my memory on the histories, factions, etc. It is a fascinating universe.

Derek Künsken Hey Dan!
Thanks for you kind note :) I hadn't thought of that, but it's a good idea. For my publisher and for some interviews I've sorted out the chronology of the stories and novels. I should put that on my website. But I'll see if I can find it right now...
Oh. That was easy. Here's a draft list (I probably have to update it, but this is just for fun). The short fiction mentioned below is going to be published in a one-volume collection in December, 2022 called "Flight From the Ages and Other Stories" by Rebellion/Solaris. :)

2022: now
2201: Beginning of the Colonial Venus Period
2203: Birth of George-Etienne D'Aquillon in Québec
2210: A number of generation ships launched from Earth to Epsilon Eridani and other destinations
2212: The Solar System Partition Conference in Mexico City
2215: Events of Persephone Descending (Analog, November, 2014)
2228: Birth of Jean-Eudes D'Aquillon
2255: Events of The House of Styx - Discovery of the first Axis Mundi worm hole by the politically- and economically diffuse colonists of Venus in the crust of Venus under the hyper-fluid atmosphere of Venus (Solaris, 2020)
2256: Events of The House of Saints (Solaris, 2023)
2290: Events of Long Leap (On Spec, 2012)
2298: Interplanetary corporations in the sol system, grown vast and wealthy, form Banks that nucleate the political mergers that result in the creation of the Anglo-Spanish Plutocracy.
2299: Events of Schools of Clay (Asimov’s, 2014)
2310: Discovery of the second Axis Mundi worm hole by the First Bank of the Anglo-Spanish Plutocracy
2324: Discovery of the third Axis Mundi worm hole by the Ummah
2325: Events of Beneath Sunlit Shallows (Asimov's, June 2008) – humanity has launched a series of generation ships and one arrived at Epsilon Eridani in the late 2200s. The colonists engineer themselves to survive in the benthic depths of Indi's Tear
2331: Discovery of the fourth and last Axis Mundi worm hole in the sol system by the Middle Kingdom
2352: Beginning of the engineering of the Puppets and the Numen
2379: The first Puppets reach puberty, beginning what the Puppets refer to as the Edenic Period
2385: Commencement of the embargo on the Numenarchy
2390: The Congregate offers clientage to Zimbabwe as the hegemon of the Sub-Saharan Union
2401: The Congregate offers clientage to the Homo eridanus
2435: Rise of the Puppets/The Puppet Revolt/The Fall (Puppet) - 80,000 Puppets captured 15,000 Numen
2475: Events of Pollen from a Future Harvest (Asimov's July, 2015, and expanded, re-issued version by Solaris 2021) – the Sixth Expeditionary Force is lost
2476: The pastward events of The Quantum Garden (Solaris, 2019)
2487: Belisarius Arjona and Cassandra are born, the tenth generation of the Homo quantus project.
2484: First Edition of Nations of Speckled Stars: The Voyages of Mohammed Ben Hassine
2503: Belisarius Arjona leaves the Garret at 16 years old, and breaks the ultra-advanced AI Saint Matthew out of the First Bank of the Plutocracy
2515: Events of The Quantum Magician (Solaris, 2018)
2516: Events of The Quantum Garden (Solaris, 2019)
2517: Events of The Quantum War (Solaris, 2021)
2517: Events of The Quantum Temple (Solaris, 2023 or 2024)
3120: Events of Flight From the Ages (Asimov's, 2016, Dozois’ Year’s Best 2017)

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My pleasure, be sure I will get the whole series :) I also think that there are some influences from many sci-fi sources, Which makes your history more understandable and familiar. Also the novelties are refreshing. I hope you can build a whole new universe :) ?

Derek Künsken Thanks Manuel! I am indeed building a whole scifi universe! I got the idea after reading collections by Alastair Reynolds and Stephen Baxter, who had multiple short stories and novels set in the same universes. My publisher wants to bring out a collection of my short fiction (many stories of which are also set in my future universe of The House of Styx and The Quantum Magician) around December I think. Have a great day!
Derek

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Reading Quantum magician now, and I'm liking it but.. does it not rhas a touch of Ocean's 11? Some additional explanations about puppets and why Venus and the evolution of humankind would be appreciated, but I think this is coming in the following books :-D

Derek Künsken Hey Manuel!
Yes - it certainly does have a heist core :) Like "The Sting", "Ocean's Eleven", and a few other movies I really enjoyed. Heists are so much fun that I wanted to try one! As for Venus, I have a 2-book series starting with "The House of Styx" that goes into Venusian history.
Thanks for reading!
Derek

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Love your Quantum series! Just finished them last night. Of course, now I'm on the edge of my seat for "Quantum Resurrection". You..... are.... working on #4, correct?

Derek Künsken Hey Eric! Thank you! Yes! I'll be writing the 4th and concluding volume of the series (The Quantum Temple) this year - I have to have it to my editor by October, I think. I think it's a 2024 release. In the meantime, in the next two months, I'll be finishing The House of Saints, the second and concluding volume of the Venus Ascendant series (which started with The House of Styx), which I believe comes out in late 2023. The House of Styx is set in the same universe as The Quantum Magician, but occurs 250 years before those events. Thanks for reading! :) Derek

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Do you have any plans for a fourth book? My brother and I are huge fans of your books and its always a little depressing to finish one knowing I have no more of this story to read. I could not figure out how you could do a 3rd book after the 2nd but I am thrilled that you did.

Derek Künsken Hey Daniel! Yes, absolutely. The 4th and last book will be called The Quantum Temple and will conclude the series. I have to deliver it to my editor in late 2022 for its early-2024 publication. In the meantime, I'm just finishing The House of Saints right now, to conclude the Venus Ascendant duology in early 2023 :) I should also have a collection of short stories out in late 2022. Thanks for the question and hello to your brother too! Derek

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Hi! So far I've ead only two of your works, House of Styx and Tool Use by the Humans of Danzhai County. I enjoyed both and in both you have a person with Down syndrome. As a person, who has a relative with another issues with mental development, I've saw maybe a bity more of such persons than an average person and it pleases me to see then in fiction. Do you have a personal experience of living with such persons?

Derek Künsken Hi Oleksandr! My first job in high school was with people with Downs syndrome and I had another summer job with people with Downs syndrome in university. I found both very rewarding. I don't know if it's a theme in my writing, or if the first two of my works you read happen to be the two where such characters appear :) I definitely felt like people with developmental challenges should be a more visible in my work. Thanks for the question and thanks for reading!

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Deity bless your brain. With The Quantum Magician you've written one of my favorite books ever. I don't really have a question for you. Just wanted you to have this to read if ever you suffer from imposter syndrome. That's a good enough reason, right?

Derek Künsken Hi Ryan! Thank you so much! You just made my morning :) I'm writing the third book in the series now and don't really feel like I'm in the zone - maybe with all the extra pressures right now. I DLed the audiobook of Quantum Garden and I'm listening while I clean the house - it's a good reminder of what I can get to and shoot for :) Have a great day and thanks again for cheering me on! Derek

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Sounds very interesting. Is this a standalone or first of a series?

Derek Künsken Rebellion should very shortly be announcing by press release the second in the series, but Amazon already has it for sale here: https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Garden...

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Do you know if/when someone will make an audiobook of quantum magician?

Derek Künsken Hi Noah! Thanks for asking :)
The Quantum Magician is now up at Audible. The production was done by Recorded Books and sounds really good :)

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When did you first come across quantum qutrits?

Derek Künsken Hi William! I read about quantum qutrits as I was researching quantum logic and how quantum computers can function fundamentally differently from classical computers. In the next thing I write involving Belisarius and Cassandra, I would like to dig a lot deeper into how quantum logic will differ to explore those truly alien parts of the Homo quantus.

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I'm deeply enjoying The Quantum Magician. Will there be a book tour? Anywhere you're doing signings? Any SF conventions?

Derek Künsken Hi Olav! Thanks so much for saying so! The Quantum Magician came out in October, and we had a launch in Ottawa, Canada, a reading/launch in Toronto at the world-famous Bakka-Phoenix book store and I did a reading at World Fantasy 2018 in Baltimore. My next appearance on the con circuit will likely be Detroit (CONFusion) in January :)

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Not a question so much as a kudos - I have never read any of your works before, but I am *so* glad Amazon suggested The Quantum Magician to me. I love how you've woven together so many different elements in a really creative way! If you need earlier readers for your sequels, toss my name in the hat, please! :D Ah, and here is the obligatory question mark: "?"

Derek Künsken Hi Wolfgang! Great question - lol. Thanks so much for writing. You made my evening :) Solaris will be releasing my second book "The Quantum Garden" in October of 2019, although my Chinese publisher will probably have it out around June (they beat the English publication of QM by 4 months as well). And I'm about to announce the sale of another hard SF novel to Solaris shortly on my website www.derekkunsken.com :)
PS: My dad is also called Wolfgang!

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