Authors' Sci‑Fi Influences and Backgrounds

You love reading. You’re always looking for great things to read? 📖 📚

Me too! *high five* 🙏

Today, I’m talking with my friends Tinkered Thinking and Dylan O’Sullivan about ‘White Mirror’, a book written by the former, edited by the latter, and published by OSV’s Infinite Books (full disclosure: I was involved in the publication of this book, but we wanted to publish it because it’s great, we don’t think it’s great because we published it. The order matters!).

It’s a wide-ranging conversation aimed at those who HAVEN’T yet read the book, so don’t worry. We go down all kinds of rabbit holes 🐇 and tangents, including:

* From a tweet to 31 stories, the wild origin of White Mirror

* The intersection of technology & human experience

* Reclaiming childlike imagination and a sense of wonder as an antidote to pessimism

* Simulation theory, meditation, and the nature of reality

* Literary architecture and chiastic structures

* Predictions in the book that are coming true, and startup ideas hidden in the stories

* The craft of writing fiction vs. non-fiction

* Status games, adulthood, and missing rituals and rites of passage

* Writing science fiction as someone who doesn’t read much scifi

* …and much more

🏆 Giveaway: 5 Signed Copies of White Mirror! 🪞📚✍️

Thanks to Tinkered’s generosity, I’m giving away five signed copies of White Mirror. If you want to participate, the instructions are simple:

* If you’re a paid supporter and are interested, send me an email to let me know you’d like one (you can just reply to any of the newsletter emails or this podcast email). Send this before December 1, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST. That’s it.

* On December 3, 2025, I’ll draw names out of a hat, or buy one of those bingo machines with the balls bouncing around, or use randomizing software, whatever, and pick 5 winners. When you win, I’ll email you to ask for shipping details.

* If you’re NOT yet a paid supporter, but would like to become one before December 1, no problem, you can participate. Hit the subscribe button, and then drop me an email that mentions you’re interested in the signed book (I’ll also send you a link to the private Discord and to Zoom Q&As I do with supporters).

There aren’t that many of you, and not all will enter, so if you do put your name in the hat 🎟️ 🎩 your odds of getting a signed book are very good.

But you don’t have to wait for that to buy it. And if you win, just keep the signed copy and give the regular one to someone else. 🎁

🛒 Best Place to Buy the Book 👇

You can buy White Mirror on Amazon, but the real pro move is to get it from Infinite Books because, for the same price, you get the deluxe paperback of the book + the audiobook + the ebook (DRM-free).

The book is a beautiful artifact, we spent a ton of time obsessing over the details. 🔍

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.libertyrpf.com/subscribe