An update on various projects

I’m happy to share updates on two projects that I have been working on for a while: the production of a high-quality English translation of Nils Aall Barricelli’s early paper on artificial life, Esempi Numerici di Processi di Evoluzione (1954), and the production of new editions of W. Grove’s very early novels about machines with free will and the ability to reproduce and evolve, A Mexican Mystery (1888) and The Wreck of a World (1890).

Barricelli 1954 project

I am delighted to confirm that our translation of Nils Aall Barricelli’s first publication on his artificial life simulations (Esempi Numerici di Processi di Evoluzione), together with an in-depth commentary about its context, content and significance, have been accepted for publication in the Artificial Life journal. At this stage I don’t know in which issue of the journal they will appear, but I’ll post further updates here when I have them.

W. Grove novels project

The British author W. Grove wrote some of the earliest sci-fi novels about intelligent self-reproducing machines evolving to a stage where they threaten the existence of humankind (AI takeover in today’s parlance). Grove wrote two novels on this theme: A Mexican Mystery in 1888, and The Wreck of a World in 1890. The first of these is very hard to get hold of, only being held in a handful of libraries around the world. The latter book has been republished by the British Library, but only as a reprographic version of the original and with a very uninspiring cover.

Through my publishing imprint Enchanted Bit I am currently working on new editions of both of these books, featuring new typesetting, a new foreword and new cover art.

I am aiming to publish paperback versions of both of these books by the end of September. Ebook versions will be published shortly afterwards, before the end of the year.