Jim Minz, Lee Martindale, Chris Morris, Janet Morris, Dan Hollifield, Holly McClure and Walt Boyes are today's featured guests.

Topic: ePublishing as viewed principally by various publishers and editors who have successfully transitioned into it without abandoning their traditional paper-based publishing business models.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the September 26, 2012 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 52  minutes] This panel was recorded on July 21, 2012 before a live audience in Chattanooga Tennessee at the science fiction and fantasy convention: LibertyCon. Special thanks go to Derek Spraker and John Trieber of LibertyCon who recorded this and many other panels for me.

Michael Z. Williamson,Philip R. Cox and Janet Morris are today's featured speakers.

Topic: (Second Half of discussion on) Future Weapons, including Post-Projectile weapons and "non-lethal" or "Less-than-lethal" weapons.

Michael Z. Williamson is retired from the United States military after 25 years and is both a science fiction and military fiction author. He is also associate editor at SurvivalBlog where he does reviews of disaster preparedness products. He has consulted on military matters, weapons and disaster preparedness for Discovery Channel and Outdoor Channel productions. He tests and reviews firearms and gear for manufacturers. He is the author of at least ten military SF novels, one of which is a collaboration with the New York Times best-selling author John Ringo.

Janet Morris is President and CEO of M2 Technologies, Inc., a woman-owned corporation specializing in non-lethal weapons (NLW), novel technology applications, tactics and technology. Her seminal non-lethal concept and novel technology applications work has been used by the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and was excerpted in the Army's Draft Operations Concept for Disabling Measures (920904). She has taught or provided course material to the U.S. Air Force's Air Command and Staff College, National Defense University's (IRMC) School of Information Warfare and Strategy, and Penn State University Applied Research Laboratory's Non-Lethal Institute. She has provided and presented seminars and briefings to the Defense Science Board, the Congressional Research Service, Senate Armed Services Committee Staff, and the Center for Naval Analysis.

Philip R. Cox has been an engineer in the military-industrial complex for the last thirty years. His career has included the development of many fine spacecraft and weapons of mass destruction.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the September 12, 2012 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 28 minutes] This panel was recorded on July 21, 2012 before a live audience in Chattanooga Tennessee at the science fiction and fantasy convention: LibertyCon. Special thanks go to Derek Spraker and John Trieber of LibertyCon who recorded this, and many other panels for me; and to the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel for having such a fine sound system.

Michael Z. Williamson, Philip R. Cox and Janet Morris are today's featured speakers.

Topic: Future Weapons, including Post-Projectile weapons and "non-lethal" or "Less-than-lethal" weapons. (First of two parts.)

Michael Z. Williamson is retired from the United States military after 25 years and is both a science fiction and military fiction author. He is also associate editor at SurvivalBlog where he does reviews of disaster preparedness products. He has consulted on military matters, weapons and disaster preparedness for Discovery Channel and Outdoor Channel productions. He tests and reviews firearms and gear for manufacturers. He is the author of at least ten military SF novels, one of which is a collaboration with the New York Times best-selling author John Ringo.

Janet Morris is President and CEO of M2 Technologies, Inc., a woman-owned corporation specializing in non-lethal weapons (NLW), novel technology applications, tactics and technology. Her seminal non-lethal concept and novel technology applications work has been used by the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and was excerpted in the Army's Draft Operations Concept for Disabling Measures (920904). She has taught or provided course material to the U.S. Air Force's Air Command and Staff College, National Defense University's (IRMC) School of Information Warfare and Strategy, and Penn State University Applied Research Laboratory's Non-Lethal Institute. She has provided and presented seminars and briefings to the Defense Science Board, the Congressional Research Service, Senate Armed Services Committee Staff, and the Center for Naval Analysis.

Philip R. Cox has been an engineer in the military-industrial complex for the last thirty years. His career has included the development of many fine spacecraft and weapons of mass destruction.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the September 5, 2012 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 31 minutes] This panel was recorded on July 21, 2012 before a live audience in Chattanooga Tennessee at the science fiction and fantasy convention: LibertyCon. Special thanks go to Derek Spraker and John Trieber of LibertyCon who recorded this, and many other panels for me; and to the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel for having such a fine sound system.

Eric Flint, Janet Morris, Lee Martindale, Holly McClure, Chris Morris and Daniel M. Hoyt are today's featured speakers.

Topic: Electronic Piracy of music, books, movies, software, etc. (This is the second of two parts.)

Eric Flint is the best selling author of more than 25 novels of science fiction and fantasy, as well as the former editor-in-chief of the online science fiction and fantasy magazine Jim Baen's Universe. Janet Morris is an author, publisher, editor and anthologist. Lee Martindale is a writer, editor and publisher. Chris Morris is an author, publisher and editor; as well as a singer and songwriter. Holly McClure is the president of Sullivan Maxx Literary agency and also is a writer. Daniel M. Hoyt is a science fiction writer and programmer in the field of rocket science.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the August 29, 2012 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 38 minutes] This panel was recorded on July 21, 2012 before a live audience in Chattanooga Tennessee at the science fiction and fantasy convention: LibertyCon. Special thanks go to Derek Spraker and John Trieber of LibertyCon who recorded this, and many other panels for me; and to the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel for having such a fine sound system.

Eric Flint, Janet Morris, Lee Martindale, Holly McClure, Chris Morris and Daniel M. Hoyt are today's featured speakers.

Topic: Electronic Piracy of music, books, movies, software, etc. (This is the first of two parts.)

Eric Flint is the best selling author of more than 25 novels of science fiction and fantasy, as well as the former editor-in-chief of the online science fiction and fantasy magazine Jim Baen's Universe. Janet Morris is an author, publisher, editor and anthologist. Lee Martindale is a writer, editor and publisher. Chris Morris is an author, publisher and editor; as well as a singer and songwriter. Holly McClure is the president of Sullivan Maxx Literary agency and also is a writer. Daniel M. Hoyt is a science fiction writer and programmer in the field of rocket science.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the August 22, 2012 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 31 minutes] This panel was recorded on July 21, 2012 before a live audience in Chattanooga Tennessee at the science fiction and fantasy convention: LibertyCon. Special thanks go to Derek Spraker and John Trieber of LibertyCon who recorded this, and many other panels for me; and to the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel for having such a fine sound system.

New York Times bestselling authors Brandon Sanderson, Timothy Zahn, John Ringo, and Eric Flint are joined by Janet Morris, Patrick Vanner, Richard Groller, Michael H. Hanson and Phillip R. Cox; as well as three artists: Melissa Gay, Michael Bielaczyc, ~mel-mel; and several convention organizers: Warren Buff, Brandy Spraker, Derek Spraker, Elayna Little Cook, and LibertyCon's Founder, Uncle Timmy. Mentioned are: The Space Proletariat, and a writers club called The Fictioneers.

Dedicated to the 25th Anniversary of the science fiction and fantasy convention LibertyCon, this over-sized episode contains 17 short interviews gathered from around this year's con. This episode is intended to give you a little of the feel and flavor of the con.

LibertyCon's organizers have a strong science and engineering background, which manifests itself in the number of panels which are dedicated to science and engineering topics. This year alone, they had 17 hours of science panels; which I estimate to be about 20% of their total programming. Over the last nine years this con has given me many brilliant scientists and researchers to interview. People from NASA, DOD, DOE, even DARPA. As well as academicians, inventors and innovators.

LibertyCon has been so helpful to me that, last year when I could not attend because of my brother's wedding, they recorded more than ten hours worth of science for me to use in the show. This may sound like a minor thing; just someone flipping a switch somewhere, but it was not. They had to borrow a sound board and microphones from The Atlanta Radio Theater Company, set them up in the appropriate rooms, verify it was recording each panel properly, and then burn it all onto a DVD and snail-mail it to me. LibertyCon has been very good to me, and to this show.

This was a special LibertyCon in that Uncle Timmy (its founder and leader for the last 25 years) is stepping down after this one.  This was an emotional time for many because Uncle Timmy is such a big lovable man, full of modesty and kindness for everyone.  To me his is a man we can all love and admire. 

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the July 25, 2012 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 99 minutes] 

Announcement: For a limited time, one of my novels is on sale. The Kindle edition of Skinbrain (Cerebrodermus Fantastica), my most recent and most futuristic novel, has been reduced to just $2.99.  That's right, under three bucks for what I consider my best novel. Here is a description of some of its main characters:

Cast of Characters:

Leather -- A runaway teenage girl. Tough and bold, she is learning to scrape out a living in the alleys of the largest city on Big Sandy: one of several dozen human inhabited worlds. Sleeping under bridges and in the dusty basement of an abandoned church, she takes the name Leather because it makes her feel tough, and she is determined to survive. She falls for a con-man named Johnny Bopp, and runs off with him straight into an assorted gang of mostly alien criminals.

Peter -- An evil little physicist who lusts after Leather and dreams of securing her to his torture rack, which at the moment holds an alien physicist he'd kidnapped weeks earlier, and from whom he’s been extracting scientific secrets. Peter plots to kill all the other gang members and capture Leather alive and undamaged so that he can damage her slowly and repeatedly for his morbid sexual enjoyment.

Breensdil -- A large and gentle insect-bearing alien. His people are peace-loving and nonviolent, and he is their greatest living physicist. Unfortunately, he is being tortured for secrets of advanced physics by Peter who intends to use these secrets to create more powerful weapons he can then sell to his Neo-Nazi allies on the colony world of Ironfeld.

Pug -- An easy-going frog-like alien of vast power and wealth who secretly owns and manages this galaxy. Each of her people own and manage one galaxy; by their laws anyone not up this task is aborted even if they are an adult. She causally decides which civilizations within her galaxy will live and which must be destroyed. She likes this new human civilization, and has an odd fondness for Johnny Bopp.

Johnny Bopp -- A happy-go-lucky human con-man and jewel thief who enjoys the company of aliens. A xenophile, he is forever seeking new things to see and do and taste and experience.

Eve Adams -- A beautiful and voluptuous android containing, and controlled by, a pair of octopus-like aliens who think as one because they are permanently mated. Driven by their obsession to studying human beings, they attempt to seduce Johnny away from Leather using their sensuous android body.

Aristat Sookirat -- Johnny Bopp's loyal friend. A bright red alien criminal who has more than once killed to protect Johnny. And needs little provocation to do it again.

The situation they find themselves in:

On a planet far from Earth, remains of a long dead alien civilization have been found. But this news has not reached the authorities—nor will it. Fourteen murderers—a mixed bag of human and alien criminals—have seen to that by killing the team of forty scientists who discovered the remains. These professional criminals combine their talents to search through the rubble for a hypothetical alien super-weapon. Leather thinks she's got what it takes to rub shoulders with the worst of them but soon realizes she’s in way over her head. Worse, as conflicts struggle to tear it apart, she learns just how unstable a team of criminals can be. Call it anything you like: treachery, betrayal, or just reducing the number with whom one must share the final spoils. Here, as in all of life, cowards and the dead reap nothing.

Skinbrain (Cerebrodermus Fantastica). It's a fun read. Check it out. 

Chris and Janet Morris (US military and government advisers on non-lethal weapons) are our featured guests.

Topic: Non-Lethal Weapons: How they change the future of military engagements (Part 3). Also Chris and Janet's fiction anthology series': Heroes in Hell and Lawyers in Hell.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the October 26, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 48 minutes]. This is the third and final portion of this interview which was recorded using Skype on October 1, 2011.

Janet Morris is President and CEO of M2 Technologies, Inc., a woman-owned corporation specializing in non-lethal weapons (NLW), novel technology applications, tactics and technology. Her seminal non-lethal concept and novel technology applications work has been used by the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and was excerpted in the Army's Draft Operations Concept for Disabling Measures (920904). She has taught or provided course material to the U.S. Air Force's Air Command and Staff College, National Defense University's (IRMC) School of Information Warfare and Strategy, and Penn State University Applied Research Laboratory's Non-Lethal Institute. She has provided and presented seminars and briefings to the Defense Science Board, the Congressional Research Service, Senate Armed Services Committee Staff, and the Center for Naval Analysis.

Chris Morris is Vice-President and Board Chairman of M2 Technologies, Inc., specializing in strategic planning, tactical support, and technology exploitation. His work on non-lethal, developmental, and foreign technology policy and implementation issues has been used by the U.S. Army, the U.S. Marine Corps, OSD Office of Munitions, OSD Net Assessment, and excerpted in the U.S. Army's Draft Operations Concept for Disabling Measures (920904). He has taught course elements and contributed papers to the U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College and National Defense University's (IRMC) School of Information Warfare & Strategy. He has presented Strategic Planning papers and papers on technology exploitation to the Center for Naval Analysis, the Defense Science Board, Georgia Institute of Technology, Penn State University's Advanced Research Laboratory, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

News Item: A new cyber-threat warning issued by the United States National Cyber-Alert System in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security. Unspecified vulnerability in Medtronic Paradigm wireless insulin pump 512, 522, 712, and 722 allows remote attackers to modify the delivery of an insulin bolus dose and cause a denial of service (adverse human health effects) via unspecified vectors involving wireless communications and knowledge of the device's serial number, as demonstrated by Jerome Radcliffe at the Black Hat USA conference in August 2011. NOTE: the vendor has disputed the severity of this issue, saying "we believe the risk of deliberate, malicious, or unauthorized manipulation of medical devices is extremely low... we strongly believe it would be extremely difficult for a third-party to wirelessly tamper with your insulin pump... you would be able to detect tones on the insulin pump that weren't intentionally programmed and could intervene accordingly." 

Special thanks go to Randal L. Schwartz for emailing me this news item. (Randal is a widely known author of programming books and articles. He is co-host of FLOSS Weekly, and has been a guest on The Future And You six times in the last five years.)

Chris and Janet Morris (US military and government advisers on non-lethal weapons) are our featured guests.

Topic: Non-Lethal Weapons: How they change the future of military engagements (Part 2)

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the October 19, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 44 minutes]. This is the second third of this interview which was recorded using Skype on October 1, 2011.  The final third will follow in next week's episode.

Janet Morris is President and CEO of M2 Technologies, Inc., a woman-owned corporation specializing in non-lethal weapons (NLW), novel technology applications, tactics and technology. Her seminal non-lethal concept and novel technology applications work has been used by the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and was excerpted in the Army's Draft Operations Concept for Disabling Measures (920904). She has taught or provided course material to the U.S. Air Force's Air Command and Staff College, National Defense University's (IRMC) School of Information Warfare and Strategy, and Penn State University Applied Research Laboratory's Non-Lethal Institute. She has provided and presented seminars and briefings to the Defense Science Board, the Congressional Research Service, Senate Armed Services Committee Staff, and the Center for Naval Analysis.

Chris Morris is Vice-President and Board Chairman of M2 Technologies, Inc., specializing in strategic planning, tactical support, and technology exploitation. His work on non-lethal, developmental, and foreign technology policy and implementation issues has been used by the U.S. Army, the U.S. Marine Corps, OSD Office of Munitions, OSD Net Assessment, and excerpted in the U.S. Army's Draft Operations Concept for Disabling Measures (920904). He has taught course elements and contributed papers to the U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College and National Defense University's (IRMC) School of Information Warfare & Strategy. He has presented Strategic Planning papers and papers on technology exploitation to the Center for Naval Analysis, the Defense Science Board, Georgia Institute of Technology, Penn State University's Advanced Research Laboratory, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Chris and Janet Morris (US military and government advisers on non-lethal weapons) are our featured guests.

Topic: Non-Lethal Weapons: How they change the future of military engagements.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the October 12, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 49 minutes]. This is the first third of my interview with them, which was recorded using Skype on October 1, 2011.  The remainder of this interview will follow in two consecutive episodes.

Janet Morris is President and CEO of M2 Technologies, Inc., a woman-owned corporation specializing in non-lethal weapons (NLW), novel technology applications, tactics and technology. Her seminal non-lethal concept and novel technology applications work has been used by the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and was excerpted in the Army's Draft Operations Concept for Disabling Measures (920904). She has taught or provided course material to the U.S. Air Force's Air Command and Staff College, National Defense University's (IRMC) School of Information Warfare and Strategy, and Penn State University Applied Research Laboratory's Non-Lethal Institute. She has provided and presented seminars and briefings to the Defense Science Board, the Congressional Research Service, Senate Armed Services Committee Staff, and the Center for Naval Analysis.

Chris Morris is Vice-President and Board Chairman of M2 Technologies, Inc., specializing in strategic planning, tactical support, and technology exploitation. His work on non-lethal, developmental, and foreign technology policy and implementation issues has been used by the U.S. Army, the U.S. Marine Corps, OSD Office of Munitions, OSD Net Assessment, and excerpted in the U.S. Army's Draft Operations Concept for Disabling Measures (920904). He has taught course elements and contributed papers to the U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College and National Defense University's (IRMC) School of Information Warfare & Strategy. He has presented Strategic Planning papers and papers on technology exploitation to the Center for Naval Analysis, the Defense Science Board, Georgia Institute of Technology, Penn State University's Advanced Research Laboratory, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

John Ringo, Tedd Roberts (AKA: Speaker to Lab Animals) Chris & Janet Morris, Jason Cordova and Mike Williamson are our featured guests.

Topic: The Technological Future of War.

John Ringo is a New York Times best selling novelist with over two million books in print. Tedd Roberts (AKA: Speaker to Lab Animals) is an associate professor at an unspecified "major southeastern medical school." Janet Morris is President and CEO of M2 Technologies, Inc. (a corporation specializing in non-lethal weapons, novel technology applications, tactics and technology). Chris Morris is Vice-President and Board Chairman of M2 technologies. Jason Cordova is an author. And Mike Williamson is an author and editor.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb (author of Skinbrain) this is the September 7, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 32 minutes]. This is the second half of a discussion panel recorded before a live audience on July 16, 2011 in Chattanooga TN at the SF&F convention LibertyCon. The first half is available in the previous week's episode. Special thanks go to Derek Spraker (who recorded this panel) and to the volunteers of the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company (who provided microphones, a sound board and a sound technician).

News Items: [1] This year's Singularity Summit will be held next month on the weekend of October 15-16, 2011 at the 92nd Street Y, in New York, NY. (Having covered it for his show in 2009, your host recommends it as an excellent event.) [2] The worlds first electric motor composed of a single molecule was created by researchers at Tufts University in Massachusetts. (Previous single molecule motors were powered by chemical reactions or by light, rather than electricity.) The work is being published in the magazine Nature Nanotechnology. [3] Your host's six-month evaluation project of the telomerase activator TA-65 began on September 1, 2011 with a blood test to measure the strength of his and his co-participant's immune systems. The blood test is being performed by UCLA.

John Ringo, Tedd Roberts (AKA: Speaker to Lab Animals) Chris & Janet Morris, Jason Cordova and Mike Williamson are our featured guests.

Topic: The Technological Future of War.

John Ringo is a New York Times best selling novelist with over two million books in print. Tedd Roberts (AKA: Speaker to Lab Animals) is an associate professor at an unspecified "major southeastern medical school." Janet Morris is President and CEO of M2 Technologies, Inc. (a corporation specializing in non-lethal weapons, novel technology applications, tactics and technology). Chris Morris is Vice-President and Board Chairman of M2 technologies. Jason Cordova is an author. And Mike Williamson is an author and editor.

Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb (author of Skinbrain) this is the August 31, 2011 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 29 minutes]. This is the first half of a discussion panel recorded before a live audience on July 16, 2011 in Chattanooga TN at the SF&F convention LibertyCon. The second half will be available next week. Special thanks go to Derek Spraker (who recorded this panel) and to the volunteers of the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company (who provided microphones, a sound board and a sound technician). 

News Item: Your host will begin a six-month evaluation of the telemerase activator TA-65, at the standard dosage, beginning on September 1, 2011. Since he is only 56 years old, his mother will also take it for six months. Being 75 years old, the benefits to her may be more observable. During this six-month evaluation he plans to give the listerners to his show frequent updates. (TA-65 is not sponsoring his show, there will be NO commercials, and the host is not being paid to do this.)