pass the vol-au-vents

Hello, worldbuilders! And welcome to those of you who've signed up in the last few days. Glad you could come—take a chair, get yourself a drink. How are things?

We've got no Actual Announcement this week; I would announce again that I've giving a talk at The Conference here in Malmö on Monday 26th, but the tickets are all gone already. So I guess we'd best get on with the format then, eh?

interview: Karl Schroeder

This week's Big Content™ was the transcript of a long chat I had with science fiction writer and foresight consultant Karl Schroeder.

against the ideas of the nineteen-hundreds: an interview with Karl Schroeder

An interview with author, designer and foresight practitioner Karl Schroeder, on worldbuilding (of course), narrative as an analytical tool, leaving behind the ideas of the nineteen-hundreds, and much more.

Worldbuilding AgencyPaul Graham Raven

This is the first of what will be many interviews in which I want to investigate the notion of worldbuilding, which is a word that means many different things to many different people, but which nonetheless (if you ask me) points to an activity that we all engage in whenever we do futures work, regardless of the methods in play.

If this is the sort of thing that interests you, then you have subscribed to the right newsletter! If you know someone else who might be interested in it, might I ask you to tell them so?

weeknotes

All the boutique-worldbuilding-agency news that's fit to print, but which probably isn't fit for cluttering up your email inbox:

week 33 / 2024

Muggy, sticky, clammy... and that’s just my handshake! This week, we’ve got Kentucky gentlemen and New Yorickan communists, and a whole lot more besides.

Worldbuilding AgencyPaul Graham Raven

Second week of the switched-up approach, and I'm quickly edging closer to the goal of taking only an hour or less to put the weeknotes post together, which is good. The process also seems to be having the desired effect of shaping activities throughout the preceding week. Brilliant!

station ID

Worldbuilding Agency is the online research journal of Magrathea Futures AB, and is written and managed by Paul Graham Raven. Perhaps you'd like to learn more about the site?

Magrathea Futures AB is a boutique creative and critical futures studio, providing worldbuilding and foresight services to the more interesting and adventurous ends of the public, private and academic sectors. If you are wondering what MFAB could do for you, why not get in touch and arrange a call to discuss it?

That's all for this week. What have you been up to? Drop me a line and let me know. In the meantime, take it easy out there!

—pgr