Into the Bobiverse (Interview)

The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

Dennis E. Taylor joins the show to take us “Into the Bobiverse” and other books he’s written. Dennis shares the backstory on how he went from programmer to author/writer and creator of Audible’s Best Science Fiction Book of 2016, his process for iterating and developing the story as he writes, plans for a Bobiverse movie, and what’s next in book 5 coming out in September 2024.

Join the discussion

Changelog++ members save 14 minutes on this episode because they made the ads disappear. Join today!

Sponsors:

• Sentry – Code breaks, fix it faster. Don’t just observe. Take action. Sentry is the only app monitoring platform built for developers that gets to the root cause for every issue. 90,000+ growing teams use sentry to find problems fast. Use the code CHANGELOG when you sign up to get $100 OFF the team plan.
• 1Password – Build securely with 1Password - 1Password simplifies how you securely use, manage, and integrate developer credentials. Manage SSH keys and sign Git commits. Access secrets stored in 1Password. Automate administrative tasks. Integrate with third-party tools. Also, check out our INFRASTRUCTURE.md file for more details on how we do secrets with 1Password.
• Socket – Secure your supply chain and ship with confidence. Install the GitHub app, book a demo or learn more
• Intel Innovation 2024 – Early bird registration is now open for Intel Innovation 2024 in San Jose, CA! Learn more OR register

Featuring:

• Dennis E. Taylor – Twitter
• Adam Stacoviak – Mastodon, Twitter, GitHub, LinkedIn, Website

Show Notes:

• dennisetaylor.org
• We Are Legion (We Are Bob) - on Audible
• Not Till We Are Lost - on Audible
• Feedback - on Audible
• Xprize - Deep Tech + Quantum
• Self-replicating spacecraft on Wikipedia
• Hard science fiction on Wikipedia
• Dennis E. Taylor on Wikipedia

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!

Luvut

1. Into the Bobiverse! (00:00:00)

2. Sponsor: Sentry (00:01:38)

https://sentry.io/

3. Dennis E. Taylor is here (00:04:55)

4. From programmer to writer/author (00:06:18)

5. Revenue sources (00:08:53)

6. Luck and timing (00:10:28)

7. OMG Ray Porter! (00:11:54)

8. Hard SF vs Plausible SF vs SF Fantasy (00:13:28)

9. Becoming a writer (00:15:48)

10. Feedback for Dennis (00:18:44)

11. Sponsor: 1Password (00:24:45)

https://1password.com/changelogpod

12. We Are Legion (explaining the title) (00:27:49)

13. Starting a BIG story (00:29:37)

14. Iterative writing (00:32:02)

15. The significance of VR (00:35:11)

16. What's Bob's motivation? (00:42:27)

17. How to trilogy? (00:44:23)

18. Ethan Ellenberg (Dennis's agent) (00:46:02)

19. Kickstarting a printed version (00:46:49)

20. Movie option for the Bobiverse? (00:48:59)

21. Setting up multiple species (00:55:41)

22. Sponsor: Socket (00:57:57)

https://socket.dev/?utm_source=changelog&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=changelog-interviews

23. Sponsor: Intel Innovation 2024 (01:00:48)

https://intel.com/innovation?regcode=CMCCHL&utm_campaign=Changelog

24. Ray Porter and Dennis (01:02:21)

25. How possible is a movie? (01:05:55)

26. Ready Player One / Ready Player Two (01:06:50)

27. When will the movie come out? (01:10:38)

28. Book 5 teaser (01:12:53)

29. Timing in the book (01:14:34)

30. Xprize working group (01:16:19)

31. The Fly (01:23:29)

32. Bobiverse after book 5 (01:24:24)

33. Bob, out. (01:26:02)

34. Closing thoughts and thanks (01:27:36)