This week was a bit of a highly generative and exciting few or four days here at the Near Future Laboratory’s Distributed Global Headquarters. You see, there were some diverts and distractions, the most exciting of which is we have the nearly final draft of The Manual of Design Fiction in our networked hands. (And sign up on that link there to get on the special list!)

The gang and I have been studiously reading it through and sending it to our trusted gentle readers and it’s all terribly exciting. Finally. 12 years after writing a ‘short essay’ on Design Ficiton, a manual for practicing it is nearly here! (And we’re arguing over the precise title, which is very bourgeois, given everything else.)

So, while I had a draft of an issue drafted, I didn’t allow the time to proof it, prefering to focus the creative juices on reading through this galley of The Manual.

But, in lieu of something to read this week, I want to draw your attention to the fact that, in the last newsletter, I mentioned the work of Professor David Kirby and his important book “Lab Coats in Hollywood”.

Through exquisite timing and a Sunday evening spent in the 1st (and only) floor Podcast Editing Booth recording and editing audio, the latest episode of the Near Future Laboratory Podcast features a conversation with David, which I would encourage you to listen to as it ties things together and you can hear about the diegetic prototype straight from him!

I’ll be back next week with a long note on The Annual Report as a Design Fiction archetype par excellence.