Welcome to the August issue of Hacker Chronicles!

Barely made it during August, I know. The text just got more and more massive and I eventually had to divide it into pieces.

This month's piece covers the first three short stories in Isaac Asimov's I, Robot. They were all written during WWII and envisioned a robot-filled future around present time.

During the fall, I'll review the middle three stories which will set us up nicely for a review of the I, Robot movie from 2004 which is based on short story six, Little Lost Robot.

Welcome to the July issue of Hacker Chronicles!

I hope you're coping in the heat if you're in the Northern Hemisphere. We're dealing with a broken AC ourselves at the moment.

This month's feature article is about something that's popular in both novels and movies, namely hiding messages and challenging the main character to decipher them. There's a real thrill when the main character gets it right, perhaps after being misled for quite some time. The formal word for such hiding messages is steganography. It comes from Greek and combines the words steganós, meaning covered or concealed, and -graphia meaning writing.

Enjoy! /John

Welcome to the June issue of Hacker Chronicles!

This month’s feature is a review of Blade Runner which is my all-time favorite movie. I’ve watched it twice in a movie theater, and in its original cut, director’s cut, and final cut at home. It’s the ultimate cyberpunk visual and it has the best soundtrack of any movie, composed by Vangelis.

Enjoy!

Regards, John

Welcome to the May issue of Hacker Chronicles!

Last month I reviewed 2001: A Space Odyssey with the sentient computer Hal. We are now going deeper on that subject, into human’s ability to detect artificial intelligence, robots, and cyborgs. And our fear of superhuman capabilities.

That will set us up nicely for upcoming newsletter issues reviewing my all-time favorite movie Blade Runner with its Voight-Kampff test. I also intend to review I, Robot by Isaac Asimov (book + movie), Ex Machina, and Terminator 1 & 2. So take the opportunity to (re)watch those movies now.

Regards, John Wilander

Welcome to the April issue of Hacker Chronicles!

This month's feature is a review of the classic movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. I've had it on my list ever since I started this newsletter. The review even covers the original 1948 short story The Sentinel. Enjoy!

Regards, John Wilander

Writing Update

Welcome to the February issue of Hacker Chronicles!

Last month I visited New York City for the first time in many years and went to Liberty Bagels. You might remember it from a conversation between BestBye and her sister in my novel Identified. Yes, the bagels were awesome, and our kids had the rainbow ones.

In this newsletter issue we delve into talking computers, or speech synthesis. It plays a role in our interaction with machines today, and has been for decades in fiction. This topic will serve as the lead to my upcoming review of 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick.

Welcome to the February issue of Hacker Chronicles!

This issue features a deep dive on “Fraktal encryption” which is a key part of the plot in my hacker thriller Identified. And I will reveal an Easter egg related to the book and Fraktal.

I have a favor to ask: Why not suggest the newsletter to a friend, coworker, or family member! I’m sure you have folks around you who care about hackers and computers in movies. 🙂 Send them this link. And if they’re privacy conscious like me, be sure to tell them that the newsletter free of tracking – no pixels or click IDs. Thank you!

/John

Happy New Year, doubly, and welcome to the January issue of Hacker Chronicles!

I hope the start of 2023 has been good to you. We had storms and enormous amounts of rain in California. The water is great for the snow pack in Sierra Nevada and our reservoirs but created a lot of damage in rural areas. 21 people died. 😢 One of the beaches we like to go to – Capitola Beach – was among the hardest hit.

Since then it’s calmed down and now California is green.

This issue of my newsletter features a topic I find fascinating and which plays a key role in the plot of my novel Identified, namely long-term storage of data.

Happy Holidays, and welcome to the December issue of Hacker Chronicles!

Many subscribers have joined since I got started a year and a half ago so let me mention what you'll get from this. It's a monthly newsletter about hackers in fiction. Each month has a feature article where I review movies and novels, or explore topics that are popular in hacker fiction such as hacker gear or hacking the human body. You also get a monthly update on my own writing.

You can check out the whole archive with for instance reviews of the Matrix trilogy here.

I'm now active on Mastodon.

Welcome to the November and Thanksgiving issue of Hacker Chronicles!

The holiday season is upon us and I’m on the final stretch of NaNoWriMo.

This month’s newsletter feature is The Shell, or command line interfaces and how they show up in hacker fiction. There’s also reason beyond the obvious and that is to set us up for a review of the hacker manga and anime classic Ghost in the Shell in the December issue. Enjoy!

/John

Welcome to the October issue of Hacker Chronicles!

The nights are getting chilly in California. My wife and I have a yearly game of chicken of who’s the first to turn on the heat, so I’m writing this to you clad in three layers, wool socks, and a beanie. #winning

I’m about to start a month of intense writing. See NaNoWriMo below.

In this month’s letter, I have a nerdy monthly feature for you, going into a fundamental part of how hacking works. Enjoy!

Welcome to the September issue of Hacker Chronicles!

Sorry about last month’s duplicate letter. I sent my service provider an error report as soon as I noticed and I’ve included their technical rundown of the bug at the end of this issue, for your indulgence.

This month’s feature is special. It completes the review of what I consider the golden triple of original hacker movies!

Movie one of the triple is WarGames (1983) and its hero is an example of an unintentional hacker – a person who out of curiosity starts to poke at computer systems and finds criminal plans afoot or triggers something dangerous. You can read my review here.

Welcome to the August issue of Hacker Chronicles!

The backside blurb of The Hacker's Dictionary from 1983 says that the book is "a Berlitz to the underground world of the hacker culture, behavior, eating habits, moods, and assorted computer-jock values." It spends a whole page on the words random and randomness. If you've read Identified or are versed in cryptography, you know that randomness and pseudo randomness are pillars of cybersecurity. That's why this month's feature topic is randomness.

But first I'm delighted to show you what will soon become the new cover of my novel.

Enjoy! /John

Welcome to the July issue of Hacker Chronicles!

I hope you’re all coping with the heatwave that’s hammering the northern hemisphere. It’s been as hot in Sweden as it is in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Sweden is at the latitude of Alaska.

This month’s feature goes into thoughts and research related to my novel Identified, namely being able to authenticate through brain waves, or pass thoughts. Enjoy!

/John

Welcome to the June issue of Hacker Chronicles!

I’m late this month because I’m traveling internationally for the first time in 2.5 years. This past weekend was Midsummer in Sweden and I’ve seen so much family and friends the last two weeks that it’s overwhelming. I hope you too have a chance to do things that were harder before the Covid vaccines and all the knowledge we now have on reducing risk.

It’s finally time for a hacker review of the third Matrix movie, The Matrix Revolutions. Enjoy!

Regards, John

Welcome to the May issue of Hacker Chronicles!

Last month I reviewed the 1950s short story The Minority Report. If you haven’t read that review yet, you can do it here.

In this issue I will review the 2002 blockbuster movie. Screenplay by Scott Frank and Jon Cohen, directed by Steven Spielberg, and loosely based on the novella. Enjoy!

/John

Welcome to the April issue of Hacker Chronicles!

I recently reviewed the science fiction classic Colossus by D.F. Jones. It features super computers and the Cold War arms race, and was later turned into a movie. If you haven’t read that review yet, check out the February issue here.

In this issue I will review the origins of another great book+movie pair – The Minority Report.

This is the 12th regular installment of this newsletter and I’d love to hear what you think so far. Do you like the mix? Is the level of nerdiness right for you? Do you enjoy the lengthy book/movie reviews or do you prefer the shorter topic discussions such as “hacking printers?” Something more you’d like from my writing updates?

Welcome to the March issue of Hacker Chronicles!

I’ve been fretting the fact that I didn’t mention the war in Ukraine in my previous newsletter issue. It was written prior to the February 24th invasion – I typically work on book and movie reviews for a couple of weeks – but it was sent the day after. Let me just say now that I’m appalled by Kremlin’s actions and empathize with Ukrainians who defend their country or flee to save their lives. War in Europe makes me very, very sad.

Below you’ll find my exploration of hacking printers.

Take care!
/John

Welcome to the February issue of Hacker Chronicles!

Below you’ll find the first progress bar for the writing of my next novel and a review of the science fiction classic Colossus by D.F. Jones.

Enjoy!
/John

Writing Update

Welcome to the January issue of Hacker Chronicles, and Happy New Year!

I decided to hold off reviewing The Matrix Revolutions (2003) to not make this a Matrix newsletter. Instead, I’m opening up a part of Hacker Chronicles that I’ve had in mind all along, namely sharing the research I do for my hacker fiction writing. You’ll get some more time to read Identified before I delve into the research I did for that book. This issue instead features research I’ve been doing on and off for a while – on hacking genes and brains. Scary stuff.

Take care!
/John

Writing Update – Paperback Available Today!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The last few weeks have been intense due the Binary Release of Identified. Thank you, all of you who bought it!

This issue of Hacker Chronicles features pre-order + release date + cover reveal for the ebook version of Identified, and my review of the movie Matrix Reloaded just in time for the release of Matrix Resurrections. Enjoy!

/John

Hi again!

Sorry for another email but so many of you are asking for clarification.

Anyone who placed an order before I sent the previous email is in batch 1, i.e. I have a copy for you and will get it sent out as soon as possible. Batch 2 is for orders after that point. Several of my subscribers have not yet placed an order and I wanted information to go out quickly so people knew what they were signing up for. I’m sorry this wasn’t clear in my previous email.

Everyone who’s placed an order will get an email from me once the book on its way. I have orders from Austria, Malta, New Zealand, France, Finland, Norway, and Canada, besides the two big ones – USA and Sweden. Super exciting!

Hi!

I just wanted to let you know that I’m sold out of batch 1 of Identified and will need to print more books to fulfill further orders.

I thought 100 copies would last longer but I underestimated it. Super grateful for that of course but I also feel with the folks who might not have read their email over the weekend or postponed their purchase for some reason.

You’re not out of luck! 256 is the real cap. This Thursday (Dec 16th) is the cutoff for batch 2 and you can still order here: https://hackerfiction.net/books/identified/forSubscriberz/

Welcome to the December issue of Hacker Chronicles!

Have I got a jam-packed issue for you. The sales start of my hacker thriller Identified and a review of The Matrix.

All the best, John

Available Now: Identified 🎉

Welcome to the November issue of Hacker Chronicles!

First of all, it’s been Thanksgiving and I want to say thank you.

I’m very fortunate to have stayed healthy so far through this pandemic. Also to have a reservation for a booster shot in a week and to have not suffered any losses or serious illness in my family. In addition, I’m thankful for the mental health I’ve been able to sustain through the stress and weirdness of these almost two years. I no longer have a pillow readily available in my home office to lay down on when it gets heavy.

My thankfulness covers you too. You are the group of supporters who’ve decided to give this debut author a chance. I’ve been eagerly waiting to get you the details of my book release but a few things are causing a delay (see below). So in this letter, there’s a hacker gear feature article for you to enjoy while we all wait.

Welcome to the October issue of Hacker Chronicles! This month’s feature article looks at the origins of cyberspace, stretching from 1960s art through 1980s fiction to today’s internet conflicts. But first a note on my upcoming novel.

Soon-To-Be-Released: “Identified”

My copyeditor is finishing up the formatting for print and electronic versions of my novel “Identified.” We’ve been discussing monospace fonts, kerning, and print-quality illustrations. And just a few hours ago I ordered a physical proof copy with the special cover featured in last month’s letter. It looks like 385 pages of hard hacker fiction will be unleashed in November!

You as a subscriber will get to know exactly when the sales page for the initial, limited release will go live. And you will be the first to get the link to that page.

Welcome to the September issue of Hacker Chronicles, the hacker fiction newsletter! This issue features both a review of the movie-classic Sneakers and sneak peek of the cover for the limited Binary Release of my novel “Identified.” Sneaky!

Regards, John Wilander

September Feature: Review of Sneakers (1992)

Sneakers is one of the golden trio in silver screen hacker fiction. It was directed by Phil Alden Robinson and written by Robinson, Walter Parkes, and Lawrence Lasker. Parker and Lasker also wrote the script for WarGames which makes them legend in this field.

Welcome to the August issue of Hacker Chronicles, the hacker fiction newsletter!

Regards, John Wilander

August Feature: The Mystery of the Hack and the Negative Bookshelf

Back when I was a PhD student in software security, I dug deep into exploitable bugs and wrote a bunch of attack code, even code that attacked itself. I wanted to unravel the mystery of how you break into a computer program and I can tell you it was really rewarding.

Welcome to the July issue of Hacker Chronicles, the hacker fiction newsletter. Here you’ll get news and updates on my writing as well as reviews and commentary on hacker fiction in general.

Regards, John Wilander

July Feature: Review of Johnny Mnemonic (1981, 1995)

My review of Johnny Mnemonic – a 1981 short story by William Gibson and a 1995 movie directed by Robert Longo and written by Gibson.

Welcome to Hacker Chronicles, the hacker fiction newsletter! This is where you’ll get news and updates on my writing as well as reviews and commentary on hacker fiction in general. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Regards, John Wilander

June Feature: Hackers, Crackers, and Cybercriminals

What is a hacker?