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More NerdCore Science Fiction From Cory Doctorow
Andrew Leonard writes "Cory Doctorow has published a new short story in Salon. This time around, he's imagined a cyberpunk wi-fi future, with spectrum cops, a mobile multinational startup, and guerilla warfare on Indian reservations. Readers who liked his previous story, "0wnz0red" will undoubtedly savor this one." We've posted things about Cory before, but I personally enjoy his writing, so here's more!
He's enjoyed a few brief jumps up the best seller lists at Amazon. He's been up to the triple digits. It'd be cool to see him pushed into the double digits.
Wi-Fi is the Never Ending Buzzword (tm)!
Pedro Côrte-Real.
This may be obvious, but try the print layout to skip paging and avoid the huge ads in the middle of the text.
His ability to write is rather average. The underdeveloped characters are stereotypes and he uses excruciating detail to describe minutia which DOES NOT MATTER. Writing involves showing the TELLING details and having a strong sense of POV.
Nowadays, everyone with a computer thinks hes a writer!
Why does everyone with a computer think they're a critic? =P
Salon has a bunch of good content. Maybe you agree that this story is good. Subscribe!
check out the Prime Intellect novella-length story
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
I read 0wnz0red last week -- someone here on /. had a link to it in their sig. One of the great things about Doctorow's sci-fi is the "feasibility" of it. In particular, I wonder how close we really are to the microcontroller that interfaces directly to the human nervous system. Ten years? Twenty? Surely it will happen within our lifetimes (?). When it does, let's just hope that the API is open-source. :)
Plug in the back of your neck = matrix
Programming yourself = Nano's from AO
MIB's and Gmen in the black mesa desert = half life.
I found the story interesting mainly because of the locations. Small details like eating el torito burrito's along the 101, living here in the bay area I know all these spots, it almost makes the story more realistic to me in that sense.
The really interesting thing is seeing how modern writers take what they see now, and apply that to their story.
The whole, healing aids virus thing was a trip, probably the most original thing in the story. Other than that though, the story is just silicon valley facts mixed in with hollywood/gaming fiction.
I liked it though.
Paul Boutin just wrote up Doctorow's novel in this story.
Making trouble today for a better tomorrow...
As other folks have pointed out, this guy's writing is heavy on irrelevant details, and weak on character development (i.e., salient details.) One thing I never figured out on reading 0wnz0r3d (sp?) was which of the two main characters were gay, if either was. It's not the most important detail, but it seems relevant to character development - yet I don't think it's answerable based on the text.
Cantankerous old coot since 1957.
By that do you mean nerds' porn or nerd porn? Like goatse?
Repeal the DMCA!
Well, they just showed a shot of him. Thick black glasses, flat top, blue Star Trek : TOS shirt, no hat.
And oh, the story? I liked it... inconsequential stuff that reminded me a bit of Sterling and his Leggy Starlitz character ("Zeitgeist," anyone?).
Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?
Your ability to post a negative comment about someone who has spent a lot of time on something they care about (and giving it away for free) is rather average. It's hardly worth the score 5 you currently have. The over-capitalization of words and excruciatingly uninspired or thought-provoking critique really does not matter.
Nowadays, everyone with a slashdot account thinks they're a critic!
He explicitly asks people not to do this, though I do understand the appeal; that was my first thought too. But his thinking seems to be that if it looks like he's making a profit away from the publisher, the publisher may not agree to letting him publish a free version next time.
He suggests buying a book and donating it to a library. I'd also suggest buying a copy or two as gifts... it's good reading!
Everybody who has more than a couple (dozen?) stories started who are going to finish them "one of these days" please raise your hand. (Ouch, I can't count that high.)
I would argue that the details DO matter. What makes these stories interesting are the technical / political / social concepts each story explores. To better express these concepts, a certain degree of detail is needed.
The trouble is, this detail ends up highlighting a lack of detail elsewhere. There are attempts at fleshing out the world in which these concepts are playing out. But these attempts ultimately fall flat. One example, as has been pointed out, is the commonly underdeveloped character.
Doctorow has a good start. Enough to be kind of interesting now. I hope he improves with time. Then he may be worthy of the breathless praise his critics currently scoff at.
Subversion is so much more cyberpunk, man.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.