Here’s part two of my reading of Bruce Sterling’s brilliant, seminal book The Hacker Crackdown, a 1992 book that recounts the events that led to the founding of The Electronic Frontier Foundation, my former employer.
Monthly Archives::
June 2007
I’ve been podcasting my fiction since September 2005, and I’ve basically caught up. There are a couple of novels in the can that will be coming into print shortly, and some collaborative stories, but apart from them, I’ve read it all.
So now I’m reading other people’s stuff — at least while I get more in the can. I’m starting with Bruce Sterling’s brilliant, seminal book The Hacker Crackdown, a 1992 book that recounts the events that led to the founding of The Electronic Frontier Foundation, my former employer. Bruce released the book as a free electronic download nearly 10 years before I did the same with my first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.
This book changed my life — and the lives of countless others. It inspired me politically, artistically and socially. Last week, I saw Bruce at his home in Serbia and asked him if he minded my reading this aloud for the next 20 weeks or so. He gave me his blessing — so here it is.
Pavol Hvizdos, a Slovak speaker, has translated three of my books into Slovakian — Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, and Overclocked. The translations are Creative Commons licensed for your remixing and sharing pleasure.
I can’t tell you how awesomely cool it is to have readers spontaneously undertake major translation projects just for the fun of it. I believe that sharing my books under CC licenses inspires my readers to promote them, and this is the proof that it works. w00t!
Pavol Hvizdos, a Slovak speaker, has translated three of my books into Slovakian — Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, and Overclocked. The translations are Creative Commons licensed for your remixing and sharing pleasure.
I can’t tell you how awesomely cool it is to have readers spontaneously undertake major translation projects just for the fun of it. I believe that sharing my books under CC licenses inspires my readers to promote them, and this is the proof that it works. w00t!
Pavol Hvizdos, a Slovak speaker, has translated three of my books into Slovakian — Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, and Overclocked. The translations are Creative Commons licensed for your remixing and sharing pleasure.
I can’t tell you how awesomely cool it is to have readers spontaneously undertake major translation projects just for the fun of it. I believe that sharing my books under CC licenses inspires my readers to promote them, and this is the proof that it works. w00t!
I could not be happier right now! My novella, When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth (published in my collection Overclocked) just won the Locus Award for best novelette of 2006. A million thanks to everyone who voted for it — I’ve got a 12h plane ride coming up, and this’ll keep me warm the whole way.
Also: check out the awesome company I’m in: Vernor Vinge and Ellen Kushner and Charlie Stross and Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett and Naomi Novik!
This is the third Locus Award I’ve won in a row. A million thanks to Eileen Gunn for delivering this acceptance speech on my behalf: “Systems administrators are the unsung heroes of the twenty first century, our tireless morlocks who keep the entire universe running. The best sysadmins I’ve met treat their jobs as holy callings. They understand that they’re keeping the infrastructure of the information age alive and functional.
Many thanks to my sysadmin, Ken Snider, and to all the other sysadmins who make my life possible. And many thanks to Jim Baen and Eric Flint for publishing this. ”
Best Science Fiction Novel:
Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge (Tor)
Best Fantasy Novel:
The Privilege of the Sword, Ellen Kushner (Bantam Spectra)
Best First Novel:
Temeraire: His Majesty’s Dragon/Throne of Jade/Black Powder, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Voyager); as Temeraire: In the Service of the King (SFBC)
Best Young Adult Book:
Wintersmith, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; HarperTempest)
Best Novella:
“Missile Gap”, Charles Stross (One Million A.D.)
Best Novelette:
“When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth”, Cory Doctorow (Baen’s Universe 8/06)
Best Short Story:
“How to Talk to Girls at Parties”, Neil Gaiman (Fragile Things)
I could not be happier right now! My novella, When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth (published in my collection Overclocked) just won the Locus Award for best novelette of 2006. A million thanks to everyone who voted for it — I’ve got a 12h plane ride coming up, and this’ll keep me warm the whole way.
Also: check out the awesome company I’m in: Vernor Vinge and Ellen Kushner and Charlie Stross and Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett and Naomi Novik!
This is the third Locus Award I’ve won in a row. A million thanks to Eileen Gunn for delivering this acceptance speech on my behalf: “Systems administrators are the unsung heroes of the twenty first century, our tireless morlocks who keep the entire universe running. The best sysadmins I’ve met treat their jobs as holy callings. They understand that they’re keeping the infrastructure of the information age alive and functional.
Many thanks to my sysadmin, Ken Snider, and to all the other sysadmins who make my life possible. And many thanks to Jim Baen and Eric Flint for publishing this. ”
Best Science Fiction Novel:
Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge (Tor)
Best Fantasy Novel:
The Privilege of the Sword, Ellen Kushner (Bantam Spectra)
Best First Novel:
Temeraire: His Majesty’s Dragon/Throne of Jade/Black Powder, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Voyager); as Temeraire: In the Service of the King (SFBC)
Best Young Adult Book:
Wintersmith, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK; HarperTempest)
Best Novella:
“Missile Gap”, Charles Stross (One Million A.D.)
Best Novelette:
“When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth”, Cory Doctorow (Baen’s Universe 8/06)
Best Short Story:
“How to Talk to Girls at Parties”, Neil Gaiman (Fragile Things)
Here’s part seven — the conclusion — of my podcast of my novella-in-progress called “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow/Now is the Best Time of Your Life.”
Ever wonder how the copyright wars started? I think it has a lot to do with the national frenzy over the “information revolution” in the 80s and 90s and the certainty that the future would be all about selling bits. I argue this case in my new Information Week column, and show how trading the US manufacturing sector to preserve the entertainment industry was especially dumb in the “information age,” because from here on it, it’s just going to get easier and easier to copy information.
Not too long ago, back in 1985, the Senate was ready to clobber the music industry for exposing America’s impressionable youngsters to sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. For America, that was nothing new. Through most of it’s history, the U.S. government has been at odds with the entertainment giants, treating them as purveyors of filth.
Not anymore. The relationship between the entertainment industry and the U.S. government today is pretty cozy. Entertainment is using America’s clout to force Russia to institute police inspections of its CD presses, apparently oblivious to the irony of post-Soviet Russia forgoing its hard-won freedom of the press to protect Disney and Universal. The U.S. attorney general is proposing to expand the array of legal tools at the RIAA’s disposal, giving the organization the ability to attack people who simply attempt infringement.
How did entertainment go from trenchcoat pervert to top trade priority? I blame the “Information Economy.”
