The future has caught up with the visions of the original cyberpunk writers — their virtual communities, online identities, encrypted data packets, communication gadgets, and rampant digital viruses are all here — and now the future’s uncharted territory is about intellectual property and copyright protection. Many of the original cyberpunk crew have retreated to the present and the past, while Cory Doctorow has stepped up to the future.
A group of “radio pirates” in the US are making part of Eastern Standard Tribe come true:
Lynch, 31, is one of a handful of iPod owners using the device to transmit FM radio stations from their car. He uses a bumper sticker on the back of his fender that reads “iPod @ 89.1 FM” to let passers-by know how to tune in…
“I put on some profanity. Comedy, R-rated comedy, Chris Rock’s early stuff. Then I called [his friend] up on his cell phone and he was two cars behind me. I said, ‘You’re not going to believe this, but somebody up here is broadcasting swear words! Tune to 89.1FM.’ He turns to the station and he’s like, ‘I can’t believe I’m hearing this!’ It was a big joke for a few minutes.”
Once a friend suggested using a bumper sticker to advertise the frequency on which he was transmitting, Lynch was off and running. He became his own mini-pirate radio station.
“For four car-lengths around me was this little bubble of â€â€? me! Whatever I wanted to listen to! So I could be listening to Chris Rock talking about dating and meeting women in a club and then the next song go straight to Neil Sadaka.”
(Thanks, Ken!)
Vodaphone’s Receiver magazine has just reprinted an excerpt from Eastern Standard Tribe!
Eastern Standard Tribe is cited as background reading for the upcoming Cyberspace Law Committee meeting at the American Bar Association 2004 Annual Meeting:
The passage below is from Cory’s latest book, Eastern Standard Tribe. It’s a fun romp. In an early part of the book, the protagonist has a car accident, and he finds himself in need of a lawyer. So, where does he turn? The chat room for his Tribe. (You’ll have to read the book to understand the Tribal references). The exchange below highlights many of the issues under discussin by the Cyberspace Law Committee, and that’s why I’m including this passage here. As you’ll see, he not only finds a lawyer, and forms an attorney client relationship, but he also gets certification of the lawyer’s credentials, reviews his standard representation agreement in “smartcontract” form, and executes it. All without leaving the chat room.
For those of you not familiar with chat rooms, you may initially be confused by the syntax. It’s probably easiest to treat this as if it were a script. Each line starts with the “handle” of the person who’s talking in the Chat Room. “Trepan” is the client/protagonist. “Junta” is the lawyer. I’ve edited the passage somewhat to focus your attention on the cyberspace law issues.
I’ve found it kind of rare to stumble over a book that really speaks to me, that resonates, clicks in with a core aspect of my life. Eastern Standard Tribe is one of them.
I’ve never seen Amazon do this before — they’ve got Eastern Standard Tribe on sale at a 60 percent discount — that’s $9.58 for the new hardcover! Hell, that’s less that I get ’em for.
The paperback edition of my novel Eastern Standard Tribe is in production, and my publisher has requested an errata sheet with collected typos, spelling errors, consistency problems, etc. Last year, William Gibson solicited message-board feedback from his readers to help him produce the errata sheet for the paperback of Pattern Recognition, but I wanna go one better, so I’ve put up a Wiki (a kind of web-page that anyone can edit) for anyone who’s got a favorite EST correction that s/he wants to see made in the next edition.
Changes are due by July 21 — thanks in advance!
On May 30, the Ottawa Citizen ran a great profile on me and my books, with a sidebar on other authors who ppost their work online. The Citizen has a weird policy where they only let subscribers see their online archives, but Brent Kirwan, a generous reader, has sent me a high-resolution photo of the newspaper spread where you can read it yourself.
Chris Noble spotted this in the Columbus Dispatch: Eastern Standard Tribe topped their list of summer reading:
Eastern Standard Tribe
In a quick-paced, near-future satire by Cory Doctorow, a man is betrayed
by his Internet ”tribe.” (Tor, $23.95)Paladin of Souls
Lois McMaster Bujold’s sequel to The Curse of Chalion is high fantasy
about a madwoman who challenges the gods. (Eos, $24.95)The Salt Roads
An African goddess of love connects three women separated by centuries
and continents in a magic- realist novel by Nalo Hopkinson. (Warner
Books, $22.95)The Zenith Angle
Ubergeek turns cyber-warrior in the aftermath of Sept. 11, with all the
usual Bruce Sterling insights and surprises. (Del Rey, $24.95)
Thanks, Chris!
The wonderful online sf mag Infinity Plus has just published an excerpt from my novel Eastern Standard Tribe.
