Argon Verlag, publishers of the German audiobook edition of my novel Little Brother, are fed up with all the man-the-barricades talk about audiobook piracy. So they commissioned a very high quality reading of the German text, read by Oliver Rohrbeck, a beloved German voice-actor (star of the long-running radio drama Die Drei ??? and overdub voice of Ben Stiller). The abridgement is being sold on six CDs for €19.95.

Fans of the abridged reading and everyone else who is interested in the audiobook are being asked to pay in towards a full, free, unabridged release, also read by Rohrbeck. Once the total of €9000 is raised, the unabridged recording will also be released, free of charge, without DRM, under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license, free for all comers (if the total sum isn’t raised by a set time, all the money is refunded).

What’s even cooler is that the audiobook (and the German print book, from Rowohlt), co-exist happily with a free fan-translation of the novel by Christian Wöhrl and a free fan audiobook reading by Fabian Neidhardt. Fans are free to promote the work to other fans, for free, while commercial operators produce commercial editions.

I’m going on a multi-city tour of Germany in September and I’m hoping to meet Christian and Fabian so that I can thank them in person. I’m also hoping that fans of the free editions support my cool, sharing-friendly German publishers and reward them for their open attitude towards free and paid media.

What this is about

Danielle Mathieux, an MFA student, produced an alternate cover for my novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom as part of her degree. She’s released it under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. I think it’s just swell!

I’m reading and signing book at the fantastic University Book Store in Seattle this Monday, April 5 at 7PM. Also on the bill are Mark Henry, Jeanne Stein, and Jaye Wells. Hope to see you there!

Events Calendar – University Book Store, Seattle Washington

I’m headed to Seattle this weekend to be one of the guests of honor at Norwescon, along with (among others), Vernor Vinge. If you’re in Seattle and you can make it, I’d love to say hi! Here’s my programming schedule for the event:

Thursday, 7:00 p.m., Opening Ceremonies
William Sadorus (M), Dr. John G. Cramer, Cory Doctorow, David Hartwell, John Jude Palencar, Vernor Vinge

Thursday, 8:00– 10:00 p.m., Artist/Pro Guest Reception
Dr. John G. Cramer, Cory Doctorow, David Hartwell, John Jude Palencar, Vernor Vinge

Friday, 11:00 a.m., Computer Misconceptions in Science Fiction Literature and Film
Ted Butler (M), Cory Doctorow, Brian David Johnson, David Shoemaker

Friday, 2:00 p.m., Intellectual Property and Creative Commons
Eileen Gunn (M), Ben Dobyns, Cory Doctorow, Elton Elliott

Friday, 4:00 – 5:00 p.m., Autograph Session #1

Friday, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m., Lifetime Dinner
Dr. John G. Cramer, Cory Doctorow, David Hartwell, John Jude Palencar, Vernor Vinge

Friday, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m., PK Dick Awards
William Sadorus (M), Carlos Cortes, Dr. John G. Cramer, Cory Doctorow, Daryl Gregory, David Hartwell, Ian McDonald, John Jude Palencar, Vernor Vinge

Saturday, 10:00 a.m., Writing For Young Adults
Steven Barnes (M), Alma Alexander, Cory Doctorow, Lisa Mantchev

Saturday, 1:30 p.m., Autograph Session #2

Saturday, 4:00 – 5:30 p.m., Keysigning Reception

Saturday, 6:00 p.m., Surveillance in the 21st Century – is it Good or Bad?
Cat Rambo (M), Cory Doctorow, Eileen Gunn, Ian McDonald

Sunday, Noon, Law and the Virtual World
Cory Doctorow, Andrea Howe, Burt Webb

Sunday, 5:00 p.m., Closing Ceremonies
William Sadorus (M), Dr. John G. Cramer, Cory Doctorow, David Hartwell, Tracy Knoedler, John Jude Palencar, Vernor Vinge

My latest Guardian column, “Does the BPI want MPs to debate the digital economy bill properly?” addresses the British Phonographic Institute’s weird, vehement silence on Parliament’s debate on its pet legislation, the dread Digital Economy Bill. Vehement silence? Oh yes.

Last week, the BPI sent me a vehement denial after I published a report that its spokesman had said that there was no need for further debate over the 24,000+ word bill, claiming he’d said no such thing (Parliament hasn’t debated the bill at all, and at present it seems like it’ll be rammed through with a mere afternoon’s debate). But when I asked whether the BPI believed the debate to date had been sufficient, they just ignored the question.

One long-serving MP told me that under normal circumstances, “a bill of this size would probably have a one-day second reading debate and then about 60 to 80 hours in committee, where it would be scrutinised line by line, clause by clause”. However, under the current accelerated schedule, “it will receive one day for second reading and at the very most, two hours in a committee of the whole house. The government will programme the debate so huge chunks of the bill might not receive any scrutiny at all…”

The BPI’s member companies stand to gain enormous power and wealth from this Bill – including the power to decide which British families are allowed to participate in digital society. They’ve written sections of it. They produce a weekly, in-depth status report on the bill’s progress (albeit these reports are somewhat loony: the leaked one suggested that the MI5 were behind the opposition!).

Are we to believe that they have no opinion on whether this bill has seen enough parliamentary debate?

Does the BPI want MPs to debate the digital economy bill properly?