The Italian publisher Apogeo commissioned a professional Italian translation of my Creative Commons-licensed essay collection Content and released their edition as a free, noncommercial download!
Content:
Selezione di saggi sulla tecnologia, la creatività, il copyright
(Grazie, Fabio!)
My latest Locus column, “Close Enough for Rock ‘n’ Roll,” discusses the way that the net makes it possible to do something almost as good as its offline equivalent for a fraction of the cost, and how that changes everything:
In other words, rock ‘n’ roll is cheap, experimental and fluid, and devotes most of its energy into the production of music. Orchestral music is expensive, formal and majestic, but tithes a large portion of its effort to coordination and overheads and maintenance.If the Internet has a motif, it is rock ‘n’ roll’s Protestant Reformation thrashing against the orchestral One Church. Rock ‘n’ roll gets lots of wee kirks built in every hill and dale in which parishioners can find religion in their own ways; choral music erects majestic cathedrals that humble and amaze, but take three generations of laborers to build.
The interesting bit isn’t what it costs to replicate some big, pre-Internet business or project.
The interesting bit is what it costs to do something half as well as some big, pre-Internet business or project.
Cory Doctorow: Close Enough for Rock ‘n’ Roll
(Image: Rock-n-Roll Adventure Kids, a Creative Commons Attribution photo from Invisible Hour’s photostream)
Here’s part seven of the podcast of my story in progress, MARTIAN CHRONICLES, being written for Jonathan Strahan’s YA Mars book, LIFE ON MARS.
Mastering by John Taylor Williams: wryneckstudio@gmail.com
John Taylor Williams is a full-time self-employed audio engineer, producer, composer, and sound designer. In his free time, he makes beer, jewelry, odd musical instruments and furniture. He likes to meditate, to read and to cook.
The debut issue of Digital Content Quarterly has a sweet one-page interview with me, conducted by Michelle Pauli, who also wrote about Makers for the Guardian. Here, Michelle asks me what excites me about the future.
Each installment in Tor.com’s serialization of my latest novel Makers was accompanied by a Creative Commons licensed illustration from Idiots’ Books, in the form of a tile that can be interlocked with previous tiles on all four sides. We’re planning to release these as a limited-edition deck of cards in the future, and we’ve also been releasing little flashtoys that let you play with the tiles onscreen as they were released.
Now Tor has an embeddable version, courtesy of Malloc, which you can stick in your blog or wherever you choose! Here’s the code:
Fernando Orbis, a reader in Spain, was inspired to translate my story I, Robot (from my collection Overclocked) into European Spanish. He says he did it to practice, and “because when I tried to find a translation in your website to share it with some friends that do not know enough English I did not find any and neither I found your book ‘Overclocked’ edited in Spanish.” Gracias, Fernando!
Arturo Icaza de Arana-Goldberg, Detective de Policía de Tercer Grado, Esfera NorteAmericana de Comercio, Tercer Distrito, Cuarta Prefectura, Segunda División (Parkdale) había tenido muchas aventuras en su distinguida carrera, atrapando a sinvergüenzas con una imbatible combinación de instinto y devoción al deber sin restricciones. Había sido condecorado en tres ocasiones distintas por su comandante y por el Gerente Regional de Armonía Social, y su madre mantenía un altar dedicado a sus recortes de prensa y menciones que ocupaba la mayoría de la atiborrada sala de estar de su apartamento en Steeles Avenue.
Aunque ninguna cantidad de técnica o devoción policial le era de utilidad en la tarea de de preparar a su hija de doce años para ir al colegio.
—Mueve el culo, jovencita, fuera de la cama, en pie, cagar-ducharse-afeitarse, o juro por dios que te sacudo hasta ponerte como un tomate y te saco por la puerta completamente desnuda, ¿capichi?
El montículo bajo las mantas gruñó y siseó.
—Eres un padre terrible—dijo—. Y nunca te he querido.
La voz sonaba indistinta, amortigüada por la almohada.
—Buah buah—dijo Arturo, examinando sus uñas—. Lamentarás haber dicho eso cuando haya muerto de cáncer.
El montículo, cuyo nombre era Ada Trouble Icaza de Arana-Goldberg, echó a un lado las sábanas y se incorporó de un salto.
—¿Te estás muriendo de cáncer? ¿Es cáncer de testículos?—Ada aplaudía y daba grititos de alegría—¿Me puedo quedar con tus cosas?
Fernando Orbis, a reader in Spain, was inspired to translate my story I, Robot (from my collection Overclocked) into European Spanish. He says he did it to practice, and “because when I tried to find a translation in your website to share it with some friends that do not know enough English I did not find any and neither I found your book ‘Overclocked’ edited in Spanish.” Gracias, Fernando!
Arturo Icaza de Arana-Goldberg, Detective de Policía de Tercer Grado, Esfera NorteAmericana de Comercio, Tercer Distrito, Cuarta Prefectura, Segunda División (Parkdale) había tenido muchas aventuras en su distinguida carrera, atrapando a sinvergüenzas con una imbatible combinación de instinto y devoción al deber sin restricciones. Había sido condecorado en tres ocasiones distintas por su comandante y por el Gerente Regional de Armonía Social, y su madre mantenía un altar dedicado a sus recortes de prensa y menciones que ocupaba la mayoría de la atiborrada sala de estar de su apartamento en Steeles Avenue.
Aunque ninguna cantidad de técnica o devoción policial le era de utilidad en la tarea de de preparar a su hija de doce años para ir al colegio.
—Mueve el culo, jovencita, fuera de la cama, en pie, cagar-ducharse-afeitarse, o juro por dios que te sacudo hasta ponerte como un tomate y te saco por la puerta completamente desnuda, ¿capichi?
El montículo bajo las mantas gruñó y siseó.
—Eres un padre terrible—dijo—. Y nunca te he querido.
La voz sonaba indistinta, amortigüada por la almohada.
—Buah buah—dijo Arturo, examinando sus uñas—. Lamentarás haber dicho eso cuando haya muerto de cáncer.
El montículo, cuyo nombre era Ada Trouble Icaza de Arana-Goldberg, echó a un lado las sábanas y se incorporó de un salto.
—¿Te estás muriendo de cáncer? ¿Es cáncer de testículos?—Ada aplaudía y daba grititos de alegría—¿Me puedo quedar con tus cosas?
Each installment in Tor.com’s serialization of my latest novel Makers was accompanied by a Creative Commons licensed illustration from Idiots’ Books, in the form of a tile that can be interlocked with previous tiles on all four sides. We’re planning to release these as a limited-edition deck of cards in the future, and we’ve also been releasing little flashtoys that let you play with the tiles onscreen as they were released.
Now Tor has an embeddable version, courtesy of Malloc, which you can stick in your blog or wherever you choose! Here’s the code:
In the end, Makers feels like a personal, cultural, and literary milestone: an employment of the full literary toolbox of SF, in the service of a portrait of how the world actually works.
If only every genre author set out with the same high ambitions, there would be no talk of SF’s failures, only triumphs.
