So, the book launches today. Theoretically, cartons of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom are arriving in bookshops all over the world, even as you read this. I’m pretty psyched.

This site is a way to keep track of the goings-on with the book: stores that are carrying it, new reviews, and general news about the book. I am immensely grateful to Mena Trott and Ben Trott for putting this site together, using their wonderful Movable Type blogging tool.

Most importantly, perhaps, is that this site is a place where you can download the whole goddamned book, completely gratis, in a variety of open, standards-defined formats. These books are licensed under a Creative Commons license. This is a somewhat novel idea. Not a lot of writers have published a free electronic edition simultaneous with their dead-tree-edition novels, and so perhaps a word of explanation is in order.
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Writing in The Guardian, Ben Hammersley identifies “Whuffie” — the reputation currency in “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom” — as one of “25 technologies and notions we think hold most promise over the next year.”

Whuffie
It’s the great conundrum of the web. Why do so many people do so much for free? What do people get out of it? Whuffie – that’s what. Coined by writer Cory Doctorow for his novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Whuffie embodies respect, karma, mad-props; call it what you will, the web runs on it. BH

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(Thanks, Gnat!)