More NerdCore Science Fiction From Cory Doctorow 122
Andrew Leonard writes "Cory Doctorow has published a new short story in Salon. This time around, he's imagined a cyberpunk wi-fi future, with spectrum cops, a mobile multinational startup, and guerilla warfare on Indian reservations. Readers who liked his previous story, "0wnz0red" will undoubtedly savor this one." We've posted things about Cory before, but I personally enjoy his writing, so here's more!
Schweet (Score:2)
Re:Schweet (Score:1, Offtopic)
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (Score:5, Informative)
He's enjoyed a few brief jumps up the best seller lists at Amazon. He's been up to the triple digits. It'd be cool to see him pushed into the double digits.
Re:Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (Score:1)
Luckily there are new Best-Seller lists that are purely based on sales. Apperently, New York Times and other lists would make "editorial" changes to lower the rankings of fantasy and sci-fi books.
Well, actually maybe that isn't [wnyc.org] good after all...
Download the book and send him money (Score:1)
Re:Download the book and send him money (Score:5, Informative)
He explicitly asks people not to do this, though I do understand the appeal; that was my first thought too. But his thinking seems to be that if it looks like he's making a profit away from the publisher, the publisher may not agree to letting him publish a free version next time.
He suggests buying a book and donating it to a library. I'd also suggest buying a copy or two as gifts... it's good reading!
It's official (Score:5, Funny)
Easier to view (Score:5, Informative)
Average writing skill (Score:3, Interesting)
Nowadays, everyone with a computer thinks hes a writer!
Re:Average writing skill (Score:2, Insightful)
I couldn't even get through a few paragraphs.
Why anyone would compare his stuff to the likes of HHGTTG or Snow Crash is beyond me.
This guy's a hack. But he wrote a story about Wi-Fi, buzzword of the new millenium.
Re:Average writing skill (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Average writing skill (Score:3, Insightful)
It's the semi-poser wannabe writing that gets me. The use of familiar words in vaguely correct arrangements doesn't make good writing:
Crap, man. That's worse than Thomas Wolfe.A better question might be... (Score:5, Insightful)
An even better question might be... (Score:1)
Re:A better question might be... (Score:2)
Re:A better question might be... (Score:2)
Re:A better question might be... (Score:2)
Re:Average writing skill (Score:2)
Re:Average writing skill (Score:2, Insightful)
He may be average, but it's always funny for someone to criticize writing in a post that gets gets plural and singular tenses messed up and uses all caps.
Personally, I find him an above average fiction writer. Hardly my favorite, and his characters are not well developed, but head and shoulders above a lot of stuff that gets published. Perhaps head, shoulders, and bellybutton above the web average.
Bleh (Score:2)
Re:Bleh (Score:1)
I you want people to take what you've written seriously, you should take the effort to make it if not strictly grammatical then at least not obviously ignorant.
Just because you can type it out quickly doesn't make your thought better. And it's especially ironic when bad grammar is used to criticize a writer. It makes it hard to take seriously.
But pretty much I believe if you're writing it, you should write it coherently. No one worries about split infinitives and crap like that, but if you can't get your tenses correct take a little longer with your posts.
Sub-average posting skill (Score:4, Funny)
Nowadays, everyone with a slashdot account thinks they're a critic!
Re:Average writing skill (Score:1)
Fucking hell Popup ads in floortiles...
Re:Average writing skill (Score:3, Interesting)
I think that Doctorow's short stories do a good job of presenting a scenario based on a popular current meme, while the idea is still fresh.
Re:Average writing skill maybe, but... (Score:2, Insightful)
Everybody who has more than a couple (dozen?) stories started who are going to finish them "one of these days" please raise your hand. (Ouch, I can't count that high.)
Heh, yup... (Score:2)
Re:Average writing skill maybe, but... (Score:2)
Anyone else run into this in the past? How'd you get around it? (If you did)
Re:Average writing skill maybe, but... (Score:1)
You may have come across this suggestion already, so I don't know if it'll help, but anyway...
Mystery and crime writers often decide on the end first and then work backwards. I think you can apply this to all kinds of fiction. A story is like a journey, if only metaphorically, and you generally don't embark on a journey without having some idea of where you want to get to.
When I say "the end," I don't necessarily mean what happens in the last chapter, or the last paragraph. Rather, I mean what changes have happened by the time you get to the final page - what results does the story have? For example, if you're writing a story where the good guys face death at every turn, you should decide whether all of them will survive to the end of the book. If you decide to kill one of them off, that could happen in chapter 2, but it would still be one of the results of the story.
Once you've decided what your results will be, you can then decide on a plausible path (aka a plot) that allows all of them to happen. I've used this technique to restart a large fantasy novel which had been languishing for about 10 years while I found excuses to do other things. It's nearly doubled in size (from about 50,000 words to about 90,000), and I've been beavering away at it for some six months now, which is longer than I ever managed to stick at it before.
A site that you may find useful is run by the author Holly Lisle [hollylisle.com]. She has an article describing this technique, plus lots of other good stuff.
Good luck!
Devils in the Details (or lack thereof) (Score:3, Insightful)
I would argue that the details DO matter. What makes these stories interesting are the technical / political / social concepts each story explores. To better express these concepts, a certain degree of detail is needed.
The trouble is, this detail ends up highlighting a lack of detail elsewhere. There are attempts at fleshing out the world in which these concepts are playing out. But these attempts ultimately fall flat. One example, as has been pointed out, is the commonly underdeveloped character.
Doctorow has a good start. Enough to be kind of interesting now. I hope he improves with time. Then he may be worthy of the breathless praise his critics currently scoff at.
sounds like crap. (Score:1, Insightful)
give salon money (Score:4, Insightful)
oh come on... (Score:1)
Re:oh come on... (Score:1)
if you want GOOD scifi... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:if you want GOOD scifi... (Score:4, Interesting)
>by zephc (225327) Neutral on 06:55 PM January 16th, 2003 (#5098298)
>
>check out the Prime Intellect [kuro5hin.org] novella-length story
Oh come now, let's do a stronger sales pitch for an excellent story.
From the into to Prime Intellect [kuro5hin.org]:
Here's a brief excerpt to give you a taste:
Re:if you want GOOD scifi... (Score:1)
I just finished the first chapter. Definitely some interesting reading. I plan to finish it.
Wow... (Score:2)
Of course I'm a bit close to the problem...
Re:Wow... (Score:2)
I liked the text ad that someone took out on K5:
I probably would have used that blurb if I'd seen it before I wrote my own post.
Re:Wow... (Score:2)
I wrote it, but Zapata took it out. That was part of the deal how I got my arm twisted to put it online after it sat on my hard drive for 8 years.
It's the most interesting thing that's happened to me lately (hey, I don't go to casinos any more) and I owe Z a great big thanks for the bootprint on my butt. And Rusty, of course, for hosting it. Especially considering that neither of them had actually read the work at hand before they made the offers.
Heh (Score:2)
Well... (Score:2)
My suggestion is try Chapter 2. If you find those people boring too then you just don't like my writing.
No prob with that; I'll deal.
Out of curiosity, is there anybody whose writing you do like?
Gibson, stephenson, etc. (Score:2)
I also really liked The Satanic Verses but I set the book down when the story got really weird (after the two get to that old ladies house )and haven't picked it up since then. Maybe at some point I will.
I don't really read as much as I'd like to though.
I might give your book another chance at some point, but it's mostly a time issue.
Re:Wow... (Score:1)
Yep, that's me (Score:2)
Re:if you want GOOD scifi... (Score:1)
I personally like Jeff Noon and Steve Beards collaboration, Mappalujo. Mappalugo.com . It contains stuff that doesn't make ANY sense, but then again, that was part of the point.
0wnz0red (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:0wnz0red (Score:1)
But I agree that this sort of thing is coming at some point, and it better damn well be open. Because, when the technology matures, you won't have a choice. You'll need your own connection just to compete. Like developers today need the Internet, only exponentially greater. The idea of controlling autonomic functions of the body with a computer was new to me, though, and was where I really thought the story shone. Also the mention of "Trusted Computing" and its relevance. I shudder to think of the consequences if the day comes when we are forced to accept a brain-computer connection, and we don't own root.
Re:0wnz0red (Score:2)
I'm all for it; I'll be first in line for a jack which will bypass regular senses and plug directly into my brain (yeah, okay... I've read too much William Gibson).
As for being proprietory or not... I see this tech being developed at a research center in a company, not at some university lab. This company is going to want to make money off of their research investments. So it probably won't be open/free in the beginning.
Happy hacking!
Costyn.
Matrix + Anarchy only + half-life = coreys story (Score:3, Interesting)
Programming yourself = Nano's from AO
MIB's and Gmen in the black mesa desert = half life.
I found the story interesting mainly because of the locations. Small details like eating el torito burrito's along the 101, living here in the bay area I know all these spots, it almost makes the story more realistic to me in that sense.
The really interesting thing is seeing how modern writers take what they see now, and apply that to their story.
The whole, healing aids virus thing was a trip, probably the most original thing in the story. Other than that though, the story is just silicon valley facts mixed in with hollywood/gaming fiction.
I liked it though.
Re:Matrix + Anarchy only + half-life = coreys stor (Score:1)
All of them together=Deus Ex [deusex.com]
Jan. 11 story in Wired online (Score:3, Informative)
Not the best writer (Score:4, Informative)
As other folks have pointed out, this guy's writing is heavy on irrelevant details, and weak on character development (i.e., salient details.) One thing I never figured out on reading 0wnz0r3d (sp?) was which of the two main characters were gay, if either was. It's not the most important detail, but it seems relevant to character development - yet I don't think it's answerable based on the text.
Re:Not the best writer (Score:1)
Obviously this is terrible, nothing should ever be vague in a story, God forbid the consumers of mass media would ever have to think about something that wasn't spelled out for them. (coughDeckardisaReplicantcough)
Re:Not the best writer (Score:2)
Nerdcore? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Nerdcore? (Score:2)
other rappers run in fear
Ah, I suck. Just go to MC Frontalot's website [frontalot.com] and hear for yourself.
What in the hell... (Score:2)
Re:Amen. (Score:1)
Re:question (Score:2)
You would think more of this guy's writing if he were related to another author who is more famous but who you have not read yet?
BTW, I quickly google'd that E.L. is not his father.
Re:question (Score:1)
Bleh (Score:1, Funny)
Just because you have a blog and hang on to the coat-tails of every popular 'net movement, doesn't mean you're an author worth your salt.
Love,
Jimbo Mofer
Err.. (Score:1)
That's just not going to work, sci fi or not.
I KNOW (Score:3, Funny)
Doctorow on the Screensavers Tonight (Score:3, Informative)
Well, they just showed a shot of him. Thick black glasses, flat top, blue Star Trek : TOS shirt, no hat.
And oh, the story? I liked it... inconsequential stuff that reminded me a bit of Sterling and his Leggy Starlitz character ("Zeitgeist," anyone?).
Re:Doctorow on the Screensavers Tonight (Score:2)
Re:Doctorow on the Screensavers Tonight (Score:5, Funny)
TOS shirt?!
TOS shirt?!
TEE OH ESS SHIRT?!
Oh Cory, why hast thou forsaken me?
Re:Doctorow on the Screensavers Tonight (Score:1)
Yeah, that was cool.
Re:Doctorow on the Screensavers Tonight (Score:1)
Oh yeah, good luck with the I, Robot thing and all...
Re:Doctorow on the Screensavers Tonight (Score:2)
This story is horrible (Score:2)
provoking... (Score:2)
bleh, what drab writing. Provoking just seems to be the wrong word here, in fact I think it might be totally wrong. If I were writing, I would have said something like:
"The driver flipped a switch, and the voltage across the windows went to zero. They became clear, and sunlight flooded into the bus. The corporation didn't like it. It -- they -- groaned."
I wonder if salon would ever publish any of my cyberpunk crap. My guess is this guy knows somebody, his stuff is so boring.
er, wait (Score:2)
Forced? what do you mean by that (exactly)? (Score:2)
Famous people use the web too (Score:1, Insightful)
There's also the Maxim girl who chimes in on a certain jokey-newsie site every once in a while. It's funny to watch jackoff artists ignore her posts and two hours later carry on the running gag about how much they lust her.
Penn (as in 'n' Teller) is right, being ignored is the most desirable leisure good. Not that he's Mr. Wonderful. Comparisons to Michael Moore are unstoppable and inevitable.
Yeah, and Yassir Arafat has a Nobel Peace prize. (Score:1)
A Hugo award? That must mean that Doctorow is a brilliant writer, then, in spite of the fact that every part of my being says he's overwhelmingly mediocre (granted, I can only read 1/2 of '0wnz0red' - i can almost here him patting himself on the back for being so clever with the title - before i can't go any further). I'll let you know when Avril Levigne sweeps the Grammy's. That will probably mean that she's on par with Mozart.
Actually worse than Katz. Amazing. (Score:1, Interesting)
He's yet another techno-dilettante - except he's also an inept writer in addition to being an inept "technologist." I've seen quotes from this guy in reference to computer security that are quite laughable. Why do technical publications interview dumbass "writers" about security issues instead of interviewing security professionals? Because tools like this guy have suddenly become a "name" in tech. Actual proficiency doesn't matter. Which shouldn't be surprising, considering what we've seen in our industry in the recent past. But I still can't get over it.
Katz picked the perfect time to jump on the techno-bandwagon. He used everybody on slashdot to create hype and sell books. Anyone who thought he was contributing out of altruism was a sap. He used y'all, and he shamelessy exploited the murders of innocent children as well - over and over again.
Now Doctorow is jumping on the techno-babble bandwagon, and people are actually buying into it. It boggles the mind. Anyone with any sort of appreciation for literature or technology knows that the man is a no-talent. He's full of shit. He should not be making money. Do not encourage him.
His free distribution in multiple formats is a cheap gimmick. It'll get media attention, which is all he needs. There's another good reason why why he's giving it away - it's not worth paying for.
Save your money for writers who have a clue, please. Just take a look at the comments here - for once the slashtards have it right. And the arguments of his defenders are glaringly weak ad hominems.
Re:Actually worse than Katz. Amazing. (Score:2)
On the other hand, your post was an incredibly clever and insightful critique. Presumably it only reads like a lame excuse for yet another tedious Katz-bash to people too unsophisticated to properly appreciate the full, blinding light of your intellect.
Cory's Writing (Score:1)
Cory and other authors of his ilk are going to be around a lot longer than the copyright restricted whores to the media machine.
His works are going to live a long time in the digital age.
Flame me if you must, but be constructive.