Cory Doctorow Accepted My Invitation
Cory Doctorow has replied to my e-mail inviting him to Penguicon 3.0. Not only is he willing to be our honored guest, he's so enthusiastic he's already suggested a half-dozen schedule events! I can't describe how geeked I am about this without lapsing into Lojban. Cory Doctorow is European Affairs Coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He is author of two of my personal all-time favorite novels, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and Eastern Standard Tribe. He is the winner of the 2003 Locus Award for Best First Novel, and the 2000 John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer. He was also a 2003 Nebula nominee.
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom concerns a reputation economy in a future of immortality and no physical need, where ad-hocracies (very similar to SF convention committees) have taken over Walt Disney World as a hobby. Eastern Standard Tribe is about internet tribes based on time zones and involves digital rights management and the choice between smarts and happiness. All are distributed for free under the Creative Commons License, which is to art and literature what the Open Source License is to software. Read them for free! And like me, you might run out and buy them just to vote with your wallet. Don't make me hold you down and download them into your pocket computer by force!
The next novel, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town (forthcoming in February 2005) is a contemporary fantasy novel about open WiFi networking, set in Toronto's Kensington Market. He co-edits the weblog Boing Boing (boingboing.net) a popular blog with millions of monthly readers, and is a regular contributor to Wired Magazine, Popular Science, Business 2.0 and other magazines and newspapers. Though he resides in London, UK, Cory is a native Torontonian, and while there, he co-founded OpenCola, an open-source P2P company that was sold last year to Toronto's OpenText, Inc. In addition to software it sold an actual beverage with a public recipe that anyone could make, as an analogy with open source.
Comments
cosette-valjean on Aug. 31, 2004 9:10 AM — Hip hip horraaay!!!
Penguicon will be sooo cool. He sounds like a fascinating person. I can't wait. Glad you have an enthusiastic guest. :-) Go ahead. Feel free to lapse into Lojban....
matt-arnold on Aug. 31, 2004 10:25 AM — Re: Hip hip horraaay!!!
He wants to do a reading, give a talk on digital rights management, and participate in panels on 1) the hidden fascist assuptions in I, Robot; 2) Folk Art, Fandom and Copyright; and 3) unlimited spectrum and cognitive radio. Plus he'll play the role of Eddie in the live Rocky Horror Picture Show. His girlfriend Alice Taylor (http://crystaltips.typepad.com/) will be a nifty because she was a pro gamer on England's national Quake team, so she'll do panels on computer gaming and compete in the Celebrity Frag Fest. Plus she will be in the live Buffy, the Musical.
netmouse on Aug. 31, 2004 5:12 PM — Re: Hip hip horraaay!!!
who's putting on the live BUffy, The musical? did auditions already happen, or can I try out?
matt-arnold on Aug. 31, 2004 6:51 PM — Re: Hip hip horraaay!!!
That would be Cynthia Rossi. You can still try out. Please do!
bluehamster98 on Aug. 31, 2004 12:13 PM — Wooo!
Wow! Cory sounds like an awesome guest!
I've heard about him before, just not described as enthusiastically as you've described him. :)
/me must pick up one of his books, and thinks I'll start off with Eastern Standard Tribe
-Kare
phecda on Aug. 31, 2004 2:49 PM
So, question. You mentioned that Cory Doctorow is now living in England. Will he and his S.O. be willing to travel cattle class? Just remembering what it cost to bring Terry over in business class. (shudder). Also, is he still technically Canadian? That should help, as I believe the US has instigated some pretty draconian visa requirements, such as showing up in person at the US embassy. Which for the UK, means going to London for the day (not as great a problem for Cory as for someone who lives in the more distant reaches of the Isles.)
We'll cross the travel bridge when we get there...
thefile on Aug. 31, 2004 5:43 PM
Shall I post this as an announcement?
matt-arnold on Aug. 31, 2004 6:50 PM
No, please. Thanks for offering. I've got the announcement written out and ready, but one of the facts in it isn't true for another day or two.
matt-arnold on Sep. 1, 2004 2:29 PM
OK, I posted it!
wormquartet on Sep. 1, 2004 3:44 AM — YAAAAAY!
Neat! Now where's my invitation? :)
-=ShoEboX=-
matt-arnold on Sep. 1, 2004 2:28 PM
It is with great pleasure that I reveal to you that today Cory Doctorow is the winner of the 2003 Sunburst award for the best Canadian fiction of the fantastic, for his collection "A Place So Foreign & 8 More." Congratulations Cory!
rmeidaking on Sep. 1, 2004 3:33 PM
Does this mean that Penguicon has a hotel, and has picked solid dates?
2005 is filling up already....
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