Cory Doctorow's Blog en-US Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:03:21 -0800 60 Cory Doctorow's Blog 144 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo_144.jpg /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/258360-makers-tile-game-embeddable-flashtoy-edition Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:03:21 -0800 <![CDATA[Makers tile game – embeddable flashtoy edition]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/258360-makers-tile-game-embeddable-flashtoy-edition


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...



posted by Cory Doctorow on December, 23 ]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/257623-bbc-s-plan-to-kick-free-open-source-out-of-uk-tv-devices Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:03:35 -0800 <![CDATA[BBC's plan to kick free/open source out of UK TV devices]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/257623-bbc-s-plan-to-kick-free-open-source-out-of-uk-tv-devices My latest Guardian column, "The BBC's digital rights plans will wreak havoc on open source software," describes how the BBC's plan to add DRM to its high-def broadcasts will exclude free/open source software from use in digital television applications, slowing down innovation, raising costs, and harming the public interest. The BBC's regulator, Ofcom, will soon hold a second consultation on the Beeb's plan to add DRM to high-def broadcasts, and I'm urging them to get the BBC to answer for...



posted by Cory Doctorow on December, 22 ]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/256889-martian-chronicles-part-06 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:03:54 -0800 <![CDATA[Martian Chronicles, Part 06]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/256889-martian-chronicles-part-06 Here's part six 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.


MP3 Link



posted by Cory Doctorow on December, 21 ]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/253198-free-holiday-reading-sampler-pdf-including-makers Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:03:47 -0800 <![CDATA[Free holiday reading sampler PDF including MAKERS]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/253198-free-holiday-reading-sampler-pdf-including-makers

JC Hutchins -- he of the boundless energy! -- has assembled a free "holiday sampler" of excerpts from great new books, handily bundled together in a handsome PDF, well suited to loading onto your device or printing out for your Xmas holiday. In it are excerpts from recent books by some of my favorite authors, including Cherie Priest, Seth Godin, and Scott Sigler (as well as an excerpt from my latest novel, Makers.


In The Nick of Time holiday sampler (PDF)

JC's page on the project with full...



posted by Cory Doctorow on December, 22 ]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/251317-update-on-little-brother-limited-edition-now-cheaper-with-shipping-to Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:03:28 -0800 <![CDATA[Update on LITTLE BROTHER limited edition, now cheaper, with shipping to US/Canada!]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/251317-update-on-little-brother-limited-edition-now-cheaper-with-shipping-to Well, it's certainly a learning-experience kind of day.

Long story short: HarperCollins has shipped a beautiful, limited edition slipcased and signed edition of LITTLE BROTHER. But there are some problems:

1. Their ecommerce system is messed up and you have to phone in to order your copies

2. Due to a silly territorial rights issue, they won't ship to the US or Canada

But don't despair! A fantastic British online bookseller called The Book Depository:

1. Can sell the limited edition

2. Is charging ...



posted by Cory Doctorow on December, 15 ]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/251205-limited-edition-signed-slipcased-little-brother Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:03:18 -0800 <![CDATA[Limited edition, signed slipcased LITTLE BROTHER]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/251205-limited-edition-signed-slipcased-little-brother



HarperCollins have just brought out a beautiful limited deluxe edition of my novel Little Brother. It's a slipcased hardcover, in a limited run of 500 signed copies, and it sports eight spectacular original illustrations by Richard Wilkinson (along with some really snazzy endpapers: a map of San Francisco's Mission district redrawn as a circuit-diagram). All the art is Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licensed, too, and ready for your fan Little Brother remixes.

Now the ...



posted by Cory Doctorow on December, 15 ]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/250630-how-to-destroy-the-book-transcript-of-my-talk-to-the-canadian-nati Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:33:15 -0800 <![CDATA["How to Destroy the Book" — transcript of my talk to the Canadian National Reading Summit]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/250630-how-to-destroy-the-book-transcript-of-my-talk-to-the-canadian-nati Jade Colbert transcribed my speech from the Canadian National Reading Summit, entitled "How to Destroy the Book." She did a great job!

There is a group of powerful anti-copyright activists out there who are trying to destroy the book. These pirates would destroy copyright, and they have no respect for our property. They dress up their thievery in high-minded rhetoric about how they are the true defenders and inheritors of creativity, and they have sold this claim around the world to...



posted by Cory Doctorow on December, 14 ]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/250544-martian-chronicles-part-05 Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:04:27 -0800 <![CDATA[Martian Chronicles, Part 05]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/250544-martian-chronicles-part-05 Here's part five 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.


MP3 Link



posted by Cory Doctorow on December, 14 ]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/250074-teaching-materials-for-overclocked-and-little-brother Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:00:51 -0800 <![CDATA[Teaching materials for OVERCLOCKED and LITTLE BROTHER]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/250074-teaching-materials-for-overclocked-and-little-brother Over the weekend, two educators wrote to me to tell me about blogs that contain curricular material based on my books.

The first, from Donald Riggs at Drexel College in Philadelphia, contains links and supplementary material for students reading my second short story collection, Overclocked. Donald put the material together because Overclocked was Drexel's book of the year, given to the entire freshman class (I visited campus in November and met with students, taught a writing program, and...



posted by Cory Doctorow on December, 14 ]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/249958-activists-raising-money-to-translate-little-brother-into-burmese-languag Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:03:49 -0800 <![CDATA[Activists raising money to translate LITTLE BROTHER into Burmese languages]]> /author/show/12581.Cory_Doctorow/blog/249958-activists-raising-money-to-translate-little-brother-into-burmese-languag The Digital Democracy project and the All-Burma I.T. Student Union have just a few hours left in a Kickstarter project to translate my novel Little Brother in free electronic editions in four Burmese languages: Burmese, Karen, Chin and Kachin. As they write, "[the translation will:] broaden the debate on using technology in the struggle for freedom against tyranny. By distributing electronic versions of the translated book, our goal is to inspire people from the country with Cory Doctorow's...



posted by Cory Doctorow on December, 14 ]]>