Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
By Cory Doctorow
(Tor Books, Paperback, 9780765309532, 208pp.)
Publication Date: December 2003
Categories: Fantasy - General, Science Fiction - General
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On The Skids In The Transhuman Future
Jules is a young man barely a century old. He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World.
Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth century. Now in the keeping of a network of "ad-hocs" who keep the classic attractions running as they always have, enhanced with only the smallest high-tech touches.
Now, though, the "ad hocs" are under attack. A new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents, and is replacing its venerable audioanimatronics with new, immersive direct-to-brain interfaces that give guests the illusion of being Washington, Lincoln, and all the others. For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself.
Worse: it appears this new group has had Jules killed. This upsets him. (It's only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now it's war....
Cory Doctorow cofounded the Internet search-engine company OpenCola.com and now works for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. His personal Web site is at http://www.craphound.com. His weblog Boing (boingboing.net), coedited with Mark Frauenfelder and David Pescovitz, is read by more than 130,000 unique visitors every month. In 2000, the World Science Fiction convention voted him the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. He lives in San Francisco.
"He sparkles! He fizzes! He does backflips and breaks the furniture! Science fiction needs Cory Doctorow."
--Bruce Sterling, author of The Hacker Crackdown and Distraction
"This is science fiction for the non-SF reader as well as for hardcore fans of the genre--think Carl Hiassen crossed with Philip K. Dick, with just a dash of Disney magic."
--Kathryn Lively, author of Saints Preserve Us
"In a world of affluence and immortality, the big battles will be fought over culture, not politics. That's the starting-point of Wired contributor Doctorow's daring novel.... Few challenges to copyright giants are as entertaining as this book."
--Wired
"Cory Doctorow is the most interesting new SF writer I've come across in years. He starts out at the point where older SF writers' speculations end."
--Rudy Rucker, author of Spaceland
"A kinetic, immersive yarn...wholly entertaining."
--The Onion AV Club
This book is on these lists:
Million21's Wish List by million21Nylitjunkie's Wish List by nylitjunkie
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American Buffalo Steven Rinella Spiegel & Grau |
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The Piano Teacher Janice Y. K. Lee Viking |
