I agree with John Galt. I guess a real dot-com book is due soon (poor "Amazon" Daisey didn't write it). I don't feel bad for Mason and can't see why I'd ever like him. Plus, watch the interview and geekspeak hyperbole. Otherwise, I'd expect this to be another stellar book once you rethink the angle of attack.

is this book going to come with a catalog insert in the back where I can order all the uber-leet, DRM-free geekery stuffed in here?

John Galt, I concur.

Cory, you can write. Instead of shooting off ever-intensifying volleys of subpar cred chaff a la Bret Easton Ellis, why not use your talents for good?

I mean, sure, you could probably eke out a career and a standing invitation to LAN parties by growing your voice further into the Sharper-Image-catalog-text and Sourceforge-project-homepage-complete-with-logo directions; but are you really happy about that Wired-in-its-downfall collection-of-consumer-goods-as-description-of-individual granfalloon of a second sentence? Even knowing you're trying for a Cool World level of overdoing it, isn't it a bit too cliche?

Does anyone really believe that any interview in 2003 includes fifteen essay questions on the history of the Internet AND the fine points of MFC AND SQL, and the 80s term PEBCAK? I didn't -- it's a tin ear problem, Cory -- you're writing outside your experience, trying to jam as much nerdfodder into the cannon as you can. But it doesn't come out energetically cartoony gonzo because you've got the levels wrong.

Think of it; would Le Carre have opened a story, "Operation! he surveyed his supermagnificent absolutely spectacular (tm) Spy equipment. Only the latest in Carl-Zeiss optics to grace the 9mm Glock spy pistol, easily and cleverly concealed in the rim of his bowler hat, metallic glint of purest chrome hinting at its origins in the titanic metal factories of the magnificent Northeast of England..." Fuck, no; it's pre-Hardy Boys level material.

You can write. I obviously don't speak for the legion of fanboys, but I wait for you to write up to your own level.

Not to be a LeCarre fanatic (it's just what I have open right now), but compare and contrast:

"Let me confess to you at once that if I had not, on the spur of the moment, picked up my pen and scribbled a note to George Smiley inviting him to address my passing-out class on the closing evening of their entry-course--and had Smiley not, against all my expectations, consented--I would not be making so free to you with my heart."

geektastic

Edited by author 03-31-2003 02:55 PM
I like it.

I really do. Makes me wish *I* had another inspiration for a story....

But tomorrow I start a new job and who knows maybe then I finally get some new inspiration....

Looking forward to reading the final product.

BTW Corey: You're still getting tons of inspiration from Toronto these days? Kensington market I can see that way though. It's a rather "wicked" neighbourhood. I like it.

That's just excellent (re-read it). You need to finish it while the taste of nerdvana is still lingering in our mouths. I can't count how many times I've given the "carpetbagger" speech myself (and I've had the unamerican.com WHITEY WILL PAY sticker on my car since 97). It could be the complementary bookend to Microserfs.

Hmm, can you start fan fiction before something is even published? I don't want to wait either, let's just "finish" it for him on our own :)

Edited by author 03-31-2003 12:35 PM
Sorry, Jakenuts -- the likely earliest pub date for this is 2005 or so... I won't be finished the first draft until about Jan 1 2004, then figure a year of futzing around, rewriting, getting the book sold to my publisher and signed off on, blurbs, proofs, etc... I'd be pretty shocked and amazed if it hit print before June 2004, and not displeased if didn't make it to the stands until Jan 2005 (around the time that I intend to finish off "Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town," a weird urban fantasy novel about wireless networking clans in Toronto's Kensington Market...)

Oh please, please publish this soon. I'm hanging now.. hanging.. Sigh.

You've been watching me again haven't you?

This is pretty darn close to how the 'dillomobile, my late, lamented 1988 Toyota Corolla gave up the ghost on an engine seal failure last December. It wasn't carrying me to an interview, but it was hauling geeks, who were pounding away on their laptops in the backseat.

*sigh* 11 years, 211,000 miles, 24 states and who knows how many Coke cans under the seat. JETDILO, I salute thee!