Re: DOWN & OUT IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM

From: Michael M. Butler (mmb@spies.com)
Date: Mon Mar 10 2003 - 14:43:06 MST

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    On Mon, 10 Mar 2003 12:45:08 -0600, Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com>
    wrote:

    >> (Damien Broderick <damienb@unimelb.edu.au>):
    >> Has anyone discussed the Cory Doctorow novel yet? (My email has been
    >> gappy.)
    >>
    >> http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue304/books.html
    >
    > I recommended it to the list about a month ago when I read it (and
    > when someone asked about particularly Extropic books), but I don't
    > think there's been any real discussion. Which is unfortunate, I
    > think, because it's really quite a remarkable work.

    SPOILER WARNING

    Not major spoilers, but it's a short work and I'd rather be conservative
    about things like this in such cases...

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    S
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    SPOILER

    There is one plot point that requires a bit of an overwhelming suspension
    of disbelief for yours truly. But that said, it's a pretty lifelike
    fleshing out of several things:

    The "microserf"-like devotion available when riding your hobbyhorse can pay
    your bills as long as you do *something* that attracts attention

    The potlatch / rags-to-riches-to-rags post-boho-hobo lifestyle of some of
    the characters

    And a number of delghtful hints about a two-currency system based on
    reputation. I have big questions about this but don't want to grill Cory.
    Maybe we can have a discussion about that.



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