SL Book Club, Session I: Cory Doctorow's *Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom*

OK, here's the main details:

Cory Doctorow, author of *Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom* and numerous short stories/essays, will appear in Second Life to talk about his work this Sunday, from 6:30pm-8:30pm (PST).

Yes, *this Sunday*! I'm very sorry for the short notice, but this was the best available time we could get Cory. (He's so busy, it was then, or wait until November!) Fortunately, *Magic Kingdom* is a short novel, so if you have some time this week, you could easily read all of it before Sunday, and in any case, I'll frame the questions to Cory in a way that you don't necessarily have to read the book yet. If you're just generally interested in literary science fiction, futurism, Disneyland, digital rights, and all the many topics Cory writes about, you should have a great time.

Of course, I strongly encourage everyone who attends to buy and read his book (which I notice is on sale for 30% at Amazon) this week. Alternately, you can also read and/or download the book from his site .

So we'll be hammering down the other particulars in this topic. For now, start reading, and if you have any questions/comments, post here!

Right now, I need a resident to create a Cory avatar, based on the real Cory. He'll probably use just select one for the interview, but I'll run screenshots of *all* the Cory avatars I get. If you're interested in making a Doctorow avatar, e-mail me at [EMAIL=hamlet@secondlife.com]hamlet@secondlife.com[/EMAIL] or IM me in-world, and I'll send you a pic and description. Then either take .bmp screenshot of your avatar and e-mail it zipped to me, or hand me a copy in-world BY THIS FRIDAY. (Full credit for all submitted avatars will be given, of course, in NWN.)

One more quick note: since this NWN forum is public-accessible, we'll probably be linking to it from other sites, as we promote the interview. So smile, SL residents, the world may be watching!

OK, I just uploaded a .jpeg of Cory onto a cube -- my first act of building!-- and put it on the wall of my office in Shipley. So if you're making a Doctorow avatar, that's what he looks like, face-wise. Body-wise, he's about 5'10" with a medium build. Bring me Doctorow avatars!

5'10"? I've met Cory, and he didn't seem that tall to me.

5'10" isn't that tall.

When one is 5'4" and one's (younger!) siblings are 5'9" and 6', respectively, 5'10" is tall.

Here's some additional boilerplate, for folks
who aren't residents and/or coming to this
forum from another site and/or want to try out
Second Life mainly to attend the book club...
-------------------------------------------------------

VISITORS PLEASE READ THIS...

Cory Doctorow will be the debut guest of the
Hamlet Linden Book Club, the first reading
group (far as we can tell!) to be conducted in
a massively multiplayer online world -- Second Life.

This Sunday, Sept. 21, at 6:30pm (PST), Cory
Doctorow's avatar will appear in the main auditorium
of Second Life, the 3D online society where Hamlet
Linden (aka Wagner James Au) is the world's
embedded journalist. Cory will discuss his
acclaimed novel *Down and Out in the Magic
Kingdom* with an in-world audience of Second
Life residents.

Not a resident? You can download the free 7-day
trial and attend the book club, all the same.
(Though you might want to give yourself at least a
couple hours before the event, to get familiar with
the interface and to create your own avatar.)

More information on my online journal, New World Notes,
or e-mail me (James) at [email]hamlet@secondlife.com[/email].

I definitely plan on being there Hamlet.

I think I've convinced Neil Protagonist to make a copy of the book in world for his library.

I've never heard of Cory or his book, and I dont have the time to read it (though I wish I had). I loved his website - I am very pro open source and pro creative commons.

Then I hope you attend all the same, Eggy! We totally realize it'll be difficult for people to read the whole book on a mere week's notice, so we'll conduct the club so that folks who haven't read the book yet will still hopefully get a lot out of the discussion. (Of course, I hope everyone makes their best effort to read at least part of it, before the event.)

The book is downloadable in every ebook format that exists, including plain text (all free, and no stinkin' DRM), and it's a pretty quick read. But if you just read the reviews (there's a link on the download page) and skim a few chapters, you'll get a pretty good feel for it.

http://www.craphound.com/down/download.php

Hope to see you there...

I was able to start and finish the book yesterday online (went to a few book sellers around my office and couldn't find it). I'm really looking forward to the Sunday event... and I also really enjoyed the work. (:

Skim if you don't have the time, but it's a relatively short work... look at the length before you skim, because I think a lot of people can finish the entire work before Sunday.

I could not put it down. (:

Excellent!

I'm still looking for Cory avatars, and I'm
willing to shell out the big L bucks, for 'em!
Anyone who makes a credible Cory and gets
it to me by Friday gets $L500.

I'm also looking for someone to create a
backdrop, say 10" feet high, that reads
"The Hamlet Linden Book Club presents
Cory Doctorow's
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom "
Low key and classy, but something that people
50 feet back can read. We'll put every version
with those specs I get somewhere on stage
or near it-- I'm paying L$250 for each. Also
need those by Friday.

Finally, I'm looking to buy furniture for the
set-- something simple on the order of
Charlie Rose: a nice wood table, and chairs.
I'm going furniture shopping tomorrow, so
if you want to plug your store, send me the
LM or post here!

CHANGE OF VENUE FOR CORY'S APPEARANCE:

Looking for a more intimate setting, Haney Linden suggested the little meeting space on the intersection of Gray, Blue, Lime, and Plum. And that's where it shall be!

Here's some coordinates: secondlife://gray/252/252

Cory will be appearing in Plum, so I'm asking residents to avoid mobbing into that simulator, until Cory shows up. (It'd be embarrassing if the guest of honor couldn't appear, for the sim overflow!)

Would it be possible to get the word out about this appearance (or others in the future)? For instance, do you think Amazon would be interested in having a little notice on its website? It seems to me that they might be receptive to such a thing since it would generate sales.

That could be a good idea, for future books/authors! Does Amazon run book club announcements like that now?

Hamlet, would it be possible for you to make a transcript available for those of us that can't make it?

A transcript would be very useful. If this event is as popular (or more) than the costume ball last night, I suspect that the sim may get maxed out.

Oh, it was maxed, all right! And what a great event, thanks to Cory and all who attended.

Far as a transcript, I'll go you one better: next week's NWN entries will be devoted to the book club, and we'll probably include more entries in the week following. (Owing to Cory's massive braininess, the full transcript is like *15000* words, and everything he says is dang interesting.)

Cory's avatar was great! The face was practically a dead ringer! I didn't remember his name at the time, but it turns out I'd actually read something of his before - 0wnz0red. An excellent story.

During the interview, I liked his "Holy crap, we built a fireproof library!" comment the best.

Apart from seeming a pretty cool guy, he also types alot and fast at that, so the 73k transcript is well past the boards allowed 20k per posting. You'll have to do with an attachment:

Pics

and another

Thanks for posting the transcript, Ezhar, and the pics, Wednesday! I'm writing the first entries on the book club, so meanwhile, please keep 'em coming...