Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom | Page 2

about a world that is visible in its outlines today, if you know where to look,
from reputation systems to peer-to-peer adhocracies. Doctorow knows where to look, and
how to word-paint the rest of us into the picture.
Howard Rheingold Author, Smart Mobs
#
Doctorow is more than just a sick mind looking to twist the perceptions of those whose
realities remain uncorrupted - though that should be enough recommendation to read his
work. *Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom* is black comedic, sci-fi prophecy on the
dangers of surrendering our consensual hallucination to the regime. Fun to read, but
difficult to sleep afterwards.
Douglas Rushkoff Author of Cyberia and Media Virus!
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"Wow! Disney imagineering meets nanotechnology, the reputation economy, and Ray
Kurzweil's transhuman future. As much fun as Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, and as
packed with mind bending ideas about social changes cascading from the frontiers of
science."
Tim O'Reilly Publisher and Founder, O'Reilly and Associates
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Doctorow has created a rich and exciting vision of the future, and then wrote a
page-turner of a story in it. I couldn't put the book down.
Bruce Schneier Author, Secrets and Lies
#
Cory Doctorow is one of our best new writers: smart, daring, savvy, entertaining,
ambitious, plugged-in, and as good a guide to the wired world of the twenty-first century
that stretches out before us as you're going to find.
Gardner Dozois Editor, Asimov's SF
#
Cory Doctorow's "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" tells a gripping, fast-paced
story that hinges on thought-provoking extrapolation from today's technical realities. This
is the sort of book that captures and defines the spirit of a turning point in human history
when our tools remake ourselves and our world.
Mitch Kapor Founder, Lotus, Inc., co-founder Electronic Frontier Foundation
--

======================= A note about this book: =======================
"Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" is my first novel. It's an actual, no-foolin'
words-on-paper book, published by the good people at Tor Books in New York City. You
can buy this book in stores or online, by following links like this one:
http://www.craphound.com/down/buy.php
So, what's with this file? Good question.
I'm releasing the entire text of this book as a free, freely redistributable e-book. You can
download it, put it on a P2P net, put it on your site, email it to a friend, and, if you're
addicted to dead trees, you can even print it.
Why am I doing this thing? Well, it's a long story, but to shorten it up: first-time novelists
have a tough row to hoe. Our publishers don't have a lot of promotional budget to throw
at unknown factors like us. Mostly, we rise and fall based on word-of-mouth. I'm not bad
at word-of- mouth. I have a blog, Boing Boing (http://boingboing.net), where I do a *lot*
of word-of-mouthing. I compulsively tell friends and strangers about things that I like.
And telling people about stuff I like is *way*, *way* easier if I can just send it to 'em.
Way easier.
What's more, P2P nets kick all kinds of ass. Most of the books, music and movies ever
released are not available for sale, anywhere in the world. In the brief time that P2P nets
have flourished, the ad-hoc masses of the Internet have managed to put just about
*everything* online. What's more, they've done it for cheaper than any other
archiving/revival effort ever. I'm a stone infovore and this kinda Internet mishegas gives
me a serious frisson of futurosity.
Yeah, there are legal problems. Yeah, it's hard to figure out how people are gonna make
money doing it. Yeah, there is a lot of social upheaval and a serious threat to innovation,
freedom, business, and whatnot. It's your basic end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it scenario,
and as a science fiction writer, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it scenaria are my stock-in-
trade.
I'm especially grateful to my publisher, Tor Books (http://www.tor.com) and my editor,
Patrick Nielsen Hayden (http://nielsenhayden.com/electrolite) for being hep enough to let
me try out this experiment.
All that said, here's the deal: I'm releasing this book under a license developed by the
Creative Commons project (http://creativecommons.org/). This is a project that lets
people like me roll our own license agreements for the distribution of our creative work
under terms similar to those employed by the Free/Open Source Software movement. It's
a great project, and I'm proud to be a part of it.
Here's a summary of the license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd-nc/1.0
Attribution. The licensor permits others to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work.
In return, licensees must give the original author credit.
No Derivative Works. The licensor permits others to copy, distribute, display and
perform only unaltered copies of the work -- not derivative works based on it.
Noncommercial. The licensor permits others to copy, distribute, display, and perform the
work. In return, licensees may