The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow

Cory is my guru on all things tech and Singularity-esque. He guides me through this brave new world, and I appreciate him to pieces for it. I also am observing with bemusement his increasing encroachment into my territories: that is, economic development, and India. But so far, he's made no missteps. Huzzah.

This series is a really attractive idea: short stories by prominent sf authors, followed by enriching interviews or non-fic pieces. In Cory's, we have a short piece by him (the titular “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow'), followed by a speech he gave on copyright and the Internet (very Larry Lessigy stuff), followed by a brief interview. On paper, then, this is the perfect (condensed) way to get to know Cory Doctorow fast. I loved the speech and the interview. Unfortunately, the story chosen is one of the weakest I've seen from him - sloppy both in writing (silly typos, bad turns of phrase) and execution of a concept (jarring shifts in tone, a vague narrative arc), I was really disappointed with it. This, from the man who wrote the blazing “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom”! They should have just used a chapter from that instead of this short story. Or they could have used Cory's wonderful Frederik Pohl fanfic, “Chicken Little”. Now THAT was an excellent Cory Doctorow short story. “The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow”, instead, left me cold: I was frustrated by the poor editing and bored by the plot.

Nonetheless, I remain hopeful for this really well-conceptualized, fun series: the Ursula K. LeGuin and Rudy Rucker entries, in particular, are too enticing to miss!