Mar 10
Author Cory Doctorow is already causing ripples with his new novel Little Brother two months before its release date! The author today announced the special release of two hundred copies of Little Brother for a sneak peek to reviewers from high school newspapers. The copies will be distributed free of charge.
Doctorow apparently insisted on this procedure since his novel is all about how young adults counter the eye of Big Brother. The free release will be part of the same press kit that is usually sent to big time newspapers for reviewing. In fact, the author is giving his high school reviewers a extra little treat—they’ll also get a signed letter from Doctorow to his teenaged fans, explaining why he wrote this book and why it’s meant especially for high school kids.
Techno geek culture is virtually defined by gurus such as Doctorow, who blend futuristic technologies with psychological realism to create compelling stories that are eagerly lapped by contemporary audiences starving for imaginative and alternative world and excitingly different realities. Fellow authors Neil Gaiman and Steven Gould have already given the book rave reviews, and techno geek fans are holding their breath for the release. Gaiman (the phenomenally successful author of Stardust) has been especially generous in his preview of the book on his online journal, comparing Doctorow to established greats such as Douglas Adams and Robert Heinlein. Doctorow has been particularly lauded not only for creating technologically fantastic environments that are skillfully crafted through a wonderfully active imagination, but also for his psychological realism in portraying the rites of passage that most adolescents find themselves forced to confront. He is, in short, a writer that kids feel understand them and their minds in a way that not very many ‘grown ups’ seem to be able to do.
Many fictional universes in the techno geek tradition turn out to be dystopian fantasies (perhaps inspired by classics such as Huxley’s Brave New World) in which the forces of technology spin out of control and create authoritarian worlds taken over by machines in which there is little more than an android like existence for human beings. The protagonist is usually driven by emotion and anger, and strives to restore humanity to his or her environment. Doctorow’s universe is more positive in its implications, seeming to suggest that technology can be used to fight absolutism and the forces of dehumanization. The kids in Little Brother harness the possibilities of technology to subvert the intrusions of Big Brother into their lives and minds.
Hmmm… that’s all very well, we suppose. One just hopes that the subversion of authority theme, which has already been beaten, hacked and tortured to death, is presented by this book in a way that will make it more appealing than most teenage angst stories about repressed hormones and colorless figures of authority. Why do we say this, you ask? Well, one of Doctorow’s popular tag lines goes, “Don’t trust anyone over 25!” Need we say more, or will some eye rolling do?
