Visit our bookshop.org page to purchase this week’s new books and support your local bookstore. And us!

 

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Anderson, Taylor: Fleet of Ghosts (Ace 978-0593641606, $31.95, 464 pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 6/09/26)
Alternate history military SF novel, the first in the Destroyermen series. Courtney Bradford, along with other war veterans, sets out to explore a spot in the Pacific where ships keep going missing, and they find a fleet of strange lost ships.

 

Briar, Shiloh: Hopeless Necromantic (Orbit US 978-0316602105, $19.99, 368pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audiobook, 06/02/2026)

Fantasy romance novel. Helspira must escort Sikras as he attempts to prevent an undead army from entering the kingdom. Even Sikras doesn’t believe in himself, but as they grow closer they’re able to imagine a future where they succeed. A first novel. Simultaneous with the Orbit UK edition.

 

English, Shannon K.: Endless Blue Beneath (Orbit US 978-0316592574, $19.99, 464pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

Fantasy novel, the first in the Daughters of Atlantea duology. On land, Eppie is nothing special, but underwater she is a powerful and ravenous mermaid. She quickly falls for another mermaid, Marie, and the two must survive the mermaid hunters.

 

Holmes, Jasmine: Our Sister’s Keeper (Bindery Books/Mareas 978-1967967100, $19.95, 336pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

Historical horror novel. In 1927, the all-Black Free Town of East Cobb seems perfect, but the town houses nightmares that only women can see. Marah has the ability to remove traumatic memories from men, but a sudden death teaches her more about her power. A first novel.

 

Koenig, Kate: Her Sharp Embrace (St. Martin’s/Wednesday Books 978-1250321244, $21.00, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

Young-adult fantasy novel. A group of outlaws called The Nightshades steal from the corrupt elite, and provide for the forgotten. Noa Toussiant left her wealthy life to join the nightshades, but her family puts all of The Nightshades in danger. A first novel.

 

Kritzer, Naomi: Obstetrix (Tordotcom 978-1250423375, $24.99, 208pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

SF novella. Doctor Liz is kidnapped by a fundamentalist cult because they’re desperate for an OB/GYN. Because she’s the only doctor there, she’s treated well, but she knows she needs to escape and free the girls trapped on the compound.

 

Leede, CJ: Headlights (Tor/Nightfire 978-1250857958, $27.99, 400pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

Horror novel. Daniel, an FBI agent about to quit, is called to Denver because innocent people are waking up wearing the skin of victims they’ve never met. Daniel is forced to confront his childhood in order to keep him and his family from being the next victims.

 

McGuire, Seanan: Inkpot Gods (Tor 978-1250339324, $29.99, 448pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

Fantasy novel, fourth in the Alchemical Journeys series. Asphodel Baker created life in a way no one else had ever been able to, and she built the Impossible City on top of the ruins of Olympus. Her descendants are forced to confront the hellscape that she created.

 

Miller, Darcy: I Am Not a Vampire (Anymore) (Penguin Random House/Random House 978-0593903162, $19.99, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

YA fantasy romance novel. A girl hopes that she’ll get a chance at normal life after finally being turned human, but that changes when she’s forced to fight off her immortal ex-boyfriend, and raise a newborn vampire named Ezra.

 

Morín, Tomás Q.: Cat Love (Penguin Random House/Pantheon 978-0593702055, $24.00, 207pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

Near-future SF novel. A cat is kidnapped and put on display in a Schrödinger’s box, so students can learn how to be better Emotional Support Humans. The cat finds out the truth of her kidnapping, and must find a way out of the box. A first novel.

 

Thompson, L.T.: Devils We Know (Bloomsbury USA 978-1547615230, $22.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

YA fantasy novel, sequel to Devils Like Us. A secret society wants to capture Death so that only the “unworthy” will face it. Cas, Remy, and Finn need to stop this because it will destroy the Mori, the only place where they can openly be themselves.

 

Unferth, Deb Olin: Earth 7 (Graywolf 978-1644453940, $27.00, 248pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

SF romance novel. Earth is reduced to rubble, but on a beach of artificial sand, two women meet. Some people are chasing eternal life through digital code, but others are creating a molecular collection in hopes that a future person can create a new earth.

 

Johnson, Jaleigh: The Reimagining of Thornwood House (Ace 979-8217188819, $30.00, 391pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

Cozy fantasy novel. Evelyn Sharpe, a witch, moves to the sentient Thornwood House, but it’s not what she expected. Evie must form a bond with the house before being let in.

 

Slayton, David R.: The Silent Paths of Night (Blackstone Publishing 979-8228000780, $29.99, 338pp, formats: hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

Fantasy novel, the second book in the Gods of Night and Day series. Raef hoped that the world would be okay once the moon goddess Phoebe returned, but Phoebe brought back a great evil with her.

 

Bennett, Ashley: Tentacles & Triathlons (Penguin Random House/Berkley Romance 978-0593956991, $18.99, 352pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

Fantasy romance novel, the second in the Leviathan Fitness series. Reece Collins gets help from Cyrus, a kraken, in training for his triathlon. Feelings start to develop between the two, but will they be able to fall in love?

 

Saint, Jennifer: This Immortal Heart (Penguin Random House/Ballantine 979-8217092307, $30.00, 368pp, formats: hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

Fantasy novel. Aphrodite hold ancient power, and has influence over every living thing. When her love affair with Ares lasts lifetimes. she must question her devotion to her divine purpose.

 

Eckert, Joseph: The Traveler (Tor 978-1250428554, $28.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

SF novel. Scott Treder jumps forward through time each day, with each jump getting larger and larger. His son, Lyle, is determined to figure out how to save him, so he begins to study quantum physics. A first novel.

 

Croucher, Lex: The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones (Orion UK/Gollancz 978-0063460218, $32.00, 464pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

Young-adult dark fantasy novel. Briar Jones’ best friend, Seb, gets an acceptance letter to Briar’s dream school, the Temple School of Thaumaturgy, and Briar doesn’t. Seven years later, Briar discovers that Seb is no longer a sweet kid, and has instead become an arrogant villain.

 

Samotin, Laura R.: The Way It Haunted Him (Titan Books UK 978-1835412312, $18.99, 288pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

Horror novel. Michael Stein blames himself for the death of his boyfriend, and chooses to continue his research of demons in honor of him. Michael becomes forced to confront the truth about his boyfriend’s death, while becoming obsessed with someone new. A first novel.

 

Seeley, Mollyhall: We Hexed the Moon (Simon & Schuster/Saga Press 978-1668099230, $17.99, 224pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

Contemporary fantasy novel. Four newly graduated highschoolers are about to be separated from each other by their plans for the future, and instead of processing their emotions they perform a ritual to get rid of the moon, and to their surprise, it works. A first novel.

 

Kate, Lauren: White Lights (Grand Central 978-1538781326, $33.00, 416pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

Dark academia fantasy novel, the first in a trilogy. Desdemona is recruited to the elite film school, Acheron, and she decides to finally pursue her lifelong dream of making movies, but the school isn’t as perfect as it seems.

 

Goodman, A.B.: House of Atreus: Agamemnon Rising (Planetary Books 979-8295701412, $19.99, 156pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 06/15/2026)

SF novel, the first in the House of Atreus duology. Set in a world where the Greek gods were actually artificial intelligence. Apollo, Artemis, and the oracles of Delphi are manipulating humanity, and Artemis forces king Agamemnon to kill his daughter.

 

Worthen, Johnny: Fresh Start (Flame Tree Press US 978-1787589636, $26.95, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 06/09/2026)

SF novel. The empire sends the worst of the worst to the planet Fresh Start, where the most forgiving sentence is exile to five-generations. On this planet, Qays Mendoza searches for his old captain as the empire collapses, and Fresh Start is being abandoned. Simultaneous with the Flame Tree Press UK edition.

 

Schneider, Rachel: Light Wielder (St. Martin’s/Saturday Books 978-1250419101, $31.00, 448pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 06/09/2026)

Fantasy romance novel, second in the Fire & Metal series. Jovie started a war after sparing King Edmond’s life, per Acker’s request. Jovie wants to keep the Maile people protected from this conflict. Simultaneous with the Orion UK edition.

 

Simpson, W.A.: Steelbound (Flame Tree Press US 978-1787589827, $26.95, 288pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 06/09/2026)

Fantasy novel, fourth in the Riven Isles series. Ursa, and Lucea must work together to stop the rot. As they go on a journey through the Riven Isles, they discover secrets that could decide the fate of their world. Simultaneous with the Flame Tree Press UK edition.

 

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Today's links

• Naomi Kritzer's "Obstetrix": When forced birth cultists become forced obstetrics militants.
• Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
• Object permanence: DD-WRT; iTunes DRM is illegal; Fingertip magnet; Sony passwords v Gawker passwords; RIAA recants on 3 strikes; Parachute wedding dress; Roald Dahl (jerk); "Level Up"; The rent's too damned high; RIAA v "Search by artist"; "Robopocalypse"; You are not a wallet; The man who created the religious right; NY x voting; NY x antitrust; Media companies fund Heritage Minister's campaign; Richard Dreyfuss x iTunes EULA; 3-way street; RIAA lawyer becomes Solicitor General; Brock Allen's wrist-slap; Ad-tech interop; Apple's manorial security; Billionaires aren't taxed, "Rabbits."
• Upcoming appearances: Kansas City, LA, Menlo Park, Toronto, NYC, Edinburgh, South Bend.
• Recent appearances: Where I've been.
• Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
• Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
• Colophon: All the rest.

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Naomi Kritzer's "Obstetrix" (permalink)

Naomi Kritzer's Obstetrix is a new, tense thriller in the mode of Atwood's Handmaid's Tale and Alderman's The Power; it's a beautifully turned, claustrophobic horror novel about an obstetrician who's been kidnapped by a Christian cult obsessed with fertility:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250423375/obstetrix/

Kritzer is a master of building scenarios that require her characters to express and resolve a wide variety of complex and contradictory emotions. Her breakout novel, Catfishing on CatNet is a charming and deceptively goofy story about an AI trained on the impeccable vibes in a really solid groupchat becoming sentient and demanding…cat pictures. This is the setup for a warm (but intense) novel of internet-mediated friendship and IRL mutual aid:

https://memex.craphound.com/2019/11/19/naomi-kritzers-catfishing-on-the-catnet-an-ai-caper-about-the-true-nature-of-online-friendship/

Then there's her incredibly prescient 2015 story "So Much Cooking," about people in lockdown during a pandemic. For obvious reasons, it enjoyed an revival in 2020, with Kritzer penning an excellent essay reflecting on what it means to have thought through the implications of a disaster that is now upon us:

https://reactormag.com/didnt-i-write-this-story-already-when-your-fictional-pandemic-becomes-reality/

In 2023, Kritzer published one of the most memorable YA novels I've read, Liberty's Daughter, which is set on a libertarian seastead and told from the point of view of the daughter of the cult's founder:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/21/podkaynes-dad-was-a-dick/#age-of-consent

Liberty's Daughter is basically what you'd get if you rewrote a Heinlein YA novel from the perspective of one of the kids, who had to live with a Heinlein-type dad (Heinlein was childless and had some of the most batshit child-rearing ideas, which he managed to make sound bizarrely plausible). There's a lot of sf that is "in dialogue" with Heinlein (including some of mine), but no one nailed RAH like Kritzer.

Then there's Obstetrix; it's got one of those admirably propulsive setups. Doctor Elizabeth Gwynn is an obstetrician who performed an abortion to save her patient's life, only to be dragged into the culture wars by North Dakota's crusading attorney general, who charged her with felony murder and offered to let her plead out if she would admit that she was wrong to do it, as an example to other OBs who might be tempted. Now, Dr Liz lives in Minneapolis, where her savings are running out and no one wants to hire an obstetrician who's done time.

Then, Dr Liz gets a cold-call from a midwifing service that wants to hire her as an on-call doc. It's a weird offer from out of the blue, but Dr Liz can't afford to pass up a chance at steady work. She finds herself in a residence that the midwives work out of, and the nice woman there offers her a cup of tea. That's when the world fades to black, as the drugs in the tea take hold.

Liz sporadically regains consciousness in a van during a multi-day drive, and already she is thinking about her escape – even as she is becoming increasingly aware of how truly terrible her situation is. When she finally arrives at the cult's remote compound, frozen and isolated, she learns that she has been kidnapped because the fertility-obsessed cult needs an OB, especially since the daughter of the cult's founder, the "pastor," is carrying a high-risk pregnancy.

All that is in the first few pages, which leaves plenty of room for an expertly spun second act in which we get Kritzer's trademark interpersonal work, where carefully chosen and smartly wrought small details flesh out a picture of the complex dynamics of life inside a "high-demand" cult, from the way that members are manipulated into policing each other's compliance to the internal processes that keep members cowed even when they're unobserved by others. It's a brilliant work of sociological speculation and the engine that drives it is a series of maneuvers and gambits whereby Dr Liz hopes to make her way to safety.

I won't spoil the end, except to say that it is exciting, satisfying, and has a sweet denouement that does real justice to the whole book. All told, this is a read-in-one-sitting thriller that does as much to illuminate the workings and dynamics of patriarchy and religion as any gender studies class. It's peak Kritzer (so far), and that's saying something.

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Hey look at this (permalink)

• The mayor of Shelbyville, Indiana, says only people who live in ‘shitty houses’ oppose data center https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/944984/shelbyville-indiana-mayor-shitty-houses-data-center

• Last Idea Factory https://starlogic.itch.io/last-idea-factory

• ‘Her silence was more powerful than words’: how I interviewed a Facebook whistleblower who wasn’t allowed to speak https://www.thenerve.news/p/carole-cadwalladr-sarah-wynn-williams-tim-wu-hay-festival-careless-people-gagging

• She won a religious exemption from using AI at work. The Pope's remarks could fuel similar appeals. https://www.businessinsider.com/worker-got-religious-exemption-using-ai-at-work-2026-6

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Object permanence (permalink)

#20yrsago HOWTO turn a $60 Linksys router into a $600 super-router https://web.archive.org/web/20060610003137/http://assets.lifehacker.com/software/router/hack-attack-turn-your-60-router-into-a-600-router-178132.php

#20yrsago Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue: 1811 slang dictionary https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5402

#20yrsago Ex-RIAA head Hilary Rosen rethinks lawsuits and DRM https://web.archive.org/web/20060609030533/https://www.p2pnet.net/story/8979

#20yrsago Norwegian ombudsman says Apple’s iTunes DRM is illegal https://web.archive.org/web/20060611194556/http://forbrukerportalen.no/Artikler/2006/1149587055.44

#20yrsago Implanting a magnet in your fingertip adds a sixth sense https://web.archive.org/web/20060613072724/https://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71087-0.html?tw=rss.index

#20yrsago Recording industry: Search-by-artist is “too interactive” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5055744.stm

#20yrsago US branch of “Pirate Party” launches https://web.archive.org/web/20060613041144/http://www.pirate-party.us/

#20yrsago Pranksters give fake McDonald’s anti-global-warming presentation https://web.archive.org/web/20060614011522/http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=9621

#20yrsago Can. Heritage Minister’s election was funded by entertainment co’s https://web.archive.org/web/20060612224646/https://www.michaelgeist.ca/component/option,com_content/task,view/id,1289/Itemid,85/nsub,/

#20yrsago High-def DRM licenses cost $15k https://web.archive.org/web/20060612202129/https://www.theinquirer.net/?article=32273

#15yrsago Richard Dreyfuss reads the iTunes EULA https://web.archive.org/web/20110611012317/http://www.cnet.com/8301-30976_1-20068778-10348864.html

#15yrsago Top universities a ‘breeding ground’ for Tories, warn Islamic groups https://newsthump.com/2011/06/07/top-universities-a-breeding-ground-for-tories-warn-islamic-groups/

#15yrsago 3-Way Street: visualization of the uneasy dance of pedestrians, bikes and cars at a busy intersection https://web.archive.org/web/20110610123449/http://blog.ronconcocacola.com/2011/06/02/nyc-goes-three-ways.aspx

#15yrsago Copyright extremist RIAA lawyer confirmed as America’s Solicitor General https://web.archive.org/web/20110610134934/http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/06/senate-confirms-verrilli/

#15yrsago Scot-free millionaire playboy’s lawyer was judge’s depute campaign treasurer https://web.archive.org/web/20110610123824/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-06-06/news/fl-levin-sentence-mayocol-b060711-20110606_1_house-arrest-dui-manslaughter-case-kenneth-watkinson

#15yrsago Bubble-in forms betray individual, traceable “handwriting” https://web.archive.org/web/20110609164727/http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/wclarkso/new-research-result-bubble-forms-not-so-anonymous

#15yrsago Inbox Influence: plugin reveals corporate money behind the emails in your inbox https://web.archive.org/web/20110816105954/https://inbox.influenceexplorer.com/

#15yrsago Macedonia erupts after young man beaten to death by special police in public square https://web.archive.org/web/20110610132108/http://www.a1.com.mk/vesti/default.aspx?VestID=139049

#15yrsago Robopocalypse: rigorous, terrifying novel about a robotic campaign to exterminate humanity https://memex.craphound.com/2011/06/07/robopocalypse-rigorous-terrifying-novel-about-a-robotic-campaign-to-exterminate-humanity/

#15yrsago Using clickfraud on Google ads to amass shares of Google https://gwei.org/index.php

#15yrsago Comparative analysis of leaked Sony and Gawker passwords https://www.troyhunt.com/brief-sony-password-analysis/

#15yrsago China’s Politburo warns Google not to be “political” https://web.archive.org/web/20110610165205/http://www.transparencyrevolution.com/2011/06/china-warns-google-not-to-be-evil/

#15yrsago Guerrilla camper re-opens shuttered Michigan public campsite https://web.archive.org/web/20110609184456/http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/563100/Campground-closed-in-2009-illegally-reopened.html?nav=5006

#15yrsago Record industry lobby says it no longer supports 3-strikes copyright termination laws https://torrentfreak.com/recording-industry-steps-back-from-piracy-disconnections-110606/

#15yrsago Death threats for Aussie climate scientists https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/jun/06/australia-climate-scientists-death-threats

#15yrsago Wedding-dress made from life-saving parachute https://www.si.edu/collections/snapshot/parachute-wedding-dress

#15yrsago Level Up: Gene Yang’s comic about destiny, games, and filial piety https://memex.craphound.com/2011/06/06/level-up-gene-yangs-comic-about-destiny-games-and-filial-piety/

#15yrago Roald Dahl: Jerk https://web.archive.org/web/20110602195454/http://thisrecording.com/today/2011/6/1/in-which-we-consider-the-macabre-unpleasantness-of-roald-dah.html

#15yrsago Rotting Gulliver’s Travels themepark in Japan https://web.archive.org/web/20110609235431/http://www.sleepycity.net/posts/40/Gullivers_Kingdom__Sea_of_Trees

#15yrsago Ticketed for being childless and eating doughnuts in a playground https://gothamist.com/food/two-women-ticketed-for-eating-doughnuts-in-a-brooklyn-playground

#15yrsago Internet Archive becomes archive of physical books, too https://blog.archive.org/2011/06/06/why-preserve-books-the-new-physical-archive-of-the-internet-archive/

#10yrsago Swedish traditional costume made from Ikea bags https://ikeahackers.net/2016/06/swedish-folk-costume-5-ikea-bags.html

#10yrsago NSA dumps docs about its Snowden response, reveals that Snowden repeatedly raised alarms about spying https://web.archive.org/web/20160604213547/https://news.vice.com/article/edward-snowden-leaks-tried-to-tell-nsa-about-surveillance-concerns-exclusive

#10yrsago John Oliver buys and forgives $15M in medical debt, illustrates horrors of America’s debt-collectors https://web.archive.org/web/20160606234823/https://consumerist.com/2016/06/06/john-oliver-buys-15m-in-medical-debt-then-forgives-it/

#10yrsago David Byrne wants you to register to vote, and wants everyone else to, too https://web.archive.org/web/20160609060810/http://davidbyrne.com/were-better-than-this-vote

#10yrsago You are not a wallet: complaining considered helpful https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/07/its-your-duty-to-complain-thats-how-companies-improve

#10yrsago Web Sheriff’s legal scare strategy: throw everything at the wall, hope something sticks https://www.techdirt.com/2016/06/07/web-sheriff-accuses-us-breaking-basically-every-possible-law-pointing-out-that-abusing-dmca-takedowns/

#10yrsago Lin-Manuel Miranda declares war on bots https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/07/opinion/stop-the-bots-from-killing-broadway.html

#10yrsago Uber loves competition, when it’s the one doing the competing https://www.boston.com/news/technology/2016/06/05/uber-app-urbanhail-startup-ride-prices/

#10yrsago MI5 warning: we’re gathering more than we can analyse, and will miss terrorist attacks https://theintercept.com/document/2016/06/07/preston-study/

#10yrsago Samantha Bee interviews Frank Schaeffer, who helped create the religious right https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhLY0JqXP-s

#10yrsago Why defense attorneys aren’t cheering Brock Allan Turner’s wrist-slap https://web.archive.org/web/20160611024154/http://mimesislaw.com/fault-lines/brock-turner-the-sort-of-defendant-who-is-spared-severe-impact/10288

#10yrsago Password hashing demystified https://www.wired.com/2016/06/hacker-lexicon-password-hashing/

#5yrsago Google and France agree on ad-tech interop https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/08/leona-helmsley-was-a-pioneer/#monkeys-paw

#5yrsago Billionaires don't pay tax https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/08/leona-helmsley-was-a-pioneer/#eat-the-rich

#5yrsago Apple's manorial security https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/08/leona-helmsley-was-a-pioneer/#manorialism

#5yrsago Rabbits: PK Dick meets Qanon https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/08/leona-helmsley-was-a-pioneer/#rabbits

#5yrsago Competition tames ISPs https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/07/fire-on-one-end-fool-on-the-other/#muni-fiber-now

#5yrsago New York to revolutionize voting https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/07/fire-on-one-end-fool-on-the-other/#sb309a

#5yrsago New York to revolutionize antitrust https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/07/fire-on-one-end-fool-on-the-other/#sb933

#5yrsago The Rent’s Too Damned High https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/06/the-rents-too-damned-high/

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Upcoming appearances (permalink)

• Kansas City: Facing the Future (Woodneath Library Center), Jun 10
  https://www.mymcpl.org/events/119655/facing-future-cory-doctorow

• LA: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI with Brian Merchant (Skylight Books), Jun 19
  https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-cory-doctorow-presents-reverse-centaurs-guide-life-after-ai-w-brian-merchant

• Menlo Park: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI with Angie Coiro (Kepler's), Jun 21
  https://www.keplers.org/upcoming-events-internal/cory-doctorow-2026

• Toronto: TBA, Jun 23

• NYC: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI with Jonathan Coulton (The Strand), Jun 24
  https://www.strandbooks.com/cory-doctorow-the-reverse-centaur-s-guide-to-life-after-ai.html

• Philadelphia: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI with David Williams (Fitler Club/Philadelphia Citizen), Jun 25
  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-book-event-tickets-1990110326559

• Chicago: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI with Rick Perlstein (Exile in Bookville), Jun 26
  https://exileinbookville.com/events/50628

• Edinburgh International Book Festival with Jimmy Wales, Aug 17
  https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/events/the-front-list-cory-doctorow-and-jimmy-wales

• South Bend: An Evening With Cory Doctorow (Notre Dame), Oct 6
  https://franco.nd.edu/events/2026/10/06/an-evening-with-cory-doctorow/

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Recent appearances (permalink)

• The Enshittification of Life, the Universe, and Everything
  https://www.lukewsavage.com/p/the-enshittification-of-life-the

• Cory Doctorow's digital jail-break (DW In Focus)
  https://www.dw.com/en/cory-doctorows-digital-jail-break/audio-77414035

• Why the Internet Got Worse and What to Do About It (Jim Rutt) (RIP)
  https://www.jimruttshow.com/cory-doctorow-3/

• On Enshittification – and what can be done about it (Re:publica)
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhINQgPMVSI

• EFFecting Change: How to Disenshittify the Internet (EFF, with Wendy Liu)
  https://archive.org/details/effecting-change-enshittification

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Latest books (permalink)

• "Canny Valley": A limited edition collection of the collages I create for Pluralistic, self-published, September 2025 https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/04/illustrious/#chairman-bruce

• "Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025
  https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/

• "Picks and Shovels": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels).

• "The Bezzle": a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (thebezzle.org).

• "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org).

• "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245).

• "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com.

• "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com

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Upcoming books (permalink)

• "The Reverse-Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book about being a better AI critic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2026 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/)

• "Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It" (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026

• "The Post-American Internet," a geopolitical sequel of sorts to Enshittification, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2027

• "Unauthorized Bread": a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, April 20, 2027

• "The Memex Method," Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2027

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Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources:

Currently writing: "The Post-American Internet," a sequel to "Enshittification," about the better world the rest of us get to have now that Trump has torched America. Third draft completed. Submitted to editor.

• "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to AI," a short book for Farrar, Straus and Giroux about being an effective AI critic. LEGAL REVIEW AND COPYEDIT COMPLETE.

• "The Post-American Internet," a short book about internet policy in the age of Trumpism. PLANNING.

• A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING

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Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution.

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