Jules is a young man barely a century old. He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World.
Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth century. Now in the care of a network of volunteer "ad-hocs" who keep the classic attractions running as they always have, enhanced with only the smallest high-tech touches.
Now, though, it seems the "ad hocs" are under attack. A new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents and is replacing its venerable audioanimatronics with new, immersive direct-to-brain interfaces that give guests the illusion of being Washington, Lincoln, and all the others. For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself.
Worse: it appears this new group has had Jules killed. This upsets him. (It's only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now it's war: war for the soul of the Magic Kingdom, a war of ever-shifting reputations, technical wizardry, and entirely unpredictable outcomes.
Bursting with cutting-edge speculation and human insight, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom reads like Neal Stephenson meets Nick Hornby: a coming-of-age romantic comedy and a kick-butt cybernetic tour de force.
Jules is a young man barely a century old. He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World.
Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth century. Now in the care of a network of volunteer "ad-hocs" who keep the classic attractions running as they always have, enhanced with only the smallest high-tech touches.
Now, though, it seems the "ad hocs" are under attack. A new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents and is replacing its venerable audioanimatronics with new, immersive direct-to-brain interfaces that give guests the illusion of being Washington, Lincoln, and all the others. For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself.
Worse: it appears this new group has had Jules killed. This upsets him. (It's only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now it's war: war for the soul of the Magic Kingdom, a war of ever-shifting reputations, technical wizardry, and entirely unpredictable outcomes.
Bursting with cutting-edge speculation and human insight, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom reads like Neal Stephenson meets Nick Hornby: a coming-of-age romantic comedy and a kick-butt cybernetic tour de force.
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Find Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom Cory Doctorow in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
Find Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom Cory Doctorow in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
6 books in catalog
Speculative fiction and digital rights advocacy intersect in a prolific body of work that examines surveillance, internet policy, copyright, and post-scarcity economics. Cory Doctorow established himself as a prominent voice in modern science fiction and tech journalism through novels that address how technology shapes human freedom and social systems, including his best-selling young adult novel Little Brother.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on July 17, 1971, Doctorow attended alternative schools and worked at Bakka Bookstore before dropping out of high school at age seventeen. That same year, he sold his first story, '2,000 Year Check-up,' to the Canadian speculative fiction magazine On Spec. After briefly living in Mexico and attending four universities in two years, he attended the Clarion Writers' Workshop in 1992. His first professional sale, 'Craphound,' appeared in Science Fiction Age in 1998 and was nominated for the Aurora and Sturgeon Awards.
Beyond his fiction writing, Doctorow has built an extensive career as an activist, blogger, and journalist. He served as the European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, co-founded the Open Rights Group in the UK, and spent years as a co-editor of the popular blog Boing Boing. Having lived in Toronto, London, and other cities, he continues to publish technology critique and fiction while advocating for Creative Commons licensing and open access standards.
Doctorow's writing frequently focuses on the political and legal tensions inherent in digital technology, with recurring themes such as digital rights management, file sharing, copyright liberalization, anti-monopoly economics, and open-source computation. His speculative worlds often feature technologist protagonists who use technical knowledge, civil disobedience, and collaborative problem-solving to counter corporate overreach and government surveillance.
Whether writing solarpunk speculative fiction about climate hope or techno-thrillers about financial mechanisms, his narrative approach balances detailed technical realism with accessible explanations of economic and social concepts. He frequently releases his literary works under Creative Commons licenses, reflecting his personal commitment to accessible information and user autonomy.
6 books in catalog
Speculative fiction and digital rights advocacy intersect in a prolific body of work that examines surveillance, internet policy, copyright, and post-scarcity economics. Cory Doctorow established himself as a prominent voice in modern science fiction and tech journalism through novels that address how technology shapes human freedom and social systems, including his best-selling young adult novel Little Brother.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on July 17, 1971, Doctorow attended alternative schools and worked at Bakka Bookstore before dropping out of high school at age seventeen. That same year, he sold his first story, '2,000 Year Check-up,' to the Canadian speculative fiction magazine On Spec. After briefly living in Mexico and attending four universities in two years, he attended the Clarion Writers' Workshop in 1992. His first professional sale, 'Craphound,' appeared in Science Fiction Age in 1998 and was nominated for the Aurora and Sturgeon Awards.
Beyond his fiction writing, Doctorow has built an extensive career as an activist, blogger, and journalist. He served as the European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, co-founded the Open Rights Group in the UK, and spent years as a co-editor of the popular blog Boing Boing. Having lived in Toronto, London, and other cities, he continues to publish technology critique and fiction while advocating for Creative Commons licensing and open access standards.
Doctorow's writing frequently focuses on the political and legal tensions inherent in digital technology, with recurring themes such as digital rights management, file sharing, copyright liberalization, anti-monopoly economics, and open-source computation. His speculative worlds often feature technologist protagonists who use technical knowledge, civil disobedience, and collaborative problem-solving to counter corporate overreach and government surveillance.
Whether writing solarpunk speculative fiction about climate hope or techno-thrillers about financial mechanisms, his narrative approach balances detailed technical realism with accessible explanations of economic and social concepts. He frequently releases his literary works under Creative Commons licenses, reflecting his personal commitment to accessible information and user autonomy.
