New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow returns to the world of Red Team Blues to bring us the origin story of Martin Hench and the most powerful new tool for crime ever invented: the personal computer. The year is 1986. The city is San Francisco. Here, Martin Hench will invent the forensic accountant--what a bounty hunter is to people, he is to money--but for now he's an MIT dropout odd-jobbing his way around a city still reeling from the invention of a revolutionary new technology that will change everything about crime forever, one we now take completely for granted. When Marty finds himself hired by Silicon Valley PC startup Fidelity Computing to investigate a group of disgruntled ex-employees who've founded a competitor startup, he quickly realizes he's on the wrong side. Marty ditches the greasy old guys running Fidelity Computing without a second thought, utterly infatuated with the electric atmosphere of Computing Freedom. Located in the heart of the Mission, this group of brilliant young women found themselves exhausted by the predatory business practices of Fidelity Computing and set out to beat them at their own game, making better computers and driving Fidelity Computing out of business. But this optimistic startup, fueled by young love and California-style burritos, has no idea the depth of the evil they're seeking to unroot or the risks they run. In this company-eat-company city, Martin and his friends will be lucky to escape with their lives. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow returns to the world of Red Team Blues to bring us the origin story of Martin Hench and the most powerful new tool for crime ever invented: the personal computer. The year is 1986. The city is San Francisco. Here, Martin Hench will invent the forensic accountant--what a bounty hunter is to people, he is to money--but for now he's an MIT dropout odd-jobbing his way around a city still reeling from the invention of a revolutionary new technology that will change everything about crime forever, one we now take completely for granted. When Marty finds himself hired by Silicon Valley PC startup Fidelity Computing to investigate a group of disgruntled ex-employees who've founded a competitor startup, he quickly realizes he's on the wrong side. Marty ditches the greasy old guys running Fidelity Computing without a second thought, utterly infatuated with the electric atmosphere of Computing Freedom. Located in the heart of the Mission, this group of brilliant young women found themselves exhausted by the predatory business practices of Fidelity Computing and set out to beat them at their own game, making better computers and driving Fidelity Computing out of business. But this optimistic startup, fueled by young love and California-style burritos, has no idea the depth of the evil they're seeking to unroot or the risks they run. In this company-eat-company city, Martin and his friends will be lucky to escape with their lives. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Add to your library to track progress and write reviews
Add to your library to track progress and write reviews
Find Picks and Shovels Cory Doctorow in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
Find Picks and Shovels 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.
Martin Hench
Martin Hench
