Customer Reviews

Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For the last few days, I've been reading Cory Doctorow's new collection of short fiction, Overclocked (Thunder's Mouth Press). It's been one of the first things I've looked forward to in the morning -- reading it while waiting for and riding the subway to work -- and one of the last things I've done each day -- reading it before sleep.

Because the six stories in the book have all been published elsewhere, chances are good that at least one or two will be familiar. Apparently, that's OK, because even though I'd previously read "I, Robot," I caught myself rereading it with glee despite the fact that I knew exactly what was going to happen. It might be the case that -- in Cory's writing, as well as in the future itself -- it's not just what happens... but how it happens. His stuff holds up under the pressure of memory.

But it was one of the stories I haven't previously read that I found the most enjoyable, effective, and affecting. "After the Siege," in part inspired by his grandmother's survival of Hitler's invasion of Stalingrad, is the kind of short story that holds your attention, your imagination, and your affection all at the same time. At times, I'm irritated by how preachy Cory can be in his infopolitics, but in this story, he shows us that his heart is as big as his brain and his hopes for society.

Congratulations, Cory. Each of these stories was an accomplishment in their own right when they were first published, and in book form, they become an accomplishment in the aggregate. And the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Thanks for the good reads -- and rereads.

[..]

Not a bad collection, but sometimes Doctorow's desire to use his fiction to promote his socio-political beliefs gets in the way of his genuine story-telling talent.

This collection included some good material: "After the Siege," the final story in the book, particularly impressed me. But "I, Robot," for example, seemed kind of clunky to me, a kind of "copyright opera."

I think these stories are available for free download under Creative Commons licensing. If you haven't liked some of Doctorow's work in the past, check out the free versions first.

If you are just starting to read Doctorow's work, try "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" or "Eastern Standard Tribe" or "Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town" first.

I'm not normally a reader of short story collections but I thought I'd give "Over Clocked" a try. On finishing it, I realized why I don't read short story collections.

The problem is, short story collections inevitably end up being like CD's. Sure, there's one, maybe two great tracks on it, a few mediocre tracks and then some that are positively awful. Over Clocked suffers the same malady.

One of the strongest stories is "When Sysadmins ruled the world." An interesting tale that describes how a technologically dependent world gets brought to its knees by rampant worms and viruses and how the system administrators (Sysadmins of the title) may be the only people skilled and tech-savvy enough to fight humanity's corner.

Equally enjoyable is "I robot." Winner of the 2005 Locus award and a finalist for the Hugo and British Science Fiction award in the same year. You'd expect for it to be a good read with those credentials.

Holding the middle ground for the book is "Anda's game" - which will no doubt be a favorite with the gaming readers - and provides a virtual backdrop for the rich minority vs depressed minority scenario to literally be played out once more.

"After the Siege," where the horrors of future war are exploited for entertainment value, also provides food for thought. Whilst Doctorow preface's the story by suggesting it's a commentary on developed nations using strong arm tactics on underdeveloped counterparts, one can't help but think that this story might not also be a poke in the eye to today's news media, given the current state of world affairs.

I enjoyed all of these stories but then that's where I ran into trouble. Perhaps in no other genre than speculative fiction does the phrase "Suspension of belief," come into its own. Every author asks you to suspend your belief and go along for the ride, and for the majority of Over Clocked I was prepared to do that. Rampant computer viruses I can do. Robots I can do. Future war and gang warfare on the net I'm prepared to go along with. With "I Row-Boat," Doctorow lost me.

Over Clocked's subtitle is "Stories of future present." Most of the stories seemed to be a reasonable extrapolation of science and technology today with a dark, dystopian slant, but I found sentient rowing boats conversing with coral reefs a little beyond what I was prepared to accept. As a result, I just couldn't get past the first five pages of "I Row-Boat."

Similarly, I found the very short, short story (2 pages) "Printcrime," equally hard to swallow.

Overall, I gave Over Clocked a 3 out of 5 rating. Of the six stories contained within, there are a couple of gems, a couple of easy reads and a couple that I would skip if I had a "Next Chapter" button.

Maybe that's a future present.

Doctorow is one of the hottest young science fiction inventioneers of the past decade. He's done three novels, all of them groundbreaking in various ways, and one previous collection of short stories. The six stories in this volume all are treatments of extremely contemporary information technology (the author likes to say he specializes in "predicting the present"). "Anda's Game," which appeared in _Best American Short Stories,_ is about the real sweatshops that have recently appeared to serve the virtual gaming industry -- very weird stuff indeed. (I don't think even Gibson, much less Heinlein, could have imagined such a thing.) "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" is a paean to the people who guard the cyberverse -- and therefore the "real world" -- from Evil. "Printcrime" is a very short piece written for NATURE, about the hobnailed boot planted in the face of informational freedom. "After the Siege" is a much longer and rather chilling exploration of the same theme. (Doctorow has very strong opinions about the recent trend in strengthening copyright and patent law in the West to the detriment of the developing world.) "I, Robot," which was nominated for a Hugo, is both a riff on Asimov's classic Three Laws and an exploration of a weak point in the Good Doctor's work: The lack of market competition in robotics. "I, Row-Boat" (yes, indeed, Robby the Row-Boat) is the weakest piece in this volume, though even it's pretty good, exploring what happens after most humans have left the planet to live in outer virtual space (sort of) and the AIs left behind have to learn to cope.

I own and have read all of Cory's novels and short story collections but one. Little Brother is actually on its way from Amazon as I type this. I hope to start reading it this weekend.

Cory writes excellent fiction. His short stories are smart and engaging. His novels are a lot quirky and innovative, but still pay homage to the classics of the genre. I can't compare him to Gibson or Sterling or Card or Asimov. He is closest in my mind to Neal Stephenson, because Cory, like Neal, is a techy that knows his stuff. But still Cory doesn't go that route. Cory is his own dude, he doesn't try to copy or be like anybody but himself, and it shows.

I'm a Doctorow fan, and it should be no secret that some of the stories in "Overclocked" are available for free from his website craphound.com, as are his comments on the stories. I bought the book anyway, pleased to be able to do so. Doctorow brings to his stories the sensibilities (and outrage) of someone who sees both the potential and the problems of the ongoing tech / Internet revolution and extrapolates from current developments. His 'futures' can be grim [When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth, After the Siege], or hilarious [I, Row-boat] but if you read a newspaper (or a newsfeed) you won't wonder where the ideas came from. This is speculative fiction and good writing at one go, not the most common of occurrences.

Forgetting the super short Printcrime, there are five long-ish short stories in the collection. I liked three of them: When Sysadmins, Anda's Game and After the Siege. The first two of these feature affecting 'turns' against the internet/MMORPGs. After the Siege actually reminded me vaguely of the film Pan's Labyrinth, with its young girl heroine, its fantasy, and its touch of allegory.

I didn't like I, Robot (I don't thing the action sequences work, nor the ending) or I, Rowboat, which was a chore to get through. If I have a criticism of Doctorow, it's that he seems to just grab whatever is in the news and toss it into a story. Sometimes this works well (sweatshops, war media,...), but at times it comes across as unimaginative, e.g., the childhood obesity sub-theme of Anda's Game. Also, he tends to force his endings (except in WSARTW).

While Doctorow has written some decent novels, it would seem his superior skills lie in the short story arena, as this really is an outstanding collection with the quality of the work he has put together here.

He also keeps writing more, which these days all seem to be high quality compared to some of the efforts in his early collected work.

Great stuff to be found here, as he riffs on old SF stories and the near future.


Overclocked : Printcrime - Cory Doctorow
Overclocked : When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth - Cory Doctorow
Overclocked : Anda's Game - Cory Doctorow
Overclocked : I Robot - Cory Doctorow
Overclocked : I Row-Boat - Cory Doctorow
Overclocked : After the Siege - Cory Doctorow


A chilling tale of the future when Z-Printers abound, and it becomes a crime for the common man to have one, for the typical fas*ist reasons. Then one of the protagonist's family, has an epiphany at the end of the story.

3.5 out of 5


Biowar makes geekfu and gruntwork a necessary combination afterwards.

5 out of 5


Liza, Lisa, Anda's clan jam game grunt gold grab gunplay showdown.

4.5 out of 5


Baby arrival brings brainy Big Brother bot researcher's defection and later reunion desires in multiple.

4.5 out of 5


Asimovian reef revival survival.

4.5 out of 5


Royalties of infowar.

4 out of 5





5 out of 5

I bought this book while on a buying binge. Usually, on these binges, I buy books only if they are by Canadians. Homesickness, I guess, here take two novels and go to bed.
I loved this book, not because at some point in his life Doctorow was/is Canadian (if anything, I hold my compatriots to higher standards), but because the stories were fast, funny, and deep. Freaking amazing.
I loved having I, Robot next to I, Row-Boat. It reminds me of dropping a single drop of some bizarre chemical into a series of solutions and then documenting what happens. I think I did that once in high school.
Happily, I can re-read the book, a rare treat for me. Each story struck a high note for me:
Printcrime was a tad odd, but the punch line was worth the overdramatic scene leading up to it.
When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth had me laughing and crying. The tech-talk would have gotten to me, except the love and admiration for a simple cpu brought it all home. An interesting conjunction with or simile for what else was going on.
I loved Anda's Game. I could probably exceed my 300 words on Anda's game alone.
After the Seige was a disturbing addition, but one that I'm glad was included. The insight and the gentle touch mark how important this story is.
I have to go now and get my copy back from my wife who is taking too long reading it.

OVERCLOCKED(2007), is a collection of short stories (good, bad, and mediocre) by the author, that were originally published in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Most of the stories are plagued by an amateurish writing style, yet there are enough original ideas to keep the whole thing on a even keel:

Here are reviews of the individual stories:

PRINTCRIME ** - Very short story (2.5 pages), that never comes up to speed.

WHEN SYSADMINS RULED THE EARTH ***1/2 (52 pages) - Story of survival from "global terrorism"... lots of interesting and technically-correct usage of computer networking technology as a backdrop to the story.

I, ROBOT *** (58 pages) - Interesting, but hard to follow the author's writing at times.

I, ROWBOAT *** (50 pages) - Semi-amusing story; but, again, you have to work a deciphering the author's writing style... and there is a "slight hint" at "Human-Caused Global Warming" -- herein using the more "politically-correct term du jour" "Climate Change" -- luckily the author doesn't dwell on this nonsense too long (contrary to what most liberal SciFi writers end up making the mistake of doing these days: FORCING this nonsense into their stories, literally come "h*ll or high water").

AFTER THE SIEGE **** (78 pages) - Really quite good story of survival of a young girl caught in a "patriotic city" that finds itself out-gunned and under siege, but defending itself at all cost, in a near-future "trench/techno war".