When I first started work on The Starry Rift it was my hope that people would be encouraged to look at a wider range of science fiction than they had before, consider different and new books to look at.  Over the next while I’ll be talking about various possible books to look at after you’ve read The Starry Rift, both by authors who are in the book and some who are not.

The first book I want to mention is Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother. It’s the best science fiction novel intended for readers of pretty much all ages in the last ten years.  It’s smart, feisty and brimming with good stuff. I hope to arrange a way to give away a couple copies, but in the meantime Cory reports:

On April 31, Toronto Public Library be launching my next novel,Little
Brother, at an event at the Merril Collection, the astounding public
science fiction reference library. Books will be on sale through
BakkaPhoenix books, and they’re taking pre-orders for signed/inscribed
copies of the book to be mailed out to you (CDN$19.95 for the book, plus
$9 and GST for shipping in Canada, $15 to the US, $20 to Europe, and
$25 to the rest of the world). BakkaPhoenix: 416 963 9993,
inquiries@bakkaphoenixbooks.com

Be sure to check it out.

Cory Doctorow is the author of four novels and two short story collections. His story in The Starry Rift is “Anda’s Game”, which originally appeared on salon.com.

1. When did you start reading science fiction? How old were you, and can you remember the first book or story that really excited you as a reader?

My father had sf books and comics around the house from the time I was born and the first book I read on my own was Alice in Wonderland, which, I think, qualifies. Made the top of my head flip open and my brain do a victory dance.

2. What do you think science fiction has something to offer young readers today?

Science fiction is the didactic literature that explains how the world works — how the social and technological mesh and what that means for the person on the street. Childhood is a continuous process of figuring this stuff out, so sf is the right story.

3. Tell us about your story for The Starry Rift.

“Anda’s Game” is a story about realizing that we all inhabit the same world and the same Internet, even if some of us — people from the rich developed world — are thousands of times richer than others. Anda is a young British girl who joins a girl-power gaming clan and finds herself involved in missions to knock over in-game sweatshops where little girls from Latinamerica toil to make virtual goods that are sold to rich players like her. The ensuing moral struggle makes Anda confront her place in the world and who she sees as allies.

4. Did you find there was a real difference between writing for younger readers, or was your approach basically the same as when you’re writing for any other audience?

Not really — there are a few little vocabulary issues, but for the most part, writing for kids is like writing for adults, only more so, since kids tend to be sharper, more careful readers who pay close attention and aren’t afraid to send you an email when you get it wrong.

5. What are you writing now? Is there something you’d recommend to readers who enjoyed your story in The Starry Rift?

My new novel is LITTLE BROTHER, my first book for young readers. It’s the story of hacker kids in San Francisco who get caught in the terrorism dragnet and have to declare war on the Department of Homeland Security to win back the US Bill of Rights. You can buy it in stores everywhere and you can download it free at http://craphound.com/littlebrother.

A  free sample!  Well, almost.  In November 2004 Salon.com published Cory Doctorow’s novelette “Anda’s Game”.   The story was smart, clever, timely and perceptive. It was applauded everywhere, and ended up being collected in Michael Chabon’s Best American Short Stories.

When I was compiling The Starry Rift  I asked Cory if he’d like to contribute a story for the book. Unfortunately, because of his schedule, he couldn’t write an original, but he did suggest reprinting “Anda’s Game”, which was a terrific idea.

The version that appears in  The Starry Rift is different from the version that appears elsewhere - it’s several thousand words shorter - but you can still read the original version at Salon.   It’s a great story.

April Spisak has given The Starry Rift a very good review in the Bulletin of the Centre for Children’s Books. The review says:

STRAHAN, JONATHAN, ed. The Starry Rift: Tales of New Tomorrows: An Original Science Fiction Anthology.
reviewed from galleys R Gr. 9-12

Veteran compiler Strahan here brings together sixteen stories, all but one original, that envision a future world. The stories cover both the genre standards (virtual reality, cloning, and post-apocalyptic environs recur throughout) and the unexpected (futuristic vampires and end-time prophets). In addition, a dramatic range of writing styles is represented, from Neil Gaiman’s short “Orange,” where the reader is only presented with a set of answers to an interview about the respondent’s bizarre older sister, to “Anda’s Game,” by Cory Doctorow, which is a more in-depth exploration of a young girl’s rise to fame in a virtual reality environment. Even in their variety, however, these tales are all fairly sophisticated and traditional science fiction (in overall story structure, narrative perspective, and topics included); this is a collection clearly intended for fans of the genre. The inclusion of adolescent protagonists, environments in which teens could imagine themselves (schools, virtual reality spaces, or on spaceships as apprentices), and almost universally fast-paced, snappy narratives will all be particularly appealing to YA readers. In fact, SF buffs, long resigned to crossover adult compilations, will likely be thrilled by this extensive selection written specifically for this audience. Authors’ notes that offer intriguing insights into the inspiration behind each story accompany brief contributor biographies. AS

Cory Doctorow, self-described “renaissance geek,” is probably best known for his website boingboing.net and for his work with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Raised by Trotskyist schoolteachers in the wilds of Canada, Doctorow began selling fiction when he was 17, and published a small handful of stories through the early and mid 1990s. His best-known story, “Craphound,” appeared in 1998, and he won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2000. Doctorow’s first novel, Down and Out In the Magic Kingdom, was published to good reviews in early 2003 and was followed by collections A Place So Foreign and Eight More and Overclocked, and novels Eastern Standard Tribe and Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town. Doctorow is currently working on two novels, usr/bin/god and Themepunks.  His latest novel is Little Brother. He is also the co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing Science Fiction with Karl Schroeder. The story that follows is the first in a series of stories that use the titles of famous SF short stories that Doctorow began after Ray Bradbury voiced his disapproval of filmmaker Michael Moore appropriating the title of his novel Fahrenheit 451. It’s been followed by Hugo Award nominatee “I, Robot”, and “I, Row-boat”.