SOMEONE COMES TO SECOND LIFE

First Cory Doctorow's book, and then Cory Doctorow himself...

Now it can be revealed-- mark this date and time:

Sunday, July 24, 2pm PDT/5pm EDT/10pm London time

Because that's when Cory Doctorow will return to Second Life to discuss his latest book with a live audience of Residents. (Location TBD.) This time, however, the book, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, will also make an in-world appearance, as well. On July 1st, when the physical version is released to stores, a Second Life edition will be freely available to all Residents who want to read it. (That way, Doctorow's audience will have over three weeks to read the in-world edition of his novel, and prepare a batch of incisive questions for him, when he arrives.)

As it happens, selecting the "official" in-world edition of the book begins today. With the help of Jeska Linden, I've set aside a large plot of land for an Expo showcasing several book prototypes in Plum (99,163), so Residents can take a look at them all, and vote on the version that provides the best reading experience. (They're using Cory's last novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, for the demo.) I've mentioned this Expo and several prototype submissions here, here, and here. Residents who visit Plum will also find two more late entries there:

- Frans Charming's prototype features a retro-cool chair that's a little like one of those odd bubble seats from the old "Prisoner" TV series; that's where the reader sits, because once there, the sitter's camera is auto-locked into an ideal reading position, with a clickable GUI beneath it, for turning the pages. The contraption itself turns the novel into a conveyor belt of text; pages you've just read are sent on their way down a track, while incoming pages are put on the rail, and prepared for instant delivery.

- Djinn Fizz's prototype is the only entry to de-emphasize the printed word. Instead, he is proposing to read Cory's book out loud over a live Internet stream, which he'll pipe onto a plot of land, over several sessions. So Residents can come to hear him tell the story of Someone Comes to Town via streamed broadcast-- much like the days of classic radio, when voice actors would read whole novels to attentive audiences within tuning range. (Djinn has helpfully provided reading mats for these events, where Residents can lay down, while they listen.) There's also a visual component to the book: Djinn plans to convert the book into scrolling text, then display that as a Quicktime stream which Residents can follow along with, over the live audio delivery. (There's also a multiple bookmark function, so several Residents can read the same copy at their own pace.)

Again, all of these prototypes will be on display for the next week in Plum (99,163). Come, read, vote.

The other main component to Cory Doctorow's Second Life appearance is, well, Cory Doctorow's Second Life appearance. I'm inviting Residents to create an avatar "sketch" of Cory, based on his real world appearance, and let Cory decide which one he wants to embody in-world. Lilith Pendradgon's sketch is the first I received, but if you're a Resident who'd like to try your hand at making a Cory prototype, send me a screenshot of your attempt by this Friday, Noon PDT.

After that, all that remains is reading the actual book, and meeting the actual author in-world.