I love reading Cory Doctorow. His stories are fun, and his ability to wind a solid science fiction tale is superb. There is the occasional story which does not get me excited, but the clear majority have me smiling from ear to ear. He knows just how to blend future and technology together into an absorbing alternate reality.

In my opinion, Shadow Of The Mothaship was the story that fell short in this collection, but the other eight were fantastic. ( )

http://craphound.com/place/ ( )

Fresh sci-fi looks at time travel, teenage alienation, extraterrestrials, and superheroes. Good reads. ( )

A Place So Foreign is Cory Doctorow’s first collection of short stories. The entire collection is available on his website, www.craphound.com, and Doctorow is one of the editors on BoingBoing.net. In addition to everything else he does in pursuit of fair use and intellectual property rights, Doctorow is also a pretty damn good writer.

A Place So Foreign brings together several stories in a classic-contemporary sci-fi shorts kind of collection. The stories feel utterly contemporary in their blending of tech and reality, drawing as much from fantasy and fairy tales as from Bradbury and Asimov. Doctorow’s prose is clean and clear, presenting plot-driven stories generally designed to illustrate some deeper issue of socio-techno-cultural importance.

Doctorow’s work is enjoyable in the same way as so many sci-fi fans once enjoyed Bradbury or Arthur C. Clarke: His stories are dire warnings wrapped in highly edible containers. Read, enjoy, be blown away. ( )

A good collection with many strong stories at 3.67. A couple of weaker efforts prevent it from getting top marks, though. The first and last stories are the highlights.

Place So Foreign : Craphound - Cory Doctorow
Place So Foreign : A Place So Foreign - Cory Doctorow
Place So Foreign : All Day Sucker - Cory Doctorow
Place So Foreign : To Market to Market: The Rebranding of Billy Bailey - Cory Doctorow
Place So Foreign : Return to Pleasure Island - Cory Doctorow
Place So Foreign : Shadow of the Mothaship - Cory Doctorow
Place So Foreign : Home Again, Home Again - Cory Doctorow
Place So Foreign : The Super Man and the Bugout - Cory Doctorow
Place So Foreign : 0wnz0red - Cory Doctorow

A human and alien have a rivalry over trash and treasure and other market collecting.

4 out of 5

Growing up, aliens, time travel, all the usual.

4 out of 5

Smart packing end.

2.5 out of 5

Hard kid sell.

3.5 out of 5

Bizarre biology and theme parks.

3 out of 5

A spot of anti-alien chemical rebellion.

4 out of 5

Growing up, but this time alien orphanages, robots, and Tesla types.

3.5 out of 5

What if Superman was jewish and grew up very left wing, instead of right wing, plus having the odd alien around, in the future.

4 out of 5

Coding hell to military co-option.

4.5 out of 5

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2009/11... ( )