Here’s an interesting question for all y’all; As you know, my day over the next three weeks will be filled with traveling, sitting in hotel rooms, going to tour events and (hopefully) seeing friends and depressurizing. I’ve been so busy doing each of these today, for example, that I actually haven’t the slightest idea of what’s happened in the world today, which makes me suspect that if I really wanted to, I could go until May 10 without reading any real sort of outside news at all; in effect, being a media bubble boy, oblivious to the world outside my own little book tour.

My question to you: Should I do this?

I crave your input.

And to celebrate, here’s a picture of the muzzled dog that I can see from the window of my hotel room. Poor doggie. Although, who knows maybe it is a biter.

Off to dinner with friends. See you all tomorrow.

Waiting for my plane. And it’s on time, so far.

Being at the airport means I have officially started my tour. Very exciting.

Will be in Seattle in, oh, eight hours or so. I’ll check in then.

Happy International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day! This is the day when all of us Webscabs celebrate our undermining of the dominant paradigm by giving away free reading to the lot of you. Because it just feels good. Tingly, kind of. Like a nine-volt to the upper lip.

And what am I giving away today? How about the first half of a young adult novel I wrote ten years ago, called The Durant Chronicles: Crisis at Tlada? It’s filled with excitement, adventure, interstellar political intrigue, and, of course, alien fruits the size of your head. Now, you may ask, why give away only the first half, and not the second half? Because I never wrote the second half, that’s why. No, I don’t remember why; I actually like this story, so I didn’t stop writing it because I was bored. Maybe I’ll get around to it again if sufficiently motivated, and that’s a big hint to you YA editors out there. In the meantime, however, I think the rest of you might enjoy what’s here.

Here’s the link. It’ll take you to an .rtf file, which should be readable on just about anything electronic that reads text. Feel free to reformat it to your tastes. Also feel free to share (non-commercially) with family and friends, although I would appreciate if you write about it that you link back to this entry rather than host it on your personal site (that way I know how many people downloaded it).

This novel fragment is yours free to read; you don’t need to pay me a damn thing for it. However, if you find yourself enjoying it so much that you feel the need to show your appreciation in the form of cash, allow me to suggest that rather than sending the cash to me, you instead send it to Reading is Fundamental, which is an organization that supports literacy in children and adults, and that’s something I can really get behind. Indeed, I would ask all participants in International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day to list a charity and ask their readers to support it, in lieu of paying for all the delicious free reading they’re getting today.

But wait, there’s even more technopeasant goodness! As it happens, yesterday at Penguicon, the utterly fabulous science fiction/open source computing convention, I was on a panel with Charles Stross and Tobias Buckell about using free electronic works as a way to market one’s self. The recording of that discussion is up now on the Time Traveler blog for your enjoyment, and yes, we talk about International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day. Because how could we not. And speaking of Charlie Stross, he’s got something up today, too — go here to find out what it is. I assure you, it’s even cooler than what I’m giving away.

I’ll post more links about International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day if I get a chance, but remember I’m traveling today. So — if you are participating and you want to get the word out, drop a note in the comment threads! I’m all about the Technopeasant pimping today. (Note: if your comment gets trapped in the moderation queue, don’t panic — I’ll release it as soon as I get a chance.)

Update, 5:39am: Jo Walton, who founded the day, lists more participants here.

Update, 6:40am: The IPSTP LiveJournal community also has a nice listing of free reads.

And of course I’ll remind all and sundry that I have a standing entry of all the other creative stuff I’ve given away over the years.