Decius wrote:
]] I pinged the elf. He had a lot of left-handed Whuffie ...
]
] A short excerpt from Cory Doctorow's new novel, Down and Out
] in the Magic Kingdom, which seems to have some, ehem, familiar
] ideas.

Barnes and Noble claims the book will be available on January 8. But, according to Amazon, Tor (the publisher) describes the book as a "February 2003" release. Time will tell.

Regarding _Down and Out_, Kirkus Reviews writes: "The language has pop and the ideas are launched from the page with plentyof fizz, but Doctorow ultimately hamstrings himself with a monumentally trivial storyline." That's unfortunate.

Speaking of books, have you read Crichton's _Prey_ yet? Thoughts? If not, it's a quick read, and worth the time, although it unfolds rather like the typical Crichton story. On some level, it feels a bit Mad-Libby, as though you could periodically swap "grey goo" with "velociraptor" without skipping a beat.