Attention — Sep 18, 2026

Visit the Sins, Part 02 – CONCLUSION

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 10:49

The second part of Cory Doctorow’s short story “Visit the Sins” follows Sean as he visits a care facility where his grandfather, Bryce, lives among people who have spent much of their lives “switched off.” Sean is researching his family’s history of attention and cognitive disengagement, and he confronts his grandfather about log files showing that Bryce was rarely mentally present during work, ma…

Visit the Sins, Part 01

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 10:56

This transcript is the first part of Cory Doctorow’s podcast reading of his short story “Visit the Sins,” originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction in 1999. Doctorow begins with personal and professional updates: he is packing for a year at USC, mentions Creative Commons events, and encourages Worldcon members to vote for the Hugo Awards, noting that many nominated works are available onlin…

The Super-Man and the Bugout, Part 03 – CONCLUSION

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 11:02

This video is the final installment of Cory Doctorow’s podcast reading of his short story The Super-Man and the Bugout, a superhero tale reimagining Superman as Hershey Abramowitz, a Jewish man raised in suburban Toronto by his mother after Kal-El lands there. Doctorow begins with personal updates: the podcast’s 46th episode, his Red Hat Summit talk, upcoming appearances, and current projects incl…

Super-Man and the Bugout, Part 02

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 11:08

This episode is the second installment of Cory Doctorow’s podcast reading of Super-Man and the Bugout, a superhero story in which Kal-El lands in suburban Toronto and is raised by an old Jewish couple. The narrator introduces the story as part of a linked cycle that includes Shadow of the Mothaship and Home Again, Home Again, and notes that it was originally published in OnSpec and later collected…

Super-Man and the Bugout, Part 01

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 11:14

This podcast installment presents the first part of Cory Doctorow’s short story ‘Super-Man and the Bugout,’ a Jewish-Canadian superhero tale that reimagines Superman as Hershey Abramowitz, a man raised in Toronto by an old Jewish couple after landing on Earth. The narrator introduces the story as the final piece of a triptych that includes ‘Shadow of the Mothaship’ and ‘Home Again, Home Again,’ an…

Home Again, Home Again, Part 02

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 11:22

This transcript is the second part of Cory Doctorow’s podcast reading of his short story “Home Again, Home Again.” The narrator, Chet, returns to Earth after growing up in an alien-imposed mental institution called the Bat House. He travels through a transformed Toronto filled with alien visitors, historical shops, and humans who seem unaware of the strange new world around them. His journey is bo…

Home Again, Home Again, Part 01

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 11:28

This video is the first installment of Cory Doctorow’s podcast reading of his short story “Home Again, Home Again,” a sequel of sorts to “Shadow of the Mothaship.” Doctorow begins by explaining the story’s origins: snorkeling in Cuba and reading E. L. Doctorow’s The Book of Daniel, a fictionalized account of the Rosenbergs’ children. He admires the novel’s autobiographical device of switching betw…

Shadow of the Mothaship podcast, Part 03 – CONCLUSION

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 11:36

The final installment of Cory Doctorow’s podcast reading of ‘Shadow of the Mothership’ begins with a brief authorial introduction, in which Doctorow notes that the story was originally published in Amazing Stories and later collected in A Place So Foreign and Eight More, and mentions upcoming Creative Commons downloads and his appearance at the Ray Kurzweil Singularity Summit. The story itself the…

Shadow of the Mothaship podcast, Part 02

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 11:43

The transcript is part two of Cory Doctorow’s story “Shadow of the Mothaship,” narrated in first person by Max, a young man living in a Toronto squat run by the larger-than-life Tony the Tiger. After returning from Niagara Falls, Max crashes his bike into a crater, badly injuring his knee and damaging his bicycle. He is cared for by Tony and Daisy Duke, a practical, affectionate woman who has just…

Shadow of the Mothaship podcast, Part 01

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 11:51

This video is part one of Cory Doctorow’s podcast reading of his short story “Shadow of the Mothership,” originally published in Amazing Stories in 2000 and later collected in A Place So Foreign and Eight More. Doctorow begins with a personal update, describing extensive travel through Australia, scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, appearances at science fiction conventions with Bruce Sterling…

Nimby and the D-Hoppers, Part 03 – CONCLUSION

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 11:57

This final installment of Cory Doctorow’s podcast reading of Nimby and the D-Hoppers begins with brief personal updates, including a warning to British listeners about buying appliances from John Lewis’s web store and a note that future podcasts will feature related stories. The story then concludes with the narrator, Barry, confronting an alternate version of himself in a deep-green, low-tech com…

Nimby and the D-Hoppers, Part 02

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 12:03

This video is the second installment of Cory Doctorow’s podcast reading of Nimby and the D-Hoppers. The host begins with brief updates: a Hebrew Creative Commons translation has appeared, he attended a peer-to-peer television activist event in Amsterdam, and he apologizes for the delayed release because of travel, jet lag, and speaking engagements. He also hints at embargoed news and promises the…

Nimby and the D-Hoppers, Part 01

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 12:09

This video is the first part of Cory Doctorow’s audio reading of his short story Nimby and the D-Hoppers, originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine in 2003. Doctorow begins with a brief personal introduction, explaining that the story came to him in a dream, that he has just returned from an O’Reilly Emerging Technologies Conference in San Diego, and that he visited Disneyland’s Cl…

Return to Pleasure Island, Part 04 — CONCLUSION

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 12:13

This final installment of Cory Doctorow’s podcast reading of “Return to Pleasure Island” concludes a dark fantasy tale set in a sinister amusement-park-like realm. George, a former worker from a strange family, is stranded at a cabin with his brother Bill and young Tom after leaving the midway. Bill, who has a crippled hand and a protective role, cares for Tom while George feels useless and isolat…

Return to Pleasure Island, Part 03

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 12:21

This transcript is part three of Cory Doctorow’s audio reading of “Return to Pleasure Island,” a dark fantasy story. Doctorow begins with authorial context, explaining that the creatures are golems rather than trolls, that the idea of biting off thumbs to produce offspring comes from Dave Nickel’s “The Unshackling of Thumbs,” and that the names Joe, George, and Bill reference historical naming pra…

Return to Pleasure Island, Part 02

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 12:27

This transcript is the second part of a four-part podcast in which Cory Doctorow reads his short story Return to Pleasure Island. After brief announcements about a science-fiction podcast anthology, an emerging technology conference, and a London open house, the narrative shifts to George, a quiet, watchful worker at a sinister amusement park called Pleasure Island. George endures childhood bullyi…

Return to Pleasure Island, Part 01

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 12:33

This video is the first installment of a four-part audio reading of Cory Doctorow’s short story “Return to Pleasure Island,” originally published in Realms of Fantasy and later collected in A Place So Foreign and Eight More. Doctorow begins with a personal tribute to Octavia Butler, explaining that her death was a shock and that her writing helped him overcome a five-year period of writer’s block…

I, Robot, Part 5 — FIXED

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 12:42

This transcript is the final episode of Cory Doctorow’s iRobot podcast, in which he reads aloud from his short story iRobot and closes with personal and political updates. Doctorow notes that the story was originally published in Infinite Matrix and nominated for a British Science Fiction Award. He discusses colleagues, Boing Boing’s dispute with Secure Computing’s Smart Filter, which overblocks t…

I, Robot, Part 05 – CONCLUSION – FIXED

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 12:52

This video is the final installment of Cory Doctorow’s podcast reading of his short story “I, Robot,” published in Infinite Matrix and nominated for a British Science Fiction Award. Before reading the conclusion, Doctorow discusses current digital-rights issues: Boing Boing was blocked by Secure Computing’s “Smart Filter” because a tiny fraction of posts contained nudity, causing the filter to blo…

I, Robot, Part 04

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 12:59

This video is part four of Cory Doctorow’s audio reading of his short story “I, Robot,” framed by a brief podcast introduction about his recent talks, travel plans, EFF work, and the open-source media platform Democracy. The story follows Arturo, a UNATS detective, who is investigating the kidnapping of his daughter Ada and a mysterious infowar terrorist who is invisible to robots and surveillance…

I, Robot, Part 03

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 13:08

In this installment of Cory Doctorow’s I, Robot podcast, Detective Arturo investigates a mall incident involving a dead pile of robots and a hidden Eurasian infoward device. After a security guard gives him an unauthorized key, Arturo searches a derelict shoe store and finds a tripwire and a concealed weapon powered by a positronic brain. The captured Eurasian robot calmly claims it is not bound b…

I, Robot, Part 02

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 13:13

This video is the second part of Cory Doctorow’s audio reading of his short story ‘I, Robot,’ recorded at a science-fiction convention. After a brief personal update about his convention appearances and awards, the story follows Detective Arturo, a police officer in a society where UNAT Robotics products are ubiquitous and tightly controlled. A representative of Social Harmony briefs Arturo and ot…

I, Robot, Part 01

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 13:19

Cory Doctorow opens the podcast from Boston, where he is attending BosCon and visiting universities, and introduces a reading of his story I, Robot, a title he notes was also used by Eando Binder before Asimov. The story follows Detective Arturo Icaza de Arana Goldberg, a decorated police officer in the United North American Trading Sphere, as he struggles to get his twelve-year-old daughter Ada T…

Human Readable, Part 07 – CONCLUSION

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 13:24

The video is the final podcast installment of Cory Doctorow’s novella Human Readable, preceded by a personal introduction in which Doctorow mentions his Boston appearances, travel troubles, Locus Award nominations, and plans to podcast another story, I, Robot. The story’s conclusion follows Trish, a political organizer or lobbyist, as a major communications grid failure forces her office to operat…

Human Readable, Part 06

Podcast – Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com · 13:30

This video is the sixth installment of Cory Doctorow’s podcast reading of his novella Human Readable. The opening segment is personal and promotional: Doctorow explains that a storm canceled his flight to Boston, discusses rebooking through Amsterdam, mentions upcoming talks at MIT, Harvard, Olin College, and a science convention, comments on British Airways customer service, describes a dinner at…