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THE YEAR IS 1986. THE CITY IS SAN FRANCISCO.
Here, Martin Hench will reinvent the forensic accountant for the digital age - what a bounty hunter is to people, he will be to tech money - but for now he's an MIT dropout odd-jobbing his way around a city still reeling from the invention of a revolutionary new technology that will change everything about crime forever.
When Martin is hired by a Silicon Valley startup, Fidelity Computing, to investigate a group of disgruntled ex-employees who've founded a competitor, he quickly realises he's on the wrong side. Martin ditches the greasy old guys running Fidelity Computing without a second thought, utterly infatuated with the electric atmosphere of Computing Freedom. Located in the heart of the Mission, this group of brilliant young women have set out to beat Fidelity Computing at their own game. But they have no idea of the depth of evil they're seeking to uproot. Or the risks they run.
In this company-eat-company city, Martin and his friends will be lucky to escape with their lives.
About the author
Cory Doctorow (craphound.com) is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation, a Big Tech disassembly manual; Red Team Blues, a science fiction crime thriller; Chokepoint Capitalism, non-fiction about monopoly and creative labour markets; the Little Brother series for young adults; In Real Life, a graphic novel; and the picture book Poesy the Monster Slayer. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
Report
'Picks and Shovels, Cory Doctorow's reconstruction of the rise of Silicon Valley, is note perfect. I love Marty and Art and all the main characters. I love the hope and the thrill that marks the opening section. But I love too the thesis that San Francisco always has failed and always will fail her suitors. Even in the sunlight of that time the shadows are lengthening. the seeds of enshittification are all there. Despite cultural entropy, corruption, greed and all the betrayals there's a core of hope and honour in the story too... And some damned good recipes that I have tucked away.' Stephen Fry
