My next novel, Little Brother, officially goes on sale today! In addition to the US print edition, there's a DRM-free audio edition (there're also forthcoming editions in the UK, Greece, Russia, France and Norway, with others pending) from Random House Audio. My deal with Random House is that they're absolutely not allowed to sell the book with DRM on it, which, sadly, means that Audible (the largest audiobook store in the world) won't carry it -- they insist on selling books with DRM, even when authors and publishers don't want it.

Instead, you can buy the audiobook from Zipidee, a retailer that Random House uses -- they have the spiffy embeddable Flash sales-object you see above (feel free to paste it into your own blog or whatnot), and there's also this static URL for those of you who can't use Flash.

The audiobook comes with my own sampling license: once you own it, you're free to take up to 30 minutes' worth of material from it and remix and then redistribute it as much as you like, provided that you do so on a noncommercial basis, make sure that it's clear that this is a remix and not the original, and make sure that you tell people where to find the original. This is in addition to all the fair use remixing that you're allowed to do without my permission (of course!).

I'll also be releasing (as always!) a free, Creative Commons-licensed version of the text of Little Brother, just as soon as I get back to London (I'm presently in Toronto, visiting my family with my newborn daughter). It'll likely be Monday or so -- there's a bunch of little clean-uppy things I need to do with the Little Brother distribution site that I need to be in my office with uninterrupted time to accomplish. Link to audiobook, Link to buy Little Brother

The Canadian indy band The Western Investor (formerly Feisty) have released their rare, out of print first EP as a remixable Creative Commons download (it's the band's tenth anniversary and they're celebrating). I've been listening to it for the past 20 minutes and there's plenty there to like -- some of these tracks appeared in the movie "Better Than Chocolate." Link (Thanks, Chris!)

This week's installment of The Command Line podcast is a recording from a panel on Secure Computing Environments with Vernor Vinge, held last weekend at Penguicon, the free software/science fiction convention in Novi Troy, MI. The panel's really fascinating and far-ranging, covering the nitty-gritty of how trusted computing is -- and might be -- implemented, to the policy, surveillance, and activist possibilities opened up by a universally available secure computing platform. Link

Ape Lad sez, "Every time I see this it makes me smile: ballet dancers performing to the Pixies' 'Where is my mind.'" Link (Thanks, Ape Lad!)

David Byrne and Brian Eno have completed a new album (of "electric gospel") for released before 2009 and have booked a North American tour on which they're planning to play at least 40 percent old Talking Heads material. Holy moly, this is as good as life gets! Update: Turns out the tour's just Byrne, not Byrne and Eno!

Byrne told us he’s collaborating with their mutual friend Brian Eno “for the first time in 20 years. Brian had written a lot of music, but needed some words, which I know how to do. What’s it sound like? Electronic gospel. That’s all I’m saying.”

Link, Link to NY Daily News piece

See also:
Byrne/Eno "Bush of Ghosts" tracks re-released under CC
Missing Byrne/Eno track "Qu'ran" appears on blogs
Byrne/Eno's "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" -- remix it yourself!
David Byrne's guide to being a musician in the 21st century

Mur sez, "JC Hutchins brought us the killer podcast trilogy 7th Son, but after the novels were done, he invited eight authors from podcasting to write in his world. The audio anthology, called 7th Son, OBSIDIAN, comes out in May and features stories that follow random Americans through the nationwide 2 week blackout that happens in the trilogy. Authors contributing to the Obsidian audio project include Michael A. Stackpole, Scott Sigler, and Mur Lafferty. Right now he's started a video project, showing content submitted by fans and allowing viewers to call in and submit their own 'stories from the blackout' - inviting a new kind of video and audio fanfic in his world. "

THE NATIONWIDE BLACKOUT IS NOW … the violence and chaos are HERE … and YOU are a victim. Call the number in the video below and submit your story of horror and survival! Email your friends this blog post link, encourage them to call and share their “blackout experience!” 7th Son: OBSIDAN is coming….

(Recordings will be played in May, in the OBSIDIAN audio anthology, which chronicles the blackout.)

Link (Thanks, Mur!)