Skip to main content

Our Books, Our Shelves: Bookish Activism and Rejecting Fatalism in Favor of Hope With Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow and his newest novel, Attack Surface

The cost of security is everything you believe in.

Recommended Videos

Author Cory Doctorow returns with Attack Surface, a standalone novel set in the world of New York Times bestsellers Little Brother and Homeland.

Join Cory as he discusses bookish activism and rejecting fatalism in favor of hope.

Most days, Masha Maximow was sure she’d chosen the winning side.

In her day job as a counterterrorism wizard for an transnational cybersecurity firm, she made the hacks that allowed repressive regimes to spy on dissidents, and manipulate their every move. The perks were fantastic, and the pay was obscene.

Just for fun, and to piss off her masters, Masha sometimes used her mad skills to help those same troublemakers evade detection, if their cause was just. It was a dangerous game and a hell of a rush. But seriously self-destructive. And unsustainable.

When her targets were strangers in faraway police states, it was easy to compartmentalize, to ignore the collateral damage of murder, rape, and torture. But when it hits close to home, and the hacks and exploits she’s devised are directed at her friends and family–including boy wonder Marcus Yallow, her old crush and archrival, and his entourage of naïve idealists–Masha realizes she has to choose.

And whatever choice she makes, someone is going to get hurt.

Cory Doctorow is a regular contributor to The Guardian, Locus, and many other publications. His award-winning novel Little Brother was a New York Times bestseller, as is its sequel, Homeland. His novella collection Radicalized was a CBC Best Fiction of 2019 selection. Born and raised in Canada, he lives with his family in Los Angeles.

Don’t forget to check out the other excellent additions in our exclusive Our Books, Our Shelves column with Tor Books!

(featured image: Tor)

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!

The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

Author
Larissa Irankunda
Larissa Irankunda (she/her) is an East African star child and writer based in Brooklyn. Fantasy and Science-Fiction are her first loves, and her writing focuses on amplifying diversity and inclusion in storytelling. You are most likely to find her nose-deep in a good book, or professing her love for Danny Devito and Jeff Goldblum on the interwebs.

Filed Under:

Follow The Mary Sue: