From the cover:

'The Internet has influenced the way we think, speak, negotiate, communicate, work, skive, shop and love. From now on, this is all there is......bringing together classic names from the past 30 years of science fiction; pitching best-selling names...with the newest names in noir fiction; and finally stirring inthe most exciting and innovative young fiction writers...'

RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to Birmingham!

Update: It never got there....;)

RELEASE NOTES:

Passed to me in a controlled release by Molyneux.

RELEASE NOTES:

Read the book, but I don't really like short stories. Two stood out: "Is anybody there?" and "Icy you....juicy me".

To be left on the OBCZ shelf.

Picked up at BC meet in the pub.

Taken from my partner's shelf, having picked it up at the meet / OBCZ.

This wasn't my cup of tea. I thought it would be factual anecdotes, but instead it's 23 short fictional stories that have at least a partial connection to the Internet/Web/PCs. I read two stories and gave up - others may find this more enjoyable.

RELEASE NOTES:

Taking the book to the meet tomorrow lunchtime.

I picked this up at the meetup at The Cherry Tree today. I'm always a sucker for short stories and this one has the added bonus of being written by many different authors. I am most intrigued by the story entitled 'on the etiquette of eye-contact during oral sex'!

I'm reserving this for the Well Travelled Wild Release Challenge

I think it's so funny that everyone so far has hated this book - is it really that bad?! I'll have to read a couple of these stories myself before sending it on.

~~Well Travelled Wild Release Challenge~~

I have read roughly 1/3 of the stories in this book over the weekend, in a totally random order. I'll write a short review of those I've read in the order they're found in the book. Oh, before I begin I'll just mention that most of the stories do seem to have a second theme - sex! Just thought I'd warn you :)

Butt Hutt - a pretty sad story really with a bit of a grusome ending. Not too badly written 6/10

When Larry Met Allie - a very good reason not to meet people from the internet. Creepy story 8/10

The Beacon - I loved this story, the characters, the way it was written, the ending. Oh, it's so sad but so lovely! 10/10

Rachel, Queen of the World Wide Web - your usual story of someone on the net not being what they claim to be, with a bit of heartache mixed in 5/10

When Thought-Mail Failed - a sci-fi story with echoes of Farenheit 451 and (the film) Equilibrium. It was quite fun and I enjoyed it 7/10

feMail - too hard to follow and not very interesting. Not impressed 4/10

Pushing the Envelope - this is scary, but in a different way to the other one. If you're worried about corporate power then read this story! 7/10

An End to Hunger - the story of an anarchist hacker (but don't call him that to his face) a good thriller and I really enjoyed it 10/10

On the Etiquette of Eye Contact During Oral Sex - boring!! Not even a story, more of an article. I didn't even finish it 2/10

The LastMinute.con - This is an interesting story about suicide/assisted suicide and brings a new consideration to the whole debate 9/10

Mickey's Virtual Million - Another story I loved! Mickey is so funny and so real, I coudl hear his voice in my head. A very funny story about floating a porn site on the stock exchange 10/10


See, it's not that bad a book after all! I hope the next reader enjoys it. In the post to soleille today :)

~~safe travelling~~

Ooops, I was sure I had journalled this already!
Anyway, I have read *all* the stories by now.
I don't usually like short stories, but as soon as I started I knew I had to get this book for myself. A little damper is that just because sex is big on the internet, quite a lot of writers feel that they just need to add a little internet connection to erotica to make it an "internet story" - pity, because the rest is really good!

Here's my take on the stories:

crusoe.com - What happens when dot come people can shipwrecked? Very entertaining!

It came in a box - what the internet can bring to a woman who never leaves her house. Interesting twist.

network network - completely superfluous. Ignore.

muriel the magnificent - someone whining about people on the internet not being what they seem. Safe to ignore.

butt hutt - college kids, sex, drugs and the internet. If that's your thing, not too bad.

the proxy - hunting for obscure books through the internet. Pretty original

when larry met ally - Begins like this (quote): "We'd done virtually everything before we even met. Let me rephrase that. We'd done, virtually, everything before we even met. Or perhaps, we'd done virtually everything, virtually, before we even met." NOT the online sex story you expect though, with a freaky twist.

myflesh.com - Searching for God on the internet. Original idea, badly realised.

is there anybody out there? - I'm not going to say what it's about, but it's my absolute favourite of this collection! Awesome! Read it! I left the bookmark at the very page :O)

The beacon - the old man and the internet. Not predictable at all and very touching.

black triangle - Go and read the reason for sightings of flying saucers etc.... very original story!

rachel, queen of the world wide web - yawn, Rachel's not what she poretends to be? Heard that before.

cigarillo man - original start, but then it gets lost in stuff like photocopying private parts. Safe to skip.

icy you...juicy me - no, this is NOT "juicy", thank God, a very original story of an agoraphobic and webcams

only connect - yawn, Woman makes love on the stairs with one man, then talks about books online with another afterwards. That's all there is to it. Ignore.

when thought-mail failed - dystopia, but very original. Fun read

feMail - woman cons online aquaintances out of money through email. And email is all there is, no real story. Only thing that makes it worthwhile is the twist at the end.

pushing the envelope - not very well-written (narrated by a dot com owner), but a fascinating story

an end to hunger - great story, though the ending is too open for me. Still, read it!

on the etiquette of eye-contact during oral sex - supposed to be funny, but isn't

shopping - not bad, not overwhelmingly good either, but an original twist to an online shopaholic story

the last minute.con - a very original twist on the assisted suicide question. great idea, my 2nd favourite

mikey's virtual million - unemployed simpleton mikey (speaks like a James Kelman character) has an idea. Online porn makes money. The reason it fails is pretty funny to read. Okay story, but not the best good-bye from this book.

RELEASE NOTES:

Am Tresen bei den kostenlosen Zeitschriften / at the counter with the free magazines (Book is in English)

Released for the well-travelled challenge - hope it writes a postcard :o) when it travels on!

while I was bringing soleille some books in the internetcafe' I saw this book and couldn't avoid to take it with me ;o)
It sounds very interesting...I hope these stories are nearly so good like my experience...about 3 years ago I got to know my big love in the internet :o)

edit:

to be honest, I didn`t really like these short stories

RELEASE NOTES:

left it somewhere in the hotel...after an hour it was taken away..