Oddbean

But beyond that, I think there's another reason my readers keep coming back, even though I wrote a genuinely stupid number of books while working through lockdown anxiety while the wildfires raged and ashes sifted down out of the sky and settled on my laptop as I lay in my backyard hammock, pounding my keyboard. 13/

(I went through *two* keyboards during lockdown. Thankfully, I bought a user-serviceable laptop from #Framework and fixed it myself both times, in a matter of minutes. No, no one pays me to mention this, but hot *damn* is it cool.) https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/13/graceful-failure/#frame The reason readers come back to my books is that they're full of *hope*. 15/

In the same way that writing lets me feel like I'm not a passenger in life, but rather, someone with a say in my destination, the books that I write are full of practical ways and dramatic scenes in which other people seize the means of computation, the reins of power or their own destinies. 15/

The protagonist of *The Lost Cause* is Brooks Palazzo, a high-school senior in Burbank whose parents were part of the original cohort of volunteers who kicked off the global transformation, and left him an orphan when they succumbed to one of the zoonotic plagues that arise every time another habitat is destroyed. Brooks grew up knowing what his life would be: the work of repair and care, which millions of young people are doing. 16/

Relocating entire cities off endangered coastlines and floodplains, or out of fire-zones. Fighting floods and fires. Caring for millions of refugees for whom the change came too late. But with every revolution comes a counter-revolution. The losers of a just war don't dig holes, climb inside and pull the dirt on top of themselves. Two groups of reactionaries - seagoing anarcho-capitalist billionaire wreckers and seething white nationalist militias - have formed an alliance. 17/

They've already gotten their champion into the White House. Next up: dismantling every cause for hope Brooks and his friends have, and bringing back the fear. That's the setup for a novel about solidarity, care, #LibrarySocialism, and snatching victory from defeat's jaws. Writing it help keep me sane during the lockdown, and when it came time to record the audiobook, I spent a lot of time thinking about who could read it. 18/

I've had some *great* narrators: #WilWheaton, @6c22a432, #AmberBenson, #BronsonPinchot, and more. I record my audiobooks with #SkyboatMedia, a brilliant studio near my place in LA. Back in August, I spent a week in their recording book - "The Tardis" - doing something I'd never tried before: I recorded a whole audiobook, with directorial supervision: #TheInternetCon: https://transactions.sendowl.com/products/78992826/DEA0CE12/purchase 19/

When it was done, the director - audiobook legend #GabrielleDeCuir - sat me down and said, "Look, I've never said this to an author before, but I think *you* should read *The Lost Cause*. I don't direct anyone anymore except Wil Wheaton and #LeVarBurton, but I'd direct *you* on this.." I was immensely flattered - and very nervous. Reading *The Internet Con* was one thing - the book is built around the speeches I've been giving for 20 years and I knew I could sell those lines. 20/

*The Lost Cause* goes on sale on November 14th, and I'll be selling this audiobook I made everywhere audiobooks are sold - *except* for the stores that require DRM, nonconsensually shackling readers and writers to their platforms. So you'll be able to get it on #libroFM, downpour.com, even #GooglePlay - but not Audible, #AppleBooks, or Audiobooks.com. 22/