First up: the Portuguese translation of the Pig is now done and ready for download! Grab it from the side menu. Thanks to Ivo Emanuel Gonçalves for all the extremely confusing work on that 
Next: Norwegian live too! On the side bar too. This one is actually primarily released by EFN (the Norwegian EFF). Thanks to børge (and others too) for that!
Lastly! This won’t stay up for long, but if you want to give it a try, a fantastic pic is up on my server, if you can answer this not-so-tough trivia question:
What is the 4-digit number representing “cool” online?
Tack it into:
http://www.dustrunners.com/pics/[answer].jpg
Good luck, and have a great weekend!
If anyone does this idea and happens to make a video of it, I would love to see it, so let me know.
And for anyone else, if you don’t already know, October 3 is Day Against DRM.
(early download link for those too impatient to read the rest)
Much like the Pig book, this is for kids. Well, and the occasional tech company CEO (you might have to read it extra slow for them, tho).
The Crow Who Could Fly is about a crow who, much to his surprise, learns to fly while trying to steal some cheese. After that, his whole life becomes centred around exacting payment from all the other flying creatures of the world… because, well, he invented flying, so they should pay him something for it, shouldn’t they? Things don’t go quite the way he expects, but that’s what it’s like being an innovator, I guess…
This book actually predates the Pig in my brain. I’ve been wanting to make a silly story about the absurdity of patent abuse, and I finally figured a way to make it make sense. This is like very subtle social engineering for your kids: if you read this to them NOW, we may not have to endure 1-click stupidity in the future. Or maybe we will. I’m trying to be optimistic here.
My kids once again think this is good enough to let loose. There is a crazy squirrel hiding on every page for the wee ones to find, which was a demand by my younger one. Calling out “Lolipop Jones!” at random intervals is completely optional.
The book is free as I can figure, under the Creative Commons ShareAlike license. If you like it, please consider sending me a dollar or two via the PayPal donate link inside the book (or on this site). Corrupting an entire future generation of citizens is hard work: with your help, I’m sure I can get the operators of the Pirate Bay anointed as kings by the end of 2007.
As with my other projects, 50% of the profits go to Oxfam. That’d be 50% of the donations, too.
I will jump straight into the selling of the book under the same terms as the Pig book, so if you want to get a paper copy, feel free to buy it via the options on the side. $18.99+shipping. For more on my crazy pricing, check out my earlier blog post.
I hope you enjoy this book, too, and with any luck I’ll be back fairly soon with a totally different kind of story that you’ll really like!
Download the PDF here.
Drop me a line if you have any questions or brainstorms. I always try and sorta reply.
Update! Translations! Boy you guys are fast! If you want to take a crack at it, download the raw text here, do your thing, and send it back to me so I can assemble the final product (it’s easier than trying to fight with page layout yourself).
The translations ALREADY UNDERWAY are: Chinese
The translations DONE are: German, Hungarian, Spanish
A very nice filmmaker named Joerg-Sven Pispisa is making a movie of The Pig in Germany! There are several kinds of cool involved here, not the least of which is being able to say The Pig and the Box: The Movie. Right now the hunt is on for actors, so if you happen to be in and around Krefeld, NRW, Germany and happen to be an actor, you should definitely check it out. It should be quite a lot of fun. And I say that as an objective observer, not the guy who wrote the book it’s based on. Honest.
Good luck to all!
Buy a copy by using the links on the sidebar!
The Pig and the Box is about a pig who finds a magic box that can replicate anything you put into it. The pig becomes so protective of it, and so suspicious of anyone that wants to use it, that he makes people take their copied items home in special buckets that act as… well, they’re basically DRM. It’s like a fable, except the moral of the story is very modern in tone.
I made the book after hearing how the entertainment industry in Canada is keen on teaching young kids about how to “respect” copyright. That was a bit heavy-handed, I thought, and otherwise despicable. Preying on small kids, brainwashing them so they believe what you’re doing is honourable and good… Feh. So I wrote this book partly as a response to that venture, to counter-act the confused ideals that young’ns are being exposed to these days. Also, I wanted to write potty humour.
Bring the Pig home and damage your children!
Buy the Pig on paper for only $18.99 USD!
This gets you a fantastic-quality, full-colour 8×8 book in nice shiny paper, signed by the author. It’s limited-edition goodness, without… er… any competing editions… (hmm…) It’s pricey for a kid’s book, I know, but I’m a print-on-demand author, and for this kinda thing, that translates into a higher price tag. If I could figure it out any other way, believe me, I would.
Half of all profits go to Oxfam! That’s the same as helping kids in need while making your own smarter! Not that your kids are dumb, I’m just… er… yeah. Never mind.
Shipping:
Shipping costs have settled to a flat $10.25 for anyone, anywhere. This includes the blood, sweat and tears that I put into each packaging job, my pitiful and unimportant autograph inside the cover, and a hand-written doodle saying “thanks”. Cheaper options will soon be available via third-party sellers, so I don’t feel so bad making this so damn expensive!
Processing:
“Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery” is about right. I do print runs every 2 weeks and send them out ASAP (depends on volume etc etc). If you happen to order a copy at the tail end of the 2 week period, it might only take a week to get it by mail. Think of it as a game of chance. Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Thanks again to EVERYONE that has given me all this support for the last few weeks. It’s been quite a trip, and I’m glad I can finally get to the next stage!
Note: Updated shipping section.
