[Autonogram] new books, a big sale, and a special surprise ending!

[Ben at Autonomedia]

(note: the Rev Writing links don't work yet, but they will).

Hello, friends, and here's your speculation on autonomously-mediated futures!

* *

1: New Books: Domain Errors, Behind the Blip, Revolutionary Writing
2: Big Sale on seconds and pre-worn Autonomedia titles
2.5: Special Deal for infoshops, agit-punks, and other subterranean distros
3: Interns needed!
4: The Bookmobile hits the road, east-coast style.

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New Books:

"Domain Errors: Cyberfeminist Practices" by the subRosa Project is 
back from the printer and walking on its own legs! This is a fine 
collection of essays, critique, and other writing-without-categories 
focussed around the political intersections of feminism and 
technology, with a distinctly (at times) confrontational tone. Here's 
a micro-sample of what they're doing with this book (and this is from 
"Refugia! Manifesto for Becoming Autonomous Zones", a two-page 
itemized rant that wraps up the end of the book like a high-potency 
frosting):
      "Refugia: Neither a utopia nor a dystopia, but a haunted space 
for reverse engineering, monstrous graftings, spontaneous generation, 
recombination, difference, poly-versity hybridization, wildlings, 
mutations, mongrelizing, crop circles, anomalies, useless beauty, 
coalitions, agit-crops, and unseemly sproutings. Biotech and 
transgenic work in Refugia will be based on desire, consensual public 
risk assessment, informed amateur experimentation, contestational 
politics, nourishment and taste value, non-proprietary expertise, 
convivial delight, and healing."
      I don't know if this kind of talk gets you all revved up the way 
it does me, but yowza! Sign me up for some of those agit-crops!
    The full text of Refugia, by the way, is available as a 
single-page broadside, and can be freely downloaded at 
http://www.autonomedia.org/domainerrors/refugia.pdf  Be good about 
spreading that one around! And see more of the book at 
http://www.autonomedia.org/domainerrors

*

"Behind the Blip: Essays on the Culture of Software" is new from 
British new-media cleverton Matthew Fuller (currently in residence at 
the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam). Matthew's been involved with 
some pretty interesting critical-software projects in the last few 
years, digging into the myths behind Human-Computer Interface design, 
and revealing the political choices behind the sheen-of-neutrality 
found in most everyday-use software. "Behind the Blip" comes out of 
these projects, and is largely an articulation of what he found 
working on them. Lev Manovich, the author of "The Language of New 
Media", says that "what Fuller gives us is not just a usual book of 
theory but rather a kind of software -- a 'critical help system' to 
help us understand what is really going on behind the menu and the 
windows of our computer screens."
   There's a page about the book at 
http://www.autonomedia.org/behindtheblip, and if you like, there's 
also a downloadable sample copy of the book at 
http://www.autonomedia.org/behindtheblip/blip-sample.pdf. Sorry to be 
so long-winded with the URLs, but these are the times we live in...

*

And speaking of the times we live in, has there ever, ever been a 
better time to take the idea of revolution seriously? "Revolutionary 
Writing: 'Common Sense' Essays in Post-Political Politics", edited by 
Werner Bonefeld, collects more than a dozen essays by such relevant 
hard-hitters as Toni Negri, Mariarosa Dalla Costa, John Holloway, 
Harry Cleaver, and George Caffentzis. These essays, emerging from the 
soapbox of heterodox marxism (i.e., not the Party line, comrade), are 
grouped into three sections -- Open Marxism: Subversion and Critique; 
The Insurrection of Labor and Global Capital; and The Critique of the 
Political. This is a dense, challenging book, as certain to provoke 
as to enlighten. But what's better than an enlightened provocation, 
comrades? Again, there's sample text available over at our web site:
http://www.autonomedia.org/revolutionarywriting , with a downloadable 
55-page sample at
http://www.autonomedia.org/revolutionarywriting/revwriting-sample.pdf

* * *

Now, about these special sale books: As you know, bookstores can be a 
fickle, finicky lover, and once in a while we get batches of returns 
of books that didn't measure up to the bar. What you didn't know is 
that one of our best titles, "Gone to Croatan: Origins of North 
American Dropout Culture" suffered this indignity by the boxful when 
a shipping agent of ours evidently became a little too ornery for the 
thinness of his parcel, and just like that a bunch of Croatans had 
their dignity ruined.
    A similar sadness took several cartons of the 
more-relevant-than-ever "Midnight Oil: Work, Energy, War, 1973-1992" 
by the Midnight Notes Collective out of circulation, perfect in every 
way except some unfortunate marks to the cover or outer edges, but 
not to the extent that they can't be read. And you've got to read 
this book, which ties together the relations between work, energy, 
oil, and war in ways that defy nationalism and globalize resistance, 
as the saying goes. Or, as the back cover blurb puts it, "it draws a 
physiognomy of the planetary proletariat, connecting escaped 
indentured servants from India to oil workers sabotaging production 
in the Niger Delta; Gulf War resisters in New York to Kurdish rebels 
in Iraq; insurrectionary Iranian students to wildcat autoworkers in 
Detroit; housewives on rent strike in Italy to Boston burners of 
midnight oil. This book suggests new boundaries, hidden political 
commonalities and possible strategies for confronting the New World 
Order."
    So, here's the deal: Get Croatan for $8! Or get Midnight Oil for 
$6! Or, get both for $13!! This order will have to happen by email -- 
send a note to me or to orders@autonomedia-dot-org, and I'll tell you 
how to do it. Standard shipping rates will apply as well, and this 
deal will only last as long as the sad-book supply holds out, which 
hopefully won't be long. Order a bunch, and I'll even give you a 
special rate (see below)!

* *

Infoshops, DIY punk matinee merch-tablists, and other purveyors of 
the cheap-and-radical book sale: The above description of our 
sad-book supply extends to an entire shelf of inventory in our 
warehouse. The titles and quantities are always in flux, but while 
we've got them, you're welcome to order them in quantity, and I'll 
make 'em cheap! Get in touch via this email address or via 
orders-at-autonomedia.org, and I'll give you the full scoop.

To rearticulate: Order ten or more books from our returns shelf, and 
they're yours for between $3 and $6 a piece. This offer is intended 
primarily for non-commercial distribution outlets, and would be 
perfect for your Food-not-Bombs fundraiser, or a radical reading 
group (check Midnight Oil again!), or a cheap way to lend some 
rad-cred to your lonely-looking bookshelf!

* * *

Intern Needed!

Autonomedia is always on the lookout for dedicated interns who can 
commit to a three-to-six month tour of duty here in Brooklyn, working 
on a variety of projects. This is an unpaid position (as they all are 
here); depending on the interests of the applicant the role could 
include production, promotional, editorial, design, administrative, 
and muscle-building work, and most likely some exotic cocktail of all 
these. Please email me if you're interested.

* * *

The Autonomadic Bookmobile is on the road! The 2-person small-press 
medicine show left New Orleans at the end of July, and is slowly 
puttering around the eastern half of the U.S. through October. 
They've got a tremendous show and a lively library (the kind that 
sells stuff, too!), and may well be tracing the wind somewhere near 
you right soon! Their home on the web is 
http://www.autonomedia.org/bookmobile , and if you stick a 
/tour2003.html at the end of that you'll get their schedule.

* * *

That's it for your speculative futures from this end; as always, if 
the Autonogram's not your cup of tea, follow the unsubscribe 
instructions in the header of this email. If you've been waiting on a 
reply from me on some issue or other, please hold tight and maybe 
give me a gentle nudge; and of course, all hosannahs and words of 
support are welcome at any time. Hooray!

bests,
Ben Meyers / Autonomedia

ps, in the "You heard it here first" category: New editions of TAZ 
and Pirate Utopias, both with new, added material, will be hitting 
the streets right about the beginning of September! Whee!