Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, technology activist, and journalist. He has written many books, most recently The Bezzle, a follow-up to Red Team Blues, which are the two books we’ll discuss in this episode. These titles begin a series featuring the fictional forensic accountant Martin Hench. Hench is self-employed, loves being on the red team, and rakes in 25% of the assets he can recover. While entertaining, Cory’s books are deeply thought-provoking.
Interview Highlights
- Cory’s writing background and origin story
- The secret sauce to writing fiction
- Martin Hench, the 67-year-old forensic accountant, and what makes him tick
- The $800k tour bus and a 25% finders fee
- Mark’s question on the crypto ‘key’
- Blue Team vs. Red Team
- Cryptocurrencies and organized crime
- There’s no crime in Avalon
- The Bezzle defined and why victims wish to stay there
- The unintended consequences of for-profit prisons
- Is the series continuing?
“Oh,” Antonio said. “So this bezzle thing, you said, it’s the time between the crime being committed and the crime being discovered?” “Exactly. You know it’s a crime. I know it. Junior sure as hell knows it. But none of your friends have figured it out. They’re living the bezzle. They don’t know they’re broke. They think they’re rich. If you go out and tell them they’re broke, they’ll get pissed off at you. They don’t know their money is gone yet. They think it’s in their bank accounts. They’re in the bezzle. No one will thank you for getting them out of the bezzle.”
The Bezzle: A Martin Hench Novel, Cory Doctorow
Forensic accounting never had a better friend than crypto, with its mix of public ledgers, deluded masters of the universe, and suckers pumping billions into the system. It was full employment for me and my competitors until cryptocurrency’s carbon footprint rendered the earth uninhabitable.
Red Team Blues: A Martin Hench Novel, Cory Doctorow
For Further Reading
- Cory’s website, Craphound (includes all books, audiobooks, and podcasts)
- Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
- Full biography on Wikipedia
- Medium profile
- Amazon Author page
- Why None of My Books Are Available on Audible
- How to break the Internet: Cory Doctorow at TEDx
- Cory Doctorow: How Spotify Rigged the Music Market
Episode Pairings
Title Image Credit: Gage Skidmore, Licensed Under CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED
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