The Pig and the Box
MESSAGE TO PIRATPARTIET READERS: If you have the time, please consider making a Swedish translation of the book. Just translate the RTF in this zip file and mail it back to me and I can take care of the rest. Thanks! (I would post this in your forums, but I can't figure out how) :)
UPDATE: Info about translations etc can be found here!
SUPER UPDATE Z: The Pig is finally ready to buy!. Check out the details and get das schwein on dead trees!
It's finally done. "Finally" is the wrong word, tho, because I only started it a week ago. But it's been a very busy week. And at least partly because of the Pig.
This is a kids' book. I don't know about the mental age of your kids, but mine find it hilarious. Even more so before they found out I made it. Now they just think I'm scary. Scarier. Anyway...
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.
Oh, and I also apologize for my poor drawing skills. I aim to be passable as an artist before the decade is out.
The book is free and grabbable in PDF. It's under a CC Sampling Plus license, which means you can do pretty much anything with the contents except resell them (in an otherwise un-mixed state). Creative Commons NonCommercial ShareAlike license... changed from Sampling Plus because there were concerns it was actually more restrictive than I meant it to be (see comments below). I'm not selling the book, but I do have a tip jar kinda thing on the side of this page if you're so inclined.
If you think you might want a paper copy of this, I am considering a limited print run in the near future. Current estimates are about $15 (plus shipping), depending on volume. I'll only go down that road if there's enough interest... so if you ARE interested, you could send me a completely non-committal, just-kicking-the-tires email at mcm.is.now@gmail.com, and I'll see where we end up. You can now buy the book! Check out a special entry all about purchasing.
In keeping with my resolution to do more real good in the world, I'm donating 50% of any profits I make to Oxfam. This way, if you're on the fence about leaving me a tip, you can imagine me imploring "Think of the children!", and it'll be true!
I hope you all enjoy the book and more importantly, I hope your kids are not too damaged by reading it.
Download the PDF here.
Oh, and apparently you can also Digg this, too.
Update: If you're keen to translate the Pig into different languages, the source for the book is downloadable here. The artwork is all in PNG, except for the cover which is a PDF (so you can possibly edit the title). The text is in an RTF. If you do translate the book, I'd ask that you make sure to put your name on it, and to send me a copy so I can see what it looks like. Thanks!
