The Project Gutenberg EBook of Undo, by Joe Hutsko

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Title: Undo

Author: Joe Hutsko

Posting Date: June 1, 2012 [EBook #480] Release Date: March, 1996

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDO ***

"Undo" a novel by Joe Hutsko

COPYRIGHT 1996, by Joe Hutsko

RESTRICTIONS

The author, Joe Hutsko, retains the copyright to this novel.

This novel may be freely distributed as long as there is no charge for its distribution. You may read this novel, make copies of it, and distribute it exactly as it is, unchanged, via any media, as long as you do not receive money for it.

If you wish to include this novel in a CD-ROM collection, please contact the author to obtain written permission for its inclusion.

Thank you.

Joe Hutsko [email protected]

"UNDO" ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB

The WWW version of "Undo" is located at http://www.vivid.com/undo.html

(Special thanks to Nathan Shedroff, Drue Miller, and Anita Corona of San Francisco-based Vivid Studios, for kindly creating and maintaining the "Undo" WWW page; you folks are a many splendid thing.)

NOTE TO NEWTON USERS

A Newton Book edition of "Undo" is available in the Newton/PIE
Forum on CompuServe (GO NEWTON), in the Newton Forum on America
Online (KEYWORD: NEWTON), and in the Newton Books Forum on eWorld
(SHORTCUT: NEWTON).

(Special thanks to Patty Tulloch, of Apple Computer, Inc., for her kindness, her commitment, and most of all, her friendship. Without her assistance, the Newton Book edition of "Undo" would not have been possible.)

DOWNLOADING THE ETEXT EDITION OF "UNDO"

The complete Etext edition of "Undo" may be downloaded from the World Wide Web in the Project Gutenberg library, located at http://jg.cso.uiuc.edu/PG/welcome.html

The Etext edition of "Undo" is also available in the Newton/PIE
Forum on CompuServe (GO NEWTON), in the PDA Forum on America
Online (KEYWORD: PDA), and in the Newton Books Forum on eWorld
(SHORTCUT: NEWTON).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

AUTHOR'S NOTE
DEDICATION
INTRODUCTION TO THE ELECTRONIC EDITION
PROLOGUE
PART I
   Chapters 1 - 6
PART II
   Chapters 7 - 11
PART III
   Chapters 12 - 16
PART IV
   Chapters 17 - 20
PART V
   Chapters 21 - 24
THE END

AUTHOR'S NOTE

This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, companies, products, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, companies and/or products, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

This novel is dedicated to the loving memory of my father

Stephen M. Hutsko

INTRODUCTION TO THE ELECTRONIC EDITION

"What a long, strange trip it's been."
— The Grateful Dead

As nearly as I can remember, I began writing this novel in the summer of '88, after leaving my job at Apple Computer, Inc., where I worked for almost four years for former Apple chairman John Sculley, as his personal technology advisor. It was a neat job title and a lot of fun, but somewhere in there I decided I wanted to become a novelist. Eight years and two title-changes later, the first novel that I set out to write, known these days as "Undo," is finally available to readers in this special electronic edition, free of charge.

Electronic books, or e-texts, have been available for some time now so this is hardly groundbreaking news. Or is it? For me, it's a pretty big deal. Primarily because the electronic books that are available to download from the Internet, the World Wide Web, and online services such as CompuServe and America Online, were published previously in hardback or paperback editions, or both. Bruce Sterling's "The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier," for example, was first published in hardback by Bantam in 1992, then in 1993 in paperback, also by Bantam. Sterling wisely retained the electronic rights to his book so that he may - electronically speaking - do as he pleases with his work. To the best of my knowledge, Sterling is the first author to give away his published, in-print book for free on the Net.

I don't know how many people who download e-books actually read them from cover-to-cover, though I suspect the number is rather low. Mainly because the medium isn't as easy on the eyes as traditional paper-based books. I would bet that most people who download e-books - and I'm talking about novels, vs. reference works - browse them part of the way, then delete them from their computer or PDA. As for works of non-fiction, such as Sterling's book, or the enormously serviceable "Elements of Style" (which has recently appeared in e-book format), readers refer to these works on a need-to-know basis. But novels, they're another story. A novel is something you curl up with and, if it's a good one, lose yourself in, much the way Alice found herself getting lost in that fantastic looking glass. Perhaps the valuable thing about publishing a novel as an e-text is that it gives readers a taste for the story and for the author's style, so that the reader can then go out and purchase the published edition if they want to.

But let's get back to "Undo," and why making it available for free in this electronic book version is so important to me. The reason is simple: I want people to read it, and this is - so far, anyway - the only way to make that happen. For, despite the hard-fought efforts of not one, not two, but three very reputable literary agents, the book, unlike Mr. Sterling's works, has not found a trade publisher it can call home.

Why? The answer to this question is best summed up by Bantam editor Brian Tart, in his recent letter of rejection:

- - - - - - - - - -

Ms. Juliet Nicolson
Juliet Nicolson Ltd. Literary Agency
71 Chester Row
London England SW1W 8JL

Dear Juliet:

Thank you for dropping off Joe Hutsko's ms. while you were in New York. I must say that I am impressed with Mr. Hutsko's writing and believe him to be a talent to watch in the future. His story, however, seemed to me to be a bit stale - it seems to be about six or eight years too late in the making - as I could see, and indeed have seen, this kind of corporate intrigue take place in the world of non-fiction. Because the plot was not as timely as it would need to be to succeed in the commercial marketplace, I will have to pass.

Please do keep me informed of Mr. Hutsko's projects,