New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow is returning to San Diego next week, adding to the “countless” number of times he has held book events at Mysterious Galaxy. This time, the prolific author is making the stop as part of his international tour for crime thriller “Picks and Shovels,” featuring the origin story of forensic accountant Marty Hench during the “heroic age of the computer” in 1980s Silicon Valley.
“Picks and Shovels” is the third installment of the detective series told in reverse order, which debuted in 2023 with “Red Team Blues,” which saw Hench unraveling a cryptocurrency theft that started a war between international criminals. That first novel came from an anxiety-induced writing spree during the pandemic. When publisher Macmillan bought more books in the series, rather than pulling Hench out of his well-earned retirement, Doctorow decided to explore Hench’s thrilling adventures over his four-decade career before “Red Team Blues.”
“I could insert [Hench] into any moment in tech history where tech bros were ripping people off with dumb scams, and have him be the protagonist of that story,” Doctorow said. The three books have spanned California, relying on rich details of daily life in the state from his time as a tech blogger and journalist.
While not a major part of the series with its San Francisco focus, Doctorow has spent significant time in San Diego as a frequenter of Comic-Con and a writing professor at the University of California at San Diego. He even took daily swims at La Jolla beaches before they were fully taken over by seals. When teaching at UCSD, he took students on sunset walks during class each night to the cliffs.
“I try to get my writing students to sort of remember forcefully that they are not… brains perched on top of inconvenient bodies, but rather to understand, especially in a country without socialized medicine, that your body matters to the world in your mind, and that it’s very hard to concentrate on writing when you’ve got a chronic illness and you’re in constant pain and you’re trying to figure out how you’re gonna pay your medical bills,” Doctorow recalled, stating that the view was like nothing else. His forays into the real world rather than living entirely behind a keyboard have inspired characters, plots, and places in his many books.
“I have traveled all over California. I’ve lived in California now five different times in my life, but not to research a book. Rather the travel turned into the book,” Doctorow said.
Hench meeting boardwalk jewelry makers or Mexican restaurant owners gives him a chance to develop his character outside of niche internet topics, allowing the series to be engaging for the less tech-savvy and infusing it with wit and warmth. Plus, these minor characters remind a sometimes disillusioned protagonist of the importance of humanity facing off against amoral corporations.
He has other books about forensic accountants planned but has not sold them as he is busy with the popularity of “enshittification.” Doctorow coined the term in 2023 to describe how online platforms degrade over time as companies try to maximize profits. The term took off, chosen as the 2023 Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society and the Australian Macquarie Dictionary in 2024. He wrote about the concept in “Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It,” published this October. It has a documentary and graphic novel accompanying it. The popularity of the term cements Doctorow as a significant voice in understanding the ethics and future of tech.
Cory Doctorow will be at Mysterious Galaxy (3555 Rosecrans St. #107) on Monday, March 24 at 7 p.m. to speak about “Picks and Shovels.”
