Erth Chronicles

03.31.09 Posted in Copyright, Digital Content by

Just stumbled on an interesting site, Erth Chronicles, where Richard (James Johnson) is allowing artists to submit their original works for posting on the site. He’s the author behind the Erth Chronicles fiction (Book I, The Enemy’s Son, is available for purchase now), and he’s inviting artists to submit their works to him for posting [...]


Scribd v. Rowling

03.30.09 Posted in Copyright by

Techcrunch is reporting J.K. Rowling’s latest lawsuit, this time against Scribd.com. Apparently some Scribd users have been uploading illegal copies of Rowling’s works, which is, clearly, not right. Suing Scribd, however, doesn’t seem like the appropriate response, either. DMCA/safe harbor would appear to apply, meaning Rowling should be going after the users who have uploaded [...]


Making of Gallidon, Part 6 – “Free Means Free”

03.27.09 Posted in Copyright, Runes of Gallidon by

One of the earlier realizations I had about handling content on the site was that if content can be digitized, the upsides of offering free digital copies far outweighed the downsides of not monetizing digital copies. Just the idea of trying to lock up the content seemed counter-productive to building an audience, if not outright [...]


Making of Gallidon, Part 5 – Genre

03.20.09 Posted in Runes of Gallidon by

Although Tony and I knew we wanted to limit the world to either fantasy or sci-fi, we still had to decide which one, as well as which sub-genre. High fantasy or low fantasy? Dark fantasy? Star Trek or Star Wars? Dune? Firefly? After a bit of research and Tony’s offer to use a future universe [...]


We Tell Stories – narrative experiment from Six to Start

03.19.09 Posted in Digital Content, writing by

Rather than simply port stories to the Internet, Six To Start recently produced six original stories for Penguin Books that incorporated the Internet as an integral, required piece of the process. The project is called We Tell Stories. Each story is very different and utilizes different technical platforms/tools (e.g., Google Maps, twitter, blogs, etc.). Very [...]


Asus Eee PC 1000HE #WIN

03.19.09 Posted in Miscellaneous by

Just before my last trip, I decided to try out a netbook. I’ve been lugging around a Dell M1710 XPS laptop for a couple of years, and while the 17″ screen size is nice, the battery life, weight, and (lack of) portability when traveling makes it more of a chore than a joy. I could [...]


ACTA Apparently Fit For Everyone Except the American Public

03.18.09 Posted in Copyright by

First, thanks to Techdirt for not letting this issue die. Here’s another post underscoring the bizarre approach the U.S. Government is taking in working through a new treaty meant to deal with issues involving copyright and intellectual property (ACTA). Essentially 27 other countries and countless individuals from several industries are privy to treaty discussions and [...]


Do Something to Talk About

03.16.09 Posted in writing by

There’s an old adage about writing, which goes something like, “If you want to be a writer, then write.” Like a lot of things in life, there’s the talking about and then there’s the doing, and the gulf between the two keeps most of us in the talking camp. I finally, after three years and [...]