The Subscription Model

There's talk on the author discussion boards about Scribd. Is it legitimate these days? I have email records of DMCAs for my books and stripped "document" versions of my books going back to 2010 or earlier, so I wondered. It is a subscription site these days. 

One has to pay just under $10 a month via PayPal, Google Wallet (or some such thing), or a credit card for the unlimited free reading, and apparently there is free Pandora stuff, too.

I wonder whether or not the musicians know? Songwriters and players are still not getting paid fairly or otherwise, owing to "Frozen Mechanicals".

There is a free trial period with Scribd, so I briefly reactivated my account, and was amused to see the fierce profile I'd left behind. I warned all comers that, if I were following them it was because I thought they might be a copyright infringer.

I noticed that, if I wish to do so, I can upload books and documents. I did not try to do so. I probably should have tried. I believe the purpose might be to enable authors and their critique partners to privately share works in progress.  I could not find anything untoward of mine, and I've heard that Scribd does deals with publishers these days, so all seems to be well.

The legal blogs have been pretty dry these last ten days, so this is a good time to remind readers that this blog will drop cookies on your devices, and there is nothing that the authors of this blog can do about it.

All the best,

Rowena Cherry 

SPACE SNARK™ http://www.spacesnark.com/  http://www.rowenacherry.com

The Joys of Derivative Works

I've just finished rereading THE HOLLOW PLACES, by T. Kingfisher, inspired by Algernon Blackwood's classic tale of cosmic horror, "The Willows." Her earlier book THE TWISTED ONES is a modern-day follow-up to Arthur Machen's deeply unsettling "The White People." I consider THE TWISTED ONES one of the best horror novels I've read in many a year, not excluding Stephen King's recent works. Readers don't have to know the classic stories to enjoy these two novels, but familiarity with their sources enhances the experience. Another recent read, THE HUMMING ROOM, by Ellen Potter, retells THE SECRET GARDEN on an island in the St. Lawrence River in the present day, with other variations. Again, it could stand alone with no knowledge of its model required.

On the other end of the sliding scale of derivative works we find oddities such as PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES, which embellishes the classic novel but makes few significant changes other than the insertion of zombies. This type of playing with texts enjoyed a fad after the success of that book. SENSE AND SENSIBILITY AND SEA MONSTERS (by a different author) is more transformative, as are LITTLE WOMEN AND WEREWOLVES and LITTLE VAMPIRE WOMEN (each being exactly what it sounds like). WUTHERING BITES adheres pretty closely to WUTHERING HEIGHTS while taking the obvious step of making Heathcliff a vampire; in the original he's even referred to as one, metaphorically.

Most spinoffs from previous works, of course, are far more transformative to varying degrees. PRIDE AND PROMETHEUS, by John Kessel, introduces Mary Bennet, the bookish sister in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, to Victor Frankenstein and his creature. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE also inspired a mystery series, at least one portrayal of Darcy as a vampire, and a non-fantastic exploration of Mary's life, THE OTHER BENNET SISTER, by Janice Hadlow. Sequels, prequels, retellings, and side stories to fill gaps in the originals have been written for many classic works. For instance, there's a novel revealing where Heathcliff went during his absence from Wuthering Heights and how he made his fortune. FIVE CHILDREN ON THE WESTERN FRONT is a follow-up to E. Nesbit's FIVE CHILDREN AND IT (and its two sequels) set during World War I. THE WIDE SARGASSO SEA creates a backstory for the mad wife in JANE EYRE. SCARLETT offers an authorized sequel to GONE WITH THE WIND, while THE WIND DONE GONE and RHETT BUTLER'S PEOPLE tell stories parallel to GWTW from viewpoints very different from Scarlett's. John Gardner's GRENDEL gives a voice to the monster in BEOWULF, while Maria Dahvana Headley's THE MERE WIFE translates that epic into contemporary terms. Readers can enjoy the latter without knowing BEOWULF, but they'd need some acquaintance with the original to appreciate GRENDEL. In the decades since DRACULA fell into the public domain, innumerable such books have been published, including two starring Renfield (that I know of) and two novels on the backstories of Dracula's brides by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (a third was planned but never published). Sherlock Holmes and Peter Pan have enjoyed similar treatment. Marion Zimmer Bradley's MISTS OF AVALON is only one of countless retellings and revisions of the Arthurian legendarium.

Critics who look down on such fiction as "unoriginal" have tenuous ground to stand on. The plots of most of Shakespeare's plays weren't original with him, but were based on history, legend, or prior literary works. "Originality" in the modern sense wasn't highly valued in the realm of literature until relatively recently. Authors who did invent their own stories were likely to make up fabricated sources for them to give them a veneer of respectable antiquity.

One major distinguishing feature of fan fiction is that the reader needs familiarity with the source material to appreciate original stories derived from it; that's true of some professionally published derivative works but by no means all (Kingfisher's horror novels, for example). Why is fan fiction disdained when it does the same kinds of things as the commercially published fiction mentioned above? I've read stories in the universes of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, FOREVER KNIGHT, and STAR TREK that I consider equal or superior to any of the aired episodes. The only consistent reason for the higher respect granted to the non-fanfic works seems to be their commercial status—which goes along with their legal status, but fanfic based on public domain sources doesn't typically get respect outside its own community, either.

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt

Reviews 67 Hell Bent by Devon Monk A Broken Magic Novel

Reviews 67

Hell Bent by Devon Monk

A Broken Magic Novel 

Reviews have not been indexed yet.

Hell Bent by Devon Monk was published in 2013, 

but is relevant today because the worldbuilding is all about the energy-structure underlying "reality" or the universe, while the story is all about the use and abuse of "power" (money, politics, energy, weaponry) and how a person "just like you" might navigate a life in such a world.

Today we are learning all sorts of things (some true, some not) about sub-atomic particles and the glue that keeps the universe together -- about galaxies and stars and black holes.  There is a lot of "power" sizzling through our reality, some that might be bent to human will.  The Broken Magic series explores what some people might do with command of that sort of power.

The Devon Monk by-line continues to be associated with good, tight, vivid writing and Magic based worldbuilding.  

I've reviewed the Allie Beckstrom novels here, https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2015/03/reviews-13-psychic-technology-by.html

and have read some other Devon Monk series -- and of the lot, there's only one I didn't enjoy - the "Age of Steam" novels, Dead Iron and Stone Cold.  

https://amazon.com/Hell-Bent-Broken-Magic-Novel-ebook/dp/B00BDQ3A2U/

If you see "Relationships" as the foundation of human character that allows for firm, careful, wielding of "power," you will very likely enjoy Devon Monk titles.  Monk is particularly adept at portraying the seedy underside of reality, the ugly side of human nature, and what an ordinary person might do if submerged into such an environment.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com 

Get Your Draws On

Summer time, and the drawings are easy. Or are they? 

Disclaimers first, which is always a good policy. I am not a doctor, not a lawyer, and do not have stock or any other interest in United Airlines or CVS. I do have a tiny holding in Kroger stock. I have run promotional free draws in the past, with very good legal advice, in order to promote my books. 

The random draws were not, in my opinion, particularly valuable for selling my books, partly because, to be legal, a sweepstakes cannot require a purchase or any valuable consideration.  With "Insufficient Mating Material" we had a poorly concealed chess piece drawn into the cover art. Contestants could see the cover without buying the book, and I am sure they did.

For a draw, sweepstakes, lottery, free raffle etc to be legal, the organizer has to post the full rules somewhere; the start and end times and dates have to be public; the prize must be specified; the process for the randomness of the selection of the winner(s) has to be explained; if there is some skill or activity in order to qualify, it must be set forth; it must be clearly stated that contestants are not required to purchase or do anything beyond filling out the entry form and submitting it in one of at least two methods; more than one method of submitting an entry must be advertised and permitted. 

"No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited." These six words are absolutely vital.

Legal opinion seems to be divided on whether or not a requirement to follow someone on a social media platform (or blog) or to subscribe to a newsletter, or to join a free membership or loyalty program counts as a "valuable consideration".

 

Legal blogger Irwin Mitchel LLP, writing for a British audience, offers some very thorough advice on private lotteries, incidental lotteries, free draws, for profit draws, customer draws, raffles and such extreme draws as raffling off ones house for one British pound sterling.

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=e38407ac-31f8-45c5-87fa-509de9a53e4e

 

Original: 

https://s3.amazonaws.com/documents.lexology.com/6ec0a697-0006-40dc-b114-987eddebf5c1.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAVYILUYJ754JTDY6T&Expires=1622373978&Signature=z%2FpW49l7DjNBGTjXup0p9CyWUw8%3D

The original is an aws document, and for some reason, the url changes, so it is probably better to click the link on the lexology page.

Blogging on Gambling Law, for the USA law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, Sonia Church Vermeys, Erin Elliott, and Marckia L Hayes discuss gambling in Nevada.

One has to log in to Lexology to read it:

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=d3c8777e-f46d-4158-9182-c6a482708304&utm_source=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed&utm_medium=HTML+email+-+Body+-+General+section&utm_campaign=Lexology+subscriber+daily+feed&utm_content=Lexology+Daily+Newsfeed+2021-03-31&utm_term=

 

Gambling law review:   https://www.lexology.com/indepth/the-gambling-law-review

Not all the BHFS LLP articles are for Lexology pro members only, so it is worth clicking through for some interesting info on igambling, lotteries, and sports betting.

https://www.bhfs.com/insights/alerts-articles/2021/wire-act-ruling-a-win-for-igaming-and-lotteries-status-quo-for-sports-betting-for-now

And also, on mandates for experimental vaccines:

https://www.bhfs.com/insights/alerts-articles/2021/can-employers-mandate-covid-19-vaccines-likely-not-yet-given-current-fda-emergency-use-authorization

Which all wraps up nicely with the current proliferation of sweepstakes to incentivize what (so far) cannot be mandated:

CVS vaccination sweepstakes:

https://www.cvs.com/immunizations/covid-vaccination-sweepstakes?cid=redir-covid-vaccination-sweepstakes

Kroger vaccination sweepstakes:

https://www.kroger.com/health/pharmacy/sweepstakes

United Airlines vaccination sweepstakes:  Unvaccinated may also enter.

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/your-shot-to-fly-sweepstakes.html

 

United Airlines' Probably Exemplary Terms and Conditions:

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/your-shot-to-fly-sweepstakes.html#terms

 

Be sure to read all the terms and conditions, and especially remember those all-important six words: "No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited."

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

All the best,

Rowena Cherry, SPACE SNARK™ http://www.spacesnark.com/  http://www.rowenacherry.com

EPIC Award winner, Friend of ePublishing for Crazy Tuesday

Human Domestication

Here's a cartoon, funny in a slightly warped way, about the alleged negative consequences of Homo sapiens domesticating ourselves in the course of our evolution:

Yappy Lapdog Phase

Of course, the complainer's argument can be countered by the observation that tall, attractive people skilled at slaying lions aren't best suited to our present-day milieu. Contrary to popular belief, "survival of the fittest" doesn't necessarily (or even frequently) mean the dominance of the individual or group that can win a physical fight. "Fitness" refers to optimal adaptation to one's environment. For a social species such as ours, that environment is composed in large part of other people.

An article on human "domestication," with comparisons to the differences in personality between chimpanzees and bonobos:

How Humans Domesticated Themselves

In short, chimps are the more aggressive of the two species. Bonobos (formerly known as "pygmy chimpanzees") base their social structure more on peaceful interactions, often sexual. Not that regular chimps don't display cooperative, affectionate behavior, of course, but bonobos may be thought of as the more "domesticated" primates. While male bonobos can be aggressive, the females tend to keep them in check, an appealing example of gender balance among our closest animal relatives. The "friendliest male bonobos" are likelier to succeed than those who make enemies through aggressive dominance and have to stay on guard all the time, not to mention facing the disapproval of the females—a primate analogy to the concept of women's role in "civilizing" men, as in the nineteenth-century American West, maybe?

An anthropologist quoted in the article applies this premise to a variety of species (even plants, which cooperate with insects to spread pollen), including our own: "When you look back in nature and see when a species or group of species underwent a major transition or succeeded in a new way, friendliness or an increase in cooperation are typically part of that story." The article doesn't gloss over the dark side of human community-building, however. One method of enhancing cohesion within a group, sadly, is to capitalize on suspicion of other people from different groups. To overcome this inbuilt tendency to prejudice, we need to resist the temptation to "dehumanize" others who differ from ourselves.

Reverting to the cartoon character's complaint about humanity devolving from lion-slayers to accountants, consider Andy Dufresne, a banker, the unjustly condemned protagonist of Stephen King's "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" (filmed as SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION): Andy isn't physically suited to fighting off the bullies and sexual predators among his fellow inmates (although he makes a valiant effort and sometimes succeeds). But his intelligence, quick wit, and financial expertise enable him to make himself indispensable to the guards and the warden, thus ensuring his survival and relative safety in the jungle-like environment of the prison.

Even before modern Homo sapiens evolved, evidence shows that some hominids took care of physically disabled members of their tribe, a clear indication that ever since we began to "domesticate" ourselves, attributes other than lion-slaying prowess have been valued.

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt

Reviews 66 The Collegium Chronicles Novels of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey

Reviews 66

The Collegium Chronicles

Novels of Valdemar

by

Mercedes Lackey

Reviews haven't (yet) been indexed.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B005V220K0

For staying power in publishing, Mercedes Lackey is to be admired. It is very hard to grab and audience and keep their attention as they grow up, and then have them present your novels to their teenage children.

That has happened with my novels, so I know what a thrill it is when a "next generation" (and even a next after that) reader turns up on Facebook recommending a series to their friends.

Lackey has not only pulled that generational trick off, but has also grabbed the fans of other writers. In fact, I was introduced to Lackey's work by fans of my books, and yes, there is a resonance.

I find Lackey's style and substance entirely luminous and easy to read - easy to sink into the story - easy to like (or dislike) the Characters, and I always pick them up again if I have to put them down.

So I can understand how our fans overlap. 

The Collegium Chronicles are focused on young people just deciding on a direction in life, and starting to implement it. They are taking inventory of their talents, adding skills, training, reaching to be the best they can be. And these particular young people are positioned at the center of government of a large, prosperous Kingdom.

That Kingdom has an heir-apparent getting married and starting life -- right next to the Collegium characters.

Most of the fans of the Valdemar novels are not so centrally placed in affairs of State, or the Economy, or the spy game.  I expect we, the readers, are mostly content not to be embroiled in the spy game, or life-threatening action.  Being the target of assassins is not how we really want to live.

However, I just took a walk around my neighborhood -- suburban, single family homes, quiet HOA style place. And there was a forensic unit parked outside a neighbor's house dusting their car for prints.  I'd never seen or heard of anything like that in this neighborhood but adjacent ones have had car break-ins.

Today all of us, everywhere, resonate to the symphony of emotions being a Target Of Assassins evokes.

Mercedes Lackey nails that pea-soup of conflicting feelings in Book Three and Book Four of the Collegium Chronicles.

Her main characters have just been through having a barn burned down, potential riots, and being kidnapped and rescued -- ending off Book Three, Changes, with potential assassins still on the loose and enemy countries brewing trouble.

Book Four, (of Four) Redoubt, starts with a Royal Wedding filling the Collegium and the adjacent Palace Grounds with people (hopefully trustworthy), and the main Talented characters who are still just students filling the roles of adults of their future professions.

The main viewpoint Character, Mags, a Herald Trainee is known as a Hero because he rescued the kidnap victim and he's the "Harry Potter" of the field ballgame popular at the Collegium (where magic is taught and disciplined.)  He is secretly being trained as a spy, and has scored some promotions there, too.  

By the middle of Redoubt, another couple who have been hot for each other get married -- to solve some family-politics problems as much as because they want to build a life together.

The main Character, Mags, likewise has a love-interest but hasn't gotten serious enough by the middle of Book 4.

So Lackey is telling the story of how Relationships, generation after generation, shape the macro-political landscape within which we live.  That is pretty much what Sime~Gen is about -- how us hapless, no-account, individuals just hammering away at our personal and problematic lives, do shape and direct the course of History -- often in ways we will not live to learn about.

The thematic question is, "Do your Talents, Powers, or just abilities, determine your place in the scheme of things?  Or does your place in the scheme of things evoke the Power within you, your "super-power" should you choose to use it?

Are Heroes born? Made? Or some combination of the two with other variables amidst circumstances?

How much of what we accomplish in life is a matter of our own, personal, choice?  Is there such a thing as Luck? Or do you make your own Luck?  If so, what rules do you follow to craft an amenable sort of Luck for yourself and your family?  

Lackey's main character in the Collegium Chronicles, Mags, is an orphan raised as a slave in a Mining operation.  He escaped (yes, you must read the earlier novels in the Collegium Chronicles) or was rescued (or both, depending how you look at it) and was discovered. He had an advantage (a Companion -- horse-like sentient telepath), but he has re-imagined himself.

In Redoubt, Mags is beginning to re-craft his identity by conquering his (wildly illiterate) accent, and taking some pride in his appearance.

Like Harry Potter, Mags goes from the bottom rung of the disregarded kid to "fame and glory" climbing up each rung of the ladder by dint of ever strengthening Will. 

Mags hones his problem solving ability and judgement in fluid situations filled with deadly enemies, and becomes a more formidable adult with each triumph.  

In Redoubt, Mags already knows the difference between Lust and Love -- and is aware he feels Lust that is not Love (yet).  I think the reader sees deeper into Mags than Mags, himself, does, and I think the girl has made up his mind for him. But that's just Lackey's smooth writing. 

He's not the King, so it doesn't seem the good of the Kingdom depends on his choice of bride -- but the master theme of the Chronicles seems to be that family matters, Relationships shape society, economy, and politics over many generations. Who you marry matters.

That's a theme dear to my heart. Love Conquers All.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

You're In Glad Hands?

Handshakes are back!  Today, I am at the Amelia Island concours d'elegance, where classic cars and safe hands are very much top of mind and some of the world's best insurers of very valuable automobiles are much in evidence. 

One possibly should beware of bundling-type policies when wishing to insure a car for an agreed value.

Jamie Weiss, legal blogger for the firm Ellis & Winters LLP 's What's Fair blog writes about a classic car insurance policy that wasn't. 

Lexology link:

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=27daea65-e03b-4335-8f46-93ced3e6bafe

Original link:

https://www.elliswinters.com/trade/a-classic-car-leads-to-a-classic-unfair-and-deceptive-trade-practices-claim/

It's a lengthy cautionary tale to be continued, but apparently a purchaser of insurance needs to do more due diligence than simply to take ones agent's word for something.

Andres Arrieta of the Electronic Freedom Foundation has an interesting little experiment going on concerning Flock, or a homophone thereof. It's not really to do with hands, unless one thinks of the scene in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, where the treasonous animagus rat character gets a hand of chrome.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/04/am-i-floced-launch

 
It is very much to do with trust, and online privacy.

Extending today's "hands" theme, legal bloggers William M. Hayes  and Joshua Kipnees for Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP give two thumbs down for deception in review-writing.  Apparently, rigged product reviews can be actionable false advertising.

Lexology link:

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=7b4ce11a-1fb6-4602-baef-1312d04ac64d

Original link:

https://www.pbwt.com/misbranded/two-out-of-three-thumbs-down-divided-ninth-circuit-panel-rules-rigged-product-reviews-can-be-actionable-false-advertising/#page=1

The case in question was particularly egregious, and concerned nutritional supplements but for any influencer or creator or publicist tempted to write or solicit a deceptive review, this might be food for thought.

All the best,

Rowena Cherry 

SPACE SNARK™ http://www.spacesnark.com/