DOJ Settlement Comment (wip)

To

John Read

Chief Litigation III Section

Antitrust Division

US Department of Justice

450 5^th Street, NW

Suite 4000

Washington DC 20530

Dear Mr. Read,

I write to offer a comment on the possible settlement of litigation against various publishers and Apple.

As an author, my grave concern is that the DOJ's case may have the unintended consequence of undermining authors' copyright in two ways.

1. Copyright owners (authors) have the exclusive right to set the price for which they will sell their work.

2. Copyright owners have the right to not use or exploit their copyright, for some or all of the term of the copyright.

It appears to me that there is an erosion both of those rights and protections for copyright owners, and also "an entrenched customer expectation" that authors should not be entitled to those rights.

My impression is that Amazon's effectively taxpayer-subsidized price of $9.99 is an imposed "fixed price. Moreover, authors who had pre-existing contracts with publishers had no opportunity to object to the retroactive imposition of other conditions such as Amazon's "account sharing" and "Lending" which effectively means that –allegedly-- in a few cases, one e-book is paid for and up to ten copies of that e-book could be "shared" through Amazon.

Forcing copyright owners to sell up to ten e-books for the price of one via Amazon is not what I call "price competition" and it is not in keeping with a copyright owner's right to control the sale and pricing of her own work.

Pressure has also apparently been applied to erode a copyright owners right not to release an e-book version of a paper book at the time of their own choosing.

VII 104 Part d. of the Settlement appears to grant Amazon the right to duplicate, publish and distribute electronic books at will, on Amazon's terms.

Should the original copyright owners, the authors, not be consulted about this assignment of their copyrights? What protections are envisaged for authors, if Amazon uses their intellectual property as loss leaders to promote Kindle sales and paid "Prime" memberships?

If the Court wishes to punish the Publishers, perhaps it would be better to return all e-book rights to all authors, and allow those authors to renegotiate their e-book rights either with the Publishers, or directly with Amazon, or with Google or Apple or Microsoft etc.

I believe that any restitution paid to e-book purchasers would set an unfortunate precedent. My opinion is that purchasers should not receive a windfall "restitution" for e-book purchases they made willingly and voluntarily. The customers were not deceived. They were not obliged to purchase e-books at the advertised price if that price was more than they were prepared to pay.

Restitution would send an unhelpful message to the public and to authors. Moreover, it would be costly to administer, and the individual payouts would be small.

Please consider instead, suggesting that any Settlement money (if the DOJ prevails) should be used to fund public education about copyright and copyright infringement, and/or action against copyright infringers of e-books.

This would be fair to the majority of members of the public who are honest and pay for their e-books, it would be fair to authors and publishers. And if piracy and plagiarism could be reduced, the true cost to publishers of e-books ought to come down. Everyone would win.

That said, as an author, I am extremely concerned by the implication that the DOJ should dictate the price range of e-books to authors and publishers regardless of other fixed costs that publishers and authors have to cover through legal sales, regardless of the length or the book, or the amount of time and effort that went into the content.

The DOJ should not be able to mandate that copyright owners assign publishing and other rights to Amazon without negotiation and consent.

Yours sincerely,

Rowena Cherry.

Writing and Life

How do you cope with the periods when real-life events make it hard to write? I'm presently not thinking so much of mundane distractions that occasionally eat up so much time they threaten to squeeze out the writing. I'm thinking more of distressing or outright sad events such as a car accident, serious financial trouble, illness or death in the family, or a terrible disaster dominating the news. Things that tend to overshadow one's thoughts and undercut the will to work on fiction. In my case, this past weekend, our aging Saint Bernard had a health crisis, which, while it lasted, made the novella I've been working on seem like a futile effort. (The vet prescribed some pills that seem to have him back to normal for now, so the immediate worry has passed.) After 9-11, some authors commented that they felt unable to write frivolous fiction in the face of such a national catastrophe. Oddly, I've realized I feel just the opposite. I wish I DID have the gift for writing humorous, frothy stories. When swamped by a real-life worrying or sad event, I find that the dangers and griefs of my fictional characters look thin and unreal by contrast. (Not other people's characters—I can still READ a sad or suspenseful novel by a talented author with appreciation.) How can I put serious effort into creating these imaginary people with their phantasmal troubles when live people close to me are suffering real problems? Times like that sap my writing energy, so I have to push myself to put words on the screen—words that just seem to lie there inertly because they can't measure up to the seriousness of real life. I wouldn't feel the same way about a light or humorous story. Creating characters and situations meant to be amusing rather than emotionally stirring wouldn't feel like neglecting or even insulting live people going through actual crises. Writing frothy fiction would offer a welcome distraction about which I wouldn't have to feel inadequate or guilty. Margaret L. Carter Carter's Crypt

How To Marry A Rich Man

This was posted on Google+ by a photographer:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/107023475113646570269/posts 

But it raises the quintessential Romance Writer's Question -- How To Marry Rich (or above one's station in life).

Here's what Baber Afzal
Film Maker, Experimentalist and an HDR/Portrait Photographer
Posted (I've no idea if this particular CEO actually said this, but it doesn't matter for this exercise).

-----------QUOTE--------------
A reply from CEO of J.P. Morgan to a pretty girl seeking a rich husband


A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:

Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?

... I'm going to be honest of what I'm going to say here.

I'm 25 this year. I'm very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above.

You might say that I'm greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York.

My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married?

I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you?

Among those I've dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit.

If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York City Garden(?), $250k annual income is not enough.

I'm here humbly to ask a few questions:
1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out? (Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym)
2) Which age group should I target?
3) Why most wives of the riches are only average-looking? I've met a few girls who don't have looks and are not interesting, but they are able to marry rich guys.

4) How do you decide who can be your wife, and who can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)

Ms. Pretty

A philosophical reply from CEO of J.P. Morgan:

Dear Ms. Pretty,
I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyse your situation as a professional investor.

My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope everyone believes that I'm not wasting time here.

From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you. The answer is very simple, so let me explain.

Put the details aside, what you're trying to do is an exchange of "beauty" and "money" : Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square.

However, there's a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason. The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can't be prettier year after year.

Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset. It's not just normal depreciation, but exponential depreciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worse 10 years later.

By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has a position, dating with you is also a "trading position".
If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term - same goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or "leased".

Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you. I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with $500k annual income.This has better chance than finding a rich fool.

Hope this reply helps.

signed,
J.P. Morgan CEO

---------END QUOTE-------

My comment was:

There's a question that's gone unasked here, and the CEO POV almost captures the issue but not quite.  "What qualities do high-income jobs imbue into a prospect that "I" (the not-so-rich pretty one) would find attractive?"  In other words, what do I need in a husband that would inevitably cause him to be a high-income-earner?

The CEO worked the problem from the high-income-earner's POV, but not from the low-income-earner's POV.

And it occurs to me to wonder if the pretty woman was actually a low income earner.

Which begs the question, why does income-status (or asset status) difference matter in marriage?

Or does it matter, really? 

We've seen all this mulled over in thousands of "trash romances" -- read-and-toss romances, all cut from the same cloth. 

And we've seen it tackled in long Romances, with wide, deep, wrenching themes, or in Fantasy Universes where the marriage twists the course of history for several civilizations.

This is an issue in today's world where we are wrestling with whether human cultures actually create CLASS DIFFERENCES inevitably, or should we strive to erase "CLASS" from social structure? 

Crossing "Class" lines for marriage in any culture is an Alien Romance -- it's romance with someone so different they may as well not be human.  Well, you could probably make a case for that for any male/female marriage, Venus and Mars and all that.  Add a class barrier (or a age gap) and you're talking Alien Romance. 

Is there even really such a thing as "CLASS" -- as a permanent attribute of a human being.  (My Fair Lady)

What this pretty woman was pondering was the methodology of changing her CLASS by an act of will.

She may be unable to answer the question because it's not framed well.

The marriage "transaction" is (as we noted last week) one of GIVING and RECEIVING -- not TAKING and RECEIVING. 

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2012/05/theme-element-giving-and-receiving.html

The question the CEO was dancing around is, "What have you got to offer in return for wealth?" 

What have you got that wealth does NOT have? 

If you would RECEIVE you must first GIVE -- and what the CEO was perceiving was an attempt to TAKE instead of GIVING.

In a real Soul-Mate match between someone hugely wealthy and someone not wealthy, usually you find that the not-wealthy one brings some talent, ability, or magic to the Relationship that actually causes the entire family's system to function. 

"Behind every successful man is a strong woman." 

Very often, the earning power of a man goes way up after he commits himself to a woman.  When you commit to GIVE, then the means to do that giving will come into your life (it's called the Law of Abundance in Magic, and just God in most Religions.  But the function of it does not depend on belief.)

Sometimes a very wealthy man (say who inherits wealth) marries a woman who is a great wealth manager.

Sometimes a wealthy woman marries a man who is a great wealth manager.

But consider the woman above -- she presents herself (perhaps coyly) as having nothing but beauty.  To whom is a woman of great beauty valuable?  To an artist, producer, or other purveyor (modeling agency owner) of beauty. 

Suppose, however, that the pretty woman has some other attribute than beauty, an attribute that will appreciate with time provided there is wealth available?

An example would be a woman who needs an expensive education to invent or discover something to change the human misery index in this world?

Say for example, this is a young woman with the Vision of how to create a cure for a disease or disorder, but she needs a doctorate and can't even get a scholarship?

Or suppose she is an entrepreneur type person who needs an investor.

In neither example is marriage the necessary component to make the business transaction work.

The fodder for a novel can be found in these situations though when you ask, "Why hasn't he found the cure for this disease, or gotten this or that education, or started up this or that business?"  Why didn't he do it himself? 

Then you ask, "Why hasn't she found a way to get the education, or team up with someone who has it?"  or "Why hasn't she just started a little garage business and demonstrated to neighbors that they should invest $100 in her business?"  (other than that this current government is making such startups impossible by making it illegal to do any of these little things without expensive permits and compliance and lawyers.)

Find answers to those "Why" questions for the high-income earner (could be either the man or the woman), then solve the entire problem by putting the two of them together into a marriage made in heaven -- where the spirits intertwine so cleanly and so naturally that each is energized, given vision, ambition, abilities they never had before BECAUSE OF the spiritual union between them supporting emotional health.

What happens when two such souls join in marriage?  Sometimes just a business partnership is needed; sometimes it needs marriage to pull off the trick -- either is 7th House.  What happens is that the spiritual energy circulating between them in that closed circuit called marriage creates the magical equivalent of the magnetic field circulating electrons create.

That magical/magnetic field can do "work" -- change things in the vicinity -- cause opportunities to arrive, trigger the actions necessary to take advantage of the opportunity, and then cascade on into a full materialization of the opportunity's potential energy. 

We discussed this magical/magnetic analogy last week.

In the Magical (Paranormal Romance) view of reality, the magic CAUSES the result.

In the God centered view of reality, the Soul reaches for contact (closes the circuit) with God, and spiritual energy flows into Reality through the person and imbues their actions with more effectiveness than when that circuit with God is open.

Either explanation will work for some readers -- but the trick the writer has to pull off is to present the vision of this process working out (a fulfilled marriage) and producing concrete results that one character explains one way, another character explains another way, and a third gives a totally different view.  None of these explanations are, (or should be) those of the author or the reader.  They are certain individual characters applying archetypical principles to the problem presented in the novel -- leaving the reader to puzzle over what really happened, knowing that the events depicted are possible in their own life.

To do that, the writer must be able to assume the point of view of each of these fully rounded characters, and for a time, to believe their explanation of why the universe works the way it does, to believe that philosophical point of view.

You have to be able to argue all kinds of points of view that are not your own.

To do that, you have to explore philosophy that is not your own.

To do that, you have to shelve your prejudices.

You see around you (just read some blog comments on the larger media sites) opinions you know in your gut are absolutely despicable -- that no honorable or reasonably value conscious human being could possibly espouse. 

You live in a world that doesn't know the difference between opinion and fact, or between opinion and a question!  But you, as a fiction writer, (most especially Romance which makes too many assumptions that aren't properly questioned in the plot), must know the difference between your own opinion, your character's opinion, facts, reality, and fiction.

To create a universe full of characters who walk off the pages into your readers' dreams, you must find for yourself a vision of this universe, how and why it functions as it does, and then how and why all these different people (your potential readers) see a totally different universe around them.  Then you have to explain to your readers the visions of the universe held by your other readers. 

This is a process that Walter Breen called "Shifting Subjectivities."  I can't think of a better name for it.

We all live in a subjective world where the self is at the "origin" (the point where the X, Y, and Z axes of our coordinate system cross), but each and every one of us is the "origin" of a totally different coordinate system.  We do have one immutable thing in common.  We all are at THE origin of A coordinate system. 

We are all unique individuals -- but we're all the same. 

That's why Hollywood is always calling for "The Same But Different." 

Create that effect among the characters of a novel and no matter how whacked out your Paranormal Romance worldbuilding has to become to tell the oddball story of Love overcoming Impossible Odds - your novel will have a powerful verisimilitude that will vibrate the subconscious minds of your readers.

By creating these individual characters living in their individual worlds, you create an opportunity for them to have Relationships.

The more stark the difference between two characters, the more powerful the attraction.

Thus the poor-but-beautiful girl can marry the rich-but-socially-awkward boy, and the two make a team that can achieve miracles.

The way to marry a rich person is to study what changes riches make in a person -- and contrast that transformed person with yourself.  Then make those changes in yourself, (My Fair Lady) even without the riches. 

Another reason "the rich" don't want to associate with "the poor" closely enough to form a Relationship is simply that so many of "the poor" don't see themselves as "rich." 

There's a Chassidic story about a Rabbi who was very poor (in money) - living in a hovel, barely able to feed wife and children - and he was known for his Wisdom and for being a very happy individual whose good cheer was infectious.  A miserable rich man came to inquire how this Rabbi could be so happy while penniless, and the poor man looked around his dirt-floored hovel and basically asked, "Poverty?  What poverty?" 

You live at 0,0,0 in your coordinate system - at the origin.  Each and every individual is in a place at the center of their universe, but only one person at a time can occupy any given place.  How one fictional character sees their life is not how the other fictional characters in the story see theirs.

How you see your life may not be how your life really is.  You can look up the Z axis -- or out the X axis -- or 90 degrees over there on the Y axis -- or 45 degrees out into the fields in between in any combination of directions -- and in each direction you will see something different, yet all these views are the truth.

You can't change your birth time, and thus your "life" (at what age certain things MIGHT happen).  But you can change how you view these events.

When you invent a character, invent their direction of view at the start of the story -- hammer them with Events -- wrench them around to look in another direction at their Life. 

Show this process in your Romance stories, show how looking in one direction all you can find are medium income potential spouses, but looking in the other direction from where you "are" you can see very rich people. 

Show how this change of direction of view can change the direction of a life's progress -- for better or for worse.

So, how do you marry a rich man?  Look at the man you've married and find where he is rich!  Look at yourself, find your riches, and give them.

That bit of advice won't help you write a MARRY A RICH MAN ROMANCE all by itself, but coupled with last week's post and the posts linked at the bottom of it,
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2012/05/theme-element-giving-and-receiving.html
you will begin to understand Giving, Receiving and Taking at a level where you will have something important to add to the "Marry Above Your Station" Romance Genre.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Amazon Algorithms

I saw this blog
http://www.edwardwrobertson.com/2012/05/amazons-ever-changing-algorithms-part-3.html#!/2012/05/amazons-ever-changing-algorithms-part-3.html

Not being a numbers cruncher, I'll let you make what you will of it.

Wishes and Paradoxes

Last week I watched the old Disney movie DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE for the first time in many years. I don't think it rates as one of their top achievements, but it's a fun, lightly romantic story, and the special effects of the fairies' mound, the banshee, the pooka, and the Death Coach are cool for its time. A young Sean Connery plays Darby's daughter's love interest—singing, yet! Random thought: Nowadays a film intended for children probably wouldn't be allowed to include the scene where Darby tricks the king of the leprechauns by getting him drunk on illegal whiskey (poteen). More focused thought: I think I noticed a major plot glitch on this viewing, from the perspective of a fan of SF and fantasy. At the climax Darby's daughter gets lured away by a pooka, gets badly injured in a fall, and lies at the point of death. Darbv uses the last of the three wishes due to him from the king of the little people to take his daughter's place in the Death Coach. It has been established that if a mortal makes more wishes after the classic three, the previous three wishes are negated. So the king, riding along in the Death Coach, tricks Darby into making a fourth wish, thereby wiping out the granting of the wish that doomed Darby to death. (His first two wishes aren't affected because they were fulfilled by events that have already happened and don't involve any tangible objects he could lose.) So far, so good. The Death Coach vanishes, leaving the old man by the side of the road unharmed. Meanwhile, back home, his daughter has already awakened, cured. But—when the boon he gained from the third wish was deleted, not only should he have been saved, his daughter's cure should have been reversed. Shouldn't it? Either the wish takes effect and Darby lives while his daughter dies, or the wish is annulled and she dies while he lives. I don't see any way around it. The script cleverly sets up the solution to their plight with the "fourth wish" rule, and it works fine for a viewer who's willing to overlook the plot hole in the interests of a happy ending. In fact, considering I don't think I even noticed it until this time around, lots of people probably wouldn't see a problem. Most kids probably wouldn't. (Similar logical lapses, incidentally, show up in some time travel romances where the author struggles to get around a situation she has set up that would make it impossible for the characters to stay together.) The trouble with following the wish paradox to its rigorous conclusion is that such an outcome would change the movie from a comedy to a tragedy. I wonder whether there would have been any logical way around the dilemma? Margaret L. Carter Carter's Crypt

Theme Element Giving And Receiving

Below is a list of previous posts circling around the edges of this topic.  This is an index post that will be referred to later. 

You may have often wondered why I go on and on and ON about abstract, philosophical, boring and almost meaningless subjects.

The answer is simple: those boring subjects are the essence of theme, and theme is the raw stuff of the artist's craft, whether in images or words.  Factor theme into opposing views and you have CONFLICT which is the essence of story and plot. 

Art is all about Life and the meaning of life -- where it came from, where it's going, why bother? 

I got a note from a long-time reader of my Sime~Gen novels who discovered the first published novel in that universe, House of Zeor, and described how just reading that novel had straightened out many emotional issues for her. 

She gave the novel to the therapist she was seeing at the time, struggling to get her head straight about emotional traumas in her extreme youth (her grandmother had died in her arms, and it seemed to her that her mother had blamed her for the grandmother's death -- the truth of that may never be known, but I'm talking major emotional trauma here!).  She read House of Zeor, got a grip on the edges of her issues, gave the novel to her therapist so the therapist could share a "language" of symbolism and vocabulary with her in order to discuss how she felt about her issues. 


You can find the novels in paper, e-book and some in audiobook here:

http://astore.amazon.com/simegen-20   find them there, and grab the ISBN and you can find them all over.

We all know that bringing an amorphous lump of emotional tangle UP to the verbal level and the act of SHARING that verbalization with others can change just about everything in life -- because it changes you.

It is a transaction, in the lingo of "transactional analysis" -- a whole field about interchanges among people.

Dialogue -- as we've discussed at some depth in this blog -- is about giving and receiving.

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2012/03/dialogue-part-3-romance-erotica-vs-porn.html -- has links to the prior parts on dialogue.

Fiction is about the selective recreation of reality -- the writer looks out their eyes, sees "the world" and selects just certain lines (like Japanese Brush Painting) to "suggest" reality but not fill in all the details.  The details the reader fills in makes the novel unique for each reader. 

So there is a "transaction" (a dialogue) between the writer and the reader -- an act of giving from the writer to the reader (nevermind the cumbersome mechanism of Publishing that gets in between -- that's shrinking these days.)

It is a rare and treasured privilege for a writer to receive from a reader -- to read a story the reader wrote to express the impact of the original story on the reader, or just a thank-you note, or a whole essay on the effect a book has had on a real living person's life choices. 

How does a writer select what brushstrokes of philosophy to put into a work -- and what to leave out?  I mean other than considerations of marketing?

In order to select, one must have a replete inventory to select from.  That means a collection of odd bits and pieces -- mostly the kind of trivia that writer-type folks tend to become fascinated with, to pursue, and to collect.

In fact, the signature feature of a "writer" at the age of 5 or 10 is just that kind of curiosity and attention that leads them to investigate this and that, here and there, thither and yon until they drive their parents totally around the bend.

And the most annoying thing about young writers-to-be is the incessant asking of questions, the worst being, "Why?" 

The answer to "Why?" is always, ever, and perpetually PHILOSOPHY. 

Within the envelope subject of philosophy you find all the Religions, all the forms of Spirituality, and every speculation on the origin, structure and process of "The World" and "Life."  You find cosmology, cosmogony, and epistemology inside Philosophy.

Philosophy is the bedrock study of the proto-writer. 

All the answers are in there, but there's no way to tell which answer is THE answer. 

So a writer setting out to do a job of worldbuilding so they can tell stories in that world has to slice out a subset of issues, and choose AN answer, knowing it's not their own answer (and shouldn't be).

Selecting that one sub-set of material from all they know, the writer then draws a picture of "the world" -- and sets characters loose to explore it and find answers the character can use to craft the character's life.

When I started out writing, I surveyed the world around me and found a subject that was a source of a major issue in many people's lives.  And I built the entire "world" of Sime~Gen around that issue.

The issue is what I call COMPASSION -- and the root of it is the extremely esoteric process of GIVING and RECEIVING.

I have subsequently spent many years studying the various theories and philosophies surrounding this "transaction" -- the root of dialogue is giving and receiving, or a transaction, a bargain, a deal.

You can start with the Creator of the Universe calling to Avram and saying "Come walk in my ways and I'll make of you a Great Nation."  And Avram picking up (in his eighties!  A city boy, a shopkeeper who sold idols for a living) and taking off into the wilderness before even asking, "What ways?" 

That was a "deal" a "transaction" and it transformed not only Avram into Avraham but all generations to come until this day, and perhaps beyond.  It shaped human history.

And it was about GIVING and RECEIVING.  The Creator of the Universe GAVE and Avram RECEIVED.  Avram did not take. 

In our world, today, we still haven't mastered the difference between GIVING and TAKING and why that distinction is important.  We have constructed the United States (and many other countries - maybe the whole of our civilization) on the idea that a government can TAKE taxes from people and then GIVE that wealth to others, and that constitutes the act of CHARITY, and satisfies the requirement for HUMAN COMPASSION.

Taking, it turns out in the farthest reaches of the abstraction called philosophy, is not a process that allows one to Receive what was taken! 

The "magic" works like electronic circuitry where moving electrons generate a magnetic field that can do work (physics definition of "work"):

---- in Giving/Receiving you have a closed circuit, and current flows, creating that magnetic field surrounding the movement of electrons that can CAUSE things to happen in the vicinity.

--- in Taking/Giving you have an open circuit, and current does not flow, and there is no magnetic field generated that can CAUSE anything to happen. 


In the Magical View of the Universe it works the same way only instead of electrons you have the spiritual energy we experience as Will and Emotion (Wands and Cups in Tarot).  Actions (Swords) are fueled by Emotions (Cups), and the RESULT of an action makes that emotion concrete in our world.  How does that work?  The action itself (which can be a spoken word or a sword chop) generates a "field" around it just as a moving electron generates a magnetic field -- as magnetic fields interact with other physical objects in the vicinity (such as another copper wire), so magical actions interact with other spiritual objects in the vicinity (Souls -- as in Soul Mates). 

So we've constructed a civilization pouring energy into a closed circuit, striving to eliminate poverty and failing abysmally.

An artist can look at our civilization from outside and see it burning itself up because of all that energy going into a closed circuit generating a lot of heat but no spiritual or magical equivalent of a magnetic field to do the work of eliminating poverty.  In fact, we just make poverty worse, trapping people in a system where they can't save, invest, inherit substantial wealth and invest it rather than spending it -- walled around with rules that prevent climbing out of the trap of poverty. 

Maybe that "vision" of how things work is not true, but as far as fictional worldbuilding is concerned it is a usable thesis.

If the misery in this world is due to our substituting TAKING (taxes) for GIVING (charity) in an attempt to RECEIVE (wealth) -- how do we fix that?

Sime~Gen discusses that problem by setting up a graphic (visual) situation, a conflict which drives the plots, to which you and I have no answer or resolution. 

But as one reader of House of Zeor discovered, by sharing the symbolism in which that problem is isolated from the rest of our pea-soup confusion of a reality, and by entering into a giving and receiving transaction with a therapist, she was able to break out of the emotional paralysis and create a new life with some satisfying relationships and creative products. 

That's what fiction reading can do that nothing else can do. 

Fiction works this way because it's an over-simplified model of reality, just like a "model" that physicists work from is over-simplified.  The simplification reveals details not otherwise available.  Physicists work with electrons and tensile strengths.  Writers work with emotions and relationships. 

To pull off a worldbuilding trick like this -- one that delivers a payload to readers that "escapist" literature can't and doesn't -- a writer must have thought deeply on these subjects, more deeply than the reader has yet, and place that thought at the depths of the worldbuilding, and not on the surface of the story.

This is what is meant in screenwriting jargon by keeping your dialogue "off the nose"  -- don't write "on the nose" means don't SAY IT EXPLICITLY.  It means show don't tell.  It means put the issue's discussion in images, in symbols, in room decoration and the shape of the clouds in the sky, in the personality of the horse the hero rides, in the shape of a belt-buckle, in the Armani Suits the heroes all wear! 

Encode these deep thoughts in code.  The code writers use is symbolism, and that comes from the archetypes at the core of our subconscious minds.

Learn those archetypes by studying all the religions and philosophies you can.  Place no limits on what you will explore.  Just don't believe any of it.  Amongst the litter, you may actually find something you can use in real life, but that's not the purpose of the exploration. 

The purpose of the writer's adventure into philosophy is to find out what other people are using in their real lives, in order to speak their language (of symbols) and thus convey (give) a vision to them, convey a selective recreation of reality in such a way that their surrounding reality becomes clearer.

Here are some of my previous posts on Giving and Receiving, a grab-bag of thoughts and writing processes on adventures into this really abstract corner of philosophy that is the essence of Romance, but most especially of the Paranormal Romance story.  Like most adventures, it has its boring spots, its terrifying spots, and its satisfying revelations.  Read it all in these posts:

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2007/11/6-pentacles-social-contract.html

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2008/11/gift-giver-recipient.html

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2008/11/linguistics-for-writers.html

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2008/12/tree-in-forest.html

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2009/11/vampire-archetype-flashburned-into.html

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2010/01/competing-for-mate.html

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2010/10/genetic-mechanism-by-which-love.html

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

How EBay Handles Copyright Infringement

Imagine that you are an author and some totally irresponsible, opportunistic dunderhead has been selling all your in-copyright e-books in a collection of... lets say, 199,000 e-books for Kindle. He has also published statements on his listing that your ebooks are in the public domain and free to sell or share.

He has sold hundreds of these DVDs over the years. Then, someone catches him.

Here's how honest EBay protects your rights as an infringed author. This is the message they send to anyone who may not yet have received the DVDs containing your works.

Dear ...... (buyer's name)

We'd like to let you know that eBay has ended an item you were bidding on for breaching of one or more of our policies. As it's important that eBay maintains member privacy, we can't tell you exactly why the listing was removed.

Any offers or bids placed on this eBay Stores listing are now null and void. If you were the winning bidder, you're no longer obliged to pay for the item:

XXXXXXXXXX - XXX,000 books eBook DVD CD AMAZON KINDLE IPAD IPHONE TABLET SONY SAMSUNG ANDROID

Here's what you can do if you've already paid for the item:

If you won the item and you've already paid for it, you can choose to reverse the payment or ask the seller for a refund. If you've already received the item you've the option of accepting it or returning it to the seller for a refund.

1) Contact the seller
2) Contact your payment provider
3) Report that the matter hasn't been resolved

- Contact the seller

At this stage, we recommend that you contact the seller and discuss the situation. These situations can often be resolved with a friendly conversation.

Check your email account for any previous emails you received from the seller - these may contain their contact information. Unfortunately, we can't give you the seller's contact details.

- Contact your payment provider

If you can't reach the seller, contact the service that you used to send payment. They may be able to reverse the payment.

If you used PayPal, copy this link into a new browser window to find out whether your purchase is protected:

https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_pbp-info-outside#dispute

If you paid by another method, such as bank transfer or credit card, contact your bank or credit card company.

- Report that the matter hasn't been resolved

If you're not able to arrange a refund and you didn't receive the item (or it wasn't as described in the listing), please let us know. You can contact us from any eBay Help page.

We assure you that your eBay record won't be negatively affected by this matter. We've told the seller that this listing has been removed and that you're no longer obliged to complete the purchase.

Finally, as the listing has been removed, no Feedback can be left for the purchase.

We hope that this information helps you decide how to proceed in this situation. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards,

eBay Trust & Safety

Now.... how exactly does that warn booklovers who have bought all those illegal copies of in-copyright ebooks that they may not resell or share what they just bought?

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

Death of Genre?

Charles Stross on the death of genre: The Death of Genre He begins with some thoughts about science fiction in blockbuster movies, the ongoing “conversation” among SF authors in print, and the marketing purpose of book cover illustrations. (They’re meant to grab casual readers; existing fans don’t need them.) His main point, however, is the effect of the shift of most book sales from physical bookstores to websites: Works of fiction no longer have to be tied down to a single generic category. Unlike in a physical shop with limited shelf space, in an online store a book can be classified under as many genres as it fits or in even narrower divisions shaped by an individual reader’s interests and the subtlety of the search engine. Ideally, a customer could ask for something like “vampire romances set in the seventeenth century with French characters” and get a list of relevant novels. It’s obvious that online sales, once perfected (we’re not there yet), will transfigure genre as a marketing model. But does that prospective change mean genre as a classification system for writers and readers will “die”? Is the fiction market actually destined to revert to the status quo of the nineteenth century, when popular magazines published many different types of stories within the same issues, and highly respected authors wrote both “realistic” and fantastic material with no damage to their reputations—only with the addition of fine-tuned search tools? Stross also points out a disadvantage, to the customer, of this brave new world: “We are in the position, as readers, of being stranded in an infinitely large bookstore.” How do we discern which among these millions of works are worth reading? Unless we stick only to authors we already know, which most of us wouldn't want to do. Do read Stross’s article. Do you think his predictions are valid? Margaret L. Carter Carter's Crypt

Talent: Mystique Or Mistake

George Burns Photo From Wikipedia

I saw a comment on Twitter about writing TALENT that I just have to discuss here because Talent is such a big issue when you're contemplating "becoming" a writer. 
----
Before we start on that, I have to point out that this week the Vampire anthology I edited (but did not contribute a story to) is just now available on Amazon etc, and it contains stories by 9 authors who would all be labeled "Talented" by most observers.  I didn't select these stories because the writers are "Talented," and I doubt any editor would choose stories for an anthology on that basis.  



----

So this comment I found on Twitter could be paraphrased: "I hope someday someone will recognize my Talent as a writer."

The comment made me very sad, but it reminded me we hadn't discussed Talent here at all.  In fact, I'm not sure I've used that word in these writing discussions.

That's because I don't "believe in" Talent as necessary to being a professional artist, actor, writer, wordsmith, dreamspinner, whatever you call what we do in writing Romance stories.  

I don't believe a lack of Talent is a barrier to achieving anything, in the Arts, Sciences, or anywhere.  In fact, you'll do better without Talent than with it.

When I was in 4th grade or so, there was an English assignment to write a "Tall Story" after we'd studied Paul Bunyan and related stories. 

I immediately grasped the concept of the Tall Story.  It seemed way beyond the conceptual ability of the rest of the class (in my school, a class was about 50 students and 1 teacher, which I consider an ideal ratio probably because I got used to it young.)

Now this was long before I became steeped in Science Fiction, and may have been the reason my mother introduced me to Science Fiction when I was in 5th grade, but she never said so.  I basically invented the entire field of science fiction, whole cloth out of nothing except kid-lit about talking animals etc.  I'd never heard of science fiction at that time, and Adult Fantasy didn't exist as a field.  So I made it up for a Tall Story. 

I don't remember much about that first story I ever wrote.  This is pretty much before I actually learned to READ which was in 5th grade after my mother brought me SF novels from the adult library when I was home sick.  I do remember I wrote about a guy who lived all alone in a cabin on the side of a craggy, rocky mountain overlooking a huge gorge (I can still see the image in my mind.)  I lived at that time in a totally flat town with a couple of small hills in the distance.  I'd never seen any place that looked like the setting for this story.  I don't remember the character I invented or what he did except it was "impossible" and involved affecting something on the other side of the gorge.  Yes, it was about a guy not a gal.  I had no idea of plot or story structure.  The assignment was to think of a Tall Story - something impossible that nobody else could imagine could be true. 

That's exactly what I did.  And everyone was astonished (except the rest of the class of course; they were just confused).  My teacher and my parents said I was Talented.  I didn't have a clue what "Talent" meant but it seemed to me it pleased them, which was a rare experience for me so it made an impression.

I was in 10th grade before I actually committed myself to a lifetime career as a writer of science fiction, do or die trying. 

Even by then, I had no clue what Talent was but I had ascertained by experiment and experience that I had NONE other than the ability to imagine the inconceivable as if it were commonplace reality.  I just didn't live in the same "world" other people around me lived in, but most people wouldn't call that a Talent.  More like a handicap?  

Long after I finished college, I did discover what Talent is and that I do have some, just not for art or writing stories or anything I really wanted to do. 

In between, I was increasingly puzzled by what people mean by the word Talent, and more and more determined to find out what Talent is, where it comes from, why it exists, and whether or why it matters at all.

The prevailing culture we live in is as obsessed with Talent as I am with the meaning of Words.  I love words.  I love how they feel in my mouth, especially words in a foreign language.  I love languages, especially those that are not cognate with English, my native language. 

I love gnawing at the puzzle of how the mind works, how humans use symbols like words, how ideas are generated and communicated with words, binding generations together so that we truly do "stand on the shoulders of giants." 

I love ideas, and how they interweave and turn around each other, forming dimensional pictures in the mind.  I love the research involved in relating the mind and the brain.  I love this world and the people who live in it, bewildered and happy at the same time.  Falling in love is what life is all about.  The things you do when in a mental/emotional state of that kind of love/joy/happiness/delight succeed no matter the barriers that seem to be in the way, no matter the lack of Talent or Skill.  Love does indeed conquer All. 

So, after my mother introduced me to science fiction, and I found science fiction fandom (or rather it found me: I wrote a letter to an SF Magazine that was published with my address and my mailbox exploded with letters from fellow-fans) I set out to launch myself into a profession as a writer, and knew I needed a strategy.

At that time, I didn't know that Love Conquers All, I just knew that nothing on earth was going to stop me no matter what. 

So I started my research by reading a lot of biographies of writers, famous and otherwise, (and autobiographies, too), which led to reading a lot of history and non-fiction travel books (I read everything on parapsychology and UFOs in the library even though I had to sneak into the stacks and sit there to do it being too young to borrow those adult books).  My attitudes towards words and language, and a host of other subjects like drama and philosophy, all painted a picture of a writer.  I learned that I had everything needed for a career in writing except Talent (but who cares, I will not be stopped!)  One thing all successful writers had in common was Travel -- and I hadn't done much of that. 

Talent, I thought, was something I'd have to do without, but Travel -- that lack I could remedy.

I loved to travel.  My Dad took us on a vacation every year to interesting places, and I loved riding in the car staring out the window, stopping and meeting people who lived in different places.  Eventually I learned to love driving the Interstates.  By the time I got out of college, I was able to drive across country (coast to coast) and stop and drive around towns without a map (pre-GPS), though years later I had to rely on maps because they kept building roads.  With a map, I could go anywhere.

But I'd never been farther out of this country than across the Mexican border to a border town (places you wouldn't go wander around in by yourself today).  So when I got out of college, I got a job in Israel and lived there for a couple of years -- language, travel, adventure became my middle name. 

I had determined that I was a science fiction writer -- though I hadn't written anything except a couple of novels when I was in college, and some worldbuilding exercises when I was in 7th-10th grade. 

I invented worlds and  characters incessantly (another signature habit of the pre-writer).  I wrote a lot of long-long (20 page) letters to pen pals in foreign countries.  I wrote a lot of letters to other science fiction fans, and articles for fanzines (on paper), and that letter-to-the-editor that was my first print publication.  I chained a lot of words together, but never actually did any of the things I've been discussing in these blog posts as the essence of the writing craft until after I was married and raising kids.

I realize now that I was educating myself in the craft by churning out millions of words.  When I had decided to commit my life to the profession of writing, my Aunt gave me a subscription to Writer Magazine, and I went to the library and borrowed (systematically) all the previous issues they had in archive (kids weren't supposed to be able to do that - I had to get my Mom's permission.) 

I came to understand that I have no talent for writing at all.  But I also learned you don't need talent to do a better job at anything than those who have talent.  In fact, having no talent for something is a prime credential for doing that thing at the world-class level. 

I learned that TALENT is the word we use to refer to something that's born into a person.  If you have a talent for something then when you first encounter it, you can do it easily, almost without effort, and with very little actual instruction, and ridiculously few failures.  

You've read biographies of child prodigies who can play Mozart by age 8, or whiz through college math courses before they're 12.  That's talent.

It's like your computer that comes with programs pre-installed.  When you boot it up the first time, you click a few things, type in your name and whatever, and presto the program is running.  You didn't have to shop for it, put a disk in the drive, coax it to load the install program, fight with it.  It just works.

That's talent -- a set of skills pre-installed.  One encounter and presto, the skills are booted and ready to use. 

Some kids can play tennis after being shown how to hold a racket.  Some can learn Ballet at professional levels after some basic exercises to stretch and strengthen muscles, and then being shown how to move to a rhythm.  Something inside goes CLICK and then they can do it, and do it perfectly. 

Some are like that with a violin, and after going through 3 local teachers, they get sent to Juliard at age 14 and pushed to Carnegie Hall.

Not me! 

Not only did I come with no pre-installed writing/storycraft skills, but the talents I do have are irrelevant to learning those skills.

Here's what I learned about Talent that makes the whole thing clear.

Study of Astrology reveals sets of aspects in a natal chart that manifest as what most people call or recognize as Talent. 

Here's the list of Astrology Just for Writers posts I've done on this blog which may mention Talent.

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2010/03/pausing-for-you-to-catch-up-with-me_30.html  (parts 1-9)

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2011/08/astrology-just-for-writers-part-10.html

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2011/11/astrology-just-for-writers-part-11.html

The theory of reincarnation when combined with Astrology indicates that these Talents you see in natal charts are the skills and abilities acquired in prior lives, or maybe bestowed before you're born. 

Well, what I learned is that THIS LIFE I'm living now is the "prior" life for my next life, (if I have one.)

What skills and abilities I acquire in this life will appear in my natal chart next time as Talent.  (Or maybe not, we'll see.) 

So if I work to acquire skills now, I may have them later when I need them.  Or maybe, like now, doing those things won't seem interesting to me, and I'll be off acquiring new Talents. 

I learned that this concept of what Talent is and where it comes from implies something even more profound.  You don't need TALENT!!! It's excess baggage.  And life is better if nobody knows you have it.

In Astrology, the 10th House Cusp is your vocation, your sacred calling, what you were born to do.  That mathematical point in the sky when you were born may not be involved in any of the Talent aspects in your chart, and thus you don't have a Talent for what you were born to do, but it's still your mission in life to do it.  Talents may be missions accomplished in prior lives, but not what this life is about -- or what this life is to prepare you for next time. 

You don't have to be talented to accomplish things.  In fact, the most successful people aren't talented at what they are successful at.  (Madonna comes to mind.)  Those who are talented at something (golf, acting, surfboarding, football) have enormous success very early in life (because what they're doing is altogether too easy for them), skyrocket to the top of their profession, then crash and burn in mid-life, rarely living to old age and seeing great-grandchildren through college.  (Michael Jackson comes to mind.) 

Others, like say George Burns for example, doggedly gain skills and advance in their profession, adding dimensions as they go along, and live to a hundred before they star in the definitive movie of a lifetime (he played God in "Oh, God!"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076489/combined


He and Gracie Allen had a long, massively successful career always adding skills as they went from medium to medium.  Here's another photo from Wikipedia
ttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ee/Burns&Allen1938.jpg/220px-Burns&Allen1938.jpg

Open Letter To John Read

As many of my colleagues may be aware, there is a period of public comment on whether or not Federal Settlements of the anti-trust action against the Big 6 and Apple are in the public interest.

No doubt, there will be a great many self-serving letters sent in by readers who would like to claim a small refund on e-books they purchased on the Apple platform.

I think that any Settlement money could be much better, more fairly, and more wisely spent.

To

John Read

Chief Litigation III Section

Antitrust Division

US Department of Justice

450 5^th Street, NW

Suite 4000

Washington DC 20530

Dear John Read, Your Honor,

I write to offer a comment on the possible settlement of litigation against various publishers and Apple for their alleged wrong-doing in offering an alternative to Amazon's predatory discounting of e-books.

My opinion is that purchasers should not receive a windfall "restitution" for e-book purchases they made willingly and voluntarily. The customers were not deceived. They were not obliged to purchase e-books at the advertised price if that price was more than they were prepared to pay.

Restitution would send a disastrous message to the public and to authors. Moreover, it would be very costly to administer, and the individual payouts would be small.

Please consider instead, suggesting that the Settlement moneys should be used to fund public education about copyright and copyright infringement, and/or action against copyright infringers of e-books.

This would be fair to the majority of members of the public who are honest and pay for their e-books, it would be fair to authors and publishers, and if piracy could be reduced, the cost of e-books ought to come down. Everyone would win.

That said, as an author, I am not at all in favor of this action by the DOJ, and I am extremely concerned that any owners of intellectual property may in future be accused of conspiracy if they discuss among themselves the "right" and "fair" price at which they are prepared to sell their books, or the pros and cons of Amazon contracts.

I deplore the implication that Amazon should be allowed to dictate the price range of e-books to authors and publishers regardless of other fixed costs that publishers and authors have to cover through legal sales, regardless of the length or the book, or the amount of time and effort that went into the content.

Yours sincerely,

Rowena Cherry.

Tricking Readers

Here’s an entertaining article on “Three Ways People Are Tricked into Reading Science Fiction”: Three Ways People Are Tricked Is this kind of “trickery” usually a good thing or not? Would most readers agree with the article’s author that they’ve enjoyed a novel or film they wouldn’t normally have tried, or would they feel angry about the “bait and switch”? Personally, I’ve more often reacted with annoyance to the opposite situation, a book whose title, cover, and blurb give absolutely no indication that it contains content I wouldn’t want to miss (say, a unique approach to vampires), a book that I would have passed up without notice if not for an informative review. I have run into some books where I’ve felt irritated at being “tricked,” however. MUST LOVE DOGS particularly sticks in my mind. I knew this novel was “chick lit” but expected from the title, blurb, and cover illustration that the story would include significant content related to, you know, DOGS. If the blurb places stress on the heroine’s personal-ad fib that she’s in search of a dog-loving man, I expect plot complications revolving around her having to fake canine expertise and thereby getting reluctantly drawn into the world of dog breeding, training, etc. Not to have the whole canine motif simply dropped after a few throwaway references. Bait and switch. I sometimes pick up a paranormal romance with a cartoon cover that makes me expect something light and fun, only to find that the cover contradicts the book’s darker tone. To me, that’s poor marketing. The TV series BEING HUMAN had a similar effect on me. From the premise, a ghost, werewolf, and vampire sharing an apartment, I expected a light, fun approach to the theme of “passing for human.” Instead, the program is not only serious but dark, although with moments of black humor. In this case I can’t really blame the show or the network for my disappointed expectations, though; my own preconceptions probably led me astray. In all these cases, however, the book or film was still in the overall genre I expected. I can’t remember ever having read or viewed a work that turned out to be a totally different genre from what the cover or blurb suggested. I can imagine situations where a hardcore science fiction reader might pick up a book that looks like SF but turns out to be, by his standards, fantasy and feeling outraged at the “deception.” A dedicated fantasy fan might react similarly to a story with the tropes of fantasy but a scientific explanation in the background. My husband and I took a risk with our “Wild Sorceress” trilogy (Amber Quill Press). The story reads like fantasy and is marketed as such, but an SF background is gradually revealed in the third book. Have you come across works of fiction or film that overturned your genre expectations, and did you feel cheated or pleasantly surprised? Margaret L. Carter Carter's Crypt

The Wrong Way To Write A Story

I've said here any number of times there's no "right" or "wrong" way to write, or tell a story, and no "wrong" story to tell.  I've illustrated that with exploring several interesting novels.  Examples:

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2011/04/gene-doucettes-immortal-revisited.html

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2012/02/research-plot-integration-in-historical.html
But all across the web I'm finding people explaining what they don't want to do with their writing, and for what reasons -- and I'm finding professionals with money to invest in producing or publishing who are explaining what they need from writers and it is what the writers want to avoid doing.

And ne'er the twain shall meet, it seems.

So here's one more attempt to explain to each of these groups what the other is talking about and why.

I've been messing around with graphics software, Adobe professional level stuff that reminds me of Macromedia (Adobe bought Macromedia a while back).  I've never mastered any of these programs as I have Word Processors gallore.  Graphics programs are tools for doing something my mind does not do, while word processors are tools for showing you what my mind does!

However, in messing around with graphics I've found something you don't see right off in word processors that could illuminate this communications problem between writers and producer/publisher folks.

It's LAYERS.  Today's computer graphics (such as Photoshop) are in "layers."  Layers give you the power to animate things.  It's quite a neat trick, and you don't need to buy the software to find out how it's done.  I've put the link in below. 

Your "ART" goes in the "background" layer, that's your worldbuilding, the philosophy, the iconic dimension of your imagery. 

The "CRAFT" goes in the "foreground" layer, and there are multitudinous layers in between until you get to the "mid-ground" where Art and Craft blend into solid commercial art.

People running a business founded on delivering your artistic product to a market large enough to make back their investment plus a profit for you and them are looking for is CRAFT.

They don't know, and don't want to know (and between you and me shouldn't know) anything at all about your ART -- your writer's art to be art must be invisible to the naked eye of the businessman/woman.

The editor/businessperson/investor is only interested in your CRAFT, your ability to pour your (Neptune-ruled) formless ART into the pre-constructed (Saturn-ruled) mold.

That's what programs like Photoshop do -- they set up a very limited FORM into which various half-baked products (a picture you just snapped) can be poured and then "set" or chilled (rendered) into something sharper, brighter, or morphed into a suggestion of something other than the original.

Film and TV professionals use programs that are far more sophisticated, less limited, having larger but more precise tools (and requiring a lot more computer power) to create things like the film Avatar or the Harry Potter films.

But you don't need the software to seat the major concept in your mind.  Look at this tutorial video - or look up some other tutorial videos on animation on YouTube.

http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorial/Adobe-Flash-Tutorial-Basic-animation/73931

Now here's what's going on with the conversation between writers and publishers.

Writers are talking about creating one LAYER of the finished product, while Publishers/Producers are talking about another LAYER which goes on top of the artistic layer.

The writers or art-originator is creating ART.

Astrologically ART is ruled by Neptune, and is nebulous, fuzzy, without edges, all about philosophy and vision into the higher levels of reality, beyond the mere physical.  Neptune is Romance, Soul-Mates, about "making love" and all the processes that enliven the Soul and connect you to the ineffable.

Astrologically Publishing/Producing and all sorts of businesses are ruled by Saturn, structure/discipline/application.  Saturn is all about the concrete world, and the practical results obtained within concrete reality.  Saturn is about Making a Living, about marriage as a business arrangement, about the physical body, and about "having sex" and the processes of procreation. 

These are two separate "layers" of our existence, and if you stretch the analogy of how Art software works to create these marvelous animations, to create the vivid colors, and to alter the appearance of reality (just consider some of the Superbowl commercials), you can visualize each of the "Planets" of the zodiac in your natal chart as LAYERS OF YOU, layers of reality overlying each other and interpenetrating to produce what you laughingly call your life.

So while your editor is earnestly explaining the realities of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and plot-structure, character continuity and arc in terms of marketability and profit margin, audience "reach" and so forth, you are yelling back that "There Is No Wrong Story!"  There can't be such a thing as an "error" in writing -- this is my story! 

You're talking about two separate "Layers" and you haven't run the function called "rendering" yet.

A writer who is trying to market their own material needs a cut-down tool like Photoshop (and its accompanying suite if you need to do animations), a tool you can use without completely mastering the entire suite of tools.

Fooling around with tools like this can give you not only the concept of LAYERS but also sharpen your ability to create those visual "icons" that bring the background worldbuilding and philosophy into the foreground of the craft layer, welding them together (rendering) inextricably so that no among of editing can destroy what is precious to you about your story.

There is no "wrong" in Art.  There are many "wrongs" in Craft.     

Producers and publishers usually don't look for new talent unless they're desperate in a failing market.  Think twice about being "found" and dragged into a failing market -- do it if you have a strategy for spring-boarding yourself out of that avalanche of downward pressure.

Here are the statistics for 2011 from Publisher's Weekly

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/50805-aap-estimates-e-book-sales-rose-117-in-2011-as-print-fell.html

--------------QUOTE-----------
Despite slowing growth rates in the final quarter of 2011, e-book sales rose 117% for the year, generating revenue of $969.9 million at the companies that report sales to the Association of American Publishers. Sales in all trade print segments fell in the year, however, with the mass market paperback segment showing the largest decline with sales from reporting houses down almost 36%, to $431.5 million. Adult hardcover and trade paperback sales were off 17.5% and 15.6%, respectively. In children’s, the YA/hardcover segment sales fell 4.7% and paperback sales fell 12.7%.

 The religion segment had a solid year, with sales up 8.4% in all formats. And in audio, physical audio sales fell 8.1% at reporting companies, while downloadable audio rose 25.5% for the year.
-----------END QUOTE---------

Also remember "the medium is the message" -- writing for one delivery system is not the same as writing for another.  Study your delivery systems, business models, and let the data soak into your subconscious where it will be melded with your Art. 

Producers and Publishers will generally go back to the Names who have presented them with usable material on a regular and hassle-free basis.

They all want someone they can ask, "Give me something in this genre," and get "I'll have it for you in three weeks."  And when they get the manuscript, they want to be able to finger Paragraph 3, page 100, and email back "there's an error right there" -- get the answer, "Oooops, sorry. I'll have a clean manuscript to you tomorrow morning."  And when the morning comes, the rewrite is in the inbox -- and it does indeed correct the error.

Without even explaining what exactly the problem is, the investor gets it fixed because the craftsman is a craftsman. 

What did the craftsman do to fix the error that the investor couldn't do?  The craftsman went back to the file in her head that has all the layers separate - the file that has the "image" unrendered, un-flattened, with all the pieces distinctly separate.  And the craftsman then brought up one of the layers which was causing the problem, tweaked it a bit in a way that did not even TOUCH the underlying Artistic Vision, then re-rendered the Image, saved it, attached the file and emailed it back. 

It's that simple for a writer to fix a problem an editor or publisher has with a story -- if the writer has created the thing in layers to begin with, saved the layer-rich file, rendered a copy that's flattened and submitted that.

Most beginning writers "have an idea" -- and it comes to their conscious mind already rendered so it can't be easily edited one layer at a time.  So when a potential investor says "this is wrong" the beginner "feels" (not thinks, feels) the art is attacked at a visceral level because the "art" and "craft" are "flattened" into one layer at the Idea level.  But all that's being perceived by the potential investor is the grainy, blurry feel to the edges of the objects in the rendering, the craft not the art. 

One is discussing the sharpness of the image and the other is discussing what the image is of.  Neither can win the argument because it's not an argument yet.  To argue and thus resolve a problem, you must both be talking about the same thing.

To fix that tendency to produce "an idea" without layers (a Polaroid print not a digital image), the new writer has to master the "Photoshop" in her artistic mind, separate the layers of "My Idea," use the mending tool to snip out "noise" and sharpen the edges, and re-render it as a marketable product. 

The graphic artist always keeps a copy of the project (several copies in various stages actually) in the original file format that keeps the "layers" and all the rest of the effects separate.  The rendered end-product is delivered to the investor. 

The rendered product is something the artist has no emotional investment in (just a financial investment).  That's the secret to dealing with editors, publishers and producers.

Read this item on why and how lovingly written screenplays get morphed into something unrecognizable by the production process.

http://www.quora.com/Why-do-studios-rewrite-scripts-after-buying-them/answer/Sean-Hood
Think of every story you write (especially something shorter than a novel) as a potential screenplay which will (not might, will) undergo this process.  Put your Art down inside the background layer where it won't be touched.

You can follow me on Quora:

Follow Jacqueline Lichtenberg on Quora

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Pirates Plagiarize Amazon Readers' Reviews (For Profit)

Here --for what I believe are the Fair Use purposes of education, scholarship, reportage, critique, commentary and so forth-- are some very small excerpts lifted (without permission) from the Amazon Conditions Of Use Page. http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=footer_cou?ie=UTF8&nodeId=508088


Note: Please see my first Comment on this piece for Amazon's position on pirates who rip off Amazon reviewers' work.


(Amazon on their own) COPYRIGHT
...All content included on this site, such as text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio clips, digital downloads, data compilations, and software, is the property of Amazon or its content suppliers and protected by United States and international copyright laws....


(Amazon on their own) LICENSE AND SITE ACCESS
......This site or any portion of this site may not be reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, resold, visited, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose without express written consent of Amazon.....
                                           ************************
On February 11th 2011, I wrote to Amazon. (Links are deleted). This is the text of an email I sent, and which was acknowledged with thanks.

Dear Mr Bezos,

I thought Amazon claims to own the copyright of reviews posted on Amazon. If that is the case, why does Amazon tolerate paid (redacted name of File-Hosting-Site) affiliates using Amazon-owned reviews to promote e-book piracy? How does it help your business if you assist those who would illegally divert business away from you by using your own tools?

http://latestgiveawaysXXXredactedsitenameXXX.com/

These people have 82 collections of e-books, usually between 50 to 150 e-books per collection being illegally shared when the e-books are legally sold on Amazon.

If you look at the "complimentary" e-books, you will see that each comes with a review snip. There is no attribution. However, if you then look at Amazon-owned reviews on the Amazon page selling that particular book, you will very soon locate the Amazon review that has been plagiarized.

Maybe Amazon can do something about this abuse.

(I cited some examples from Nora Roberts' books, but the formatting got so messed up that I believe it was a distraction. What you are supposed to see is Rowena Cherry's prose in grey, pirated stuff in light blue, and genuine Amazon reviewers' work in gold.)

And there were more.... I believe that for one day, it looked like this clipping without attribution of Amazon reviews might cease, but it started up again, and three or four times a week, every week, ever since, the same pirate has continued to "sell" subscription-based access to links to where he has "found" e-books on his favorite file-hosting sites. Those sites, incidentally, pay monetary rewards to the uploaders of files that get thousands of downloads (usually around $25 per 1,000 downloads), and/or they pay referral commissions when freeloading members of the public purchase paid services to enable them to download "freebies" faster.

Yesterday, I wrote again. The pirate is --again-- asking "Club Members" to donate via PayPal to help keep the club going, and as an incentive, he is giving "donors" access to links to more illegally hosted ebooks.

One of the many things that arouses my anger about this particular pirate is that he will give away large chunks of an author's or publisher's entire body of work in the same "book mix" for instance 10 Mammoth Books Of....

This is what I wrote:

Dear Beth and Jeff,

It has been over a year (since February 2011) since I first reported to you that the (redactedname) was lifting reviews from Amazon, and publishing them as his own in order to induce readers worldwide to infringe copyrights and avoid purchasing e-books.  He is still at it three and four times a week, every week.

http://freebie(redactedsitename).preview.html

PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION

The Mammoth Book of Dracula

I do not consider myself to be a big Horror fan. I have read all of Lovecraft's works, and recently have been enjoying Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series. A comment that Newman posted on this site led me to get this book for his story, "Coppola's Dracula." That was definitely my favorite story in the book, but I was pleasantly surprised that most of the other stories were decent as well. Like almost all anthologies, there are some stories that were not so hot, but there were no absolute clunkers, in my view. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys horror fiction, whether they are a long-time fan, or a relative new-comer like I am.

 GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON

By 

John D Lewallen Jr

I do not consider myself to be a big Horror fan. I have read all of Lovecraft's works, and recently have been enjoying Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series. A comment that Newman posted on this site led me to get this book for his story, "Coppola's Dracula." That was definitely my favorite story in the book, but I was pleasantly surprised that most of the other stories were decent as well. Like almost all anthologies, there are some stories that were not so hot, but there were no absolute clunkers, in my view. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys horror fiction, whether they are a long-time fan, or a relative new-comer like I am.


PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION

The Mammoth Book of Historical Crime Fiction

Ever since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle delighted readers with the fictional genius detective, Sherlock Holmes, crime fiction has been plumbed by mystery writers everywhere. This volume of 12 stories spans crime from the Bronze Age to World War II, and will appeal to the current readers of The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures and Best British Mysteries.


 GENUINE book description POSTED ON AMAZON

Ever since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle delighted readers with the fictional genius detective, Sherlock Holmes, crime fiction has been plumbed by mystery writers everywhere. This volume of 12 stories spans crime from the Bronze Age to World War II, and will appeal to the current readers of The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures and Best British Mysteries.

PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION

The Mammoth Book of Locked-Room Mysteries and Impossible Crimes

I admire the authors who must have racked their brains to come up with ingenious, incredible, seemingly impossible yet logical solutions to their stories. The reader is challenged to solve it but amateurs like me just dont bother. I prefer to sit back and enjoy the ride.

So THAT'S how they did it!!! 

By K. H. ZAINAL

Format:Paperback

A great collection of 'howdunnit' mysteries. Murder most foul (the fictional kind of course) is made more fun for the reader when the crime was committed in an impossible manner. How did a fresh corpse end up in a coffin which has laid undisturbed for two decades? How did the murderer-thief escape from a 10th floor showroom that was constantly under observation (and with only one exit...guarded, naturally)?

Most of the short stories here were written specifically for this book but there are some great classics as well like "The Silver Curtain", "The Adventure of the Jacobean House" and my personal favourite, "Off the Face of the Earth" by Clayton Rawson.

I admire the authors who must have racked their brains to come up with ingenious, incredible, seemingly impossible yet logical solutions to their stories. The reader is challenged to solve it but amateurs like me just dont bother. I prefer to sit back and enjoy the ride.

As I write this, amazon.com has does not have ready copies of this anthology. Since its a UK published book, I advise potential sleuths to log onto amazon.co.uk. They have more copies of this book than they know what to do with!!

PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION

The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance

Yes, the Mammoth Book of Vampire Romances is truly MAMMOTH containing 25 short stories. You'll recognize the names of the most of the 23 well known authors as the writers of your favorite paranormal romance and popular urban fantasy series. Despite the title, only about half of the stories in the book are `romances' though most have some sex, but they do all have vampires and most all have a key element of the story associated with the vampire's bite: bringing a transformation, granting immortality, unlocking or stealing memories, sealing a bond or, with the refusal of the acceptance of its offer, breaking a heart. Together the stories pretty much cover most of the niches of the PNR and UF genres, one little tidbit at a time.

GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON

By 

melindeeloo

Yes, the Mammoth Book of Vampire Romances is truly MAMMOTH containing 25 short stories. You'll recognize the names of the most of the 23 well known authors as the writers of your favorite paranormal romance and popular urban fantasy series. Despite the title, only about half of the stories in the book are `romances' though most have some sex, but they do all have vampires and most all have a key element of the story associated with the vampire's bite: bringing a transformation, granting immortality, unlocking or stealing memories, sealing a bond or, with the refusal of the acceptance of its offer, breaking a heart. Together the stories pretty much cover most of the niches of the PNR and UF genres, one little tidbit at a time.

PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION

The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2

I read the first Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance and Parnormal Romance. Loved both of them, when the Vampire Romance 2 came out I figured it would be the same level as the previous two. I was somewhat disapointed in several of the stories. In a short story book I rate each story with a Bad, Soso, Ok or Great. This anathology had fewer greats than the previous ones. I am glad I purchased it due to Carole Nelson Douglas's of Midnight Louie series entry and Larissa Ione of a Gaurdian series. There are several other authors that were great reads but not part of any series that I am reading or know of at this time. This is a good airplane travel book, but so is the series of The Mammoth Book Collection.

GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON

By 

C. Campbell 

I read the first Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance and Parnormal Romance. Loved both of them, when the Vampire Romance 2 came out I figured it would be the same level as the previous two. I was somewhat disapointed in several of the stories. In a short story book I rate each story with a Bad, Soso, Ok or Great. This anathology had fewer greats than the previous ones. I am glad I purchased it due to Carole Nelson Douglas's of Midnight Louie series entry and Larissa Ione of a Gaurdian series. There are several other authors that were great reads but not part of any series that I am reading or know of at this time. This is a good airplane travel book, but so is the series of The Mammoth Book Collection.

PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION

 The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica, Volume 3

How surprised...and delighted...I was to see my favorite writer of erotica in this book.....Mike Kimera....his story is Deserving Ruth....the first story I ever read by him... He creates wonderful images with his words...This book presents a wide range of story selection and a variety of topics.Well done !

GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON

Pleasant surprise !!!! 

By mambolady

Format:Paperback

How surprised...and delighted...I was to see my favorite writer of erotica in this book.....Mike Kimera....his story is Deserving Ruth....the first story I ever read by him... He creates wonderful images with his words...This book presents a wide range of story selection and a variety of topics.Well done !

PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION

The Mammoth Book of International Erotica

Most of the stories in this volume are clever, well-written, and fashionably postmodern. But that doesn't make them sexy! Story after story, I kept feeling that many of these authors just plain don't like sex. A few stories are fun and sexy, but these are very rare. The book has sex galore, but very little of it is what I'd call erotic.

GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Most of the stories in this volume are clever, well-written, and fashionably postmodern. But that doesn't make them sexy! Story after story, I kept feeling that many of these authors just plain don't like sex. A few stories are fun and sexy, but these are very rare. The book has sex galore, but very little of it is what I'd call erotic.

PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION

The Mammoth Book of Short Erotic Novels

If you're a fan of kinky sex, bathroom fun, S & M, and humiliating sex, this is YOUR book. Not my idea of "erotic" stories. Little romance offered for my wife, and not much for me either. Found 2 stories interesting, most was not to our liking. Mostly leans toward S & M activities, so if thats ur bag, this is your book.

GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON

put your seat belt on

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

If you're a fan of kinky sex, bathroom fun, S & M, and humiliating sex, this is YOUR book. Not my idea of "erotic" stories. Little romance offered for my wife, and not much for me either. Found 2 stories interesting, most was not to our liking. Mostly leans toward S & M activities, so if thats ur bag, this is your book.

PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION

The Mammoth Book of Hot Romance

These 25 unashamedly modern short romances don’t shy away at the bedroom door, from the creme de la creme of contemporary romance writers, including Lilith Saintcrow, Louisa Burton, Susan Sizemore, and more.

GENUINE blurb POSTED ON AMAZON

Book Description

Publication Date: August 23, 2011

These 25 unashamedly modern short romances don't shy away at the bedroom door, from the crème de la crème of contemporary romance writers, including Lilith Saintcrow, Louisa Burton, Anna Windsor, Susan Sizemore, Michelle M. Pillow, Rebecca York, Charlotte Stein, Shiloh Walker, Victoria Janssen, Saskia Walker and Cathy Clamp. This is writing which is more direct, less euphemistic, and frankly accepting of sexuality - fiercely hot stories of flesh and blood and feelings which will entrance and beguile romance readers.

PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION

This Mammoth Book includes stories by a number of modern writers who use Verne's stories as a starting point for extrapolations of the future as the Victorians might have expected it to happen. I recommend it highly.

GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON

A great read for steampunk and alternative history fans

By steamduck43

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This Mammoth Book includes stories by a number of modern writers who use Verne's stories as a starting point for extrapolations of the future as the Victorians might have expected it to happen. I recommend it highly.

PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION

The Mammoth Book of Scottish Romance

Good pick up and put down book for when life is a little busy. Great selection of authors. Will buy others in this series.

GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON

Good collection February 5, 2011

By J. Cantrell

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Good pick up and put down book for when life is a little busy. Great selection of authors. Will buy others in this series.

PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION

The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance

This book provided some very frustrating times for me while reading. It had some great stories in it & some not so great stories. I felt like as soon as the story started getting good it was over and I wanted more...on some of them not all of them! A few were very far fetched and I couldnt get a grasp of what they were talking about. Then some of them were very cute and left me looking up those authors for more books by them. It is an easy time passing read if you dont have the time to get into a long book then I suggest this for easy reading.


GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON

Easy Reading February 27, 2010

By A. N. Ross

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book provided some very frustrating times for me while reading. It had some great stories in it & some not so great stories. I felt like as soon as the story started getting good it was over and I wanted more...on some of them not all of them! A few were very far fetched and I couldnt get a grasp of what they were talking about. Then some of them were very cute and left me looking up those authors for more books by them. It is an easy time passing read if you dont have the time to get into a long book then I suggest this for easy reading.

PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION

The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible Mysteries

Sometimes the reader knows the killer, watching to see whether he can beat the investigators  sometimes the story is a whodunit, where everyone is a suspect  and sometimes the crime is such a head-scratcher that one can only turn the pages hoping to figure out what in the world happened. Along the way, the editor calls on such familiar authors as Edward D. Hoch, Bill Pronzini, and J.A. Konrath, while also digging up a healthy assortment of lost classics.

GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON

Locked rooms, impossible crimes, and perfect murders September 22, 2008

By Chris Well

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Editor Mike Ashley has assembled more than 500 pages' worth of short mystery fiction focusing on locked room murders, impossible crimes, and even perfect murders -- ranging from one story originally published as early as 1910 to several that were previously unpublished when the book came out in 2007. Included are 30 audacious murder scenarios: A man alone in a phone booth is somehow stabbed in the back with an icepick; a man alone in a room is shot by a bullet fired over 200 years ago; a man enters a cable-car alone and is dead when it reaches the bottom; a man receives mail in response to letters apparently written by him--after his death; a lion tamer is found strangled in a locked train car; an Indian rope trick performer vanishes at the end of the trick only to be found dead in a nearby lake; three women are found murdered, their bodies seemingly untouched yet with their internal organs removed.

Sometimes the reader knows the killer, watching to see whether he can beat the investigators; sometimes the story is a whodunit, where everyone is a suspect; and sometimes the crime is such a head-scratcher that one can only turn the pages hoping to figure out what in the world happened. Along the way, the editor calls on such familiar authors as Edward D. Hoch, Bill Pronzini, and J.A. Konrath, while also digging up a healthy assortment of lost classics. (Ashley avoids any examples from John Dickson Carr and G.K. Chesterton, two masters of the form, because those authors' stories are often so readily available.)

Some of the stories are great, some are okay, and one or two make you slap your forehead in amazement. Overall, a fine collection for any fan of puzzle mysteries.

PIRATED WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 21

The introduction was filled with useful information about what was written in 2009 in horror and some dark fantasy. Loved that. The stories were more uneven in quality than I'm used to in this series. The obits were unfortunately informative as well. Always sad to see more people involved in this, or any other, genre go. Overall I found it a worthwhile buy and would recommend it to others.

GENUINE REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON

By 

Alexandria Bracanovich (FAYETTEVILLE, N

T

The introduction was filled with useful information about what was written in 2009 in horror and some dark fantasy. Loved that. The stories were more uneven in quality than I'm used to in this series. The obits were unfortunately informative as well. Always sad to see more people involved in this, or any other, genre go. Overall I found it a worthwhile buy and would recommend it to others

From another "collection" of so-called freebies which are claimed to be "freely available" on the internet. They are only "freely" available, because they have been illegally "shared" in violation of copyright law and in violation of the rights of the authors.

Moreover, auction site Sellers should be aware that just because an e-book is being illegally published and distributed on the internet does not put it "in the public domain". 

Crystal Gardens

Evangeline Ames has rented a country cottage far from the London streets where she was recently attacked. Fascinated by the paranormal energy of nearby Crystal
Gardens, she finds pleasure in sneaking past the wall to explore the grounds. And when her life is threatened again, she instinctively goes to the gardens for safety.

Lucas Sebastian has never been one to ignore a lady in danger, even if she is trespassing on his property. Quickly disposing of her would-be assassin, he insists they keep the matter private. There are rumors enough already, about treasure buried under his garden, and occult botanical experiments performed by his uncle—who died of mysterious causes. With Evangeline’s skill for detection, and Lucas’s sense of the criminal mind, they soon discover that they have a common enemy. And as the energy emanating from Crystal Gardens intensifies, they realize that to survive they must unearth what has been buried for too long.

GENUINE REVIEW

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 2012

Evangeline Ames has rented a country cottage far from the London streets where she was recently attacked. Fascinated by the paranormal energy of nearby Crystal
Gardens, she finds pleasure in sneaking past the wall to explore the grounds. And when her life is threatened again, she instinctively goes to the gardens for safety.

Lucas Sebastian has never been one to ignore a lady in danger, even if she is trespassing on his property. Quickly disposing of her would-be assassin, he insists they keep the matter private. There are rumors enough already, about treasure buried under his garden, and occult botanical experiments performed by his uncle—who died of mysterious causes. With Evangeline’s skill for detection, and Lucas’s sense of the criminal mind, they soon discover that they have a common enemy. And as the energy emanating from Crystal Gardens intensifies, they realize that to survive they must unearth what has been buried for too long.

Also, it's not just the anthologies and superstars who are being ripped off. This pirate and his "Club Members" rip off entire series by mid-list authors. There is something very wrong with the DOJ, the mindset on the internet, the protections for authors offered by the DMCA, and the entire discussion about copyright in which the media almost never mentions ebooks.

If you would like to purchase the following books, please check the author's own website, not Amazon.

Mischief in Mudbug

This is an engaging sequel, but the TROUBLE IN MUDBUG is that several key support characters (especially Helena) cannot stand alone without having read the previous book. Still Sabine's search for blood relatives takes a serious health turn that makes for a serious story line while her mutually shared feelings with Beau adds a naked romantic element to the recipe. The suspense subplot adds tension, but also takes a back seat to the health crisis and the attraction as Jana DeLeon cooks an interesting spin in Mudbug.

 

GENUINE REVIEW 
engaging sequel October 3, 2009

By Harriet Klausner #1 HALL OF FAME

Format:Mass Market Paperback

After Helena the ghost makes a disturbing appearance during a client's visit, Mudbug psychic Sabine LeVeche learns from Dr. Breaux that her biopsy test affirms she suffers from acute myeloid leukemia; a type that with treatment most people go into remission especially if the person receives a bone marrow transplant from a close relative.

However, Sabine has a minor problem with the bone marrow therapy; she needs a relative, but knows of none in spite of her efforts to find kin. Private investigator Beau Villeneuve, her BFF Maryse and Helena help the stunned twenty-eight years old woman. However, their efforts are sidetracked by someone trying to kill Sabine and her attraction to Beau who feels the same way about her.

This is an engaging sequel, but the TROUBLE IN MUDBUG is that several key support characters (especially Helena) cannot stand alone without having read the previous book. Still Sabine's search for blood relatives takes a serious health turn that makes for a serious story line while her mutually shared feelings with Beau adds a naked romantic element to the recipe. The suspense subplot adds tension, but also takes a back seat to the health crisis and the attraction as Jana DeLeon cooks an interesting spin in Mudbug.

Harriet Klausner

Trouble in Mudbug

I really liked this little book. It has a neat idea for the characters - the dead mother in law (Ghost-in-Law) is a riot and her relationship with Maryse is not only funny, but the interaction between the two is real. Conversations you can believe and dialogue that real people would use everyday. Gotta love Luc, the love interest here, he's hot, romantic and still sensible and the kind of guy you can picture meeting in real life. The storyline was more interesting than the romance (which was pretty decent too) and I will definately keep an eye out for the next book in this series.


GENUINE REVIEW

 Fun Book with Great idea,

By 

Dogs & Horses "Spanish Norman Horses"

This review is from: Trouble in Mudbug (Mass Market Paperback)

I really liked this little book. It has a neat idea for the characters - the dead mother in law (Ghost-in-Law) is a riot and her relationship with Maryse is not only funny, but the interaction between the two is real. Conversations you can believe and dialogue that real people would use everyday. Gotta love Luc, the love interest here, he's hot, romantic and still sensible and the kind of guy you can picture meeting in real life. The storyline was more interesting than the romance (which was pretty decent too) and I will definately keep an eye out for the next book in this series. 

PS

The copyrighted images  were not lifted from Amazon... at least, not by me. They are being shared on Picasa which is a site owned by Google, and are also reproduced on the websites run by the pirates.