Marginalia

[coalescent]

Today's assortment:

A meme via andrewducker: look at my icons and tell me which, if any, you like best, and why.

A fascinating post by Matthew Cheney on teaching Neal Gaiman's American Gods to High School students.

A somewhat melancholy article in the Independent, on the effects of writing for posterity but publishing for now.

A charming story (less than 500 words) by Stuart Carter called 'Tell Stephen Baxter Not To Worry'. On a slightly more surreal Baxter-related note, see this comic.

Angel news: S5 DVDs are due in february. When I saw this, I was terribly worried. I don't want Spike on the cover of the DVDs of my show, dammit! Fortunately the UK edition is much better.

An interview with Tony Ballantyne at Infinity Plus. The followup to Recusion will be Capacity, and after that Divergence. And speaking of followups, Amazon claim to already have a cover for No Present Like Time by Steph Swainston. It's not a patch on the cover for The Year of Our War, though.

There's something niggling at me, in the back of my head, inspired variously by Geneva's review of Cloud Atlas, my disagreement with the same, Jonathan Strahan's post about what those who write about sf should be doing, Jeff Noon's phrase 'post-futurism' and swisstone's writing on Vurt (also here). But I haven't quite worked out what it is that I want to say, yet.

A full list of Guests of Honour for Concussion, the 2006 Eastercon.

Note to self--at some point, read these stories: Life In Stone by Tim Pratt; 'Is You/Is You Ain't' by Michael Canfield; 'Anda's Game' by Cory Doctorow; the last month or so of SCIFICTION. Oh, and there's going to be a dead-tree SCIFICTION anthology. Woohoo!

Mind you, it's reached that point in the year when I have to go into reading triage: when I admit I'm not going to get through everything I would like to get through by the end of the year. Currently, I absolutely want to get through Swiftly by Adam Roberts, Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie, The Wizard by Gene Wolfe, Air by Geoff Ryman, Set This House In Order by Matt Ruff, City of Pearl by Karen Traviss, Empire by Niall Ferguson, Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, the second issue of PostScripts, the July (all-american special issue) of F&SF, and the Different Worlds anthology. But it's not going to happen, is it?

Comments

[giantbedsprings.livejournal.com]

I'm torn between Sadam, Whuffie and Peter Jackson.

[dfordoom.livejournal.com]

The algebraist icon, definitely. By a long margin.

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

The No Present Like Time looks a lot like an ARC holding cover.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Oh, I should have thought of that! Yes, you're right, that's probably what it is.

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

Space elevator! And space baby!

I hadn't realised The Year of Our War was the start of a trilogy. Hooray.

Is Swiftly the Adam Roberts short thing?

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Space elevator! And space baby!

So basically, anything with the word 'space' in the description? :)

I hadn't realised The Year of Our War was the start of a trilogy. Hooray.

Well, 'trilogy'. It's that oh-so-fashionable thing of same world, related story, but not a direct sequel. Or so I gather.

Is Swiftly the Adam Roberts short thing?

Yes. It arrived yesterday. Tonight I will mostly be re-reading 'Swiftly' and reading 'Eleanor'.

SCIFICTION

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be reading Q by John Grant today. I might write something later on in the week.

Re: SCIFICTION

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

OK, so this evening, after I've read 'Compartments' so I can comment properly on Geneva's post, and after I've read 'Eleanor' so I can write a post of my own, I'll read 'Q' so I can comment on your post, when it happens.

I don't know how I cope, with my hectic social calendar ...

[hawleygriffen.livejournal.com]

A meme via andrewducker: look at my icons and tell me which, if any, you like best, and why.

The Due South one is definitely good. It has a touch of... genius about it. Then again, Space Elevator also has a certain something.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I detect a subtle bias in your answers. :-p

[ex-susumu64.livejournal.com]

I prefer my own Saddam icon, so I vote for Algebraist too.

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

There is rightness and wrongness in what Strahan writes. I agree that there's reward in looking af the sf diaspora into the mainstream, and the way in which this manifests itself. Where I think he's wrong, and badly wrong, is in the notion that this should supersede the study of sf history, or of the study of sf as a separate field. Frankly, I can't see study of the one can proceed without study of the other. One cannot understand the sf diaspora without understanding sf's history. To eliminate the origins of the diaspora, and look only at its effects, means that study will never rise above the naive. As Cicero rightly said, "If you do not know where you come from, you will always be a child."

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I may be misreading his post, but my impression was that he was talking about priorities, not absolutes. As in, sure, the history of sf is important, but too many people are studying that, and too few studying what's going on right now.

[kittynic]

I think I'd have to go for this one:

purely because there arent enough Quantum Leap icons.

And secondly - don't forget to buy your Angel Season Five here if yu're getting it online.

[kittynic]

That should be "you're" and of course you can get through all those books if you are a fast reader and don't do anythng else for the rest of the year.

[storme]

The space elevator icon makes me happy.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Ah, but do you know which story it's a reference to ...? :)

(Admittedly it's a slightly oblique reference, but it's still a reference.)

[blzblack.livejournal.com]

I think Strahan was talking more about what editors should be doing in assembling anthologies than what writers should be doing.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I agree--he's talking about those who write about sf, Noon's piece is more relevant to those who write sf. But there's a relationship between their points, I think.

[tefkas.livejournal.com]

Century Rain? Ooh *is interested* I like Reynolds, although I think he tends to overwrite by about 30% -the first 2/3 of his books tend to be compulsive reading, but I start to lose interest in the final section (when you'd think one would be desperate to learn how it all ties up)...

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is being recced here, there and everywhere (not least by officialgaiman), so I'll have to procure that, somehow, too...

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I haven't actually read any of Reynolds' novels--I keep meaning to have a go at Chasm City, but never seem to get around to it. Since the new one is a standalone, I'm taking the opportunity to pick it up. :)

He's produced some excellent short fiction, though. In particular the two-novella collection Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days is well worth checking out, if you haven't already.

As for Strange & Norrell, yeah. I've dipped into the first couple of chapters, and really like what I've read so far; seems to be one of those books you can just sink into and get lost in. I've got it earmarked for boxing day. ;-)

[gagravarr.livejournal.com]

Reading the Indie article, I'm once again struck by things Laurence Lessig has said.

These works are no longer being published, but are still copyright protected. If they were public domain, people could put them online (eg Project Gutenberg), and everyone could download them and enjoy them. As it stands, people can't.

Just set things up so after a certain length of time (20 years?), you have to take steps to keep something copyrighted. If the work still has value, you'll do so, and it'll remain protected. If it has no commerical value to you (eg out of print for 15 years), you won't, and it'll enter the public domain, and people can reproduce it.

Instead, we're set for even longer and harsher copyright laws, and this will get worse

[(Anonymous)]

I think this is pretty much what Cory Doctorow advocates.

I prefer a system which is perhaps more radical, but which gets to the heart of the matter. The problem is the works which are out of print, but still in copyright; therefore, simply tie copyright to in-printness: after a work has been unavailable for some period of time, it reverts to the public domain. If it has commercial value to the copyright owner, they'll want to print it anyway, and if it hasn't, they shouldn't mind letting go of it.

I'd make the period short - five years (five years is a pretty long time between reprints of a book, so i wouldn't make it any longer). It could vary for different media, to recognise their differing lifetimes - ten years for paintings, five for books and films, two for music, one for software (or perhaps two if it comes with source code!), six months for television, 24 hours for news articles. I'd add a grace period at the start of the life of the work, perhaps equal to two expiry periods, to give authors some breathing room to get their work into print. I'd also consider adding a maximum term for the copyright, perhaps twenty periods from the creation of the work (at present, it's the author's life plus ~50 years; for books, my proposal would make it 100 years, which is similar).

We'd also need a definition of availability. The obvious one would be based on whether the copyright owner, or their dessignate (eg a publishing house) will sell new copies. The problem with this is that publishers could simply make all their books available for a very high price, sufficient to cover printing a single copy; this is not a useful form of availability. It also has the problem that it punishes copyright owners whose works are available second-hand; there are enough copies of Michael Moorcock's books floating around (~30% of the total second-hand book stock in the country, according to government estimates) that nobody needs to buy them new, so the publisher doesn't have a business case for keeping them in print. Thus, even though they're available, the copyright owner loses his rights. A more robust definition would have to take account of the price, practicality of access and availability from other sources; i don't have a good rule for it (perhaps "Is it available for not more than ten times the price of a similar new book within five miles of Charing Cross?":) ).

Under this regime, a publisher's best strategy might well be to make the e-text of their older products available free of charge; this would have a moderate initial cost, but a very low recurring cost, and would keep the work in copyright. I hope so, anyway!

-- tom

[mattia.livejournal.com]

A fascinating post by Matthew Cheney on teaching Neal Gaiman's American Gods to High School students.

That's rather fab, that is. Oh that we'd read that in High School, and not Heart of Darkness (the fact it hadn't been written yet is entirely beside the point, methinks..)

As for icons...I can't decide. The Algebraist one is the classiest, but the DorkTower and Down and Out icons are just 'hee' moment-inducing. And of the class.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

algebraist for me.

I just read 'life in stone' BTW - vivid, harsh, straightforward

[snowking.livejournal.com]

Damn, d00d, who made the whuffie and angel ones? They must be muthafukkin' geniuses and shit, yo!

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Eve already made that joke. :-p

[veggiesu.livejournal.com]

look at my icons and tell me which, if any, you like best, and why

Swirl, because it's the one I associate with you the most, because it's the one you used when I first got an lj. Muppet Angel, because, well, it's muppet angel. Algebraist because I like the aesthetic. Smallhead 'cos it's you, from where I'm standing :-)

I have to go into reading triage: when I admit I'm not going to get through everything I would like to get through by the end of the year

Twelve books in ten weeks - what's the problem?
*whistles innocently*

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

what's the problem

Do not try my patience, old lady. :-p

[andrewducker]

Whuffie!

[(Anonymous)]

writing for posterity but publishing for now

This is indeed a crying shame. Can you believe that Hooke's 'Micrographia' was pretty much out of print until 2003? Madness!

However, i do think Mr Boncza-Tomaszewski - if that is indeed his real name - should get a British Library reader's card; copyright bad, copyright libraries good. Perhaps i should get one myself - 'The Woman With the Flying Head and Other Stories', which apparently "combines gender politics with mathematics, Japanese folk tales and aliens" sounds unmissable (and also makes me wonder if there's a literary movement in Japan i should know about; once is happenstance, twice - Murakami being the other - is coincidence, but i wonder if it's really enemy action). Also, Haruki Murakami is apparently really called Murakami Haruki; i will investigate.

Jonathan Strahan's post

... claims that "The centre did not hold". I think i must have missed that; if your recent reading is anything to go by (yes, i'm using you as a sort of SF zeitgeist monitor here - be proud), the centre is holding pretty well, and emitting a torrent of stuff that is very definitely genuine, solid, old-school SF. Perhaps i interpret that phrase differently to Mr Strahan.

Jeff Noon

Is a goddamn HERO OF THE GENRE. Even if he's also an ENEMY OF THE GENRE.

Obviously, there are TWO JEFF NOONS!

I'm not going to get through everything I would like to get through by the end of the year

What is significant about the end of the year? Are you not allowed to read this year's books after christmas or something?

Oh, and on icons: default and swirl suck (they don't look like anything), smallhead is lame (it's just a picture of you, and beautiful as you are, that's dull), dork icon doesn't cut it (it's very cool, but it's ultimately just a repetition of someone else's creation, and it's not specific to you in any way), alethiometer does (yes, it's someone else's creation, but it is specific to you, as the alethiometer is a very complicated metaphor for your bog - trust me on this), space baby is the tits (again, not original, but it wouldn't have been brought to the attention of the general public without your intervention), and muppet angel owns (as IT IS A PICTURE OF YOUR FACE). I don't see the other pictures right now, but i'm sure they're all rubbish.

-- tom

[veggiesu.livejournal.com]

on icons: default and swirl suck (they don't look like anything)

Such a nice chap, and yet so wrongheaded

*shakes head, sadly*