Kevin's Watch

Found The Illearth War on www.geocities.com/jmur9999/tiw.txt

Is that, heh, legal? Anyway, I copied it, pasted it, and thought maybe some Covenant junkie out there in the world might like to know that the book's roughly 176,400 words long (excluding the "What Has Gone Before"). Heh, I know I at least like knowing that.

Oh wow...not sure that's legal, looks like the whole thing too!!!

Lord Foul wrote:Found The Illearth War on www.geocities.com/jmur9999/tiw.txt

Is that, heh, legal? Anyway, I copied it, pasted it, and thought maybe some Covenant junkie out there in the world might like to know that the book's roughly 176,400 words long (excluding the "What Has Gone Before"). Heh, I know I at least like knowing that.

Absolutely *NOT* legal. This isn't unusual though. If you know your way around usenet, you can pretty much find every and any book imaginable.

But (huge caveat/exception here)...

I have a friend with a degenerative neurological condition that has renedred him virtually paralyzed. He has very limited motion from the neck up, and the only movement he has below the neck is one of his thumbs (which he has a special switch used to control his Mac).

I wrote Donaldson's publisher to see if they had any plans to bring the Chronicles to electronic format and never received a reply. I was/am fully prepared to buy my friend all 6 books electronically and legally, but who knows if we'll ever see that happen. For those that can physically/financially aford the real thing, piracy stinks. For those that can only read e-books... well, I'll let you fill in the blanks.

I have all 6 books on e-file, and from what I know (not much), I'm within my rights to do so. As long as you have the actual object, it is considered fair use. I think it starts to be a problem when you get into the "unauthorized reproduction or distribution of..." aspects that this website obviously violates. I've bought each book at least twice, and though friends may fail to return the paperbacks, a shared file is never lost.

I have three separate editions of the First and Second Chronicles and I see no harm in owning the electronic versions for your own personal use.

I paid SRD his dues a couple of times over.

This site does however appear to violate copyright.

Infelice wrote:I have three separate editions of the First and Second Chronicles and I see no harm in owning the electronic versions for your own personal use.

I paid SRD his dues a couple of times over.

This site does however appear to violate copyright.

Well, I completely agree -- all of us are fans and have certainly bought multiple copies of his work. I have no problem keeping an e-copy on my laptop for those long layovers.

However, that doesn't make it any more legal. Just to quote the inside page of Reave the Just:

<i>"No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher."</i>

The only reason why I seem like I'm being pedantic here is that for every honest fan like the KWers here, there are swarms of people out there pirating literature.

Unlike Metallica and the other whiners bemoaning MP3s, fantasy/sf writers can truly feel the effects of e-pirating. SRD is certainly well off, but first time genre writers generally only get a $3000-$5000 advance and have to 'keep their day job.' Many midlist writers, some quite well known, feel the pinch when their work goes OOP.

Again, I'm not losing any sleep over having LFB on my laptop, but the law is clear -- if it's not an officially authorized e-addition by the publisher, it's illegal.

I go over the speed limit and other naughty things, so I'm not preaching here.

I feel sorry for whoever typed all that... Oh man.

Talk about RSI in the fingers....

Infelice wrote:Talk about RSI in the fingers....

heh, my word count so far this year is approaching 200,000, so my fingers and wrists have had some serious conditioning.

ringthane wrote: heh, my word count so far this year is approaching 200,000, so my fingers and wrists have had some serious conditioning.

My delicate fingers and wrists arent used to such conditioning.... Do you write???

Infelice wrote:

ringthane wrote: heh, my word count so far this year is approaching 200,000, so my fingers and wrists have had some serious conditioning.

My delicate fingers and wrists arent used to such conditioning.... Do you write???

yes, I'm currently pounding out a few short stories a month, about 50% into a novella and still gestating that Great American Novel™.

ringthane wrote: yes, I'm currently pounding out a few short stories a month, about 50% into a novella and still gestating that Great American Novel™.

Ahh...this explains your views on piracy. Is any of your work published?

Infelice wrote:

ringthane wrote: yes, I'm currently pounding out a few short stories a month, about 50% into a novella and still gestating that Great American Novel™.

Ahh...this explains your views on piracy. Is any of your work published?

I actually lost my first sale a month ago -- the publisher went under.

I've won a few short story contests, but like most other writers I'm collection rejection slips to wallpaper my den.

If anyone's interested in reading my fantasy stuff I could post the link them on the writer's critique groups I belong to (if i could ever dig the URL out).

ringthane wrote: I actually lost my first sale a month ago -- the publisher went under.

Bummer

ringthane wrote:If anyone's interested in reading my fantasy stuff I could post the link them on the writer's critique groups I belong to (if i could ever dig the URL out).

Post the link......There are a few people here that would be very interested.

Infelice wrote:

ringthane wrote: I actually lost my first sale a month ago -- the publisher went under.

Bummer

ringthane wrote:If anyone's interested in reading my fantasy stuff I could post the link them on the writer's critique groups I belong to (if i could ever dig the URL out).

Post the link......There are a few people here that would be very interested.

I'd love to have these posted on my own site, which would make it easy, but unfortunately most publisher won't ever touch stuff that has already been posted on teh web since it's already considered "published" (it's a weird thing with first publishing rights).

Anyway, stories posted to writing/critique groups aren't considered 'published', so that's one way to get around that.

1. Ok, go to www.heliumpeerreview.com/
2. Click on the short stories link on the lower left hand side
3. At the top of the page click search
4. search by the last name swartzfeger, click submit

you'll then see about half a dozen of my stories there to view (I think they're all in PDF).

Most of this stuff is about half a year old, most of my new stuff still hasn't been posted

A Parable For Savants-- short flash fiction. Was just a playful experiment with a different type of narrative voice.

Graffiti Heart-- one of my favorites, but it has an enourmous flashback toward the beginning of the story that really slows things down. Needs heavy revision. This is more along the lines of magic realism than fantasy.

Most Sacred Burning Heart of Bernie Berkowitz-- another experiment with a specific technique. I think it's a fun read but it's missing something.

Postcards From Sodom-- kind of a cross-genre story, not sure if it's fantasy or horror.

The Blessed Unfortunates-- I absolutely hate this story but my beta readers love it, and this has won two different short story contests. First story I ever wrote, January 03. My Donaldson influences probably show here a bit, and the only true fantasy I've done.

The Creator Had A Master Disk-- this is the one I recently lost the sale on. I love this story, but it's been turned down by major publishers because the twist ending is nothing more than a lame, predictable punchline. Plus a total lack of conflict doesn't help either.

The Tree Where Lost Dreams Die-- cool premise, completely amateurish execution. I still like it, but I'd probably ditch everything here and do a complete rewrite. (this managed to win third place in another contest and I for the life of me don't know how)


Dang, what the hell am I still doing up?!? Sorry for chewing your ears off!

I'll check out all of em this weekend.

About copyright issues, though, I'm not sure the law is so clear. I believe the same warning is on CDs, movies (TV and VHS), and the like, but just because you say something doesn't necessarily make it legally binding. I haven't heard of anybody being arrested for taping since Betamax days. Like I said upthread, I think this falls under the concept of fair use. I believe it's the distribution of said intellectual properties that constitutes copyright violation.