excuse me. I think I'm going to rant. adult language ahead...

under the heading of "arrogant," subheading, "weasily little shit."

"...There are 1410 authors, and maybe 15,000-20,000 works (duplicate formats exist for many, most being .pdf). Needless to say countless hours were put into this project (and many more could be), so I hope you like it and will help seed it."

I can't speak to all 20,000 works being pirated, but the ones of mine that person has oh so graciously uploaded sure as hell are.

(s/he was quite upfront about the fact that "(one bloody collection took hours to unpack!$%#)" Apparently s/he never stopped to think that what s/he was doing was, y'know... wrong. In both the moral and legal sense. Or just doesn't give a fuck.)

Stupid little arrogant fuckass. Would like to see how s/he would feel about me taking a portion of his/her paycheck because I waaaaaanted it.

And, of course, to actually get the host to take it down they require you to jump through so many hoops, including registering and tracking down every single file you claim, that I'd lose an entire day just to doing that*. Aren't they so clever and cute and oh no they're not doing ANYTHING wrong, they're in utter compliance with the bare letter of the law....

Again I say, if you download bootleg or pirated materials, you're not "putting it to the publishing companies." You're hurting the writers whose work you claim to enjoy, and making it less likely that there will be any more work from that author. Pirated copies = fewer legal sales = less income for the author = finding some other way to make a living.

So steal if you must. But for fuck's sake don't make like you're doing it for anything other than greedy little selfish get-a-kick-out-of-stealing reasons.

*takes a deep breath, exhales*



*I really need an intern, who will file and go to the post awful, and send DMCA letters for me... anyone want to volunteer? I could pay a small commuting stipend, and chocolate chip cookies...

if you ever wondered what SFWA does....

A Note to SFWA Members Regarding Night Shade Books

I for one hope to hell that Night Shade gets their act together and goes forward in a professional manner. They publish some kickass books and the genre needs strong small presses to balance the major corporate publishers. But this is a reminder to anyone who ever doubted it: publishing is a business, not a hobby. When you take on the role of publisher, you must also take on the responsibilities -- and that includes honoring ALL of your financial and contractual obligations. And if you can't/won't do that, you have no business being in this game.

To counterbalance: I was recently working with a small press that discovered it would have trouble meeting said obligations. They were honest and up front about it, and although we came to a parting of ways, I had a great deal of respect for how the situation was handled, and would work with them again in an instant if circumstances allowed. Being aware of when you're running into trouble, and communicating any potential problems to your authors/publishing partners, is key. Respect, both ways, goes a very long way.

and so.

And so, my week as writer-in-residence at Odyssey 2010 has drawn to a close. I still have my doubts as to how the lectures worked -- this is me, so of course I'm second-guessing and trying to figure out where I screwed up and how I could have conveyed the information better -- but the one-on-one meetings were, I think, productive. There were a few times I really saw a gotcha! light go on, and hopefully they're now saying "hell yes I can" rather than "er, I'm not sure I can." While they're not ready for publication yet -- they will be. They've got the talent, and the drive, and now, I hope, the properly-filled toolbox to make it happen.

I also got to tell the students that yes, really, truly, even multiply-published writers go through the "oh my god this is crap this sucks" stage when writing. Every. Single. Time.

Meanwhile, I am holed up in Hell's Penthouse, working on Vineart War 3 and wondering if going to Readercon tomorrow was really such a good idea, as right now I am feeling worn out and wrung out and not really up to dealing with the Bright and Clever Things [TM]. I am not feeling Bright or Clever at all, right now*. Knowing that it's a normal comedown to a week of being intensely On isn't making me feel any less meh about the entire thing. So if you see me at Readercon...be gentle, 'k?





*okay, I never feel Bright and Clever. Smart, yes, but not Clever.