Love in Dark Settings

"George R.R. Martin is the hugely successful purveyor of an ongoing, seven-volume fantasy series called A Song of Ice and Fire. Four books are done. The first three came quickly, then there was a five-year wait for the fourth. The first indicated publication date for the fifth instalment, fiercely awaited, was 2006. That has rather obviously been missed: Martin is still writing it. The natives are restless.

"How restless? Well, on his blog, cutely called Not a Blog, Martin fired back two weeks ago at what he called 'a rising tide of venom' about how late he is. Seems some of his loyal and devoted readers are savagely attacking him for taking holidays, for watching football in the fall, for attending conventions, doing workshops, editing a volume of short stories, even for being '60 years old and fat' (I'm quoting here, trust me) - the implication being he might drop dead before fulfilling his obligation to do nothing else but finish the damned series. . . .

"Martin wasn't happy. 'Maybe it's okay if I take a leak once in a while?' he wrote. His blog response was accompanied by a flashing 'angry' icon face.

"It is all too easy for another writer to sympathize, and I do, hugely, but I can't help but note that the only reason readers know about holidays and football games (and his favourite team) is that Martin has told them. On his blog."

--Guy Gavriel Kay: Release the Fans!

( May 2009: 5 stories and 1 novel reprinted )

New online fiction. Parental supervision is strongly suggested for this story.

If the High Seeker wants something, no power in life or death will hold him from taking it. What he wants now has brought danger to the Eternal Dungeon.

One of the jokes of the Eternal Dungeon was that Layle Smith had designed the Seekers' hoods, and that he had done so for the sole purpose of forcing prisoners to focus their attention upon his cold eyes. It was a joke that inevitably brought nervous laughter.

Comments, queries, and oodles of vigorous discussions are welcome.

I think it's past time I blogged about this, because, while most of the published authors reading this probably know about it already, some may not. And readers are affected by this news as well.

Google Books is making arrangements to have a monopoly on offering digital access to out-of-print books. A deal that it made with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers allows it to sell access to all out-of-print books that are still in copyright (read that a second time) unless the copyright owner opts out of the settlement. Alternatively, the copyright owner can make a claim in order to receive a share of the profit on the books by them that Google sells.

( Why I like Google Books )
( Why I don't like this plan )

Regardless as to how you view the matter, authors should take a look at the Google Book Settlement site. The site provides instructions on how to opt out of the settlement or (alternatively) to make claims to receive money. The deadline (which was supposed to be May 5) has been extended to September 4.