Books for October, 2002

[pegkerr]

Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. Re-read.

Dinner at Deviant's Palace by Tim Powers. Re-read.

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner. Re-read.

The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison

The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge by Harry Harrison

The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World by Harry Harrison

Fudoki by kijjohnson. In unpublished manuscript form (but don't worry, you'll get your chance). Twice.

Venetia by Georgette Heyer. Re-read.

Comments

[daedala.livejournal.com]

Of those, I've read the Wrede/Stevermer, the Kushner, and the Heyer. You have such good taste in those that I'll have to read the rest.

Venetia is my very favorite Heyer, too!

[alisgray.livejournal.com]

nobody made you read the Harry Harrison books yet? goodness!

dinner at deviant's palace is so different from his later work.

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

Venetia is good, isn't it? My favorites are probably Cotillion and Arabella, the latter because the appropriately named Mr. Beaumaris is, for me, The Perfect Man.

[kolitch.livejournal.com]

Hello!

Do you have books about Steel Rat in files? Could you sent them to if you can?

I have red them in Russain and wonna check them in original.

Naybe you knew, where I can found them in the net to free download?

Thanks a lot,

Kolitch

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I can't believe you are asking someone who writes books if she will help you rip off another author's copyright. No, I do not have the Stainless Steel Rat books in files, and I wouldn't help you if I did.

[kolitch.livejournal.com]

First at all, it's your free choise - to give me book or don't.

But i think (IMHO) you are crazy about copyright etc.
Arguments - 1) will you say the same if somebody will ask you to borrow book standing on your bookshelf? Will you ask money from him? Will you say - It\s my book and when you will read the same one, go to the bookshop? e-BOOK IS THE SAME AS A REAL BOOK, nothing more.
2) Are your books high popular? Could you onestly say you don't need to make your quntity of readers larger? Isn't such sending by e-mail a way of make your books and your writer's name more popular?
Kolitch

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I have been thinking about this all day. I am glad that you have given me another chance to respond to you, because I don't want to annihilate you with a response that is mere calculated rudeness, but to instead give you a more thoughtful response that I hope makes you really think about what it is you are asking.

You are perfectly right in one respect. Yes, it is my choice whether to send a book to you, and if you had asked me for a hard copy of the Stainless Steel Rat books (and yes, they are very good and you have excellent taste), I might have even considered your request. For instance, I might send a hard copy of one of the Stainless Steel Rat books to you in Russia as a friendly gesture, because yes, I do appreciate the importance of helping to get good SF and fantasy into the hands of people who might have difficulty obtaining them in other parts of the world. As an author, I fully appreciate the necessity of promoting reading and book collection.

You asked, however, not for a hard copy of a book, but an e-book. True, some authors sell their books as e-books (my best friend kijjohnson has done so). And some authors put part of their books on line, for promotional purposes. Readers who enjoy the first several chapters of a book on line have their appetites whetted for the rest and are encouraged to buy a hard copy of the book so that they can finish the story. My friend Lois McMaster Bujold has done that.

But that is not what you asked for. Specifically, you asked for an e-book that is free to download. By this I understand you to mean that you want the book in its entirety, for free, and that you have no intention of reimbursing the author, the copyright holder, for his work.

That is not free publicity to promote an author's work. That is not the same as lending a friend a book off your shelf, because an illegally copied e-book can be transmitted over the Internet to thousands of people, even millions of people, all without payment to the author, whereas I doubt a single hardcopy book could ever travel that far.

As for your argument that it is in my interest to make the quantity of my readers larger, certainly that is true, but what possible use is it to me to give my work away for free? And if, for some reason, I might decide to do that for, say, one of my own works for promotional purposes, I never never never have the right to give away another author's work for free, when they hold a copyright.

So I say again, more politely this time, I hope, that I regret that I cannot accommodate your request, and really you should reconsider before making such a request again. Best wishes, though--and I hope that you do have the opportunity to read the Stainless Steel Rat books, and other excellent sf and fantasy--but that you stick to trying to obtain them legally.

[kolitch.livejournal.com]

Dear Peg,
That's very good, i suppose, that we started with rude words, but continued in a constructive way.
Of course, the question is deeper than "a bad guy wanna steal a book"... You an me, we both, have different arguments to protect our positions. It will be interesting to compare those arguments.
I need a little time to write answer to you.
Anyway, I'd like to say it's a pleasure for me to stay in conversation with you.
With best regards,
Kolitch

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I'd be willing to continue the conversation, too, if you like, and I look forward to your reply.

[kishmish.livejournal.com]

I *love* Venetia:D What is your favorite Georgette Heyer book, if you don't mind me asking?

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

You know, I love a lot of them, such as Fredrica, Arabella, A Civil Contract, but I have a very soft spot for Sylvester, or the Wicked Uncle, because the heroine Phoebe is herself a novelist. And I love it that the manly hearthrob Sylvester makes such an utter ass of himself when he tries to propose, and has to get bailed out by his mother.