Category: Incrementalists

Combining trad publishing, shared world, CC

As time goes on, I’m more and more of a fan of creative commons.  I especially like the creative commons share-alike, which (as I understand it) says: Feel free to use this as you will.  Feel free to write something based on it, and get paid for doing so–provided whatever you write is also released under the same arrangement.

I think that’s nifty.  It encourages cooperation among writers, which I think has the potential to create Lots Of Cool Stuff.

Obviously, this fits in beautifully with the shared world idea.  Some of us had started a project doing exactly that a few years ago, but it fell apart because of personal problems among some of the creators.

Now, here is where it gets tricky: Is there any way to combine CC share-alike, shared world, AND traditional publishing with the usual copyright?  At first glance, it would seem impossible.  But I know so little about any of this that I’m not yet prepared to give up on the idea.

You see, there’s this book, due out from Tor in September of 2013.  To me, it cries out to be the setting of a shared world.  But for various reasons, the book itself needs to be published by the traditional model.  Does that kill the idea?

Do you any of you know enough about copyright and such to have an opinion on the matter?  I’d love to hear from you.

ETA:   The license in question can be found here. Thanks to Peter Hentges.

Update: Life keeps happening

Just random stuff that has, is, and will be happening.  Let’s see.  I now have health care.  I have surgery scheduled for August 22nd to install a defibrillator in my chest which ought to help keep me alive and will make me a Cyborg.  I now have a “partial denture,” which means that I can bite into things again, and great is my glee.  I’m still working on Hawk, albeit slowly.  I’m also working on an Incrementalist short story that my critique group savaged.  (Well, that’s not fair.  They didn’t savage it; they just said it didn’t work as is, and pointed to some ways to make it work.  That sort of thing would annoy me if they weren’t right).

Yesterday, helped give my friend John Sjogren the best. birthday. present. ever.

I have a full physical–the first one in years–scheduled for July 23rd.  I’ll be heading to Armadillocon at the end of the month.  Then back for August and some of September, then I’m planning an East Coast road trip culminating in Viable Paradise in early October.  Then I’ll be heading to MileHighCon in Denver.

I would love to have a first draft of Hawk finished by the time I leave for the East Coast, but it seems doubtful with how slow the damn thing feels like going.  On the other hand, that’s because the plot insisted on getting all twisty on me.  I kind of like it when a book does that–I think the last one that turned on me like that was Orca, and I was pleased with how it came out.

Need yet another translation to Ancient Greek

I’m looking for the ancient Greek for: We can do better.

In English, there is some ambiguity there (We meaning us?  We meaning humanity?  My group can do better than your group?).  I don’t know if those ambiguities would translate, but, if so, I want them.  If not, I’ll chose the best meaning for my evil purposes.

Any help would be appreciated.