July 31, 2015

Happy Birthday Ms. Rowling!


I just wanted to dedicate this short post to Jo Rowling, the fabulous creator of the Harry Potter Empire (AKA Pottermore), a woman who started with nothing but a lot of gumption and imagination, and enthralled the world over with her whimsical, fun, and well-plotted stories!

So here's to the first writer to ever become a billionaire (in US dollars), and the first to lose that rank by giving away so much to charities (well, that and hefty taxes)! What an amazing life. What an amazing heart.

Art by albus119

Have a very Happy Birthday and many more to come!



Sources:
Forbes
Business Insider

July 19, 2015

Attention Artists Of The US, Your Copyrights Are At Risk!

This really interesting (and terrifying) video about what's going on in the Copyrights Law market in the US has been brought to my attention, and I figured it was too important not to share it with you.

Right now, Copyrights Law in the US (and most of Europe) states that artists (of any kind or genre) have copyright over their own work for the entirety of their lifetime + 70 years after their death, and that without having to register your work anywhere. You created, it's yours. Period.

Note: These are taken from the video interview of Brad Holland, a lifelong professional artist and expert in the matter (see bottom of the post).

But there's a law that some have been trying to push past Congress (previously known as the Orphan Works Act) based on their claim that because there's no registration of said art, then people can't find the copyright owners so libraries and museums that want to digitize their collections (for preservation and research purposes) can't do so. Basically, the law would allow these institutions "good faith infringement" of copyrights. Sounds somewhat OK, right? Except that these same people are now trying to do the same, but for commercial infringement of any work of any artist, living or dead, regardless of circumstances. And the entire thing would devolve from the Copyrights Office into the private sector so that those individuals only (and not the artists) could profit from it.

So what exactly does this proposed law entail?

July 8, 2015

Merlyn And Time


Now that I only have one book left in my Morgana Trilogy, I find myself reading more and more about Arthurian legends and mythology. That is how, while getting Blood of the Fey and Rise of the Fey to be "hosted" at Brussels' Waterstones (for those of you interested, I also did a quick interview with them), I fell quite providentially upon T. H. White's The Once And Future King.


Of course, I'm only just starting it, but its whimsy style (reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland) is definitely to my liking! So I figured I'd transcribe here a quote by Merlyn in which he explains his ability to see (and interact with) the future...