International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day (free F&SF)

Crossposted from wyrdsmiths.blogspot.com with edits.

Free Science Fiction.

As has been mentioned elsewhere in the blogosphere, there is some gentle* debate among the professional community of fantasy and science fiction writers about the utility and advisibility of allowing some of one's work to appear online for free.

This has parallels to the blogger/mainstream media kerfuffle that made me think it might be of interest to folks here in the political part of the blogosphere. The threat that electronic media poses to the old style content models and to writers and publishers who can't learn to adapt in the fiction world is almost a perfect mirror for what's going on here on the political side.

The most recent round of the debate started when the outgoing vice-president of SFWA** posted this screed in which he called those who give away content on the web both "webscabs" and "Pixel-stained Technopeasant Wretch." For some strange reason this did not sit well with the more technologically liberal-minded among us.

In particular, it set off Jo Walton to declare "Monday 23rd April is International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day" and to propose that a bunch of us who write professionally should post some item of our work for free viewing.

I am gleefully adding my name to the list of writers giving it a whirl by posting electronic reprints of the two stories listed below on my personal website:

The Uncola is a near future snarky science fiction piece about the ungoing cola wars between the big brands. Originally appeared in Cosmic SF Vol #4

When Jabberwocks Attack is a humorous contemporary fantasy piece that gives a college his chance to break into the newly booming field of magical reality TV. Originally appeared in TOTU #22

I hope that you enjoy them.

The links are also posted at the wyrdsmiths blog (my writers group) along with links to other works by some of our members, including Namoi Kritzer and Sean Murphy.

Oh, and if you feel like buying some of my work as well, my novel WebMage is out from Ace with three sequels forthcoming, one each in '07, '08, and '09 and can be picked up from Amazon or most bookstores. The stories linked here are similar in general flavor to the novel length work.

For a complete list of all the stories and other bits added to the list, please look at Jo Walton's master post here. Or go to the livejournal community set up for the effort here. I will also endeavor to post a copy of the inevitable master list over at the Wyrdsmiths blog in a day or two.
----------------------------------------------------
*i.e. Pistols or swords.
**Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

•  Tip Jar (NT)

  by KMc on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 07:22:44 AM PDT

  •  The background is very distracting

    But once I copied the text to Word, I read the stories with pleasure.  Cola was a bit simplistic and predictable (did I mention I'm working on a sf novel about corporate warfare?), but I got a lot of giggles from Jabberwock.  I always felt sorry for Jim as Marlon's sidekick.  But will readers under 40 get it?

    Thanks for the fun reads!

    by Tracker on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 07:42:19 AM PDT

    •  Glad you enjoyed them

      And you're welcome. Good luck with the novel.

      by KMc on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 07:45:43 AM PDT

  •  Oh, I post stuff for free all the time here :)

    Ulysses in Arda

    About an Iraq War GI who is caught up in an unintended consequence of a nonlethal weapon -- a tendency to transpose people and things from one universe to another. Thing is, in the other universe, "USA" means "Ummah States", and they've been wondering from their side of the multiverse what the heck's been going on in the other Iraq...and they have ideas on that score, too.

    Ch 1

    Ch 2

    Ch 3

    Ch 4

    Ch 5

    Osiris

    About the return to near-Earth space of a near-immortal villain from the distant past, only she's got friends who are even nastier than she is. She's not all bad, ultimately, but it takes a while for this particular redemption to shine through. In these chapters, you don't see any hint of goodness at all.

    For background, check out Welcome to the Terremagne

    Pt 1

    Pt 2

    Pt 3

    Pt 4

    Pt 5

    Pt 6

    Pt 7

    The Partisan Wars

    It starts with a massacre at a school. Yes, what happened last week freaked me out doubly so for this.

    here you go

    Future History Sketches

    The World in 2100

    in 2200

    in 2300

    in 2400

    (Mostly) American History, to 2500 AD

    (Mostly) American History, 2500-2900 AD

    by cskendrick on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 08:46:03 AM PDT

    •  Cool

      If you haven't already, you might consider posting links to either Jo Walton's master post here, or to the livejournal community set up for the effort here, or both.

      by KMc on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 08:51:12 AM PDT

      •  I dunno...when you got Charles Stross

        posting up an entire novella, that's a bit out of my weight class.

        For now. :)

        by cskendrick on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 10:51:13 AM PDT

        •  asdf

          That for now is exactly the right attitude.

          by KMc on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 12:07:22 PM PDT

          •  Check out "Missile Gap". That was nice!

            by cskendrick on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 12:08:43 PM PDT

      •  Done...but it came out all funky :(

        by cskendrick on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 12:23:56 PM PDT

•  welcome, pixel-stained etc. !

  Putting work on line for free hasn't hurt writers like Cory Doctorow, it has increased their audiences, and his editor told me as much last year at WorldCon.

  Let's be clear about one aspect of this issue:

  Putting up your work on line for people to read is a choice for each writer, (sometimes with the support and approval of their publishing house), to make, and is perfectly OK. It's your work, you can do anything you want with it.

  But scanning or duplicating in any manner the work of someone else and putting that up for people to read is a no-no. Please respect the work of writers, some of whom are gone and their publishing rights are in the hands of their heirs, and do not participate in bootlegging/file sharing of works that belong to other people.

  But if a writer or artist want to put their work up on the web for free, I say good luck and here's hoping you get many new fans.

  by NMRed on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 07:45:32 AM PDT

  •  Thanks for commenting

    Yes, absolutely it should be the artist's choice. I make my living from writing and it's a very different thing for me to give away some of my work than it is to have someone else give it away for me.

    In my community there's not much debate about that part of it, but there are huge ongoing flame wars on the topic of whether or not it's a good idea for a writer or artist to give away their own work. I don't think I'm all the way to where Cory is yet, but I'm a lot closer to him than I am to Hendrix.

    by KMc on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 07:51:48 AM PDT

    •  Kelly, I am part of the SF community too

      won't go and reveal my True Identity here, but I'm a FIAWOL fan, and we've probably walked past each other in the halls of many SF cons.

      Hendrix is one of those SFFWA members that seems to make more waves in his public declarations than in his actual writing.

      SFFWA does a lot of good for writers in the field. But it's always been a hotbed of clashing opinions and egos, a natural state of any organization that has so many smart and strongly opinionated people as its members.

      Anne Crispin, with the help of many others in SFFWA is responsible for Writer Beware, a web site that gives writers good information about rip-off 'agencies' and 'publishers' who are really nothing more than vanity presses and can suck thousands of dollars from unsuspecting neo-writers who don't have a clue how the legit publishing industry works. I urge folks to bookmark Writers Beware, especially if you, or someone you know, is trying to get published. Writer Beware can save a lot of heartache and money for the newbie. This site is not just for SF/F writers, any writer, fiction or non-fiction can benefit from Writer Beware, and a study of such things as the model contract, also available on the SFFWA web site, can be of great value to a new writer.

      by NMRed on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 09:12:32 AM PDT

      •  Didn't mean to imply you weren't (oops)

        I should have said in the F&SF community or, considering your worldcon comment, in "our" community instead of the exclusionary "my". We may well have passed in a hallway or two, though I don't do nearly as many cons as I'd like and I'm still something of a pup by fan standards.

        And, yes, Anne's work is incredible and one of the things SFFWA is doing right. I'm not sure it's been handling the internet and electronic publication as well as it could be, which is why I voted for Scalzi in the election (nothing against Capobianco, I just really like what Scalzi had to say).

        Again, thanks for adding to the discussion here.

        by KMc on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 09:26:41 AM PDT

        •  no problem

          just wanted to let you know I've been around the block a few times with SFFWA/fandom and all the joys and disappointments of same.

          Capo is a great guy, did good work as an SFFWA officer before, but since I'm not a voting member of SFFWA, I haven't paid close attention this year to the elections. Scalzi, don't know what his platform is, but damn, his fiction and blogging are both top notch. I swallowed 'Old Man's War' up, and am trying to not do the same to 'Ghost Brigades', because the read is so damn good.

          You know, Elizabeth Moon put up a 'Story Tellers Bowl' on her web site. I wonder how that is working for her. I do know of a couple of writers who have a small but intense fan base, lost their publisher in the last year (the publisher went belly-up). They considered their options, decided to try something new, and are doing ok with publishing on-line and taking subscription fees and donations. But their fans understand the situation, without their direct support these writers would have to suspend their fiction writing while they went out and got mundane jobs full-time so they could eat and pay the mortgage and searched for a new publisher.

          Current big-names like George RR Martin put up excerpts from their work on their web sites. It's a gift to their current fans, and can be a draw to new readers.

          I think web sites that offer fiction for 'free' are in some ways expanding on the fanzines and small presses of yesteryear, and can offer the fanfic writer as well as the pro exposure, feedback and criticism. Not a bad deal, pixels are cheap and it can be a good way to make work available to new readers that might not spend the time in a bookstore to find new writers. Since short fiction mags in the field are always teetering on brink of the abyss, moving to on-line projects could be a way to support short fiction and let new writers develop their skills.

          But we got to make sure that the writer is in charge of his/her work and where it is published.

          by NMRed on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 10:07:36 AM PDT

•  Yeah...

  ...it is an issue.  But I made the decision to post my entire novel for download in January, after watching the experience of Doctorow and others, and have now had over 2200 people download it.

  May that someday cost me getting a publisher?  Sure.  May that cost me money?  Maybe.  But bottom line to me is that people are reading and enjoying the thing, and telling their friends about it.  Certainly, I would still like a conventional publishing deal - my hope is that showing that there is interest in the book already will help make that happen.

  by Shadan7 on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 08:44:02 AM PDT

  •  I hope it works for you

    and you find a publisher for it. Have you posted the link in either Jo's thread for it or at the LJ community set up for this effort. If not, you might want to. Both are linked above.

    by KMc on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 08:54:06 AM PDT

    •  Yeah, did.

      Thanks for the good wishes, people have generally been very complimentary after reading it.  Yeah, I did post a link at Jo's place.  Mostly I've just relied on having it listed in my .sig file here and another place (UTI) and letting news of it propagate from person to person.  It seems to be working.

      by Shadan7 on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 08:59:11 AM PDT

      •  Glad to hear it

        I think that ultimately Hendrix has given a lot of writers a great opportunity with his rant. I know I've been thinking about posting some free stuff for a while, and his rant irritated me enough to get me off my butt.

        by KMc on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 09:29:05 AM PDT

  •  Yeah...but you're actually *good* at writing :)

    by cskendrick on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 11:14:27 AM PDT

    •  Flattery, flattery...

      ...keep it comin'!  :)

      by Shadan7 on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 11:19:17 AM PDT

      •  You're, like, a cybergod :)

        by cskendrick on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 12:13:04 PM PDT

        •  What's really weird...

          ...is that someone put up a Wikipedia page about me that actually says something along those lines.  I stumbled across it while answering a question for a reporter (as noted here) and have since tweaked it to get some info straight, but I didn't put it up and it didn't read like anyone else who knows me well (friends or family) did, either.  Too many of the details in the original page were wrong/skewed about 17 degrees off the eliptic, if you know what I mean.  

          That's a very odd feeling, let me tell you.  

          by Shadan7 on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 12:28:25 PM PDT

          •  God help me if I ever get wikied. :)

            by cskendrick on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 12:30:08 PM PDT

            •  Careful...

              ...someone might take that as a challenge...

              by Shadan7 on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 12:59:31 PM PDT

•  I'm in there, too

  About two and a half hours of free music for you, a lot comedy, a fair amount not.

  Since August I've been giving away a song a week -- each song is available as a free download until the next one is released.  I've also been doing songs for The Funny Music Project (The FuMP).  For IPSTD, I've brought back all the free versions.  These are all released under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial ShareAlike license.

  If you've never heard my stuff before, I'd be very interested to hear what you think of it.  Thanks so much, and enjoy!

  Since August I've been giving away a song a week -- each song is available as a free download until the next one is released.  I've also been doing songs for The Funny Music Project (The FuMP).  For IPSTD, I've brought back all the free versions.  These are all released under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial ShareAlike license.

  If you've never heard my stuff before, I'd be very interested to hear what you think of it.  Thanks so much, and enjoy!

  by filkertom on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 08:44:26 AM PDT

  •  Sorry for the bad edit

    Cut 'n' paste done me in.  To be less confusing, the download page for free music is here.

    by filkertom on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 08:46:05 AM PDT

    •  Tom, I love your stuff

      Don't get up to your site often enough.

      Hope someday we'll be at the same con and I can actually say 'hello, wanna bheer?'.

      by NMRed on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 09:16:29 AM PDT

    •  I popped over and bookmarked

      I'll be back when I'm at a fast connection--dialup at home (in part to keep me from getting to distracted when I should be writing)

      by KMc on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 09:30:37 AM PDT

      •  Later today that is

        I've got to get proofed galleys off to my editor toady and I'll be at high speed for a while this afternoon.

        by KMc on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 09:35:22 AM PDT

  •  Cool, and thanks for noting it here

    This just seemed like a good crossover issue for both my political and SF blogging.

    by KMc on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 08:54:50 AM PDT

•  Checking out for a bit

  I'm going offline for a couple of hours to get some work done on the book. I'll check back on the diary around 6:30 (central).

  by KMc on Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 12:52:34 PM PDT