You too can make your very own postcard– just like Sir Wilfrid’s – to send to Prime Minister Harper to tell him just what you think about Bill C-51. If enough of us do, maybe he will listen.
This postcard is 4.25″ x 6″ standard post card size, but you can print it larger or smaller as needed. Also it is CC0, which means it’s dedicated to the Public Domain, so you can legally use it in any way you wish.
Also found on Flickr here:
You too can make your very own postcard– just like Sir Wilfrid’s – to send to Prime Minister Harper to tell him just what you think about Bill C-51. If enough of us do, maybe he will listen.
This postcard is 4.25″ x 6″ standard post card size, but you can print it larger or smaller as needed. Also it is CC0, which means it’s dedicated to the Public Domain, so you can legally use it in any way you wish.
Also found on Flickr here:
You too can make your very own postcard– just like Sir Wilfrid’s – to send to Prime Minister Harper to tell him just what you think about Bill C-51. If enough of us do, maybe he will listen.
This postcard is 4.25″ x 6″ standard post card size, but you can print it larger or smaller as needed. Also it is CC0, which means it’s dedicated to the Public Domain, so you can legally use it in any way you wish.
Also found on Flickr here:
[…] Then I decided it would be nice to use a photo of my cat Murray curled up next to a book for the background. I had previously used this photo to illustrate my book review. […]
Murray
Self publishing encompasses a lot more than just writing a book and putting it out there, and Libreleft Books will be publishing “The Girl In The Blue Flame Cafe” this year. Since launching a book with fanfare can be a pricey proposition, I’ve decided to try my hand at crowdfunding with Pubslush, a crowdfunding platform specifically for books.
I’ve been using the excellent GNU/linux video editing suite Kdenlive to put together my Pubslush pitch video. Unfortunately a lot of other things have been competing for my time; consequently my crowdfunding campaign has taken rather longer than I had hoped.
As it turns out, the video I am making will very probably be too long for a pitch, but once I have the content the way that I want it, I expect to divide it into two (or possibly three) shorter videos. I’ve chosen to do them all together (everything is connected) because it gives me more options for all the videos. The extra video(s) will be available to anyone wanting to know more about my project.
Just now I’ve been putting together some small animations I will be incorporating into my video(s). Back in the day I played around with some animation at Sheridan College, but it’s been a while, and the tools for creating media have changed pretty drastically since then.
This was my first attempt:
Then I decided it would be nice to use a photo of my cat Murray curled up next to a book for the background. I had previously used this photo to illustrate my book review.
I thought the animation of might be too slow so I sped it up.
Which of the blue versions do you like best… the 4 second or 2 second version?
Connecting up the different branches of the Russwurm family has long been of interest to me, and if you’re reading this I expect it might be of interest to you, too. So I am very pleased to point you to Russwurm Rushworm Genealogy, a new website set up to share the ongoing research into the Russwurm/Rushworm connection with the Sumner family of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.
> Perhaps the nearly universal opposition to same in our Copyright Consultation made some little impact after all.
I really wish I could believe that, but I can’t help but feel that the reason the corporations and their crony politicians have gone quiet on this fight is because they know they’ve already won. All they need to do is sit back and wait for TPP, which seems inevitable and unchallengeable at this point. They couldn’t win in public debate, but we can’t win when they’re playing games with secret treaties.
I’ve been working on a video for my PubSlush pitch for my next novel, which has led me off on a tangent or two…
This is the cover art I’ve made for what I believe to be the only Public Domain book by Rex Stout (the creator of Nero Wolfe).
My own cover art for “Under The Andes” by Rex Stout ~ CC0 (Public Domain)
One of the things I’ve been doing for the video is rounding up covers of books I read in my youth. In today’s world of copyright insanity I’m being extra careful never to infringe copyright. This means I can only use works in the Public Domain or explicitly licensed to share.
The problem is that very often it’s simply not possible to even know whether it the cover art is in the Public Domain — even if it is the cover of a Public Domain book. After all, just because a book is in the Public Domain it’s no guarantee the cover art is. Especially if all you have is an image found online without the publication date– as most are.
And especially for books like this one, because it has been republished many times precisely because it is in the Public Domain. That’s why I’ve been making a few of my own covers. If you’re interested, more of the covers I’ve made myself can be found on Flickr in my Public Domain album.
I have to say I am pretty pleased with my mountain… having never actually been anywhere near a real mountain ( neither Blue Mountain or Hamilton Mountain count… they nat be big but they are really just hills, like the ones in Hollywood).
So I began with my own photograph…. but my “mountain” wasn’t photographed in the Andes, but near Tobermory.
Before and After: “Under the Andes” cover art
Originally I planned to use a few of the Edgar Rice Burroughs covers,since they are Public Domain for Canada, and even the early books are PD in the United States. After all, I grew up reading my Dad’s ERB paperbacks, (all twenty-whatever Tarzan books, Mars, Venus and Pellucidar etc… formulaic or not).
But it seems the current holder of the remaining Burroughs copyrights is ruthlessly asserting Intellectual Property Infringement against any reuses, legal or not.
This is one of the major reasons I believe copyright is actually harmful for most creators. It makes no difference if you are in the right if you haven’t the funds to go to court to defend against any big company with deep pockets, even if its challenge is specious. (They call that “copyright chill.”) Since I really don’t want my video yanked from YouTube, I dropped the idea of using the ERB covers because it is not worth the hassle. Besides, I don’t really want to promote the books if the company that would profit behaves so reprehensibly.
As mentioned, the original photograph and the cover design for “Under The Andes” pictured here originate with me, but since this is cover art for a Public Domain Book, I’ve given it a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication.
Copyright Note:
Even though an American author like Mr. Stout only died relatively recently, back in the day if he didn’t renew the copyright on a book, it would go into the Public Domain… as this one did.
That is not true for Canada (or any of the commonwealth countries which were signatory to the Berne Copyright treaty) because copyright all rights reserved was (and is) the default for any creative works, so they didn’t need to be registered. For this reason, some of my contemporary culture originating south of the border is in the Public Domain. However with the insane copyright extensions that seem to be the norm, that’s not true for the next generations… their contemporary culture will be locked up in copyright until after they are dead… and if things keep on as they are, maybe forever.
As a Canadian myself I am quite interested in Project Gutenberg Canada, and if I ever get free time (not in the forseeable future, anyway) that’s where I would be likely to volunteer my help.
Having just learned Australia has followed England into being bullied to up their copyright terms from Life +50 to Life +70 I am frankly amazed (and terribly pleased) that Canada has not. Perhaps the nearly universal opposition to same in our Copyright Consultation made some little impact after all.
Still, in my online efforts to plug the Public Domain and fight against copyfraud, I don’t tag things I know are PD in Canada but bnot elsewhere as “Public Domain” because first and foremost I don’t want anyone to find themselves DMCAed, fined, or winding up in jail (or worse) through the brutal application of today’s crazy copyright law.
I thoroughly agree with your policy of re-releasing improved Public Domain works back into the Public Domain. I do that too, although so far I’ve not remade any eBooks, just art), and I guess what surprises me the most is how many people don’t.