veritasnoctis

One of the interesting tensions in [Greg] Bear's work is between the American and British strains of SF. Broadly (and here I'm borrowing from Brian Stableford's The Scientific Romance in Britain (1985)), British SF derives from the scientific romance tradition of Wells and Stapledon, in which protagonists observe (often in wonder) but do not change the world. In American SF, they do, and the future is something to be worked on, conquered, perhaps owned.

In a sense, [Alastair] Reynolds's book [Revelation Space (2000)] should be seen here as emblematic of what other British writers have been doing recently: taking the props of American SF and putting a distinctive dark perspective on them. .... The end of the book opens up the sort of cosmological perspectives one associates with Stapledon (or Baxter), but does so in a story where individual actions make a difference.

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Fans of science fiction now have a new place to look for love: online dating site TrekPassions.com. Despite the name, it's not devoted exclusively to Trekkies, but also to "others who share your passion for Sci Fi. Meet people who read Isaac Azimov, Ben Bova, Robert A. Heinlein, Douglas Adams, Arthur C. Clarke & more. Grok!?" The free social networking site resembles popular services like MySpace or Facebook, but with an SFnal slant, offering message boards and chat rooms. "Whether you are just looking for like-minded friends, someone fun to attend a Sci Fi convention with, or maybe something more, Trek Passions is here for you." To boldly go... for more information, visit <www.trekpassions.com>.

A new company, Attributor, has created software that can track content on the Web, allowing publishers to discover text that is published online illegally. In a software test in July, Attributor found 2,806 sites contained parts of the book *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*. CEO Jim Brock understands the desire of publishers to remove pirated content, but also sees the software as a tool to expand marketing and sales. Once pirated content is found, Attributor can send an e-mail to the offending site, offering several options: continue to run the material but link to the publisher's site, come to an agreement with the publisher regarding splitting revenue, and/or demand the content be stricken from the site.

Recently unsealed court records reveal that US Magistrate Stephen Crocker of Wisconsin refused a request from federal prosecutors to issue a subpoena to Amazon.com. Prosecutors wanted to compel the online bookselling giant to reveal the identity of thousands of used book buyers as part of their case against Madison WI public official Robert D'Angelo, who was accused of running an online business from his office without reporting the income [Oh my! Trying to hide personal property from government thieves!] . The judge ruled that the First Amendment protects the right to keep reading habits private. Crocker wrote, "Well founded or not, rumors of an Orwellian federal criminal investigation into the reading habits of Amazon's customers could frighten countless potential customers into canceling planned online book purchases, now and perhaps forever... The subpoena is troubling because it permits the government to peek into the reading habits of specific individuals without their knowledge or permission... It is an unsettling and un-American scenario to envision federal agents nosing through the reading lists of law-abiding citizens while hunting for evidence against somebody else." Crocker arranged a compromise whereby Amazon would send a letter to 24,000 customers asking them to voluntarily contact prosecutors if they so desired.

PMA, the independent book publisher's association, is asking its members to boycott online retailers that allow sales of galleys and advance reading copies. Practicing what it preaches, PMA has discontinued its arrangement with used book powerhouse AbeBooks.com, which provided PMA members with a discount in the initial fees to sell book through the site. AbeBooks lists hundreds of thousands of galleys and ARCs for sale. PMA's president, Terry Nathan, says the call to action isn't directed against AbeBooks in particular, but against all such online booksellers. An AbeBooks spokesman says they have no plans to change their policies to prevent selling advance copies. The practice of selling ARCs is unlikely to end. Once a publisher sends a book to a reviewer, it's the reviewer's property, so it's not illegal to sell them, despite what publishers might wish.

J.K. Rowling has given permission to fans who wish to write their own Harry Potter fiction for publication online. Rowling's agent said was "flattered people wanted to write their own stories... Her concern would be to make sure that it remains a non-commercial activity to ensure fans are not exploited [that's either paternalistic or bullshit, or paternalistic bullshit] and it is not being published in the strict sense of traditional print publishing." He also said writers must not create obscene stories, and that any such stories be credited to their real authors, and not to Rowling [no IP needed for this, it would simply be fraud]. The announcement is largely symbolic - there are thousands of Potter fanfics, x-rated and otherwise, on the Internet already - but it sends a welcome message to fans.

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Looking to prevent the next terrorist attack, the Homeland Security Department is tapping into the wild imaginations of a group of self-described "deviant" thinkers: science-fiction writers.