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Originally Posted by Hamlet53
Hey, if authors and/or publishers want to put their material out there for free download because they think it will actually increase their sales and income good on them. My problem is with book pirates that presume the same right.
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True...but if the free copy is pretty where's the incentive to come buy the real thing other than a reader's own good nature? And I personally don't want to be associated with a crappy product. Hence...subterfuge...Heh heh heh....
Not very secret, tho, since I've posted my intentions! (hunting for schill.)
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I love it! Maybe even leave out a page here and there?
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Heck, I could just scan the published version of Ring of Lightning where they left out page 320 and repeated another page...My first website, back in the age of dinos, was devoted to that little faux pax.
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Hmm, I'd never heard that about Harlan Ellison. Loved his work, but I tend to love the books (or music, or film) without much caring about who the author is. Being aggressive about his copyright would not make feel more or less justified in pirating an author's work.
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If you will allow me to digress...
My first encounter with Harlan was as a fan back in the 1970s at the first Puget Sound Star Trekkers con. (my first convention. Wheee) and he was on his best behavior because he was sharing the stage with Robert Heinlein, for whom he had a huge respect. Bob was a gentleman's gentleman, if a bit of a charming chauvinist, and Harlan acted accordingly...for the most part. When he had the stage to himself, all bets were off.
I will admit my at the time still virginal ears heard more of the F-word that weekend than I'd heard in my entire lifetime. (Computers have subsequently helped me understand the usefulness of the word.) Anyway, I hadn't read him at the time, but my impression was that he was full of great insights into, well, lots of things, but what I remember most were his comments on the media's representation of violence...basically white washing it and making it exciting rather than showing it like it really is... was ethically wrong, that if they were going to show a car crash, they should show what really happens to the people inside.
My thoughts were that his attack-dog approach was keeping his message from reaching those who really needed to hear. Likely it wouldn't have changed anyway...people being adrenaline junkies...but he had some seriously good points. He always does...if a bit extreme in his presentation of them.
He's tempered (a bit) over the years, but he's still a serious tilter at windmills, and I kinda love him for that. He was one of the first to make public the crazy love/hate relationship most serious writers have with Hollywood. And the whole piracy thing...well, it brought it to the public's attention and is at the spiritual heart of discussions like this. At the time, writers hadn't really thought out the pros and cons, all they saw was their work being handed out for free. The whole Baen experiment hadn't even started, as far as I can remember. I know it sparked a lot of discussion in our household.
To me, as both a fan and a professional, he's never been anything but kind...without real reason, because he likely doesn't know me from Adam. He's a firecracker on stage, tho, no doubt.