Fantasy series "The Dance of Gods" goes Creative Commons

Hadrien · 09-07-2007, 10:06 AM

Quote:

From 1987 through 1992, DAW Books published my four-book fantasy series, The Dance of Gods. Sales were not spectacular and fell off with each successive volume, and the books went out of print. Along the way, though, they acquired a small group of fairly intense fans, not all of whom were either related to me or were close personal friends. Frankly, although DAW did their best, the books were a challenge to describe and market, since they didn't fit with the style of fantasy that was well-established at the time. Times and styles change, though, and may have now caught up to where The Dance of Gods has been resting. At least, that's my hope. This site presents an experiment that will let you, fortuitous reader, help decide whether these books really have an audience ... and if so, what happens next.

Available for you E Ink readers on Feedbooks: http://www.feedbooks.com/discover/view_author/242

nekokami · 09-07-2007, 12:25 PM

Nice pointer! I'll give this a try.

paulkbiba · 09-07-2007, 12:47 PM

They converted just fine with PdfLrf so now I can read them on my Sony reader.

tsgreer · 09-07-2007, 01:00 PM

On the author's website, http://www.mayerbrenner.com/ the books are offered in word .doc format, so you can easily convert to any format needed. I've never heard of the author or the books, but I support the idea and have downloaded the books and will start reading soon.

Sounds like another author that has offered something "free," which will probably convert me into a buying customer. I have discovered so many new authors this way. Great concept and I love supporting it and the authors that promote it.

Hadrien · 09-07-2007, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsgreer

On the author's website, http://www.mayerbrenner.com/ the books are offered in word .doc format, so you can easily convert to any format needed. I've never heard of the author or the books, but I support the idea and have downloaded the books and will start reading soon.

Sounds like another author that has offered something "free," which will probably convert me into a buying customer. I have discovered so many new authors this way. Great concept and I love supporting it and the authors that promote it.

Yeah I discovered a few SF writers this way:

Corey Doctorow: http://www.feedbooks.com/discover/view_author/93
Charles Stross: http://www.feedbooks.com/discover/view_author/110
Peter Watts: http://www.feedbooks.com/discover/view_author/193

The .doc files on the author's website are useful if you need another format. Hopefully with epub it'll be even easier once people start working on tools to convert from epub to anything else. With real ToC support, you won't even need to create the ToC yourself in the output file.

JSWolf · 09-07-2007, 02:15 PM

I'll convert these into native LRF and PRC and post them here.

NatCh · 09-07-2007, 02:28 PM

Does the creative commons license variant permit that for these, then?

(just want to be sure)

wallcraft · 09-07-2007, 02:45 PM

It isn't clear to me whether

Quote:

No Derivative Works. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work

implies no other e-book formats or not. However, permission of the author always trumps - so perhaps asking for permission is safest.

Hadrien · 09-07-2007, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallcraft

It isn't clear to me whether implies no other e-book formats or not. However, permission of the author always trumps - so perhaps asking for permission is safest.

No Deritave Works means that you can't use the characters of the book for another story for example.

JSWolf · 09-07-2007, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hadrien

From Mayer Alan Brenner's website:

Quote:

From 1987 through 1992, DAW Books published my four-book fantasy series, The Dance of Gods. Sales were not spectacular and fell off with each successive volume, and the books went out of print. Along the way, though, they acquired a small group of fairly intense fans, not all of whom were either related to me or were close personal friends. Frankly, although DAW did their best, the books were a challenge to describe and market, since they didn't fit with the style of fantasy that was well-established at the time. Times and styles change, though, and may have now caught up to where The Dance of Gods has been resting. At least, that's my hope. This site presents an experiment that will let you, fortuitous reader, help decide whether these books really have an audience ... and if so, what happens next.

Available for you E Ink readers on Feedbooks: http://www.feedbooks.com/discover/view_author/242

See the Sony LRF version at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=95224

MobiPocket version to come later tonight.

JSWolf · 09-08-2007, 12:07 AM

Book #1 is now in MobiPocket format at ...

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=95258

BenG · 09-08-2007, 10:49 AM

From Doctorow's column in Locus magazine:

Quote:

Many of us have assumed, a priori, that electronic books substitute for print books. While I don't have controlled, quantitative data to refute the proposition, I do have plenty of experience with this stuff, and all that experience leads me to believe that giving away my books is selling the hell out of them.

More importantly, the free e-book skeptics have no evidence to offer in support of their position — just hand-waving and dark muttering about a mythological future when book-lovers give up their printed books for electronic book-readers (as opposed to the much more plausible future where book lovers go on buying their fetish objects and carry books around on their electronic devices).

http://www.locusmag.com/Features/200...c-e-books.html

nekokami · 09-08-2007, 10:56 AM

Heh. "Fetish objects." That's a luxury I can't afford with my current space constraints.

I do miss the cover art, though....

JSWolf · 09-09-2007, 02:03 PM

Well, I did include the covert art with my conversions of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.

JSWolf · 09-09-2007, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nekokami

Heh. "Fetish objects." That's a luxury I can't afford with my current space constraints.

Doesn't that depend on what sort of "fetish objects" you want? Some can be quite small and quite effective.

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09-07-2007, 12:25 PM	#2
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	Nice pointer! I'll give this a try.

09-07-2007, 12:47 PM	#3
paulkbiba Connoisseur Posts: 84 Karma: 45 Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: United States Device: Nokia e61i, iPhone	They converted just fine with PdfLrf so now I can read them on my Sony reader.

09-07-2007, 01:00 PM	#4
tsgreer Lovin' the e-book life... Posts: 633 Karma: 2509 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Colorado Device: Ebookwise 1150, Sony PRS-505, Amazon Kindle, BeBook (with OpenInkpot)	On the author's website, http://www.mayerbrenner.com/ the books are offered in word .doc format, so you can easily convert to any format needed. I've never heard of the author or the books, but I support the idea and have downloaded the books and will start reading soon. Sounds like another author that has offered something "free," which will probably convert me into a buying customer. I have discovered so many new authors this way. Great concept and I love supporting it and the authors that promote it.

09-07-2007, 02:15 PM	#6
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 80,782 Karma: 150249619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I'll convert these into native LRF and PRC and post them here.

09-07-2007, 02:28 PM	#7
NatCh Gizmologist Posts: 11,615 Karma: 929550 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Republic of Texas Embassy at Jackson, TN Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3	Does the creative commons license variant permit that for these, then? (just want to be sure)

09-08-2007, 12:07 AM	#11
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 80,782 Karma: 150249619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Book #1 is now in MobiPocket format at ... https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=95258

09-08-2007, 10:56 AM	#13
nekokami fruminous edugeek Posts: 6,745 Karma: 551260 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Northeast US Device: iPad, eBw 1150	Heh. "Fetish objects." That's a luxury I can't afford with my current space constraints. I do miss the cover art, though....

09-09-2007, 02:03 PM	#14
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 80,782 Karma: 150249619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Well, I did include the covert art with my conversions of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.