Jo's space

By Joan Popek

Gila Cliff Dwellings Photo by Carla DeMarco

Cliff dwellings. What an unremarkable phrase for such a remarkable feat. An entire village carved out of solid rock. Carved not with the bulldozers and explosives that we so casually use today to gouge mortal wounds into Mother Earth, but with primitive tools and back-breaking labor. Carved not to pillage or destroy but to settle into Earth’s protective bosom as children settle into their mothers’ laps.

New Mexico’s Pueblo Indians built these great villages to survive – to be safe from man’s greatest predator – man himself. In the process, they managed to build cities without devastating the Mother who protected them.

When you come, visit this extraordinary sight during a time when visitors are few. If possible, walk the path alone or with someone you love. Listen to the silence. You will hear the spirit voices of the ancients call to their gods. You will feel the presence of a proud race of people who left their ghosts to guard the homes they had to leave.

Close your eyes and smell the fragrant smoke of cooking fires. Hear the grinding of stone against stone crushing dried corn into baking flour. Listen!

Can you hear a young mother crooning softly to the baby in her lap while she sews soft rabbit skins together to keep her child warm when the snows come and winter winds wail?

Do you smile at the boasts of young warriors as they hurl their spears and draw their bows in games to sharpen their hunting skills?

You can detect a whisper of history from the unseen, shriveled mouths of old men teaching young boys what they have learned, and old women tending laughing ghost children as they play at learning to tread carefully along the cliff’s edges. The women know that soon, the youngsters will scramble up and down the steep cliffs like mountain goats.

Open your eyes and they will be gone.

Only the wind remains to sing its melody to the deserted landscape. Sagebrush stretches across the plains below hiding the shadows of an ancient people that once shared this land with God.

Previously published in Southern New Mexico Online http://southernnewmexico.com

Issue 1: Issue One – Summer 2010 The Six-Fingered Hand

We hope to bring you some of the best in literary horror twice a year. Join us at our blog The Bent Spine (bentspine.blogspot.com) for an in-depth discussion of what makes a piece of horror literature or film great. Thanks for reading. -The Editors Michael Buozis & Mark R. Rinker Table of Contents “Fisherman’s Yarn” by Lisa Rusczyk …. Page 3 “Rent Control” by Tracy L. Carbone …. Page 9 “One of Our Own” by Mark R. Rinker …. Page 17 “The Professor of History” by David Surface …. Page 25 “Drifter’s Run” by S. Joan Popek …. Page 28 Lost Horror: A Column by Michael Buozis …. Page 34.

Check it out at  http://magcloud.com/browse/Issue/90291

Today’s blog is about writers and electronic rights.  It is a short version of an article I wrote for Millennium Science Fiction & Fantasy Magazine as Dr. Web Write.  But the facts still hold true today. 

What are your rights?

Electronic rights are a major issue now. The electronic publishing industry is advancing so fast it’s almost impossible to keep up, and at this point, you must be on guard to protect your rights. I’m not talking abut copyrights. Those laws are clear and do include anything you write.  For more information about individual copyrights go to: The U.S. Copyright Office at: http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/

The electronic rights we will discuss are those you sell to a publisher so they can publish and sell your book, story, article or anything else you write to be published electronically. Electronic rights are different from print rights. If your work is published on the WEB, on disk, on CD, by email or available for download, it’s electronic.

It’s The Law

In a recent court ruling, Tasini v New York Times, The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that "…the reuse of free lance work on databases and CD-ROMs without the authors’ express permission constitutes copyright infringement." http://www.nwu.org/tvt/9909vic.htm

What the heck does that mean? It means that if your work is printed traditionally, and you don’t sign a contract stating otherwise, you automatically retain electronic rights to your work. First North American Serial Rights (FNASR) do not automatically include First North American Electronic Rights. (FNAER) The reverse is true as well. If you sell your FNAER to an e-publisher, unless the contract states otherwise, you are free to market the same work to a print publisher.

Lets boil all this legal mumbo-jumbo down and cram it into the proverbial nut shell.

First about e-book publishers: READ THE CONTRACT! If they state they get All Rights, beware. That means exactly what it says. Print, electronic, movie, TV, everything is all theirs. And they don’t have to pay you for anything other than the original amount the contract states. If there is no time limit stated, that means forever.

Scared? Don’t be. Most reputable WEB publishers have clear, easy to understand contracts with stated time limits and rights bought. Many also have sample copies of their contracts online. Most e-book publishers buy either first electronic or reprint rights and leave the print rights with you, unless they also publish in print, in which case the contract will state that, and they usually give you the option to sell those to them as well.

Magazine and other online markets:

Most small, online press do not have contracts, but some do. The guidelines and/or acceptance letter will tell you what rights they purchase. Usually that is either One Time Rights or Reprint Rights. Some do archive their issues and that means your story will be online for as long as the archives are. If you are not happy with that, you should probably pass on that publisher. Many will purchase electronic rights with the option to reprint your work in their print publication.  If this is the case, the contract or guidelines should clearly state the facts.

For other writing hints, go to S. Joan Popek’s Home Page

My son-in-law, he’s a real hot dog!