Pixel Scroll 7/13/21 They Scrolled In Through The ‘Fresher Portal

(1) BETTER: LATE OR NEVER? Barbara Hambly talks about “One of the problems I’ve had in writing historicals” at her LiveJournal.

One of the problems I’ve had in writing historicals – particularly earlier on, when I was researching from libraries rather than the Internet – is when after the book came out (usually about a year after), a book that would have been REALLY REALLY USEFUL for my research on a particular topic will appear, and cause me to say, Grrr, dammit… In one case the discrepancy was great enough that I phoned the editor and asked that a couple of paragraphs be changed in the next printing… I don’t know if they ever did that or not…. 

(2) THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ZEROS. How can I not link to something with this title? “Is This The End of Our Hero, Coke Zero, Part III: The Final Zeronation” – by John Scalzi at Whatever. The subject turns out to be less mysterious than one might expect.

…As with last time the formula was tweaked, people are wondering what I, who basically lives on Coke Zero (not because I have fragile masculinity I SWEAR but because I prefer the taste to Diet Coke), thinks of the plan to fiddle with the taste profile. My response is basically the same as last time: If it ends up tasting more like regular Coke, great, because that’s what I want; if it goes horribly wrong and I hate it, well, then, it’s a very fine time for me to give up my cola addiction, which as a 52-year-old man is probably doing neither my pancreas or my kidneys any favors. That said, the last time Coke tweaked the Zero formula, I was perfectly fine with it; it was only subtly different….

(3) LIBERTYCON WILL HOST DEEPSOUTHCON 61. Newly-elected Southern Fandom Confederation President Randy Boyd Cleary announced that next year’s DeepSouthCon will be hosted as part of LibertyCon in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 2023. [After the Scroll was posted, Cleary has issued a correction that 2023 is the year DSC and LibertyCon will be jointly held.]

LibertyCon has a membership ceiling – recently raised from 750 to 1000 paid attendees – and the available memberships for the 2022 convention go on sale July 23 at Noon Eastern time.

(4) TEEN LIFE IS UNBEARABLE. Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red releases March 11, 2022.

Growing up is a beast. …Mei Lee [is] a 13-year-old who suddenly “poofs” into a giant red panda when she gets too excited (which is practically ALWAYS). Sandra Oh voices Mei Lee’s protective, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming, who is never far from her daughter—an unfortunate reality for the teenager….

(5) HEAD’S UP. [Item by Meredith.] YouTube’s making a change to their rules which will render a lot of linked videos inaccessible, but people can opt out if they know about it.

(6) A LITTLE DIP. Shat showed up on Shark Week! Let Yahoo! tell you about it: “90-year-old William Shatner conquers his fear of sharks by swimming with them”.

As Discovery’s Shark Week swims on, Monday’s special called Expedition Unknown: Shark Trek, featured Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, trying to conquer his fear of sharks by boldly going and jumping into the water with them.

“I am deathly afraid of sharks,” Shatner told the show’s host, Josh Gates. “I really am.”

So to ease the Star Trek actor into things, Gates started by taking Shatner through a couple of relatively safe visits with hammerhead and reef sharks, neither of which are known to eat or attack humans. But those were just the appetizer courses, the main course was swimming with potentially deadly tiger sharks, and hoping not to become the main course….

(7) QUIZ TIME. Heroes & Icons challenges viewers: “How well do you remember the colors of ‘Star Trek’?” I only scored 4 out of 8 and was derisively told “You’ve either never seen Star Trek, or you’re color blind.” Surely you can do better!

(8) SCANNERS LIVE. Stuff reports New Zealand’s “National Library signs ‘historic’ agreement to donate 600,000 books to online archive” Cat Eldridge, who sent the link, wonders how that’s supposed to work because, “Errr, they don’t own the copyright to those books.”

The National Library will donate 600,000 books that it was planning to cull from its overseas collection to a United States-based internet archive that will make digital copies of the works freely available online.

National Librarian Rachel Esson announced the “historic” agreement on Monday, saying books left at the end of the library’s review process would be donated to the Internet Archive, a digital library with the self-stated mission of universal access to all knowledge.

“This is a great outcome for us,” Esson said…

(9) MEDIA BIRTHDAY.

July 13, 1984 – Thirty-seven years ago, The Last Starfighter premiered. It was produced by Gary Adelson and directed by Nick Castle and Edward O. Denault. It was written by Jonathan R. Betuel who would later write and direct Theodore Rex. It starred Lance Guest, Dan O’Herlihy, Robert Preston and Catherine Mary Stewart. It was nominated for a Hugo at Aussiecon Two which was the year 2010: Odyssey Two won. Reception among critics was remarkably middlin’ for it with even Ebert neither really liking or not liking it. The Box Office likewise was just OK with it breaking even. The audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes currently give it a excellent rating of seventy percent. 

(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.

[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]

  • Born July 13, 1904 — Norvell W. Page. Chief writer of The Spider pulp series as Grant Stockbridge. He started out by writing a backup story in the first issue of The Spider pulp: “Murder Undercover” and by the third issue was writing the main Spider stories which he did for some seventy stories. He also wrote The Black Bat and The Phantom Detective pulps. (Died 1961.)
  • Born July 13, 1926 — Robert H. Justman. Producer and director who worked on many a genre series including Adventures of SupermanThe Outer LimitsStar TrekMission: ImpossibleMan from Atlantis and Star Trek: The Next Generation.  He was the assistant director for the first two Star Trek episodes: “The Cage” and “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. (Died 2008.)
  • Born July 13, 1937 — Jack Purvis. He appeared in three of director Terry Gilliam’s early fantasy films, with roles in Time BanditsThe Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Brazil. He’s in three of the Star Wars films, the only actor who claims to have played three different roles, and he’s also in Wombling Free (based on The Womblies, a UK Children’s series), The Dark Crystal and Willow. (Died 1997.)
  • Born July 13, 1940 — Sir Patrick Stewart OBE, 81. Jean-Luc Picard starting with being Captain of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) on Star Trek: The Next Generation up through the current Star Trek: Picard. (They’re filming two seasons of Picard back to back.) Also had some minor role in the MCU as Professor Charles Xavier, and played Leodegrance in Excalibur. Though only slightly genre adjacent, I’m fond of his role as King Henry II in the second version of The Lion in Winter
  • Born July 13, 1942 — Harrison Ford, 79. Three  great roles of course, the first being Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, Jr. in the Indiana Jones franchise which is four films deep with a fifth on the way. The second of course being Han Solo in the Star Wars franchise, a role he’s done four times plus a brief cameo in The Rise of Skywalker. And the third being Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, a role he reprised for Blade Runner 2049. Oh, and he played the older Indy at age fifty in the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles in the “Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues” episode. 
  • Born July 13, 1955 — David J. Schow, 66. Writer of splatterpunk horror novels, short stories, and screenplays. (He’s oft times credited with coining the splatterpunk term.) His screenplays include The Crow and Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. He’s also done scripts for Masters of HorrorPerversions of Science and The Outer Limits. As an editor, he did the very impressive three-volume collection of Robert Bloch fiction, The Lost Bloch.
  • Born July 13, 1981 — Monica Byrne, 40. Her debut novel The Girl in the Road which is stellar won the Otherwise Award and was nominated for the Locus and Kitschies awards. The Actual Novel, her next novel, is due out in September. She’s written a generous handful of short fiction which you can find some of at her excellent website.
  • Born July 13, 1985 — Holly Lyn Walrath, 36. I don’t acknowledge SFF genre poetry nearly enough here, so let’s do it now. Her Glimmerglass Girl collection won the Elgin Award given by the Science Fiction Poetry Association. She’s also been a four-time finalist for the Rhysling Award which is given by the same group for the best genre poem of the year. Now who’s calling to tell me who these Awards are named after?

(11) COMICS SECTION.

  • Speed Bump shows a traffic encounter with some clever wordplay.

(12) KRAFTWERK. The Takeout’s reviewers actually loved it — “Taste Test: Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Ice Cream (yes, it’s real)”.

Look, you’re about to read a lot about bright orange, macaroni-and-cheese-flavored ice cream. If that’s objectionable to you, we completely understand. It wasn’t something we expected to find information about in our own inboxes, either. But find it we did, and according to a press release, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Ice Cream is, in fact, an intentional product and not some horrible mistake….

The reviewers trade comments in realtime –

MS: It’s kind of… noodly. I’m getting the starchy noodle flavor as much as the cheese.

LS: It actually tastes startlingly like Kraft mac and cheese. [laughing]

MS: Have you ever had goat cheese ice cream? It tasted a lot like that on the front end. I wonder if I would have tasted “mac and cheese” if it wasn’t orange, and if it didn’t say Kraft right on it….

(13) FEELING BETTER. There’s a saying about the permanence of LASFS membership, “Death will not release you. Even if you die!” It came to mind when I saw the trailer for Risen.

Disaster unfolds when a meteor strikes a small town, turning the environment uninhabitable and killing everything in the surrounding area. Exobiologist Lauren Stone is called to find answers to the unearthly event. As she begins to uncover the truth, imminent danger awakens and it becomes a race against time to save mankind.

(14) SEVENTIES TV. CrimeReads shows that in the early 1970s TV movies often focused on sf, fantasy, and horror. “In 1970s America, Bizarre TV Movie Thrillers Were All the Rage”. Although I mainly remember reading the TV listings for these and thinking, “There’s something I won’t have to watch.”

The series of movies was promoted as “an original motion picture produced especially for the Movie of the Week.” The use of the phrase “motion picture” seemed to imply class, of course.

The anthology film series began on September 23, 1969 with the airing of “Seven in Darkness,” about a plane crash whose seven survivors are all blind and must make their way out of the wilderness together. It starred old-school comedian Milton Berle, so perhaps there were bugs to be worked out of the prestige made-for-TV movie machine.

The first year’s worth of TV movies were dominated by thrillers starring the likes of Christopher George in the pilot for “The Immortal,” a TV series that I previously wrote about for CrimeReads, as well as films starring Eva Gabor, Sammy Davis Jr., Larry Hagman and Karen Valentine as the new Gidget. That movie, “Gidget Grows Up,” was a pilot for a TV series, a practice to be repeated many times during the 1970s TV-movie era.

The second season of the ABC movie anthology gave viewers more dynamic thrillers, though. “How Awful about Allan” starred Anthony Perkins. James Franciscus of “Longstreet” and Leslie Nielsen starred in “Night Slaves.” “The House That Would Not Die” featured Barbara Stanwyck….

(15) SUPER MARIO GOES FOR SUPER PRICE. “’Super Mario’ cartridge sold for video game record $1.5 million” reports Yahoo! Presumably the buyer isn’t going to take it out of the package.

A cartridge of Nintendo’s classic video game “Super Mario 64” set a world record Sunday, selling at auction for $1.56 million.

The sale, the first ever of a game cartridge to surpass $1 million, came just two days after a sealed copy of “The Legend of Zelda” — made for the old Nintendo NES console — sold for a then-record of $870,000.

Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, which handled both sales, has not identified the buyers. Before Friday, the record for a video game auction was the sale in April of a 1986 “Super Mario Bros.” cartridge: it went for $660,000….

(16) FOLLOW THE BOUNCING APPLE. Daniel Dern has decided, “Rather than wait until late Sept (when Foundation starts) — we’re turning in for… Schmigadoon!” “Apple’s musical comedy series ‘Schmigadoon!’ breaks into song with new trailer”.

… Apple TV+ today released the trailer for its new musical comedy series “Schmigadoon!,” executive produced by Lorne Michaels and starring Emmy Award nominee Cecily Strong and Emmy Award winner Keegan-Michael Key. The first two episodes will premiere globally on Friday, July 16, 2021 exclusively on Apple TV+, followed by one new episode weekly every Friday.

A parody of iconic Golden Age musicals, “Schmigadoon!” stars Strong and Key as a couple on a backpacking trip designed to reinvigorate their relationship who discover a magical town living in a 1940s musical. They then learn that they can’t leave until they find “true love.” The six-episode season also stars Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Aaron Tveit, Dove Cameron, Ariana DeBose, Fred Armisen, Jaime Camil, Jane Krakowski and Ann Harada. Martin Short guest stars….

(17) VIDEO OF THE DAY. In the Honest Game Trailers “World of Warcraft:  the Burning Crusade Classic,” Fandom Games says in this reissue of a 2008 expansion.”Everyone playing it is at least 30, so you can discuss your burgeoning health problems!”

[Thanks to Michael Toman, John King Tarpinian, Cat Eldridge, Meredith, Lise Andreasen, Daniel Dern, Mike Kennedy, Andrew Porter, Martin Morse Wooster, and JJ for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]

46 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 7/13/21 They Scrolled In Through The ‘Fresher Portal

  1. First!

    16) I’ve got a free subscription to Apple TV+ so I’ll be watching the Foundation series when it happens. I liked the Asimov’s novels when I read them oh so long ago. Not sure how the Suck Fairy would treat them if I re-read them now.

  2. 8)The Internet Archive (or at least some of its people) shows a tendency to treat copyright on any book they can get scanned as mere nitpickery by greedy publishers and pampered authors. Sadly, some librarians [not the ones I know in fandom] seem to think the same way.

  3. Michael J. Lowrey says The Internet Archive (or at least some of its people) shows a tendency to treat copyright on any book they can get scanned as mere nitpickery by greedy publishers and pampered authors. Sadly, some librarians [not the ones I know in fandom] seem to think the same way.

    Yeah I’m guessing that nearly everything here is still under copyright. And I’m certain that before IA digitises these books, the holder of the copyrights will have a cease and desist in place.

  4. (14) Duel, The Night Stalker, and The Night Strangler were an amazing trio of made-for-TV movies

  5. (7) I got the same score. But in my defense, my memories of many episodes are in black and white…

    (9j I re-watched The Last Starfighter a couple of years ago. It was fun!
    Did you know that director Nick Castle was also Michael Myers in the original “Halloween”? (He was credited as “The Shape.”)

    (10) Norvell Page comes across as a very interesting man. His Spider stories are incredibly intense. So was he, I surmise. There are reports he used go to NYC and deliver his manuscripts in costume as the Spider (wig, hunchback, etc.). Page experienced a nervous breakdown during his time as the writer for that title and had to take a break before coming back to the Spider. And he went from writing pulps to government intelligence.

  6. Also, happy birthday to David J. Schow. Lately, I’ve learned that quite a few of the scary stories I remember from Night Cry magazine were his. (Many others were by A. R. Morlan.)

  7. (7) I would have gotten 6 out of 8, if the pictures for the last question had rendered. I particularly remembered the color(s) for that one, but how can I choose between three broken image icons?

  8. Anne Marble says Norvell Page comes across as a very interesting man. His Spider stories are incredibly intense. So was he, I surmise. There are reports he used go to NYC and deliver his manuscripts in costume as the Spider (wig, hunchback, etc.). Page experienced a nervous breakdown during his time as the writer for that title and had to take a break before coming back to the Spider. And he went from writing pulps to government intelligence.

    Baen Books is the current publisher for him and they’ve got several fat volumes of his stories available at the usual suspects, The Spider: City of Doom and The Spider: Robot Titans of Gotham. Each around six hundred pages. Just seven dollars apiece.

  9. (7) Like Anne, it would have helped if I hadn’t seen the first two seasons only in black and white…so I have no idea what color some of those were. (I’ve seen some color photos, which helped, but not much.)

    (12) I haven’t had that, or goat-cheese ice cream, but I have tried goat’s-milk ice cream, which was good.

  10. 13) A newspaper headline in that trailer said “Noble [sic] Prize Winner…” Amazing what small details can destroy any hope for quality.

    This Pixel will self-destruct in five parsecs…

  11. (9) The Last Starfighter was lightweight but enjoyable, with innovative computer graphics.

  12. Steve Green says The Last Starfighter was lightweight but enjoyable, with innovative computer graphics.

    Well it certainly wasn’t Aliens, but I thought it was worthy of writing up.

  13. 7 out of 8 on the Star Trek quiz — I missed Edith Keeler’s hat. I’ll admit that the color scheme of the “Catspaw” castle and Khan’s tunics were semi-educated guesses more than definite knowledge, and on the “redshirt” question I cheated(?) by looking at the chest insignia.

  14. @David Goldfarb
    I looked at the insignia also. It’s a fairly sure way to tell. (I wasn’t sure but what the guy on the right was also one.)

  15. It still croggles me that Harrison Ford is only two years younger than Patrick Stewart.

  16. (8) While the Internet Archive has been involved in some sketchy stuff over the years, they are still a library, and I don’t see anything in the article to suggest that these books will be outside of their only-one-copy-may-be-checked-out-at-a-time collection, which works just like your local public library (assuming your local public library allows checkout of ebooks, as mine does), and is every bit as legal.

  17. David Goldfarb: …I cheated(?) by looking at the chest insignia.

    Holy Kobayashi Maru, Batman!

  18. Back when I watched TOS, I had to watch on the crappy old b&w tv in the bedroom. (Mom thought that crazy sci-fi stuff would rot my brain, and wouldn’t let me watch it on the living room’s color tv.) Reception on the old b&w set was so bad every Enterprise corridor and planetside set appeared to be taking place in a snowstorm. Years or decades before catching some of the finer details on a rewatch.

  19. 7) And indeed, the head boss in charge of seasons 4 and 5 was colorblind, which led to some odd design choices.

  20. Patrick Morris Miller: Seasons 4 and 5? You mean The Animated Series? I usually see that with its own season numbering.

  21. Norvell Page also wrote three novels for Unknown in 1939-40, two Hurricane John sword and sorcery tales ( Flame Winds and Sons of the Bear God) and a pretty creepy psychic superman story (But Without Horns).

    The Hurricane Jim books were brought out in paperback during the Robert Howard boom thirty years later and adapted to Conan comics stories by Roy Thomas.

  22. 7) I remember reading (I’m guessing in the Making of Star Trek paperback?) that when filming, on set they had a filter they could look through to see how things would look in black & white, that they used in part to make sure all of the alien worlds had different sky colors even in B&W.

    (n.b. I’m relying on childhood memories of a book I read 40 years ago, so some of the details might not be PRECISELY correct.)

    (Also, I crashed & burned on the quiz.)

  23. Goodbye Pixel File Scroll

    Cat Eldridge@9) I think it’s a GREAT choice. I didn’t see it till twenty years after it came out. I loved it, despite not being even vaguely a kid any more.

    Lis Carey@16) I love Cecily Smart, and that’s a lot of talent, but I don’t love the premise. Or maybe it’s just the name. But I’ll try it.

  24. Steve Leavell says Norvell Page also wrote three novels for Unknown in 1939-40, two Hurricane John sword and sorcery tales ( Flame Winds and Sons of the Bear God) and a pretty creepy psychic superman story (But Without Horns).

    The Hurricane Jim books were brought out in paperback during the Robert Howard boom thirty years later and adapted to Conan comics stories by Roy Thomas.

    He also wrote the Ace, G-Man tales which Altus Press has available at the usual suspects in a fat volume, Stands for Glory: The G-Man Stories of Norvell Page, some four hundred pages, for just five bucks.

  25. Xtifr says While the Internet Archive has been involved in some sketchy stuff over the years, they are still a library, and I don’t see anything in the article to suggest that these books will be outside of their only-one-copy-may-be-checked-out-at-a-time collection, which works just like your local public library (assuming your local public library allows checkout of ebooks, as mine does), and is every bit as legal.

    Your local library does not take any book and scan it in for distribution as an ebook. It simply isn’t done unless the author or their legal representative gives them permission in writing. So no, the Internet Archive is not the same as your local library. And if they digitise these books, it sure as frell isn’t legal if they are still under copyright.

  26. Cat Eldridge wrote:

    Baen Books is the current publisher for him and they’ve got several fat volumes of his stories available at the usual suspects, The Spider: City of Doom and The Spider: Robot Titans of Gotham. Each around six hundred pages. Just seven dollars apiece.

    That’s a good price. If you don’t mind something a little higher, Steeger Books also has replica-size trade paperbacks that are really nice. I haven’t purchased any recent ones, but I think they still include two Spider stories plus a couple of essays from pulp experts such as Will Murray. I like the print size better.

    They also have Captain Future (Edmond Hamilton!), Operator #5, and more. Including some eBook editions. You should see y wishlist!

    Pulp magazine rights can be a tangle. Many stories are in the public domain, but some are in limbo because they are still under copyright, but the rights holders don’t allow reprints. Sigh. I think it is getting better…

  27. Anne Marble says Pulp magazine rights can be a tangle. Many stories are in the public domain, but some are in limbo because they are still under copyright, but the rights holders don’t allow reprints. Sigh. I think it is getting better…

    The liberal use of pen names often made tracking down who holds copyright on a given work a difficult task. A given character could be written, and often was by up to a dozen writers. Finding now who can sign off on reprinting can be often impossible. If you cannot find one, you can set the royalties aside in a protected account pending resolution. I’m not sure the rights holders can actually withhold the right to reprint as long as they get the standard fees, can they?

  28. I am not a lawyer, but I can only find two classes of compulsory licenses in US copyright law. (1) “making and distributing phonorecords of nondramatic musical works” — that is, you can record a cover version of a song as long as you send the license fee, even if the copyright owner doesn’t like your version. (2) “secondary transmissions made by cable systems and satellite carriers” — a cable TV system can carry broadcast TV channels.

    But, for example, author’s heirs have in the past blocked republishing works for various reasons, if the rights had reverted to the author or his/her estate.

  29. David Shallcross says But, for example, author’s heirs have in the past blocked republishing works for various reasons, if the rights had reverted to the author or his/her estate.

    In those cases, yes. Most of the problems with pulp stories has been that it’s proven nearly impossible to identify just who the heirs are and even when no permission is needed, the copyright residuals involved cannot be paid forward. It may be be as something under a hundred dollars, occasionally it can be for a writer that was prolific under a number of pen names quite substantial.

    Agencies that represent these writers will place notices from time to time in trade journals in hopes of someone having information about the heirs.

  30. I dunno how well Keegan-Michael Key can sing, but Cecily Strong has long had the best voice on SNL and Alan Cumming and Kristin Chenoweth are both pros so Schmigadoon! could be worth seeing.

  31. The Internet Archive does ‘Controlled Digital Lending’, and they’re not the only ones: http://openlibraries.online

    I’ve used the service once when my partner needed to track down a technical book from, iirc, the 80s. Amazon had some pricey used copies, worldcat said the closest traditional library was something like a hundred miles away, but I was able to check it out through CDL and we quickly verified that the book was of no relevance to us after all.

    The original of that book was in some vault somewhere in the world, and during the two weeks I had access to it, no-one else did. Maybe in some more advanced world we could imaging a telepresence robot which would hold the book and I could view the pages as they were held up to a camera, but that’s a lot more complicated than the one we have.

    @Cat Eldrige:
    “And if they digitise these books, it sure as frell isn’t legal if they are still under copyright.”

    I’m reminded of the arguments about VCRs and how close home-taping came to being illegal back when.

  32. @Cat Eldrige
    In some cases, at least for series characters, the ownership belongs with the original publisher (or rather, the new owner of that original publisher) and not with the authors. In some cases, that’s in limbo because the publisher folded. But there are some convoluted cases.

    Condé Nast has the rights to the Shadow (because they bought Street and Smith after the pulps collapsed). They’re very protective of that copyright (although they have allowed bad adaptations to be made). Sometimes, they sell the rights and allow publishers to reprint the original books. Then, when there is the possibility of a new movie or TV deal, they will pull those rights. This happened to Sanctum Books recently, and while they sped up their reprints, they were unable to reprint three of the novels because of the deadline. This most likely happened because there are now plans to have James Patterson (and co-author) reboot the Shadow franchise. (Aaaaaa!) So there are no current Shadow reprints now. And even the Shadow’s powers can’t protect him against a James Patterson reboot. 🙁

    Doc Savage is also held by Condé Nast. And I missed this announcement, but there are plans for a Doc Savage TV series. (See https://deadline.com/2020/02/doc-savage-tv-series-in-works-sony-pictures-tv-original-film-conde-nast-1202863245/)

    Popular Publications published the Spider, and they were sold to one company, which was sold to another, etc. Right now, Steeger Properties owns some of their rights, and Argosy Communications owns the rights to the Spider, G-8, and Operator #5. Steeger Properties (named after pulp pioneer Harry Steeger) owns a lot of pulp properties and manages some literary estates. (I think the current company was created by a fairly young pulp fan.)

  33. Anne Marble: “there are now plans to have James Patterson (and co-author) reboot the Shadow franchise.”

    Couldn’t help thinking of something I wrote years ago, about how with brick-&-mortar bookstores you can go inside and actually hold and look at thousands and thousands of titles, “…all of them written by James Paterson.”

  34. Controlled Digital Lending has been used by Carnegie Mellon, NC State University, CUNY, and Florida Gulf Coast University (among others). It’s not just an Internet Archive thing.

    @Cat Eldrige:
    “And if they digitise these books, it sure as frell isn’t legal if they are still under copyright.”
    A blanket statement like this ignores completely the fact that libraries have great privileges to make copies of copyrighted material that other users do not, as codified by § 109 of the Copyright law. There’s also a strong case to be made for the practice under the “fair use” and “first sale” doctrines.

    Is it legal, as the Internet Archive does it? Who knows? This is one of those things that’s a gray area until a court rules on it. It’s just as foolish for you to say “this is patently illegal” as it would be for me to say “Obviously, libraries can implement CDL.” The IA may get their butts handed back to them on a platter, or maybe they are visionaries who are pushing the benefits of a digital library into a new age. Wait and see . . .

  35. Haven’t read it. but reviews of the Patterson Shadow novel make it sound like he used a few characters (Lamont Cranston, who is not actually The Shadow’s real identity in the pulps, and Margo Lane), shot them into a future, added a young female character, and basically wrote a dystopian YA novel around the concept. I’ll pass.

  36. When I think what a grievous loss it would be to humankind to have those 600,000 long-out-of-print books (which have an average pub date from 1965 to 1969) disappear from human history, I see Controlled Lending which honors rights owners’ withdrawal requests as a desirable alternative. Even if only 100 of those 600,000 books are literary treasures, it’s a worthwhile endeavor.

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