The best thing is that, instead of writing anything, you can point to things other people have written -- this interview with Jonathan Lethem over at Salon.com (you have to watch an ad, I'm afraid) talks about copyright.
I get the distinct feeling that someone at the Guardian has been reading Wired Magazine, because the Guardian just got a bunch of writers to do... six word short stories. I thought the Wired ones from last November were mostly better and more imaginative.
John Scalzi warns of a scam (sort of) over at http://ficlets.com/blog/entry/how_to_manipulate_amazon_rankings_for_fun_and_profit
Barbara Bauer (last mentioned on this blog over at http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2006/05/zoom.html) has now sued the SFWA, among other people (details at http://www.sfwa.org/news/2007/sfwalawsuit.htm). As far as I know, she hasn't sued me. (She's the one who got Absolute Write taken down, and tried to get Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden fired.) Despite the legal suits, she is still one of the SFWA's Twenty Worst Agents.
The Ticking was one of my favourite books of last year. Renee French's new comic, Micrographica, is available online. Read about it at http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=106070 . Read it at http://www.serializer.net//comics/micrographica.php?view=toc
And if you want to get to the New York Town Hall reading on April 25th, buy tickets. When: Wednesday, April 25 Where: The Town Hall: 123 West 43rd St. What time: 8 p.m.–9:30 p.m.With Don DeLillo, Kiran Desai, Neil Gaiman, Nadine Gordimer, Alain Mabanckou, Steve Martin, Salman Rushdie, Pia Tafdrup, Tatyana Tolstaya, Saadi Youssef.
Dear Mr Gaiman,I would like to know whether your New York visits will involve signings. Hope to see you there. ~Marie
I don't know. I'll try to find out.
Hi,Is there something in your contract that says, that you can't really tell anyone if something adapted from your work (like a movie) is going to be crap, and if there is, what would you do if an adaptation was crap? Would you still tell everyone to go see it, or would you just not mention it at all - or would you tell us that it's bad and we shouldn't watch it?I'm asking, because sometime in the future, maybe there will be a really bad adaptation. And then you'll just be very quiet about it and your readers, having read your answer to this, will collectively tap their noses and go "A-ha!".
I'm pretty sure that, contractually, I can say what I like about Stardust and Coraline. I think there's a clause in the Beowulf contract that says I can't denigrate the film, but I don't believe it says that I have to be faux-enthusiastic about it either.
I think if I didn't like something I'd probably take the Thumper (from Bambi) option and not say anything, unless I felt the world needed to be warned, and then I'd have to choose my words carefully, unless I really really felt the world needed to be warned, in which case I'd warn everyone as best I could, probably standing out by the entrance to the freeway shouting "Don't go and see the Anansi Boys film! They've made them all rabbits! It's now a caper movie set in a chocolate factory!" at the uncaring people driving past.
Labels: Barbara Bauer, lots of links at the end of a tour, saying nice things about films, The Passion of Saint Tibulous