Punishing the Purchaser: FBI Warnings and Other Follies

I hope they don't sue me for pirating this screen shot. I ripped it straight from a DVD I had laying around.

Anyway, I popped in the Knight's Tale DVD the other day and had to sit through two piracy warnings that stayed on my screen for 30 seconds each before even seeing the main menu. Then I started the movie and guess what? Another FBI warning! If I hadn't already owned the DVD for a couple of years, I would have returned it.

Instead I ask; does anyone actually think this works?

I mean, being put out of my way actually makes me lean towards just logging on to my favourite p2p (peer to peer) site and grabbing whatever I'd like. At least the piracy groups know not to inconvenience their patrons.

I remember seeing the first two minute anti-piracy commercial after paying $11.00 to see a movie in a theater, I was pretty tempted to leave. Is that kind of advertising supposed to inspire me to go on some crusade against piracy? Am I supposed to feel ashamed if I download a missed episode of television or grab a copy of a movie from the net because I haven't gotten my copy from Amazon yet? I'll tell you, it doesn't work. I know plenty of people with massive digital movie collections and they don't look guilt ridden. I also don't feel like shaking my finger at them and telling them that they're hurting the creators of that work.

Theft is wrong, that's undeniable. If everyone who read my books pirated them I would still be working in a call center cubicle and I'd be spending thousands of dollars submitting manuscripts and mail outs to agents and publishers around the world. A few science fiction fans have put their support behind me because they had access to some of my work and as a result I'm writing for them full time. I still have to work to continue getting the word out to build that following, but I don't mind.

On the other hand I'm not interested in posting big notices in the first pages of my books telling them (the readers, my supporters), that piracy is wrong, and that I'll sue them if I find out they made a copy for someone else! Imagine starting into one of my EBooks and seeing a whole page dedicated to that kind of threat? I don't think anyone would put up with it.

So, since it's not illegal, I've started ripping all my DVD's to a hard drive, skipping the FBI warnings and keeping all the digital picture and surround sound goodness. You see, what they don't tell you in those threatening announcements is that everyone who owns an intellectual product is allowed to make 1 or more copies for backup purposes. That's true in Canada, the US and the UK. My glossy DVD's will sit on the shelves getting dusty and ignored from now on.

As a final note with regards to piracy, the whole digital information industry is trying to find a new business model that lets everyone think they're getting something for free. I'd love to give my stuff away, but I don't receive enough donations or have enough cash in the bank to allow for it. That doesn't mean I'm going to wait to be rich to find a way to get my books out there cheaply or freely. In the future I'll be trying a few different strategies on my own as I discover new opportunities. No promises at this point, I'm still looking at several options. My point is that there will be ways to get content for free eventually, even though it may take another decade for companies to figure out how to stay in business and finance their productions.

RL

[Are you an advocate for piracy or a supporter of the content creators? Do you have a solution that lands somewhere in the middle? Leave a comment!]

Dark Arts To Begin July 7, 2009

After getting the thumbs up from my editor and test readers, the Dark Arts series is set to begin on July 7, my birthday gift to myself. Dark Arts is a horror series that will be available here for free (later to appear in EBook formats).

The first installment, called simply RISING is divided into seven parts that will be released every Tuesday.

Here's a general description:

Dark Arts is a supernatural horror series that focuses on members of a mysterious society of occultists who use any means to maintain the divide between the spirit and material worlds.The Dark Arts series is written in distinct plot cycles and offered for free. The success and continuation of the Dark Arts series depends on donations from the readers.

RISING tells a story about two characters; Zachary who has been possessing one mortal after another as he seeks the secrets of true resurrection and Maxwell who bears the responsibility of destroying Zachary and preventing him from accomplishing his goals. The surly British occultist has been led to the place where Zachary was first killed as a mortal and has to take the opportunity to further the goals of the society while there is still time.

RISING is a complete plot cycle, adapted into prose from a concept for a television series. If enough readers demand more after finishing RISING I'll gladly provide.

What's happening with Spinward Fringe? I'm working on Spinward Fringe Rogue Element right now, actually, no worries!

RL

[Have you read Supernatural Horror before? Whose your favourite author or series?]

Spinward Fringe Frontline Available Now From Amazon.com In Print

Finally, to the delight of a few of my readers who love turning paper pages and leaving a copy in the loo, Spinward Fringe Frontline is available in print from Amazon.com. They've been kind enough to include it in their Super Saver Shipping and Prime programs.

This is happening two weeks early and I couldn't be happier. I know there are a number of readers who are waiting eagerly to get their hands on this book in print and it's always nice to see the book on paper.

Here's the lowdown on the printed edition:

• Paperback: 418 pages
• Publisher: Amazon's CreateSpace (June 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1441401199
• ISBN-13: 978-1441401199
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds

I certainly hope you all enjoy the latest book in the series. It's a darker, broader story that follows the main characters through the dark heart of a new war that is changing the galaxy. Meanwhile, Jacob Valance's crew do their best to cope with managing their new ship and the hundreds of refugee and deserter volunteers. This full fledged novel elevates the Spinward Fringe series to an all out space opera epic while maintaining a gritty, challenging atmosphere. Recommended for young adults and older.

Thank you for all your support so far, dear readers. It's come in many shapes and forms and I hope you continue on this journey with me through the Fringe.

RL

If you're new to the Spinward Fringe universe and would like to start from the beginning, here's the link to where it all started: The First Light Chronicles Omnibus

Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Program...

Special thanks to everyone who showed their support for the Wikipedia page yesterday. I'm talking about Iamz, Janet, Elross, the anonymous fan and of course, Somacow.

Some fair edits were made and Pete Tillman, the archivist who replied to the anonymous watchdog who brought the article to his attention, approved it after review material and an Amazon.com link was removed. Thanks for listening to the people who support me most and for giving them time to make the appropriate changes.

Regardless of the online drama yesterday I did manage to get some writing done, but now I'm all pent up and I'm sure I'll get a good chunk of work finished today. It's like this story is a hundred raging bulls bashing at the gate trying to get out and, since I can't write a hundred thousand words in a day, I can only let them out a couple at a time.

Spinward Fringe Rogue Element is looking great already, with a focus on characters that I enjoy, a complexity that I don't think I've managed to build into any book thus far, excitement that comes out of character development, interesting situations and a return to the basics as far as the main players are concerned.

Spinward Fringe Frontline was a very serious novel and a different animal from the rest of the books in many ways. I enjoyed the experience even though the dark journey the characters took was at times difficult to write. There are sections of that book I look back on regularly that make me grin. Two readers have contacted me comparing the book to William Gibson's early work and one went as far as to say that I've added something new to cyberpunk. Great compliments, thank you, and very interesting since I don't see this series as a cyberpunk saga at all. I suppose that's one of the reasons why I feel so free to add whatever I feel I need to keep the stories interesting and moving in the right direction.

I realize that Spinward Fringe Frontline is still a new book for most people and people who read print haven't had a chance to get their hands on it at all. To me it's ancient, I started work on it in November, '08 and it's sold 111 copies. Spinward Fringe Rogue Element is the future I look forward to and it returns us to the roots of the series, with the humour and excitement of the First Light Chronicles and the scale and building complexity that the Spinward Fringe series is just now starting to become known for. This book makes me excited, the idea of pushing forward with all the pieces right where I want them is absolutely thrilling.

I certainly hope everyone is enjoying Spinward Fringe Frontline and I look forward to hearing more of your opinions about the book as more of you finish it. At the same time The First Light Chronicles Omnibus has been moved to the General Fiction category (taking the number 1 spot due to a good sales history in Mobipocket science fiction), so we can invite more people onto this journey.

Spinward Fringe Frontline is going to be available on Amazon.com in print sometime next week. The Kindle version is already available.

I'm also working with another large Canadian EBook E-Tailer (Online Retailer), to broaden the availability of the First Light Chronicles and Spinward Fringe series. From the looks of it the books will be sold at a very reasonable price and I like the tools they provide for their readers.

Now, back to writing Spinward Fringe Rogue Element. I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

RL

Wikipedia entry stands to be deleted!

Here's what happened. After the release of Spinward Fringe Frontline the Wikipedia page a very kind reader started for me became badly out of date. Thinking that it was important for an encyclopedia, even Wikipedia, to be up to date I took the initiative and marked Frontline as available, added the ISBN and added Spinward Fringe Rogue Element as an upcoming novel.

Now someone's come along and marked it as an advertizement and as containing material not appropriate for an encyclopedia.

Frankly, if it were written as an advertizement it would contain a synopsis of each book, a tag line for each series, pictures of each cover and it would contain a whole lot more marketable links. I have places for that, here for example, so I don't need Wikipedia for that at all. In fact a pleasent bio and a list of books by year is appropriate for an encyclopedia and should be listed in Wiki since a solid number of readers have come in contact with my work.

This blog post isn't meant as a call to war against Wiki, however. Someone who was more paranoid than they ought to be pushed the panic button over there and I really have no idea what to do about it. All I do know is that Wikipedia has a notion that if the subject of an entry (me), modifies its contents it immediately becomes advertising. So that leaves me with one real option.

I have to ask you good people to make some kind of modification that will get my entry off the deletion list. I honestly don't know much about the back end of Wikipedia, so I can't tell you how this is done but if something isn't done soon I'll be off Wikipedia, sad.

This is my humble appeal for help, if you want or need any information that doesn't involve coding (which I really know nothing about), then just send me an email and I'll see if I can help.

RL

EDIT:
You can also help my Wikipedia page from being deleted by adding your comments about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Randolph_Lalonde

Spinward Fringe Frontline Available on Amazon Kindle

This book has done quite well on Mobipocket with 107 copies sold to date. Now Kindle users, including people who use the Kindle App for the IPhone, will have access to the latest Spinward Fringe book.

I'm very happy with the feedback I've been getting on this book, and since I take some pride in my relationship with my readers I invite anyone and everyone to send me direct email with regards to Frontline or the previous books. I do listen. When Resurrection and Awakening came out I recieved emails from people who had to tell me that their favourite characters were Ashley and Finn. As a result I gladly wrote them in as point of view characters in Triton and Frontline. They happen to be two of my favorite characters too.

On that note, if you feel compelled to write a short review on Amazon.com for anything I've written it would be very helpful.

Thanks for all your support thus far, work on Spinward Fringe Rogue Element is going very well.

RL

As of this writing Amazon has Spinward Fringe Frontline is on sale for $7.99.

Spinward Fringe Frontline: Available at Lulu.com

I had no idea, but there's apparently a demand for the Spinward Fringe Books in .pdf format. That came as a a surprise since I barely ever use .pdf. I find them pretty inflexible.

Regardless of that, I'm happy to announce that Spinward Fringe Frontline is now available in DRM free .pdf format here.

Sadly, Lulu.com has started charging for providing international print distribution, so I won't be able to use that avenue to get printed editions out to people in the UK. I'm still looking for someone to carry my printed titles out there and in Canada, I'm hoping to find a self publishing partner or publisher soon.

If you don't want to wait for Amazon.com to list Frontline, you can purchase a printed copy from Lulu.com for 19.99.

It's always good to see this book appear in different places and different formats. When I think of Frontline I can't help but compare it to Triton where quality of storytelling is concerned. They were both very serious books that moved the characters along quite a bit and it's hard for me to pick between the two when I try to think of which one I like more.

It'll take a while longer for Amazon.com to begin listing this book and I'll announce its availability the moment it appears.

Thank you to the two readers who told me that they were looking to purchase .pdf versions of my work, I'm glad Lulu.com was able to give me the ability to provide.

As an additional note, I'd like to thank the recent donor and everyone else who has purchased copies of my work and gotten others interested. I would be in a call center cubicle if it weren't for you guys! Keep spreading the word and there's no limit to where this series can go!

RL