E-Reads™ is
...a trail-blazing reprinter of out-of-print genre and general fiction and nonfiction by leading authors. Our books are available in all e-book formats and paperback. Read the latest publishing news and provocative blogs by top commentators in the traditional and digital publishing fields.
Empress of Light
James C. Glass
In this sequel to SHANJI, Kati has used the light of creation to win a war bringing her to the throne as Empress of her planet, and she has forged new alliances with former enemies. Her daughter Yesui is born w...
Hôtel Transylvania
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Since 1978, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro has produced about two dozen novels and numerous short stories detailing the life of a character first introduced to the reading world as Le Comte de Saint-Germain. We first mee...
Mother's Choice
Elizabeth Mansfield
It's a Mother's Duty To Protect Her Daughter Cassandra Beringer would never allow her daughter Cicely to repeat her mistake and marry a man twenty years her senior--even if he is the handsome Viscount Inge...
Pock's World
Dave Duncan
In this thrilling story of adventure and suspense by master storyteller Dave Duncan, five flawed individuals must decide the fate of an entire world. On the outskirts of the Ayne Sector sits Pock’s Worl...
Time Slave
John Norman
Dr. Brenda Hamilton--a Ph.D. mathematician from Cal Tech--is beautiful, though she does not know her true beauty. She is a woman, though she does not know her true womanhood. Deep within herself she is sensu...
Sunday in Hell: Pearl Harbor Minute by Minute
Bill McWilliams
Using long established historical records and contemporary journals as well as recently-released war-time documents, Bill McWilliams has created a brand-new minute-by-minute narrative of the Day that Will ...
Lord of the Fire Lands
Dave Duncan
Raider and Wasp have spent five years at Ironhall studying to become Blades, expert swordsmen whose talents stand unmatched. Magic both enhances the Blades' fighting skills and binds them in lifelong duty....
Miscalculations
Elizabeth Mansfield
His Woman Of Affairs Jane Douglas had a sharp wit, a brilliant mind, and an extraordinary knack for numbers. As financial advisor to Lady Martha Kettering, she was able to provide for herself, her sister ...
The Girl With the Persian Shawl
Elizabeth Mansfield
An Arrogant Spinster, a Dashing Rake, and an Unsigned Painting The Girl With Persian Shawl was a strangely bewitching masterpiece that had hung in the Rendell household for generations. Kate Rendell graci...
A Thousand Deaths
George Alec Effinger
While George Alec Effinger’s Budayeen novel WHEN GRAVITY FAILS is perhaps his most famous work, his lesser known novel THE WOLVES OF MEMORY remained his favorite. In it, he introduced readers to Sandor Couran...
FEATURED TITLES
Dangerous Visions
Harlan Ellison
Included in this memorable collection of 33 original stories are 7 winners and 13 nominees for the prestigious Hugo and Nebula Awards. Lester Del Rey / Robert Silverberg / Frederik Pohl / Philip Jose Far...
Our Lady of Darkness
Fritz Leiber
Fritz Leiber (1910-1992) may be best known as a fantasy writer, but he published widely and successfully in the horror and science fiction fields. His fiction won the Hugo, Nebula, Derleth, Gandalf, Lovecr...
Living with Aliens
John DeChancie
What more could a thirteen-year-old want than two best friends who can help him get his first girlfriend? Young Drew finds out when he befriends two aliens, Zorg and Flez, who help him take his new girlfr...
EMT: Beyond the Lights and Sirens
Pat Ivey
This book takes the reader to the front lines of medicine, from a serious automobile accident on a dark country road to a woman in cardiac arrest to a young man with near-fatal gunshot wounds. For these patie...
One Day, My Prince
Linda Winstead Jones
Joe White had made some very serious enemies because of his skills. He was a good man--one of the few in this dirty Western town. On the right side of the law, he was able to capture and kill the criminals t...
The Hunger of Time
Damien Broderick
Technology has started to accelerate at a terrifying rate. By mid-21st century, we might see a Singularity: a convergence of artificial intelligence, advanced nanotechnologies for building things at the atomi...
Boss Man From Ogallala
Janet Dailey
Every novel in this collection is your passport to a romantic tour of the United States through time-honored favorites by America’s First Lady of romance fiction. Each of the fifty novels is set in a diff...
Suspicion of Innocence
Barbara Parker
Gail Connor and Anthony Quintana make a combustible mix on many levels. Passionately attracted to each other on a personal level, they are equally passionate defenders of their clients even when their int...
Drifter
William C. Dietz
Smuggler Pik Lando is hired by a beautiful woman named Angel, and suddenly he finds himself involved with her and a group of hell-bent revolutionaries... and there is a price on his head. ...
Slob
Rex Miller
Stephen King hails Rex Miller as "terrifying and original". SLOB is his debut novel, the story of a man who thinks of himself as Death. A man who likes to feast on human hearts, spilling blood wherever he go...
The Omega Point Trilogy
George Zebrowski
6599 A.D. The war between the Earth Federation and the Herculean Empire had been over for more than three centuries. The planet in the Hercules Globular Cluster was a cinder; the few descendants of the surviv...
The Forge of God
Greg Bear
On July 26th, Arthur Gordon learns that Europa, the sixth moon of Jupiter, has disappeared. Not hiding, not turned black, but gone. On September 28th, Edward Shaw finds an error in the geological ...
What Entropy Means to Me
George Alec Effinger
Doctor, watch out! As Dore stood by, he saw the Doctor backing slowly into the corner where he would meet his fate. Initially defending himself with a torch, the Doctor searched frantically for a new method ...
Chaining the Lady
Piers Anthony
The CLUSTER series of SF adventures is set in a future focused on colonization of distant planets. Sphere Sol is about 100 light years in diameter, centered on the Earth’s sun. Surrounding this spher...
Body Wave
Nancy J. Cohen
Salon owner Marla Shore is pretty hard to shock, but she's truly stunned to learn that her hateful ex-husband, Stanley Kaufman, has been arrested for the murder of his third wife, Kimberly--and wants Mar...
No, He's Not A Monkey, He's An Ape and He's My Son
Hester Mundis
This book answers the question that’s on everybody's mind: “What’s it like to raise a chimpanzee in Manhattan?” Hester Mundis’s hilarious memoir NO HE'S NOT A MONKEY, HE'S AN APE AND HE'S MY SON is t...

Posts Tagged ‘Greg Bear’

Moving Furniture We Can Do Right Away. Moving Planets Takes a Little Longer

A while back we wrote about an alien race’s scheme to capture Jupiter (Psst. Want to Buy a Hot Planet?) and haul it out of the solar system. E-Reads happens to carry another book about moving a planet, Greg Bear’s Moving Mars. Aside from the astonishing but completely valid scientific basis for transporting a planet from one locus to another, its a wonderful novel about a young colony yearning to free itself from the influence of the parent world’s exploitive government. The parent world happens to be Earth. And the government is not happy. Not happy at all. Its planning to punish the wayward colonists, and there’s absolutely nothing the populace of the Red Planet can do.

Or is there? There’s this nerdy kid Charles who has a scheme so risky and preposterous that in all likelihood it will blow up in his face like some schoolboy chem lab experiment. Except its not a chem lab. It’s a planet.

Well, how many schoolboys have let that discourage them?

But Casseia believes in him. She’s the rebellious daughter of a conservative family, and she sees Charles’s cockeyed idea as fuel for the student protests she’s leading. It’s hard to imagine a less likely love object than Charles, but maybe Casseia could learn to get attached to someone who thinks he knows how to save their world. Maybe this tender love story explains why it wasn’t just the science fiction reviewers that loved Moving Mars (“…an accomplished, thoroughly mature novel that should be placed at the top of anyone’s ‘to be read’ stack” – Science Fiction Age), but the romance reviewers too (“…a grand adventure in hard science fiction” – Romantic Times).

E-Reads carries a great list of Greg Bear’s backlist titles and there are more to come!

- Richard Curtis

(Above image of Mars courtesy of NASA.)


Bear’s Magnificent Eon Trilogy United in E-Book Format

In Nebula and Hugo Award winner Greg Bear’s Eon [now available in Kindle for the first time], the arrival of a 300-kilometer long stone was the answer to humanity’s desperate plea to end the threat of nuclear war. Inside the deep recesses of the stone lay the remnants of a human society versed in English, Russian and Chinese. The artifacts of this familiar people foretell a great Death caused by the ravages of war. Deeper still within the stone is the Way. For some the Way meant salvation from death, for others it was a parallel world where loved ones live again. Here is some of the outpouring of acclaim for Eon:

Eon may be the best constructed hard SF epic yet.”
—The Washington Post

“Sharing aspects of Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama, its uniqueness arises from Bear’s bold imagination. Bear is a writer of passionate vision. Eon is his grandest work yet.”
—Locus

“A powerful, imaginative novel.”
—Library Journal

“The only word for it really is blockbuster. It is big and breathtaking; the story and the concepts are ambitious to the point of mind boggling.”
—Isaac Asimov’s SF Magazine

Now, in Eternity, Bear returns to the Earth of Eon and it’s clear that the first novel was a prequel to an even grander story. The crew of the asteroid-starship Thistledown has thwarted an attempt to sever the link to the Way, an endless corridor that spans universes. The asteroid had settled into orbit around Earth and discovered that the tunnel snaked away, forming a contained universe of its own. Forty years later, war breaks out to reopen The Way. And humankind is about to discover just how completely it has underestimated its ancient adversaries.

Eternity completes a trilogy that includes the prequel Legacy, and all three titles are now available for download at E-Reads as well more than a dozen other unforgettable works by the author rightfully described as the heir to the late Arthur C. Clarke’s mantle.

RC


Greg Bear’s “Legacy” Now in Kindle and Nook

In Legacy, the prequel to Eon, Greg Bear continues to explore the possibilities presented by the asteroid Thistledown, a remnant of a lost human civilization. The Way is a tunnel through space and time that leads to other worlds, some more like planet Earth than Earth itself. It is perhaps the most formidable discovery in Thistledown and with it come disputes as to the nature of the Way and how it should be used. The Way can be reached only through Axis City, the only space station of Thistledown. The ruling body of Axis City, the Hexamon, has decreed that other worlds reached by The Way must be left untouched as an insurance against future needs of the human race. But then the Hexamon hear of a group of clandestine colonists who have settled on one of the new worlds. Olmy Ap Sennon is an eager young career soldier who must go and investigate this illegal colony, and at the same time confront his own humanity. As he witnesses the hardship and beauty of the outlaw human colony, he learns what it means to struggle with war, ecological disaster, love, and death.


Greg Bear’s “Moving Mars” Now in Kindle

Aside from the physical force that propels planets around stars, there’s little short of a cataclysmic collision that can move them out of their orbits.  Unless you happen to be a science fiction author with an imagination as far-reaching as a galaxy.  And E-Reads happens to have not one such author but two.

Aside from the astonishing but completely valid scientific basis for transporting a planet from one locus to another, Greg Bear’s Moving Mars is a completely gripping work of fiction. A young colony yearns to free itself from the influence of the parent world’s exploitative government. The parent world happens to be Earth. And the government is not happy. Not happy at all. Its planning to punish the wayward colonists with a barrage of missiles, and there’s absolutely nothing the populace of the Red Planet can do.

Or is there? There’s this nerdy kid Charles who has a scheme so risky and preposterous that in all likelihood it will blow up in his face like some schoolboy chem lab experiment. Except its not a chem lab. It’s a planet.

Well, how many schoolboys have let that discourage them?

But Casseia, the novel’s beautiful and determined heroine, believes in him. She’s the rebellious daughter of a conservative family, and she sees Charles’s cockeyed idea as fuel for the student protests she’s leading. It’s hard to imagine a less likely love object than Charles, but maybe Casseia could learn to get attached to someone who thinks he knows how to save their world. Maybe this tender love story explains why it wasn’t just the science fiction reviewers that loved Moving Mars (“…an accomplished, thoroughly mature novel that should be placed at the top of anyone’s ‘to be read’ stack” – Science Fiction Age), but the romance reviewers too (“…a grand adventure in hard science fiction” – Romantic Times).

Besides Moving Mars, E-Reads carries a great list of Greg Bear’s backlist titles

We said there was a second novel about moving a planet.  In Donald Moffitt’s The Jupiter Theft an alien race schemes to capture the largest satellite and haul it out of the solar system (Psst. Want to Buy a Hot Planet?). About this book we gasped “Moffitt’s concepts dwarf our vocabulary for huge. Colossal, gigantic, immense, mammoth, good words one and all. But they still don’t touch his vision. Astronomical – yes, now we’re getting somewhere. That word seems consonant with the idea of capturing a gaseous planet to use as fuel. Astronomical. That’s Donald Moffitt and that’s The Jupiter Theft.”

Richard Curtis

 


Gutenberg Director Admits Error, Promises Revised Procedures. (But The Cat’s Out of the Bag)

Dr. Gregory Newby, Chief Executive and Director of Project Gutenberg, issued a public apology to Greg Bear, Astrid Anderson Bear, and unnamed “others”, for a “determination of non-renewal” that was in error.  He said he was ordering removal of “The Escape,” the work that provoked the Bears’ complaint, from the Project Gutenberg collections and catalog. You can read that complaint here.

Below are the pertinent passages of Dr. Newby’s letter.  However, it does not address the question of liability for possible damages resulting from release of the work into the public domain and subsequent exploitation by publishers and other third parties.

Richard Curtis

*************************

Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director

Dear Greg, Astrid, and others:

My apologies for my long delay in responding. As promised in
September, I discussed the situation with one of Project Gutenberg’s
copyright lawyers. This particular lawyer had previously been very
helpful in preparing and then providing legal advice and feedback on
our procedures for determining non-renewal status.

Our lawyer advised that our non-renewal determination for The Escape
was in error. Therefore, on October 1, I removed The Escape from the
Project Gutenberg collections and catalog and announced its removal
to our mailing list.

On behalf of Project Gutenberg, I apologize for the error.

The error occurred because we did not know that Brainwave was a
complete publication of the serial parts of The Escape. We did know
from the publication of The Escape in 1953 that it was the first part
of a serialization, but did not know that Brainwave, from 1954, was
the title of the complete serialization.

We are working on enhancements to our procedures for serial works so
that we are more likely to find variations in titles such as happened
with Brainwave.

As a result of your complaint, we have received clarification from our
lawyer on situations where individual parts of entire works are
published serially, but only some of the parts, or only the entire
work but not the serial parts, are renewed. Until we received this
clarification, our procedure was that each part must have a separate
renewal for its first publication.

My long delay in responding is because our newly revised procedures
are not yet posted on our Web site. We’ve had some exchanges with the lawyer I mentioned, as well as among the Project Gutenberg copyright team and production volunteers. I do hope to have the revised procedures for non-renewals in place soon, and meanwhile Project Gutenberg has put a hold on public domain determinations for non-renewals.

*****************

For the complete text of Dr. Newby’s email, click here.

And for a complete archive of E-Reads postings related to piracy, infringement and other unauthorized use of copyrighted works, click here.


Gutenberg Director Admits Error, Promises Revised Procedures

Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director

Dear Greg, Astrid, and others:

My apologies for my long delay in responding. As promised in
September, I discussed the situation with one of Project Gutenberg’s
copyright lawyers. This particular lawyer had previously been very
helpful in preparing and then providing legal advice and feedback on
our procedures for determining non-renewal status.

Our lawyer advised that our non-renewal determination for The Escape
was in error. Therefore, on October 1, I removed The Escape from the
Project Gutenberg collections and catalog and announced its removal
to our mailing list.

On behalf of Project Gutenberg, I apologize for the error.

The error occurred because we did not know that Brainwave was a
complete publication of the serial parts of The Escape. We did know
from the publication of The Escape in 1953 that it was the first part
of a serialization, but did not know that Brainwave, from 1954, was
the title of the complete serialization.

We are working on enhancements to our procedures for serial works so
that we are more likely to find variations in titles such as happened
with Brainwave.

As a result of your complaint, we have received clarification from our
lawyer on situations where individual parts of entire works are
published serially, but only some of the parts, or only the entire
work but not the serial parts, are renewed. Until we received this
clarification, our procedure was that each part must have a separate
renewal for its first publication.

My long delay in responding is because our newly revised procedures
are not yet posted on our Web site. We’ve had some exchanges with the lawyer I mentioned, as well as among the Project Gutenberg copyright team and production volunteers. I do hope to have the revised procedures for non-renewals in place soon, and meanwhile Project Gutenberg has put a hold on public domain determinations for
non-renewals.

In the meantime, I will summarize for you the main points that allowed
the renewal for Brainwave to apply to The Escape. Then, I will
provide a listing of the titles by Poul Anderson that we are working
with. That way, you might want to confirm whether our bibliographic
research (on title variations) and copyright research (on renewal
records) seems to be correct.

I would also like to offer to ask our lawyer to communicate directly
with your lawyer on any of the topics we have covered. If you would
prefer such an approach, please provide me contact information for
your lawyer, and I will give the information to our lawyer.

Here are the main points of variation from our old procedures as
they relate to what we have corresponded on:

- variant titles, new reprints, compilations, and other republications
of items need to be identified as part of our bibliographic research,
within the time span for valid renewals

- in serial works, the serial parts are considered to be part of the
same act of authorship as the complete work. Thus, renewals for the
parts, or the whole, may apply to the other parts
(this applied to The Escape)

- renewals due the 28th year after first publication may actually
appear in the copyright registry in the 27th, 28th, 29th or 30th year,
and still be valid

- for serial parts, our conservative stance is that renewals from the
25th through 32nd year for any serial part, or the whole, including
any type of republication, will be taken to apply to any parts within
that time span
(this applied to The Escape)

- copyrights or renewals outside of the time spans listed above, for
any type of republication, are not applicable to earlier publication.
That is, serial parts or whole works published but not renewed do not
become renewed by later republication outside of the 2-year (for
non-serials) or 4-year (for serials) window.
(this applies to Industrial Revolution)

By the way, we are checking again on whether the 1965 republication
Industrial Revolution was subsequently renewed.

Here are the items we have already published, along with their
Project Gutenberg eBook number:

Duel on Syrtis, by Poul William Anderson 32436
The Sensitive Man, by Poul William Anderson 31501
Industrial Revolution, by Poul William Anderson 30971
The Valor of Cappen Varra, by Poul William Anderson 29542
The Burning Bridge, by Poul William Anderson 22554
Security, by Poul William Anderson 22239

Finally, here is the listing of titles we are working with, along with
a synopsis of our bibliographic and renewal research.

“Security” by Poul Anderson. Originally published in _Space Science
Fiction_ February 1953. No publication after SSF 1953 until 2007.

“The Burning Bridge” by Poul Anderson. First published in Astounding
Science Fiction January 1960. Astounding January 1960 renewed as
RE-322-832 with a claim limitation of NEW MATTER: compilation and all
editorial material. No publication after Astounding 1960 until 2007.

“Industrial Revolution” by Winston P. Sanders. First publication was
in Analog September 1963. Analog September 1963 renewed as RE-517-946
with a claim limitation of NEW MATTER: compilation and editorial
material. We found the renewal for the other Poul Anderson 1963
publications. RE0000562489 does not include “Industrial
Revolution”. Next publication after Analog September 1963 is in Analog
3 in 1965. This one was apparently retitled to “The Rogue” in 1970
when combined with other Flying Mountain stories.

“The Valor of Cappen Varra” by Poul Anderson. Originally published in
“Fantastic Universe” by King-Size Publications, New York, NY in the
January 1957 issue. The next publication found was in Swords and
Sorcery December 1963.

“The Sensitive Man” by Poul Anderson. Originally published in
“Fantastic Universe” by King-Size Publications, New York, NY in the
January 1954 issue. The next publication was found in Beyond the
Beyond in August 1969.

“The Chapter Ends” by Poul Anderson. Originally published in “Dynamic
Science Fiction” by Columbia Publications Inc, New York in the January
1954 issue. From the James Gunn contribution, the original filing
number is B00000442865. The next publication after DSF January 1954 is
in Adventures in the Far Future / Tales of Outer Space in 1954. After
that is Novelets of Science Fiction in 1963. We did not find a renewal
for Adventures in the Far Future or Tales of Outer Space. (We did find a
renewal for Behind the Black Nebula by L. Ron Hubbard from that
anthology. RE0000146004 on A00000155444.)

“Duel on Syrtis” by Poul Anderson. Originally published in Planet
Stories March 1951 by Love Romance Publishing Co. Inc., New York,
NY. After the PS March 1951 the next publication found is Strangers
from Earth in 1961.

“Sentiment, Inc.” by Poul Anderson. First published in Science Fiction
Stories with a 1953 copyright statement by Columbia Publications,
Inc. Science Fiction Stories was a periodical with an irregular
publishing history. 1953 had one issue. Next publication was in
The Weird Ones in July 1962.

Included for completeness, but already determined to be renewed:
“The Escape” by Poul Anderson. It appears to have been first published
in the U.S. and British editions of “Space Science Fiction” Volume 2
Number 2 September 1953 simultaneously. After the SSF September 1953 publication it was published by Ballantine in 1954. Brainwave
renewed.

Again, my apologies for the long delay in this correspondence. I do
anticipate we will have a revised procedure description online soon,
but did not want to delay further before sending this correspondence.

With best regards,
Greg

Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation http://gutenberg.org
A 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization with EIN 64-6221541

** This message is granted to the public domain **


Project Gutenberg Improperly PD’d Copyrighted Works, Authors Claim

By misreading copyright law Project Gutenberg may have infringed the rights of some authors and improperly put their books into the public domain, say science fiction author Greg Bear and Astrid Anderson Bear, his wife and daughter of another SF author, Poul Anderson.  Gutenberg’s release of several Poul Anderson works into the public domain provoked an investigation by the couple, who have issued the statement reproduced below in its entirety.

RC

********************************

The online site Project Gutenberg (PG)  is systematically declaring copyrights void in many literary works published in the 1940s, 1950s, and later, with a special focus on stories published in science fiction pulp magazines. Project Gutenberg then makes these works freely available on the internet though their website, where the scanned texts are further disseminated by manybooks.net and other online text outlets.

After conducting legal research on the LEXIS database of legal cases, decisions, and precedents, we have demonstrated conclusively that PG was making incorrect determinations regarding public domain status in many, many works that originally appeared in magazine form. The Poul Anderson estate has been able to get one work, “The Escape”, that PG had firmly declared to be public domain, removed from their site. PG’s original reasoning was that since the magazine it appeared in had never actually filed for copyright, the work was unprotected. “The Escape”, printed in 1953, was the first half of Anderson’s well-known novel BRAINWAVE, which was published and properly copyrighted the following year.

However, even if ‘The Escape” had not been published as a novel, it would have remained under copyright protection until 1981 (28 years) and been eligible for copyright renewal. Authors of that era, and Anderson in particular, were very aware of the need to renew copyrights, and typically meticulously kept their copyright protections up to date. Copyright law for works created more recently is much easier: life plus 70 years. (Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, 1998).

Why is a work that appeared in a magazine that did not file proper copyright paperwork protected by copyright law? The opinion in a major case in the US 2nd Circuit Court, Goodis v. United Artists Television, explains: ”. . . “We unanimously conclude that where a magazine has purchased the right of first publication under circumstances which show that the author has no intention to donate his work to the public, copyright notice in the magazine’s name is sufficient to obtain a valid copyright on behalf of the beneficial owner, the author or proprietor.” The opinion goes on at length regarding the creation of copyright at the time of publication. The full text of Goodis is available here.

A second major case in copyright law, Abend v. MCA, Inc., Universal Film Exchange, James Stewart, estate of Alfred Hitchcock, et al, in the 9th Circuit, upholds this ruling and references Goodis lavishly. The full text of Abend is available here.

According to an email from Project Gutenberg’s CEO, Dr. Greg Newby, PG has changed their procedures for research of copyright non-renewal following the takedown of the Anderson work, although as of this writing (11/21/10) they have not posted these changes on their website. Dr. Newby says PG has also put a hold on public domain determinations for non-renewals. They do not seem to be reviewing the status of works already posted.

Authors and estates with works that are listed as public domain on PG’s site need to check out the true copyright status of those works, If they are posted on PG in error, PG needs to be notified via a DMCA notice. This is a powerful tool, created by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. A DMCA notice is a legal document that states the rights of the copyright holder and demands that illegally posted material be taken down. For a summary of the DMCA in general, go here. There are many online forms for the DMCA notices, such as this one.

DMCA notices also need to be filed with other sites such as manybooks.net, demanding removal of the texts from the sites. The DMCAs may not be honored until PG has pulled a title, as PG is considered the “gold standard” of copyright determination – all titles available there are thought (wrongly) to be free and clear for exploitation by anyone. Small, independent publishers are taking advantage of these treasures and making physical copies, usually with print-on-demand technology, and selling them through Amazon and other sites. Estates and authors should search out these publishers and make their rights known. Estates and authors can demand that publication stop immediately, and that all proceeds be turned over to them as the rightful copyright holder. It should be noted that these publishers don’t feel they are pirates, they feel they are merely taking advantage of opportunities that are perfectly legal. They are wrong, and need to be put in the right of it.

In general, Project Gutenberg is doing a tremendous service by making available texts that have truly long since fallen out of copyright, but they are clearly overstepping their original mandate. They are not merely exploiting orphan works, but practicing a wholesale kidnapping of works that are under copyright protection. Authors and estates need to aggressively take back what belongs to them.

– Astrid Anderson Bear
Greg Bear

***************************

For a complete E-Reads archive on piracy, visit Pirate Central.


Cold, Wet and Naked on a Strange World. Greg Bear’s Hull Zero Three Debuts Today

A starship hurtles through the emptiness of space. Its destination—unknown. Its purpose—a mystery. Its history—lost.

Now, one man wakes up. Ripped from a dream of a new home—a new planet and the woman he was meant to love in his arms—he finds himself, wet, naked, and freezing to death. The dark halls are full of monsters but trusting other survivors he meets might be the greater danger.

All he has are questions—Who is he? Where are they going? What happened to the dream of a new life? What happened to the woman he loved? What happened to Hull 03?

All will be answered, if he can survive. Uncover the mystery. Fix the ship. Find a way home.

Multiple Hugo and Nebula award-winning science fiction master Greg Bear’s fantastic new novel, Hull Zero Three, published today, is an edge-of-your seat thrill ride through the darkest reaches of space.

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly described Hull Zero Three this way: “Not for those who prefer their space opera simpleminded, this beautifully written tale where nothing is as it seems will please readers with a well-developed sense of wonder. Booklist calls it “One of Bear’s most thought-provoking and well-crafted novels to date.”

And Dan Simmons, Hugo Award-winning author of the classic Hyperion science fiction quartet, says, “Greg Bear’s voice is a resonant, clear chord of quality binding some of the best SF of the 20th Century to the short list of science-savvy, sophisticated, top-notch speculative fiction of the 21st. More than a grace note, Hull Zero Three is a compelling allegro in the growing symphony of Greg Bear’s finest work.”

See the gripping trailer for Hull Zero Three below.

Have you caught up on all your Greg Bears? To view his rich E-Reads backlist, visit Greg Bear’s E-Reads author page.

And if you loved his near-future FBI thriller Quantico you won’t want to miss the sequel Mariposa, just published in paperback.

RC


Greg Bear’s Classic Forge of God Now in E-Book

At long last The Forge of God, one of Greg Bear’s greatest science fiction masterpieces, is available as an e-book.

On July 26th, Arthur Gordon learns that Europa, the sixth moon of Jupiter, has disappeared. Not hiding, not turned black, but gone.

On September 28th, Edward Shaw finds an error in the geological records of Death Valley. A cinder cone was left off the map. Could it be new? Or, stranger yet, could it be artificial? The answer may be lying beside it—a dying Guest who brings devastating news for Edward and for Planet Earth.

As more unexplained phenomena spring up around the globe—a granite mountain appearing in Australia, sounds emanating from the Earth’s core, flashes of light amongst the asteroids—it becomes clear to some that the end is approaching, and there is nothing we can do.

In The Forge of God, award-winning author Greg Bear describes the final days of the world on both a massive, scientific scale and in the everyday, emotional context of individual human lives. Facing the destruction of all they know, some people turn to God, others to their families, and a few turn to saviors promising escape from a planet tearing apart.

Will they make it in time? And who gets left behind to experience the last moments of beauty and chaos on Earth?

Nominated for a Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1987 and for Hugo and Locus Awards in 1988, The Forge of God is an engrossing read, breathtaking in its scope and in its detail.

Forge of God garnered so many superlative reviews it coruscates like a diamond…

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“…Never have I read another novel that changed my outlook on the world the way that The Forge of God has. I read the book a little over three years ago and I still remember it vividly. Bear’s portrayal of mankind’s reaction to Earth’s inevitable destruction is disturbingly true to reality. Despair, apathy, quiet rage, hopelessness, its all painted into this magic work with morbid mastery.”

*

“Simply the most stimulating novel that I have ever read.”

*

“Literate hard-science or alien invasion novels are no longer rare, but a book such as this, which effectively blends these concepts and is also compellingly written, is a joy to behold.”

*

“Novels don’t get much better than this. Bear really penned a true classic here. I’ve read many different versions of the end of the Earth, but this one truly spooked me…. This book affected me in ways thousands of other novels could not, and has left a haunting impression. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys great writing at its absolute best…”

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If you prefer to read The Forge of God in Tor mass market paperback click here.

And don’t miss the incredible sequel, Anvil of Stars, published in paperback and e-book by E-Reads. Here’s the description:

The Forge of God described the destruction of Earth itself by self-replicating robots, Von Neumann machines designed to use the planet’s mass to create more robotic creatures and spread throughout the Galaxy. Only a few humans have survived, aided by a mysterious alien race known only as “The Benefactors”, who arrived at Earth too late.

Now the small group of human survivors is determined to track down the criminal race who launched the planet killers. Humanity is given a starship by The Benefactors, and driven only by revenge they set out to find the unknown beings who are responsible for the destruction of Earth, and many other worlds.


Greg Bear’s Mariposa, A New Quantico Thriller, Now Available as E-Book

In Greg Bear’s new futuristic FBI thriller Mariposa, the world just keeps getting tougher and more complicated. America teeters on the edge of bankruptcy because of crushing foreign debt and an apparent savior, The Talos Corporation, delivers training for soldiers and security forces around the world, logistical support and badly-needed troops economically. But there’s a sinister hidden cost. The three rookie FBI agents who survived the challenges portrayed in Quantico are drawn back together in an alliance against a deadly challenge for which no one seems prepared. The code name is “Mariposa”, and only a desperate combination of misfits and survivors can combat a threat spelling nothing less than the collapse of American democracy.

E-Reads is happy to bring you the e-book edition of Mariposa. For those who prefer to read the print edition, click here. If you want to read the novel that launched this futuristic FBI thriller series, you can buy the e-book of Quantico here or the print edition here.

And for a menu of eighteen unforgettable novels by this award-winning master of science fiction, visit Greg Bear’s page on E-Reads.

RC

About Greg Bear

Greg Bear, author of over 25 books, which have been translated into 17 languages, has won science fiction’s highest honors and is considered the natural heir to Arthur C. Clarke. The recipient of two Hugos and four Nebulas for his fiction, he has been called “the best working writer of hard science fiction” by The Science Fiction Encyclopedia. Many of his novels, such as Darwin’s Radio, are considered to be this generations’ classics. He is married to Astrid Anderson, daughter of science fiction great Poul Anderson, and they are the parents of two children, Erik and Alexandria. His most recent thriller novel, Quantico, was published in 2007. He has since published a new, epic SF novel, City at the End of Time.





 
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