On having a "temenos" and book reviews...
May 1, 2007
T he soundtrack from the movie Cinema Paradiso is the playing this morning. Ennio Morricone nailed the melancholy feel, the pathos, the sense of loss combined with yearning, combined with love and gratefulness. This movie is haunting.
Just visited my favourite café, a small nook on Jasper Avenue with an Italian feel…it will go unnamed for now as it’s a place I like to hide and work. It’s a temenos (a sanctuary, holy grove or holy precinct) for me. Their Americano is lovely. This morning, after quickly moving through the Globe & Mail (what the sam hell happened to the Globe & Mail?!?!?! It shrunk into this ridiculous excuse for a newspaper. I liked the awkward, over-sized pages that made reading the Globe a backwards origami adventure…now gone…), I worked on a scene from the book. The chorus; three characters who sit around a bar and editorialize on the story that is evolving around them. Eventually, (I know this because I'm the writer) they get sucked into the narrative. The funny thing about the future is that the minute you look at it, it changes because you looked at it. Yes, the Louster and I went to a movie on Saturday..."Next" is pretty damned good. From the same writer (Philip K. Dick) that spawned a number of films including: Blade Runner (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep), Total Recall (We Can Remember It for You Wholesale), A Scanner Darkly (same title), Paycheck (same title), Minority Report (same title). I'd recommend it.
Hey, there’s a featured review of Doubting in the May issue of Alberta Views. I take a risk mentioning this because I haven’t read it yet….but I’m hoping the reviewer got the book, understood it, liked it…Alberta Views also accepted my review of Gail Sobat’s new book: The Book of Mary. I’ll post a version of this review once it runs in print (is that ethical?). Suffice it to say, this is the best book I’ve read in the past year.
Namaste
3 Comments
1. ink slinger had this to say: May 01, 2007 ~ 17:16 ~ #
Most likely, you only sold them the first time publishing rights, so publishing on the blog is totally ethical, so long as it is after it appears in print.
I’m pretty sure you have to pretty much give up all rights to the work for that to be considered unethical.
2. Thomas had this to say: May 02, 2007 ~ 08:29 ~ #
Thanks, I honestly did not know. I know when I sell a short story or a poem to a lit mag that it’s “one-time” use but I had no idea about reviews for venues like the Edmonton Journal or Alberta Views.
3. ink slinger had this to say: May 02, 2007 ~ 22:30 ~ #
I’m fairly sure that it’s the same deal. Though, to be honest, I’m not sure. If it isn’t clarified in a contract or anything, I think it’s safe to assume that it’s one-time, first publishing rights.
It can actually get fairly complicated, and I’ve read things in the past that recommend actually listing what rights you’re selling in the upper right hand corner of the first page of your manuscript.
But, again, if it isn’t specified, I would assume it’s a one-time use (and probably the right to republish it online and in future editions if they so choose). As long as they haven’t bought your copyright completely, I think you are okay to republish it after they’ve used their “first” rights.