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Spent today at the UBVA Symposium on Copyright, which was held in Copenhagen University's old feast hall, which has a pulpit and a fancy sideroom in which they served the breakfast and lunch buffet, which had a fancy wall that rose up whenever the actual presentations were happening.
There were several presentations on three major themes, one of them being libraries and copyright, specifically a mess of a case, where an author's rights organization (not Copydan, making it kinda questionable from the outset) sent out fancy folders telling libraries "How to be legal!" and wanting money for books being read out loud in libraries. Basically, it feels like the latest step in a more general movement, that basically seems - from what I read in various papers - that publishers and authors have chosen to take offense at libraries buying fewer books. Which is not good authors, especially the ones who don't write bestsellers, because they sell a lot fewer books, and end up with less library money, if any. They seem to blame this on the libraries, except they never seem to take into consideration that a) library budgets are constantly shrinking and b) libraries are legally obligated to provide access to things like dvds and e-books, and unlike books, the rights holders can dictate some pretty steep terms on the prices of those, leaving even less money for buying books. Honestly? This new (well, earlier this year) move seems like an attempt to make the libraries give the money to book authors that they are no longer spending on actual books, so to speak, and pretty suspicious, because, as I said, it ain't Copydan doing it.
The two other themes were on internet movie piracy (afterwards, I'm kinda left feeling that the tactic of some of the movie rights holders sending scary pay-us-all-the-money letters to IP holders and the author's rights organization above seemed far too alike, and neither seems entirely acceptable) and on the Arne Herløv Petersen's diary case, which is just a mess.
What I've recently finished reading
Juan Díaz Carnales: Fraternity 2.
The art is lovely, but the storyline felt - uninspiring, honestly. I wanted less utopic society breaks down and more what is that giant from the woods plot. Oh well...
Meredith Finch: Wonder Woman: Resurrection
And suddenly everybody Diana had made friends and peace with are her enemies again. Right.
Inge Eriksen: Luderen fra Gomorra
Hmmm. I can't quite decide if I liked this or not. On one hand it's well-written on-going apocalypse sf - the Earth is undergoing the ultimate climate disaster a couple of millennia into the future, and the final evacutation of the population to the colonies on various new planets are underway. A perfectly interesting premise, and the climate refugee apocalypse is still a fine theme.
Part of my hesitation is that it's a Danish book written in the early 80s and yet - it doesn't feel Danish? It feels like if I had been reading this in English, I might have expected the author to be American. And honestly - when reading a Danish sf novel, I'd like it to feel a little Danish, you know?
A bigger part of my hesitation is because of one of the two main characters. Both main characters are women of colour and interesting ones - there's Tukhalele, who is part of the remaining governing body (and also a little bisexual), and in the end decides to remain with the last non-migrating remnants of humanity on Earth. The other, Fey, is the eponymous whore raised on a Lunar colony, where everybody are so alienated from their own bodies that even prostitution involves high-tech programming and no actual physical interaction. Fey gives up her career in favour of moving down on Earth, to an education center, hoping to acquire the education to secure herself a proper life and migration permits to the new colonies. I liked Fey. She was somewhat fucked up, but I liked her. And the thing is? I read her as asexual. And I understand that the author didn't intend that, that she was writing in the wake of the 60s and 70s, with the personal is political and second wave feminism and sexual liberation. I understand that I am supposed to read Fey as monumentally fucked up and alienated from herself, that I am supposed to read Fey getting "cured" towards the end of the novel by doing drugs with and having sex with an astronaut as a positive thing. I get that Fey wasn't written to be an asexual aromantic character, I get that - but that's how I read her, anyway.
Still. Now I need to decide whether to look into the next book in this series, because it was interesting and well-written. I wish there better information about the next book's plot available online. Knowing whether Fey is still a character going forward might help me decide either way. Oh well...
Marie Brennan: In the Sanctuary of Wings
And so we say our goodbyes to the Lady Trent. Which is sad, on one hand, but it's been a well-structured five book series and it ends in a good place. Though I wonder if anybody has asked for post-canon fanfic of this for Yuletide. (Also, I kinda want a BBC period drama style five seasons tv show now.)
What I'm reading now
Neal Stephenson's The Rise and Fall of DODO, which is just getting embarrassing, and Jo by Dorthe Chakravarty.
What I'm reading next
Something?
Total number of books and comics read this year: 171
There were several presentations on three major themes, one of them being libraries and copyright, specifically a mess of a case, where an author's rights organization (not Copydan, making it kinda questionable from the outset) sent out fancy folders telling libraries "How to be legal!" and wanting money for books being read out loud in libraries. Basically, it feels like the latest step in a more general movement, that basically seems - from what I read in various papers - that publishers and authors have chosen to take offense at libraries buying fewer books. Which is not good authors, especially the ones who don't write bestsellers, because they sell a lot fewer books, and end up with less library money, if any. They seem to blame this on the libraries, except they never seem to take into consideration that a) library budgets are constantly shrinking and b) libraries are legally obligated to provide access to things like dvds and e-books, and unlike books, the rights holders can dictate some pretty steep terms on the prices of those, leaving even less money for buying books. Honestly? This new (well, earlier this year) move seems like an attempt to make the libraries give the money to book authors that they are no longer spending on actual books, so to speak, and pretty suspicious, because, as I said, it ain't Copydan doing it.
The two other themes were on internet movie piracy (afterwards, I'm kinda left feeling that the tactic of some of the movie rights holders sending scary pay-us-all-the-money letters to IP holders and the author's rights organization above seemed far too alike, and neither seems entirely acceptable) and on the Arne Herløv Petersen's diary case, which is just a mess.
What I've recently finished reading
Juan Díaz Carnales: Fraternity 2.
The art is lovely, but the storyline felt - uninspiring, honestly. I wanted less utopic society breaks down and more what is that giant from the woods plot. Oh well...
Meredith Finch: Wonder Woman: Resurrection
And suddenly everybody Diana had made friends and peace with are her enemies again. Right.
Inge Eriksen: Luderen fra Gomorra
Hmmm. I can't quite decide if I liked this or not. On one hand it's well-written on-going apocalypse sf - the Earth is undergoing the ultimate climate disaster a couple of millennia into the future, and the final evacutation of the population to the colonies on various new planets are underway. A perfectly interesting premise, and the climate refugee apocalypse is still a fine theme.
Part of my hesitation is that it's a Danish book written in the early 80s and yet - it doesn't feel Danish? It feels like if I had been reading this in English, I might have expected the author to be American. And honestly - when reading a Danish sf novel, I'd like it to feel a little Danish, you know?
A bigger part of my hesitation is because of one of the two main characters. Both main characters are women of colour and interesting ones - there's Tukhalele, who is part of the remaining governing body (and also a little bisexual), and in the end decides to remain with the last non-migrating remnants of humanity on Earth. The other, Fey, is the eponymous whore raised on a Lunar colony, where everybody are so alienated from their own bodies that even prostitution involves high-tech programming and no actual physical interaction. Fey gives up her career in favour of moving down on Earth, to an education center, hoping to acquire the education to secure herself a proper life and migration permits to the new colonies. I liked Fey. She was somewhat fucked up, but I liked her. And the thing is? I read her as asexual. And I understand that the author didn't intend that, that she was writing in the wake of the 60s and 70s, with the personal is political and second wave feminism and sexual liberation. I understand that I am supposed to read Fey as monumentally fucked up and alienated from herself, that I am supposed to read Fey getting "cured" towards the end of the novel by doing drugs with and having sex with an astronaut as a positive thing. I get that Fey wasn't written to be an asexual aromantic character, I get that - but that's how I read her, anyway.
Still. Now I need to decide whether to look into the next book in this series, because it was interesting and well-written. I wish there better information about the next book's plot available online. Knowing whether Fey is still a character going forward might help me decide either way. Oh well...
Marie Brennan: In the Sanctuary of Wings
And so we say our goodbyes to the Lady Trent. Which is sad, on one hand, but it's been a well-structured five book series and it ends in a good place. Though I wonder if anybody has asked for post-canon fanfic of this for Yuletide. (Also, I kinda want a BBC period drama style five seasons tv show now.)
What I'm reading now
Neal Stephenson's The Rise and Fall of DODO, which is just getting embarrassing, and Jo by Dorthe Chakravarty.
What I'm reading next
Something?
Total number of books and comics read this year: 171