Archive for January, 2011

Jan
27

Copyright Explained

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When you write copy you have the right to copyright the copy you write. You can write good and copyright but copyright doesn’t mean copy good – it might not be right good copy, right?

Now, writers of religious services write rite, and thus have the right to copyright the rite they write.

Conservatives write right copy, and have the right to copyright the right copy they write. A right wing cleric might write right rite, and have the right to copyright the right rite he has the right to write. His editor has the job of making the right rite copy right before the copyright would be right. Then it might be copy good copyright.

Should Thom Wright decide to write, then Wright might write right rite, which Wright has a right to copyright. Copying that rite would copy Wright’s right rite, and thus violate copyright, so Wright would have the legal right to right the wrong. Right?

Legals write writs which is a right or not write writs right but all writs, copied or not, are writs that are copyright. Judges make writers write writs right.

Advertisers write copy which is copyright the copy writer’s company, not the right of the writer to copyright. But the copy written is copyrighted as written, right?

Wrongfully copying a right writ, a right rite or copy is not right.

Right?

Copyright 1991 Shelley Herman S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A., Whittier Chapter.
Adapted and Appended by Scott Simmerman. If you wish to copy or write
this as copy, please be certain to copy right the copyright — contributed to
Swenny’s E-Mail Funnies by Carter Olson, St. Paul, MN

Categories : Interesting Stuff
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Here, for your delight, are some sample chapters of Matt Forbeck’s rather splendid Vegas Knights and Book II of The City of A Hundred Rows trilogy by Ian Whates – City of Hope and Despair.

Both books are published in the UK on March 3rd, and in the US and Canada on the 22nd day of that very same month.

Click for full-screen. You can embed the free sample in your own site – just copy the code (by clicking on the “menu” button in the bottom right corner of the sample, and selecting “Copy embed code”) into your site.

Categories : Angry Robot, Books, Free
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Jan
26

Ask the Robot

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Now you can ask the Angry Robot crew anything you want, because we’ve only gone and got ourselves a Formspring page. There’s bound to be something you’ve always wanted to ask us, and now you can do it without having to buy us a pile of drinks at a science fiction convention to do so. (Urgent note to Lee – Hold everything, I think I’ve just found a massive negative point in our doing this… — Marco)

Anyway, we’re not shy, so fire away! All answers will get copied to our regular Twitter feed, so make sure you’re following @angryrobotbooks too.

Categories : Angry Robot
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Jan
25

Our Books – July to November 2011

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We’re barely into 2011 and already we’re outlining our schedule for next year. However, until now, we’ve not confirmed exactly what books are appearing in the latter half of this year, and when. Let’s correct that, shall we?

July 2011
UK

Hard Spell by Justin Gustainis
Restoration (The World House book 2) by Guy Adams

US/Canada
Dark War (the 3rd Matt Richter book) by Tim Waggoner
Mistification by Kaaron Warren

August
UK

Reality 36 by Guy Haley
The Crown of the Conqueror by Gav Thorpe

US/Canada
Hard Spell by Justin Gustainis
Restoration by Guy Adams

September
UK

Embedded (B format edition) by Dan Abnett
Dead Bad Things by Gary McMahon

US/Canada
The Crown of the Conqueror by Gav Thorpe
Reality 36 by Guy Haley

Worldwide
Roil by Trent Jamieson

October
US/Canada

Dead Bad Things by Gary McMahon

Worldwide
Debris by Jo Anderton
Darkness Falling by Peter Crowther

November
Worldwide

Master of the House of Darts by Aliette de Bodard
King’s War (The Knights of Breton Court, volume III) by Maurice Broaddus

The eagle-eyed among you will notice that as of the end of this year, all our titles will be released simultaneously in the UK, US and Canada. Huzzah! More details on these titles – including covers – over the coming months.

Categories : Angry Robot, Books
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from the awesome Julian Smith:

Jan
21

The Zoo City Soundtrack

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Lauren Beukes’ unparalleled Zoo City is now out everywhere, and attracting much love. To enhance your reading experience, a wonderful soundtrack to accompany the book has been created too, in conjunction with acclaimed South African production house African Dope.

Compiled by Lauren and African Dope producer HoneyB, it features an eclectic line-up, ranging from old school kwaito from Ishmael and Brown Dash to gritty electronica from 37 MPH and Markus Wormstorm. It’s the perfect mood-setter to join Zinzi December and Sloth in their extraordinary trek through the shattered city in search of their missing pop starlet.

You can listen to the whole thing over at African Dope’s site or go straight to their store to snap it up for yourself – and here’s a code to get it with 50% off, courtesy of Lauren herself: Marabou&malt3s3

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Jan
21

Link Soup

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Here are a few things that have cropped up in my RSS Reader over the last few days:

Zoo CityFirst up – Pornokitsch reviews Zoo City by Lauren Beukes:

Beukes trusts her readers. She trusts us to pick up on unknown slang and languages; she trusts us to understand how her novel’s magical economy works without explaining its origins; she trusts us to like her protagonist despite introducing her as a murderer. She trusts us to care about a music scene we may be unfamiliar with, state-sponsored violence we may not have heard much about, a city we may never have visited.

Zoo City, in the final analysis, meets every Kitschie criteria – and then some.

Next up – The Eloquent Page reviews Thomas Blackthorne’s Point:

I knew nothing about Point by Thomas Blackthorne when it dropped through my letterbox. Within five pages… I was completely hooked.

Point is a sequel to last year’s novel Edge. I haven’t read the first novel but I should stress that this didn’t hamper my enjoyment of Point in anyway… Now that I have been introduced to this universe I can only hope that there will be more.

Listen to John Meaney (aka Thomas Blackthorne) reading from the first chapter:

The Functional Nerds podcast this week features our very own Lavie Tidhar, who talks about… well, pretty much everything, really. Head on over and listen.

Categories : Books, Podcast, Reviews
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Zoo CityWe all knew it, of course, but it’s official – Zoo City rocks! From the hundreds upon hundreds of SF novels published last year, Zoo City made it to the (very) long list of 50-odd titles nominated for the prestigious BSFA Award for Best Novel. And now, we can announce that it has made the shortlist. Just 5 titles have been selected to represent the best SF novels published in the UK in 2010, and they are:

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
The Restoration Game by Ken Macleod
The Dervish House by Ian McDonald
Lightborn by Tricia Sullivan

So, yet another extremely strong shortlist. The winner will be announced at the BSFA Awards Ceremony at EasterCon (Illustrious) in April.

Joey Hifi is also shortlisted as Best Artist for the UK/SA cover of Zoo City

Also shortlisted is Aliette de Bodard for the Best Short Fiction award, for her story, The Shipmaker (Interzone 231, TTA Press).

Congratulations to you all, and good luck to all the nominees (but, you know, especially, Lauren, Joey and Aliette).

Categories : Angry Robot, Awards
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Jan
17

Peter Crowther signs with Angry Robot

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Peter Crowther

Sean Connery or Pete Crowther?

The brains behind the award-winning PS Publishing, Peter Crowther, has signed to Angry Robot for a series of apocalyptic science fiction novels. The Forever Twilight trilogy sees a blinding light engulf the planet. As the light fades to utter darkness, only a handful of survivors remain. That is, until the hordes of vanished humanity begin to return – each one of them changed somehow.

Sounds a bit like the early hours at a typical SF convention – or is that just me?

Publishing Director Marc Gascoigne gushed: “Reading Darkness Falling gave me the same thrills I’ve got from recent Stephen King novels and Justin Cronin’s The Passage, and that was it – I decided we just had to have this dystopian masterpiece for Angry Robot”.

Darkness Falling will be released internationally in October of this year in paperback, eBook and audio formats, with successive volumes to follow in 2012 and spring 2013.

Peter Crowther added: “I’m absolutely delighted that Angry Robot has taken up the Forever Twilight SF cycle. In a short time the AR gang has put together an impressive list and I’m thrilled to be a part of it. They’re a young imprint, of course, but that’s to their credit: hungry, energetic and incredibly supportive. What more could one ask for?”

So, a dystopian SF trilogy, with changed people, worldwide catastrophes and bloody great writing? Now that’s an Angry Robot book!

Categories : Angry Robot, Books, Writers
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What?

Oh, I know it’s not your birthday* but I thought I’d give you a treat, anyway.

Here, for your delight, are some sample chapters of Thomas Blackthorne’s near future SF thriller, Point and King’s Justice by Maurice Broaddus. They really are rather good, you know.

Both books are published in the UK on February 3rd, and in the US and Canada on the 22nd day of that very same month.

Click for full-screen. You can embed the free sample in your own site – just copy the code (by clicking on the “menu” button in the bottom right corner of the sample, and selecting “Copy embed code”) into your site.

.

*unless it is, in which case, Happy Birthday – where’s my slice of cake?

Categories : Angry Robot, Books, Free
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