The Citizen Patriot’s excellent Ursula Le Guin interview
Jackson District Library will be hosting a Big Read event, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, and inspired by Le Guin’s Earthsea books. The Citizen Patriot conducted a really interesting and informative interview with Le Guin prior to the Big Read launch. Living in the UK as I do, the mention of the Scilly Isles as an Earthsea on Earth has led to a change in next year’s holiday plans…
Below is a snippet from the interview, to read it in full follow this link.
Citizen Patriot: The world depicted in the "Earthsea" series seems very complex. Did anything inspire its creation, like a part of the world you’ve been to or know of?
Le Guin: No, but after I’d written some of the books, I discovered pieces of Earthsea on Earth. One of them is Trinidad Bay, on the northern California coast. Another is the Scilly Isles, off the coast of south England. Nobody could make up places so fantastic.
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was born on the 21st October 1929 in California and is an American author of novels, poetry and short stories. She has won numerous awards during her distinguished career, notably the Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master award in 2003. In 1968, A Wizard of Earthsea was published, followed by The Tombs of Atuan in 1971 and The Farthest Shore in 1972. In 1990, Ursula Le Guin came back to the series with Tehanu. A number of short stories also bridge gaps between the main novels. The Word of Unbinding and The Rule of Names (1975), plus Dragonfly and The Tales of Earthsea (2001) are all vital reading for all Earthsea fans.
Posted: March 2nd, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: Ursula Le Guin
The ins and outs of the Google Book Settlement
The families of John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie have decided to opt in to the revised Google Book Search settlement. Gail Steinbeck, who initially opposed the settlement and Arlo Guthrie, said they would not bring a separate lawsuit against Google. Ms. Steinbeck is the wife of the late John Steinbeck’s son, Thomas, also a novelist.
Meanwhile, opposition to the settlement continues. Author Ursula Le Guin, who resigned as a member of the Authors Guild for “selling authors down the river,” has submitted to the Court an online petition signed by 367 authors against the settlement. In her petition, Le Guin states: “The Google Settlement was negotiated by the Authors Guild, without consultation with any other group of authors or American authors as a whole. The Guild cannot and does not speak for all American writers. Its settlement cannot be seen as reflecting the will or interest of any group but the Guild.
Among the Authors Guild members supporting the settlement are Wally Lamb, Simon Winchester, Beverly Cleary, Amy Tan, Scott Turow, Garrison Keillor and Elmore Leonard.
The objection corner has recently obtained heavyweight support in online retail giant Amazon, Consumer Watchdog, half-a-dozen French publishing houses and the Open Book Alliance. Amazon said the revised agreement violates anti-trust and copyright law and urged the judge to reject it.
British authors have also snubbed Google Books, with JK Rowling and Philip Pullman turning their backs on Google’s new digital library.
Caradoc King, Mr Pullman’s agent, said: “Why should we have to do this because Google decided to set something up which is clearly for the benefit of Google? Google can’t afford to do it without the support of major authors — they have to come back with a better deal.”
Ms Rowling’s lawyer at the Christopher Little agency said that the settlement “purport[s] to change US and international copyright rules”.
Other British authors including Helen Oyeyemi, Kamila Shamsie and Nick Harkaway have signed a petition headed by the children’s fantasy author Ursula le Guin, which argues the settlement “render[s] copyright essentially meaningless”.
The Justice Department has until February 4 to make its views known but the revised deal does not appear to have placated some of its original opponents.
The Google Book Search settlement agreement is the 303-page agreement reached between the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers and Google in October 2008 and recently revised after intervention from the Justice Department. The agreement settles a lawsuit filed against Google for “massive copyright infringement” related to the Google Books Library Project in which hundreds of thousands of titles were illegally scanned by Google. The settlement seeks to develop revenue models to compensate authors and publishers for Google’s digital use of copyrighted books. A fairness hearing is scheduled February 18, 2010.
Posted: February 5th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: JK Rowling, Latest News, Philip Pullman, Ursula Le Guin
Book View Café to grow ebook catalogue with help from Smashwords
Book View Café, a digital publishing cooperative for professional authors, today announced it has partnered with Smashwords to distribute Book View’s growing ebook catalogue.
“Smashwords is taking a truly dynamic approach to ebooks,” said Book View Café Project Manager Sarah Zettel. “From the beginning, BVC has promised readers the books they want, when they want them. Smashwords’ commitment to delivering multi-format ebooks to a wide variety of major retail outlets and mobile smart phone platforms will help us keep that promise.”
The authors of Book View Café are all veterans of the publishing world and plan to make the majority of their current ebooks available through Smashwords’ bookstore, affiliates, and retail distribution partners.
This will include titles by award-winning and bestselling authors such as Sarah Zettel, Sylvia Kelso, Steven Harper, Pati Nagle, and Chris Dolley.
All Book View Café content is DRM-free at the Book View Café web site http://bookviewcafe.com as well as at Smashwords (http://smashwords.com).
Book View Café came together in 2008 around a group of authors with a simple aim: to use the Internet to bring their work directly to their readers. It was already clear that a revolution was coming to the publishing industry and these authors wanted to help shape its course.
Posted: January 27th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: Ursula Le Guin
Ursula Le Guin gathers writers to fight against Google digital book settlement
As the January 28 deadline approaches for those wishing to opt-out of the Google digital book settlement, author Ursula Le Guin has gathered more than 300 signatures in her fight against the scheme to digitise books.
Le Guin has been vocal in her opposition to the Google book settlement, recently signed by the U.S. Authors Guild, and authors had until January 25 to put their names to the petition, which she plans to send to the judge overseeing the Google settlement case.
“The free and open dissemination of information and of literature, as it exists in our public libraries, can and should exist in the electronic media. All authors hope for that. But we cannot have free and open dissemination of information and literature unless the use of written material continues to be controlled by those who write it or own legitimate right in it,” her petition continued. “We urge our government and our courts to allow no corporation to circumvent copyright law or dictate the terms of that control.” wrote Le Guin in the petition.
The Google book settlement followed legal action by US authors and publishers against Google over its digitisation of works without consent. The search giant reached a deal with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers in 2008, but following objections from groups including the US Department of Justice it amended the $125m (£77.5m) deal, presenting a revised version of the settlement to a New York federal court in November. A final hearing is scheduled for February 18.
It is not all good news for those fighting against the deal though with news that the family of John Steinbeck, the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning author of Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, reversed its opposition to the deal.
“While we continue in our belief that what Google did was an imperious act of copyright infringement, it is time to step off the battlefield and evaluate our losses and our gains. When we look at the new conditions of the revised settlement, it meets our standards of control over the intellectual properties that would otherwise remain at risk were we to stay out of the settlement,” wrote Gail Steinbeck in a statement released Friday.
Ireland, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Germany, and France were all exempted from the settlement after objecting to it and Ursula Le Guin would like to see the US do follow the same path.
Posted: January 27th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: Ursula Le Guin
Round-up: JA Rowling, Bath-time for Pullman and Le Guin not finished yet
A round-up of fantasy news around the world.
A rare JK Rowling uncorrected proof sells for £1,600
An uncorrected proof edition of JK Rowling’s very first Harry Potter book has been sold for £1600 at auction.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, attributed to JA Rowling was bought by a collector at Edinburgh’s Lyon & Turnbull auction house. The copy was sent to critics and booksellers around the UK by Bloomsbury shortly after taking Rowling on.
The book, which also contains spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, was famously written on an old manual typewriter in coffee shops around Edinburgh.
Twilight seeps top spots in USA TODAYS’s best-selling books of 2009
For the second year in a row, Stephenie Meyer has swept the top four spots in USA TODAY’s lists of the best-selling books of 2009. Not even JK Rowling achieved this.
Books for children and teenagers accounted for 29% of sales recorded in 2009. Altogether, last year the Meyer books added up to £29.3m in sales – 10% of the total children’s book sales, according to Nielson BookScan, which compiles the best-seller lists for several national newspapers.
Philip Pullman’s Bath-time
Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, thriller writer Robert Goddard and celebrated cult writer Philip Pullman are just three of the internationally acclaimed writers who will be visiting Bath over the coming weeks.
Philip Pullman comes to Bath on April 1. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is his spellbinding retelling of the life of Jesus. Philip comes to Bath to discuss his new work, which is part novel, part history and part fairytale. He will discuss the tensions inherent in the dual nature of Jesus Christ and explore some of the myths and mysteries of the gospels that have helped shape human history in the last two millennia. The event is at the Guildhall at 8pm. Tickets £9 with £9 off the book. Tickets £7 when booked in person at the bookshop.
Random House to raise funds for new new television, toys, video games, and film projects
Random House Children’s Screen Entertainment will be looking to raise $100 million in order to create new television, toys, video games and film projects. The group was created when Random House Children’s Books struck a partnership with the UK production company, Komixx Entertainment.
A number of authors and illustrators could see more properties developed with Philip Pullman and Terry Pratchett having already been mentioned. Komixx intends to go out into the market for RHCSE in March. It may yet approach an existing film and television financier such as Aramid Capital to help it raise the money. The $100 million will be used to develop cartoons and live-action films and television series based on RHCB properties, as well as video games and toys.
Ursula Le Guin plans next move after resigning over Google Book Settlement
Ursula Le Guin says she wants to do more than simply resign in protest. On the Book View Cafe Blog, she says she’s heard from many writers who agree with her and wants to start marshalling that collective sentiment.
“How, where, can I ask writers who are unhappy with the Settlement to speak up – to stand up and be counted? We don’t have to agree on every detail, but I think there are a lot of us who see it as urgently important to let it be known that writers support the principle of copyright, and want the Copyright Office, the judges, the publishers, and the libraries to know that we intend to keep control of our work, in print or out, printed or electronic, believing that the people who do the work, rather than any corporation, should have the major voice in how it’s used and who profits from it.”
Oscar nominated Keisha Castle-Hughes to appear in Legend Of The Seeker
Keisha Castle-Hughes, the youngest woman ever nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award will be a guest star on an episode of Legend of the Seeker.
Castle-Hughes, who originally rose to prominence in 2002 for her role in the New Zealand film Whale Rider. The actress recently starred in projects such as Hey, Hey, It’s Esther Blueburger and Piece of My Heart. She also portrayed the Virgin Mary in The Nativity Story and had a small role in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
In Legend of the Seeker, Castle-Hughes will play a mysterious young woman who claims to be the Creator, the incarnation of God.
Posted: January 16th, 2010
Author: Lee
Categories: JK Rowling, Philip Pullman, Stephenie Meyer, Terry Goodkind, Terry Pratchett, Ursula Le Guin
Google Book settlement leads to Ursula Le Guin resignation from Authors Guild
Ursula Le Guin, whose membership in the Authors Guild dates back to 1972, has resigned from the organization, citing her unhappiness with the role the Guild played in the Google Book settlement.
“You decided to deal with the devil, as it were, and have presented your arguments for doing so. I wish I could accept them. I can’t,” Le Guin wrote in her letter of resignation. “There are principles involved, above all the whole concept of copyright; and these you have seen fit to abandon to a corporation, on their terms, without a struggle.”
Le Guin is keeping her membership in the National Writers Union and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, both of which have opposed the settlement. Le Guin concedes that while they don’t have the clout of the Guild, they possess sounder judgment.
The Authors Guild said it was sorry that Le Guin resigned, but said the agreement was a good one for all authors. It offered to discuss the agreement with Le Guin, and noted the deal came after the lawsuit it brought against Google to defend authors’ copyrights.
Ursula Le Guin was born Ursula Kroeber in 1929 in Berkeley, California. Her mother was a writer and her father an anthropologist. With a love of languages, she studied French and Italian literature at Radcliffe College. In 1953, in Paris, she married the historian Charles A. Le Guin. A very private person, Ursula Le Guin has three children, three grandchildren and lives in Portland, Oregon. She has published six books of poetry, twenty novels, over a hundred short stories, four collections of essays, eleven books for children, and four volumes of translation and says of the work of authorship: “Writing is my craft. I honour it deeply. To have a craft, to be able to work at it, is to be honoured by it.”
Posted: December 24th, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Ursula Le Guin
The Tombs of Atuan (unabridged) read by Karen Archer
Synopsis
In the legends of Earthsea, it is said that the wizard and king Erreth-Akbe was defeated by the high priest of the Kargad lands, and his amulet of power, bearing the rune of bonding, was broken and was lost.
Now, in the second book of Earthsea, the wizard Sparrowhawk enters the menacing labyrinth of the Tombs of Atuan to regain the amulet, and restore the rune which will bring peace to all of the islands of Earthsea.
Yet the labyrinth has a guardian, a young princess called Arha, whose life is dedicated to the the dark spirits who inhabit the tombs. She is determined that Sparrowhawk will meet the fate the befell Erreth-Akbe long ago.
Review
The Tombs of Atuan follows on from A Wizard of Earthsea but there is a distinctly different feel to the story. Featuring a predominantly female cast and set mainly in the location of the Tombs it is a departure from its predecessor. Those expecting simply more of Sparrowhawk and his voyages will be in for a surprise. Ursula Le Guin again shows the power of names introduced in A Wizard of Earthsea, and the themes of light and shadow, good and evil are again evident. It is a courageous and compelling sequel.
Karen Archer’s narration is first-rate and her pacing and delivery are once again perfect.
About the reader
To all of her performances, Karen Archer brings a seamless fluidity and humanity combined with precision and attention to detail. These qualities have made her a familiar voice in the many documentaries she has recorded for National Geographic and Discovery Channel. Karen has made numerous broadcasts for BBC Radio, twice being a member of BBC Radio Drama Company. Her work in the theatre includes classics such as Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan, Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts and contemporary roles such as Annie Wilkes in an adaptation of Steven King’s novel Misery. Her extensive television work has included Assistant Chief Constable Anne Stewart in the police drama series The Chief and Queen Elizabeth I in David Starkey’s acclaimed historical series, Elizabeth.
Karen has read a biography of Queen Elizabeth I for Naxos Audio Books. For Craftsman, she has also recorded the complete Snow-Walker trilogy by renowned fantasy author Catherine Fisher and the critically-acclaimed recording of Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea. Karen says of its sequel, The Tombs of Atuan:
“Ursula Le Guin’s evocation of atmosphere and place is quite breathtaking. But it is her overriding belief in the enduring goodness of one human spirit in the face of evil that is at the core of this book, connecting Earthsea to the here-and-now.’’
About the author
Ursula K. Le Guin was born Ursula Kroeber in 1929 in Berkeley, California. Her mother was a writer and her father an anthropologist. Her childhood was spent in a household filled with talk, argument and discussion surrounded by books, music and story-telling. As the only daughter in her family, the absence of her 3 elder brothers during World War Two made the summers at home lonely ones. Yet she considers those long days as a teenager, wandering the hills, of great importance: ‘I think I started making my soul then’ Ursula says. With a love of languages, she studied French and Italian literature at Radcliffe College. In 1953, in Paris, she married the historian Charles A. Le Guin. A very private person, Ursula Le Guin has three children, three grandchildren and lives in Portland, Oregon.
She has published six books of poetry, twenty novels, over a hundred short stories, four collections of essays, eleven books for children, and four volumes of translation and says of the work of authorship: “Writing is my craft. I honour it deeply. To have a craft, to be able to work at it, is to be honoured by it.”
The books in the Earthsea cycle were first published to great acclaim in 1968 with A Wizard of Earthsea. Millions of copies have subsequently been sold and the books have been translated into 16 languages. Ursula says:
“Exploring the Archipelago, discovering the rules of magic and what happens when you break them, the things I learned in Earthsea and the people I met there – that’s been a great part of my life for nearly forty years. And a great part of the joy of it is knowing that I share it with my readers.”
Posted: December 24th, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Audio-books, Ursula Le Guin
Ursula Le Guin to guest on Radio New Zealand
Radio New Zealand National is pleased to announce that Kim Hill returns to the programme on Saturday 18th July and her guests will include legendary science fiction and fantasy writer Ursula Le Guin.
Saturday Mornings with Kim Hill
8am – midday on Radio New Zealand National.
For more information, visit www.radionz.co.nz/saturday
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was born on the 21st October 1921 in California and is an American author of novels, poetry and short stories. She has won numerous awards during her distinguished career, notably the Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master award in 2003.
Posted: June 22nd, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Ursula Le Guin
Shawl becomes first African-American to win prestigous award
Nisi Shawl has become the first African-American woman to win a prestigious, gender-exploring literary award.
Shawl, 53 has been awarded the James Tiptree Jr. Literary Award for her 2008 short-story collection Filter House.
“It is probably one of the most meaningful (awards) to me because just about everybody that I aspire to emulate has won this award – not everyone, but just about everyone,” Shawl said. “Ursula Le Guin won it, for instance.”
Filter House (one of Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2008) is a collection of 14 stories and is “about three-fifths fantasy and two-fifths science fiction”.
A lifelong writer, Shawl, who recently finished work on another short story and also has two novels in the works said she didn’t sell her first story until 1996.
Posted: June 3rd, 2009
Author: Floresiensis
Categories: Ursula Le Guin
Scribd Store Beta begins selling eBooks
In March 2009, Scribd announced that it had partnered with several major publishers to make promotional chapters and some books available for free through its Web site. The new Scribd Store beta allows anyone with a Scribd account to upload electronic documents, sell them, and keep 80% of the author-determined sale price, minus a 25-cent transaction fee, or 40 cents if the document is protected by DRM.
Electronic texts sold through Amazon.com’s Kindle Store return 35% of the sale price to the author. Xlibris, a self-publishing service for authors, pays a 25% royalty for purchases of self-published books sold through its site or 10% for purchases made through a third-party site like Amazon.
In March, Scribd announced that it had partnered with several major publishers to make promotional chapters and some books available for free through its Web site. Though not every major publisher is ready to sell through the Scribd Store, Friedman said that publishers like Lonely Planet and O’Reilly Media have chosen to sell their content through the new Scribd Store. He expects that more will follow.
Scribd is often referred to as the YouTube of documents, and it has been dealing with the same piracy problems that prompted Viacom to sue YouTube in early 2007 for $1 billion. Scribd has been criticized for years for hosting copyrighted content without authorization. In 2007, it deployed a text-matching system to help curtail the posting of copyrighted texts.
Authors like Ursula Le Guin still come across unauthorized copies of their work on Scribd and elsewhere.
Source: InformationWeek
Posted: May 28th, 2009
Author: Floresiensis
Categories: Latest News, Ursula Le Guin
Book of the Month
Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill
Some doors are better left closed . . . In Barrington House, an upmarket block in London, there is an empty apartment. No one goes in, no one comes out. And its been that way for fifty years. Until the night watchman hears a disturbance after midnight and investigates. What he experiences is enough to change his life forever.
Latest interviews
Interviews plus question and answer sessions with authors, narrators and publishers.
Must-reads
The following reviews are of books that begin the very best fantasy series available.
Special Feature: Fantasy Book Review talks to the Book View Cafe
Book View Cafe is a cooperative site created by a group of writers - including internationally renowned authors Katharine Kerr, Ursula Le Guin and Vonda N. McIntyre - who want to take advantage of the internet's possibilities for reaching a wider audience and to distribute their work directly to their readers. The Book View Cafe is a place where you can find free, original fiction plus the authors' best and out-of-print work for a fee. Fantasy Book Review spoke to Book View Cafe member, science fiction author and memoirist Chris Dolley in February 2010.
Special Feature: Understanding the author of Alice in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll, the elusive author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, has been the subject of enduring fascination for the past hundred years. The destruction of many major documents about his personal life by his descendants has only magnified the mystery. Jenny Woolf's biography, published to coincide with the release of the new Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland film, lays waste to the myths and suspicions that have obscured Carroll's reputation by placing him firmly in the context of his own time.
