Elaine Cunningham - I can has COPYRIGHT?!! Srsly?
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I can has COPYRIGHT?!! Srsly?
Yesterday I receive two ARCs of Beyond Magic, a Paranormal Romance anthology coming out this September. There are three novellas in it--one by Tor regular Susan Kearney, mine, and Kassandra Sims's. This is the first paranormal I've done, and I'm always happy about an opportunity to try something new (thanks, Anna!), but what REALLY tickled me was the copyright page.
Since I had to share the news, I opened the book to the copyright page and showed it to my son.
"Check this out! Look at the copyright!"
He stooped (he's 6'5") and squinted at the page. "Hair Express, Inc?"
"No! That's Susan Kearney. Some authors incorporate. Keep reading."
"Oh. Elaine Cunningham."
He looked up and grinned, understanding immediately. The copyright did not say Wizards of the Coast, or LucasFilm Licensing, or Sony Corporation (for the EverQuest book). Just an author's name--a statement that these characters are legally MINE. Not mine and the Literary Agency East, Ltd, joint copyright on the Changeling books. Just mine. After 17 years of writing shared-world fiction, that's a novel experience, you should pardon the expression. In fact, the emotion that copyright page evoked ranks only a few notches lower than The Call I got from Mary Kirchoff, then managing editor of TSR Books, accepting the proposal for what would become Elfshadow, my first book.
Life is good.
I can also has new toy. The Cunningham men bought me a new scanner for Christmas, but I didn't take it out of the box until this morning. (So sue me. I've been busy.) It's terrific--very fast, good quality reproduction. So I scanned in the cover of the ARC. Here it is:
 This is definitely a paranormal romance cover, but hey--that's what's inside. My story is pretty evenly balanced between mystery/plot and relationship. It's difficult to separate the two, but in general I think there's a stronger reliance on plot than on sex/chemistry--moreso than one might expect for this sub-genre. I hope paranoramal readers don't see this as a fault, but time will tell. I'm pretty happy with the story, and I'm looking forward to diving into a book-length story focusing on one of the secondary characters. I wrote a first draft about twelve years ago, but I never finished it because at the time, it just didn't seem to fit any publishing catagory. Nowadays it would be easily recognizable as urban fantasy. It's really more of a dark fantasy thriller--think early Dean Koontz, even--than a paranormal romance, but in these days of cross-genre fiction, I think it's close enough to work as a linked novel.
We'll see.
Tags: paranormal romance
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| From: | (Anonymous) |
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| Date: | April 9th, 2008 05:28 pm (UTC) |
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You know, I never was a big fan of the whole "urban fantasy" subculture. Until I read Anton Strout. Now, I still don't prefer it, but I'm not as skittish when it comes to reading it. Maybe I'll use your copyrighted material to expand my reading into romance. It has to be better than those Fabio books I see....
TK
There's a lot of urban fantasy that leaves me with a bad case of "meh," but I do enjoy several series. Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden books are lots of fun. So is the Sookie Stackpole series by Charlaine Harris. I also like her Harper Connolly series. I've had it up to here (::demonstrates::) with emo vampires. Same goes for demons, for the most part, but Jackie Kessler's Hell books (Hell's Belles, The Road to Hell) are well written, cheerfully raunchy, and refreshingly angst free.
Urban fantasy is a big catagory. Nebulous, too. It's not all blood-sucking estasy and horny werewolves. ("Oh, my! What big [censored] you have. . . ") By some definitions, you could include Neil Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS and ANASSI BOYS as urban fantasy. If it has a contemporary setting and fantasy elements, it qualifies.
Yay, copyright!
I'm not primarily a romance reader, but have been intrigued by the rise of paranormal romance (especially Luna). I'm also *really glad* to see a publisher buying novellas. Anything between short story and (now, bloated) novel range is wicked hard to sell these days.
| | | Re: Congratulations | (Link) |
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I've read a few of the Luna books. This is Harlequin's fantasy line, and the ones I read had more in common with fantasy than with paranormal romance. There was a romance subplot, yes, but in some cases it was almost negligable. DISAPPEARING NIGHTLY, a very funny urban fantasy, had a possible romantic interest. He never reached subplot statis: in fact, he found the heroine a useful strategy for fending off his Irish Catholic Mother Campaigning Tirelessly for Grandchildren by mentioning he was kind of interested in a girl who was an actress, Jewish, and a murder suspect. (His mother received this triple whammy in silence, then inquired, "Do you think she'd be willing to convert?") :)
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/53065332/5660673) | | From: | ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) dqg_neal |
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| Date: | April 9th, 2008 07:16 pm (UTC) |
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| | Re: Congratulations | (Link) |
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Luna, had much more in common with Fantasy or Urban Fantasy than Paranormal Romance. Some of them barely had any romantic plotline at all. Anything by C.E. Murphy was a good read.
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/67185632/12884746) | | | Re: Congratulations | (Link) |
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Some of the Lunas are romance with a fantasy thread, others are fantasy with a romance thread. But they have a much higher success rate for me than most other publishers; they're willing to venture into territory that few people will touch. Gail Dayton's _Compass Rose_ has group marriages. Christie Golden's _On Fire's Wings_ dealt with (unwitting) incest.
Congrats on the copyrights, Elaine!
I know exactly that feeling that invokes the Snoopy-Dance. I had my moment this January when Fellowship Fantastic (a DAW antho) published my first "me-owned" story of "Concerning a Gambit of Fraternity." Daw's got my 2nd story due out this July in The Dimension Next Door.
Now to get to work finishing my 3rd story for an antho they're setting up next year.
And cuz you're a great lady and a fave author of mine, I might even have to go buy Beyond Magic at the bookstore in that oh-so-important first week/month of sales. ;)
Steven
who still believes he should sponsor a charity event to buy all those poor romance-cover-boys some shirts they obviously can't afford.... ;)
I don't have a problem with shirtless guys in situations that seem appropriate. The couple on this cover, for example, are engaged in clothing-optional activity. But I had to chuckle at a trio of contemporary western romances depicted in Romantic Times, which showed shirtless but otherwise fully dressed cowboy-types in outdoor settings. With hats on, mind you. And SUSPENDERS. I mean, really. If you're going to take your shirt off, chances are the pants aren't too far behind, so why push the suspenders back up?
I hear you on the short story ownership. I've published a few creator-owned short stories, and it does feel pretty damn good. This is the first longer pieces, though--33,000 words--and there's a chance that it might lead to some novel-length stuff. All of which is happy-dance worthy.
awesome! I'll pick that up as soon as it's out.
:o)
Dan
Yay! Hope you like it. :)
I'm sure I will... it's probably as close to a 'Shadows' book as we'll get for a while.
BTW, on a slightly side topic... have you ever watched Sfi-Fi's Dresden Files (or read the books I suppose although I haven't checked those out yet). might be up this alley.
Good luck with the sales tho!
:o)
Dan
Maybe, maybe not. I'm working on a "Shadows" possibility. More news soon, I hope.
As for the Dresden books, yes, I've read them all. Haven't seen the TV series, though.
I say nothing... but my logo is representative...
:oD
Dan
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/43656810/5179375) | | From: | revena |
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| Date: | April 9th, 2008 07:00 pm (UTC) |
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Woohoo! :-D
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/53036955/9358165) | | From: | stannex |
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| Date: | April 9th, 2008 09:16 pm (UTC) |
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Congratulations, Elaine! That is WONDERFUL! May we all have such copyright statements in our future!
Thanks! Here's hoping. :)
Congrats, ec! When does this one hit the streets?
(But don't be surprised if the girls over at Smart Bitches revile the manback on the cover, in lieu of mantittie, heh.)
It'll be out in September 2008.
Everyone reviles covers. I've had booksellers tell me they loved DAUGHTER OF THE DROW but couldn't bring themselves to shelf the book face-out and display the original Fred Fields cover. The original FF cover of TANGLED WEBS was memorably described as "a freeze frame from a bad dance video." The Star Wars cover, DARK JOURNEY, was excessively pink for the fandom's tastes. The Changeling covers have a bad case of genre confusion. So . . . ::shrug:: Bring on the revilers. A snarky cover review is better than book oblivion, and hearing what the Smart Bitches have to say could be fun.
OSpeaking of manback, one of my (male) editors recently reviled the urban fantasy preoccupation with the female backside. Like the Smart Bitches, he prefers a frontal view. I advised him, "You've seen two, you've seen them all," but he wasn't buying it.
Congratulations! You can has cookie 2!!!!
Actually, I can't has cookie. It's not on the Weight Watchers "Core Program."
But! I can has brown basmati rice, so life is good. |
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