Yeah never got the difference between adult and kids books either until... I picked up Samuel Butler's "The Way of All Flesh" because Shaw recommended it in one of his prefaces. Not suitable for an eleven year old.

One of my then teachers spotted it, and told me that if I wanted to read trash that was OK, but I should not bring that sort of garbage to school. I think rage at the stupidity of this got me to finish the whole thing which I otherwise would have put down by page twenty out of boredom. Don't know if I would enjoy it more with an adult sensibility. I suspect not.

I just finished Ellen Klages' The Green Glass Sea just now. Have we talked about this book?

Because it was wonderful. Won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historic Fiction last year, if that means anything.

It's about two young girls whose parents work on the Manhattan Project, and what it was like to live in Los Alamos from 1943-45. One of them is a real social outcast, and it's forthright about the kind of pain that causes, without being too emo. I really enjoyed it, and would recommend it highly.

I get pissed at Dido, because she's so damn lovestruck that she more or less abandons her people and the construction of her city to moon after Aeneas, and instead of a) hunting him down or b) picking herself back up after he fucks off, she lies to her sister and tosses herself on top of a pyre. That is not leadership, woman! Way to give female rulers a bad name!

Ah - while this is true, I tend to give her a big honking free pass because she was well and truly under the influence. Up until Cupid shot her (although I may be misremembering this) she was a good ruler - but then she got zapped with the Mojo by Aeneas' gods just to make his life more convenient, and it fucked her up bigtime.

bad [lapsed] Catholic! no wafer!

Bwah!

Judge rules for Rowling in 'Lexicon' book case.

I think the judge made the right call. Rowling's work is the base, and this guy is trying to make a profit off of her work.

What I said in Natter was that I haven't followed the case to the letter, but what I've gotten from the bits I've read is that SVA's absolute sense of entitlement is what really got him into hot water. And there's no surer way to piss off an author-- especially one who's worked for so long on one world, then to say that you [the fan] deserve and have the right to be able to do something with that world not just for fun, but for profit.

Thing is, Rowling had been a huge supporter of the Lexicon website up until the point SVA wanted to publish. Lots of sticky wickets there.

Not that I'm a lawyer, but to my reading the decision was pretty clear that if the book hadn't been using Rowling's exact phrasing (sometimes in quotes and sometimes not), it would have been fair use.

Having seen quotes from the actual book now, I think he made the right call, too. He awarded what was basically the smallest possible sum in damages, and spent some time clarifying that derivative/referential works are generally in the public interest. So I fully expect that either this publisher or another will have a similar encyclopedia out ASAP, with better citations and more original wording. Which is fine. Mostly I feel like the judge understood this was a terrible case to set precedent with, and tried to come as close to the line as possible.

Mostly I feel like the judge understood this was a terrible case to set precedent with, and tried to come as close to the line as possible.

He urged them to settle the case back when it was in trial.

He urged them to settle the case back when it was in trial.

Yep. And I have to wonder, did SVA not really see how using so much with Rowling's exact phrasings was a problem?

I have mixed feelings about the opinion as a lawyer and a librarian.

did SVA not really see how using so much with Rowling's exact phrasings was a problem?

While I say, "Yes, this!" I also think that with Rowling's admission she used it, and that the film people used it, etc., they probably should have treated him a little better from the beginning and not sent him a letter when he suggested himself as editor that she works alone because, er. . . she'd already admitted to using his work.