The Ant King and other Stories by Ben Rosenbaum now available under Creative Commons

Cory Doctorow writing in Boing Boing notes that: "The marvelous Small Beer Press has put the entirety of my (Ben Rosenbaum) new short-story collection The Ant King and Other Stories under a Creative Commons by-nc-sa license and made it downloadable in a number of formats.

For those of you that are living in caves...how are you reading this? ... anyway, Creative Commons is free with restrictions. The nc sa means non-commercial and sa is share alike, meaning you can pass out as many copies as you want, long as you don't sell em. What is a bit different is that there is no nd restrictions. Which doesn't mean you can rewrite it and call it something different, but you are allow to "change" it depending on how you plan on distributing. For example, I read "the House Beyond Your Sky" and "Start the Clock" on BMU, but that was a change that was acceptable. The book is full of great stories like "The Ant King" I highly recommend downloading the book. The wonderful thing is that the hard copy is available as well if you feel like reading without carting a crapload of tech with you.

<- Small Beer Press free book page ->

Le programme du jour or I want a box, just like the box...

This week I have found a short video that is a bit of a departure. Not cute and certainly not light entertainment, I give you Le programme du jour or The Daily Program. This short movie is the work of two students of the ESMA: Samantha Duris and Loïc Tari and was released under the creative commons project. Set in a dystopian future, where everyone has a life booth that is literally that. You do virtually everything in this one little box. Inside there is another box that you enter where a screen tells you everything you need to know and everything to do. One of the most disquieting moments is when the main character B42-347 is informed that he will go meet someone new and the box chooses himself.

Firefly Novel from Steven Brust!

Hey, I just read over on the IO9 blog that writer Steven Brust, best known for his fantasy/scifi Dragaeran series, has done something that should warm all the fans of Josh Weadon's Firefly hearts. Brust has written a free ebook set in the Firefly universe. And by free I mean Creative Commons free. Down load it, copy it, distribute it, as long as it's NFP, knock yourself out! IO9 contributor Newitz writes that "Brust has done a great job capturing the humor and out-West action feel of the series."

Here is the link to the novel

Codehunters - stunning UK CC anime short!

Thanks to Boing Boing for this excellent heads up!

Codehunters, a short animé film by UK-based director Ben Hibon of stateless films, produced with London-based Blinkink.

The port city of Lhek is on the brink of collapse. A Pacific Rim state in a not too distant Asian future with no borders, no meaningful government and little law and order.

Corruption and crime are out of control in the dark alleys of Eda, Lhek’s slum district. Most sectors of the city are controlled by the army of dictator Khaan. The most underprivileged parts of the city are infested with dark Demons, ferocious creatures that spread fear and death amongst the city’s inhabitants. Rumor has it that the Demons are controlled by Khaan in order to keep his people in check

Kelly Completes Reading of Podcast Novel

James Patrick Kelly announces that he has just finished a podcast of his 1989 novel LOOK INTO THE SUN. The unabridged reading, over eleven hours long in thirty-four parts, is available for free downloading under a Creative Commons 3.0 license at Kelly's Free Reads Podcast site and on iTunes.

Kelly began the weekly readings back in March. This is Kelly's second novel recorded for Free Reads.The first was BURN, which won the Nebula award for best novella in May,2007. Also available on Free Reads area number of previously published stories and a selection of his "On The Net" columns from Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.

Kelly also produces a for-pay podcast on Audible.com called James Patrick Kelly's StoryPod. "After a brief vacation," said Kelly, "I look forward to posting more of my work on Free Reads. I am an audio book aficionado, and it is my ambition to have one of the most extensive libraries of Creative Commons podcasts of any professional science fiction writer."

James Patrick Kelly has written novels,short stories, essays, reviews, poetry, plays and planetarium shows. He has won the World Science Fiction Society’s Hugo award twice and his fiction has been translated into eighteen languages. He serves on the faculty of the Stonecoast Creative Writing MFA Program at the University of Southern Maine and the Board of Directors of the Clarion Foundation. His web site is www.jimkelly.net.

LOOK INTO THE SUN was extensively reviewed when it was first published:

"An earthling architect hired by aliens to build a tomb for a dying goddess must overcome a difficult case of culture shock. His struggle to maintain his identity while shifting his point of view is treated with admirable seriousness." New York Times, New and Note worthy Books

"A complex and richly constructed novel of a man faced with the destruction of everything with which he is familiar." Science Fiction Chronicle

A rich, slow, allusive, glinting pastoral edifice." Washington Post Book World

"Kelly explores the literal and figurative boundaries of alienation in this evocative novel of a man's search for his own humanity." Library Journal

Karl Schroeder's Ventus now a free CC download

Cory Doctorow had this to say, on Boing Boing:

Award-winning sf writer Karl Schroeder has just released his debut novel, Ventus under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- NoDerivs license, meaning that you can download it, share it and copy it as much as you like. Cory says "It's an indication of just how far ahead he is that this seven-year-old book still feels like it's on the cutting edge, with its object-oriented sapient planet, bizarre copyright wars, and assorted grace-notes."

Definitely worth a look with a strong recommendation like that!

Dogland and The Gospel of the Knife go CC!

from Boing Boing via SFSignals:

Will Shetterly has released two of his books under a Creative Commons License: Dogland and The Gospel of the Knife.