Free the Big Three

[psikeyhackr]

I have just had a peculiar idea. 

I have been checking out some of the science fiction in the Gutenberg Project.  It is mostly olde stuff, Verne, Burroughs, Wells, etc. with a little stuff from the 60's.  There is nothing by The Big Three, Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein.  Is it conceivable that we could get Clarke and the former Big Two estates to contribute one book to the Gutenberg Project?  It might even be good advertising for the rest of their books.

Anybody have any ideas about who to contact? 

psik

[Rico]

No idea on this one.  Maybe the Duffster will chime in.  I have no clue how they decide what to put into that project.

[Duffster]

It would be great if the estates would contribute, but I seriously doubt they would at this point. I still think they sell plenty of novels, thus still bringing in money. In fact the Heinlein Archives just came on line. If you are granted a research
grant  you can search all his original manuscripts and plenty of other info. If you are a normal person like us, you can still get pdf copies of his manuscripts, for a cost.

I think in these days of holding onto copyrights as long as possible, that we wont see these authors books released to the guttenberg project in our lifetime.

I doubt if any of the Burroughs books would have been allowed to lapse in their copyrights if the people running the estate would have had any idea of how big the Guttenberg project, and the internet have gotten.


The best thing is though that many of the books by these authors are continuing to have new additions produced. Plus there is always the used book store.

Don't get me wrong Psikey  I agree they should all be in the project. As far as I know all the books in the project have lapsed copyrights, or authors that contribute their books.

Duffster

[psikeyhackr]

I have located the email address for Clarke's agent.

I am thinking since he can make the decisions for his own works he might be more inclined to think in terms other than dollars or pounds.  But if he went along with it then he would know who to contact at the estates and they would be much more inclined to listen to him.

Any suggestions on how to word this to butter up the agent?  LOL

It would look kind of like a charitable donation and advertising for the Gutenberg Project.  One book from each of them is all it would take.

psik

[Rico]

One thing I never understand is how this works with out of print books but that are still under copyright.  There are of course a huge number of out of print books that are hard to get.  It would be great if these could be allowed to be scanned in sometime rather than basically vanish into the book twilight zone.  Of course, most of the really big authors tend to get their books reprinted from time to time.

[psikeyhackr]

I sent the email:

Greetings Ms. Glover

I am an old science fiction fan and have been perusing the SF books in the Gutenberg Project and it occurred to me that none of the BIG THREE, Asimov, Clarke or Heinlein have any works in the project.  Considering how much computers and the internet tend to make this a rather science fiction society and the number of scientists and engineers who admit that SF influenced their career choices it seems a shame for the BIG THREE to not be represented there.

Since Clarke personally participated in contributing to global communication with his suggestion of geosynchronous satellites and the remaining member of the Big Three I was wondering if he would be willing to contribute a book to the Gutenberg Project and possibly encourage the estates of Heinlein and Asimov to do so.  I suppose it could be regarded as good publicity but I actually think it could be a landmark for the global spread of science fiction literature.  I was in a bookstore last year and the clerk was wearing a Harry Potter button on his shirt.  I said, "There are lots of science fiction books that are better than Harry Potter."  He said, "That's true!" without a moments hesitation.  But Harry Potter gets lots more PR than the Big Three and kids won't learn anything about science from that drivel.

Sincerely, KS

PS - By the way, I am not with the Gutenberg Project.

Most likely nothing will come of but we'll see.

psik

[Duffster]

I commend your initiative on this, and I hope something does come of it. Keep us informed as to what you receive back from them.

Duffster