A comprehensive, usable explanation of contracts, copyright and other key legal concepts that all writers need to understand.
A guide to the rights and responsibilities of writers, whether they are not yet published, self-published or traditionally published.
In this handbook for writers, Camp (In God We Trust, 2006) draws on her legal background and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to cover a broad range of issues of which every writer subject to U.S. law should be aware. After a foreword and introduction, the book begins with an explanation of the copyright system: what can be copyrighted, how to obtain a copyright and what protections the law offers copyright holders. Camp cogently explains the difference between copyright infringement and plagiarism, an often confusing topic, with samples of several works involved in recent accusations of plagiarism; she cites case law in nontechnical language to demonstrate the definition of fair use that courts have come to accept. The book leads readers through the elements of a publishing contract and identifies areas of frequent dispute—e.g., the definition of an acceptable manuscript. While copyright and contracts make up the bulk of the book, other sections address the financial aspects of a writing career, the benefits and drawbacks of incorporation, and defamation. Camp relies on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for the book’s structure, with quotations from Carroll’s work serving as thematic epigrams for each chapter; the living chess game, for instance, sets the stage for the discussion of contracts. Adding a touch of whimsy to what could be a dry subject, the quotations and accompanying black-and-white illustrations by Tenniel (which were used in the original editions of Carroll’s works) also serve as an object lesson, as Camp explains that they are in the public domain and can thus be used freely thanks to the expiration of their copyright. With its clear explanations of complex topics supported by easy-to-follow actual and hypothetical examples, this book has the potential to be a useful reference tool for writers who want to understand both their own rights and their responsibilities to other content creators.
A comprehensive, usable explanation of contracts, copyright and other key legal concepts that all writers need to understand.Pub Date: April 29, 2013
ISBN: 978-0989250412
Page Count: 342
Publisher: KP PK Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
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