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  Literary Rights
  By
  Michael McCollum
  Recently at work I had an interesting conversation with a fellow 
  employee.  We were discussing evolution, and he, being very religious, 
  told me that he didn’t believe in it.  His exact words were, “You’ll 
  never convince me that we came from monkeys!”  I responded by 
  pointing out that he was technically correct.  “Actually, we, the apes, and the old world 
  monkeys all came from a small primate called the lemur,” I replied in my most professorial 
  tone.  “The new world monkeys (the ones that can swing by their tails) come from a 
  different primate called the tarsier.  So, despite the fact that they are outwardly very 
  similar, the monkeys found in Europe, Africa, and Asia are no more closely related to 
  those in South America than dogs are to cats.”
  Naturally, this scholarly response didn’t convince him, so I started explaining the 
  mechanism by which natural selection, the driving force behind evolution, works.  I used 
  the example of the hunting cats and prehistoric horses of North America.  From the fossil 
  record we know that the Great Plains were once home to a tiny race of horses and small 
  carnivorous cats.  The two species competed with one another over millions of years.  
  Over the centuries, the horses responded to being hunted by developing longer legs.  That 
  is, those with long legs survived to pass on their genes to their descendents; those with 
  short legs got eaten.  The same thing happened to the cats.  Those with short legs starved, 
  and those with long legs ate their fill.  From the fossil record it is obvious that the 
  evolution of both species was driven by the ever-lengthening legs of the other.
  Interestingly, my friend had no objection at all to what I was saying.  It soon 
  became clear that he believed in evolution, just not to the point where a new species might 
  develop from an older one.  But saying that “I don’t believe one species can evolve into 
  another,” isn’t the same as saying “I don’t believe in evolution at all!”  In fact, he believes 
  that societies, institutions, and animals all undergo evolution.  He just has a hard time 
  adopting the concept when it clashes with his religious beliefs.  In this, of course, he is far 
  from alone.
  What is interesting about this situation is that the concept of evolution permeates 
  our society and our thinking.  It is an integral part of the mental model by which we view 
  the universe.  We believe that societies evolve, attitudes evolve, cities evolve, nations 
  evolve, and even stars evolve.  Yet, prior to Charles Darwin’s publication of The Origin of 
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  the Species, no one believed in evolution.  It wasn’t that they had religious objections to 
  the idea.  The problem was that the very thought had not occurred to them.  
  As usual, people are undoubtedly asking, “What has this to do with writing and 
  literary rights?”  The evolution of species has very little to do with them.  However, the 
  concept of evolution, the notion that ideas and attitudes evolve over time has a great deal 
  to do with it.  If the connection seems a bit tenuous, please stick with me for a few 
  minutes.  I’ll get you to where we need to go as quickly as possible.
  Any discussion of literary rights needs to begin with a question, namely,  “Just 
  what the hell is it that writers produce, anyway?”
  Most people will answer “books” when asked to name the work product of a 
  writer.  This is not true.  Publishers produce books.  They have large factories with huge 
  presses to print and bind them.  Except, of course, that most publishers contract with an 
  independent printing company to actually manufacture their books.  Whoever does the 
  printing, there is no doubt as to whom the books belong when they come out of the 
  printing plant.  They belong to the publisher — not the writer.
  All right, let’s try again. If writers don’t produce books, then they produce the 
  words that go into the books.  Of course, they don’t actually produce the words.  Each 
  language has a prefabricated set of words that writers use in concert with everyone else.  
  A writer who makes up his own words is likely to find that no one will read his books, 
  although the great writers such as William Shakespeare weren’t averse to coining a new 
  word now and then.  Rather than producing words, what a writer actually does is arrange 
  them in distinctive and pleasing patterns.  In the olden days of 20 years ago, those patterns 
  of words were semi-permanently stored on recording media manufactured from smushed-
  up trees.  We call this media “paper,” and the old fashioned stuff is still much in use today.  
  More and more, however, words are stored as magnetic patterns on ferric-oxide films 
  inside computers.  We have a specialized name for words and numbers that have been 
  arranged in a particular sequence on purpose.  We call the stuff  “information.”
  So if writers don’t produce books and they don’t produce words, then they must 
  produce information!
  Just what sort of product is this information stuff, anyway?  You can’t really hold 
  it in your hands, or eat it, or wear it. — you can do all of those things with the paper or 
  magnetic media on which the information is recorded, although I don’t recommend it —
  but the information itself is insubstantial, with no physical existence in the real world.  
  From this we can conclude that a writer produces and sells a product that does not exist.  
  More interestingly, the writer expects other people to pay him money for a copy of this 
  non-existent stuff.  Of course, no one ever accused writers of having a firm grip on reality.
  Before we can talk about literary rights, we need to talk about the inherent nature 
  of the product to which those rights apply.  And to do that, we need to understand the 
  modern concept of  “intellectual property.”  Intellectual property is information that 
  belongs to someone.  I don’t mean that it is information in their possession; but rather, 
  that it is information to which they have legal, enforceable rights.  In other words, it is 
  information that, if found in another’s possession, the owner can successfully sue that 
  person’s ass off!
  Intellectual property, then, is a form of wealth.  This, too, is a relatively new 
  concept.  Where once a man’s wealth was measured in the number of cows and goats he 
  
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  owned, or the surface area and quality of farmland registered in his name, or the number 
  and denominations of little green-backed pieces of paper he managed to accumulate; now 
  wealth is often calculated in the number of packets of information a person can lay claim 
  to.  In other words, this insubstantial stuff is worth money!  If you don’t believe me, just 
  ask Bill Gates whether he thinks magnetic codes on a computer disk might not be worth a 
  few dollars.
  So, at the root of the concept of  “intellectual property” lies the idea that 1) 
  information does too exist, 2) it belongs to someone, usually the person who produced it, 
  and 3) the right to use that information can legally be transferred to another person in 
  exchange for cold, hard cash.  While these concepts have existed since the invention of the 
  printing press, the onset of the computer age has brought the idea of intellectual property 
  into sharp focus.
  The reason for this sudden resurgence of interest is something that virtually no one 
  thought about a mere two decades ago.  Twenty years ago the average person had no 
  inkling that something called “software” existed.
  Having been the department computer enthusiast at work since the early 1980s, I 
  have seen numerous forced awakenings to the concept of intellectual property.  Back in 
  the days of the 8088 chip, managers getting their first introduction to microcomputers 
  always had the same reaction:  “That new word processor looks great!  Let’s buy a copy 
  and put it on all 300 of our computers.”  Whoa, scout!  You can’t do that.  Why not?  
  Because when you buy software you don’t purchase the right to as many copies as you 
  want.  You buy a license to use a single copy on a single machine, and if you want to use a 
  second copy, you have to plunk down another $500.  Note that you don’t actually have to 
  purchase a second copy.  The copy you have is perfectly good for installing on a new 
  machine.  You just have to send in the $500 to keep yourself legal.  And, naturally, a name 
  quickly arose for those who ignored this legal nicety.  We called them “software pirates.”
  But wait a minute!  What is it that you find inside a box of Microsoft software, 
  anyway?  You find a manual, some advertising, and either a pile of floppies or a CD-ROM 
  — outwardly identical to every other floppy and CD-ROM in your possession, except that 
  the label is printed differently.  That hardly seems worth a couple of week’s pay, does it?
  Value, of course, is a relative thing.  Personally, I paid more than a thousand 
  dollars for the tools I needed to bring my web site online and thought I got a bargain.  
  You may buy a disk with a game of Solitaire on it for $2.98 and think you were gypped.
  If it has done nothing else, the commercial market in computer software has made 
  concrete the idea that information is worth something.  And computers in general have 
  driven home the point that information is a tangible thing.  I’m sure most of you will 
  recognize the following scenario:
  You have been working on this long report for a week now, and have all the 
  words, fancy bar charts, and other content nearly complete.  It’s late and you’ve had too 
  many cups of coffee.  You are short on sleep and know that you are going to be crabby in 
  the morning.  You are just on the last page of your magnum opus when the screen flashes 
  once and goes blank.  Of course, you’ve been too busy to save a backup copy.
  A moment before the screen flashed, it was filled with information that had taken 
  you more than 40 hours to create.  A moment after, the information is gone.  But where 
  did it go?  Anything you’ve worked on for a week can’t just vanish, can it?  It’s almost as 
  
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  though there ought to be a law regarding the conservation of information in the universe, 
  something akin to those relating to the conservation of mass and energy.  True, the 
  information is no longer on your screen, but it has to be somewhere, right?
  Unfortunately, there is no such law.  And just as the sound of a tree falling in the 
  forest is forever lost if no one is around to hear it, the same can be said of that lost report 
  that your boss wants on his desk first thing in the morning.  Here this moment, totally 
  gone the next, and all of that accumulated value is gone with it.
  If you’ve ever lost a lot of work on your computer, you learned two things.  First, 
  you learned to back up everything every ten minutes or so, and secondly, you learned deep 
  in your heart that despite its intangible nature, information is a real thing!
  It is the evolution of the concept of intellectual property that makes it possible to 
  earn a living as a writer.  A few centuries ago (and in places like modern China), anyone 
  who suggested that he was owed money for something he wrote would have been laughed 
  at.  And while there have been protections for authors since before the invention of the 
  printing press, the evolution in societal attitudes regarding intellectual property (mostly 
  with regard to computer software) gives the writer more protection than ever before. 
  So, having worked our way from Charles Darwin to that horrible time your hard 
  drive crashed, we have come to the point: the protection, exploitation, sale, and ultimate 
  disposal of an author’s rights to his or her intellectual property.  That then, will be the 
  subject of the rest of this chapter.  We begin with a catalogue of the various rights that 
  accrue when you decide to put words down on paper, and starting with the most 
  important advice a new writer can receive from a more experienced colleague:
  Work Done For Hire
  As I write this, I am approaching the 33rd anniversary of my employment with the 
  large aerospace company at which I am employed.  If all goes well, I will probably be with 
  them until my retirement.  Over the years I have probably written more then 10 million 
  words while pursuing my engineering duties.  I’ve written test procedures, schematic 
  descriptions, proposals, and all manner of memoranda.  In fact, when people ask me what 
  kind of science fiction I write, I always respond, “Novels and progress reports!”
  Despite my profligate word processor at work, I do not own the rights to any of 
  my professional writing.  Why?  Because everything I have written as an engineer comes 
  under the category of “work done for hire.”  The company gives me a check each week 
  and I produce words on demand as a condition of my employment. 
  There is a fundamental difference between being a salaried employee and a starving 
  freelance writer.  For one thing, those weekly paychecks convey considerably more 
  security than writers are used to.  Few writers are “employees” in the sense that the U.S. 
  Department of Labor understands the term.  Writers are independent contractors (at best) 
  or unemployed, but hopeful (at worst).  Because writers don’t collect weekly paychecks, 
  their attitude toward “work done for hire” must be different.  
  There is a simple rule in the professional writing business, one that is best followed 
  religiously: never, never, never, never sign a contract that specifies that your 
  words are “work done for hire.”  For what those words mean is that you are signing up for 
  
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  a relationship exactly like the one I have with my employer.  They pay you the money, you 
  do the writing, and then they own the words … forever and ever!
  Now perhaps you are saying, “well my work isn’t worth that much and no one will 
  ever want to buy anything I write a second time.”  You may be correct in your assessment.  
  Still, what if lightning strikes and you become famous?  What if you are peddling your 
  insurance policies one-day when you receive word that your book has sold a million 
  copies?  It could happen, you know.  In fact, it did happen to Tom Clancy.  If you have 
  sold that mega best seller as a “work done for hire,” then you won’t see any royalties from 
  those million copies, or the millions that follow.  Nor will you partake in the profits from 
  the Broadway play or the movie blockbuster.  You will, in the American vernacular, be 
  “screwed!”
  Writing is perhaps the oldest cottage industry still surviving.  You sit in your office 
  or bedroom and pound on the keys day after day to produce a story other people will pay 
  to read.  When you are done, you probably have a ream or two of paper covered in black 
  ink.  Despite the dozens of rejection letters in your drawer, you decide to chance it one 
  last time.  You stick the ream of paper in the mail to a publisher; the publisher likes it, and 
  sends you a check.  A year or so later, the book hits the shelves and the public loves it.  
  After years of trying, you’ve finally made the big time!
  The imprint on the book’s spine bears the name of your publisher.  Despite this, 
  the publisher doesn’t own the book – he is merely renting it!  Those words belong to you 
  for as long as you live, plus 50 years.  And if you are wondering why you would care 
  about the matter after you’re dead, then you haven’t considered the economic benefits that 
  may accrue to your survivors.  Edgar Rice Burroughs licensed Tarzan about a thousand 
  different ways before he died, and his family still makes a very good living from his legacy.
  Your words belong to you unless you have signed a “work done for hire” contract, 
  in which case they belong to someone else.  The two men who invented Superman signed 
  away all their rights for what seemed a good deal in 1938.  As a result, they did not 
  partake in any royalties from the billions of dollars of merchandise that have had that big 
  red “S” emblazoned on them these past 60 years.
  The only solution to this problem is to avoid it in the first place.  Whatever else 
  your contract states, it should make clear that you are selling the rights to publish your 
  book temporarily, and that should one of any number of events come to pass, that those 
  rights will be returned to you, the author.  To do otherwise is shortsighted and foolish, and 
  you may live to regret it!
  On The Other Hand
  Having warned you against working as an indentured writer, I must note that the 
  rule does have a few exceptions.  In recent years publishers have discovered that there is a 
  market for series novels.  These are books, usually based on popular television series or 
  movies, penned by different authors, but all written about the same characters or fictional 
  
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  universe.  Various publishers are grinding out book after book in the Star Trek and Star 
  Wars series, the X-Files series, and a number of other television and movie spin-offs.
  If you want to write a Star Wars book, I’ve got some bad news for you.  The only 
  way to do that is to sign a “work done for hire” contract with the publisher who has the 
  rights to that particular series.  The same is true for the various series springing from Star 
  Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: 
  Voyager.  While cruising my local bookstore recently, I even saw a book titled Tales of 
  the Ferengi, from the big eared capitalist aliens of the same name.
  Nor is there anything wrong with writers authoring these novels for hire so long as 
  they know what they are getting into in advance.  Series novels aren’t like “regular” 
  novels in that the writers invest less of their creativity in the writing.  I don’t mean to 
  suggest that they aren’t written as well as original novels.  Some are undoubtedly written 
  better.  But when you receive a series novel assignment, you are handed a prefabricated 
  story background, familiar characters, and guidelines to follow.  You are, however, 
  expected to think up your own plot!  
  And despite my warnings against doing “work for hire,” there are good reasons a 
  professional writer might wish to take on a series novel.  One reason is money, which is 
  generally pretty good for these books.  That’s because series novels tend to sell better than 
  original novels, having benefited from the free advertising of their precursor movies and 
  television shows.  Since a series novel is usually a guaranteed moneymaker, publishers can 
  afford to pay better.  And the higher sales of a series novel can aid a writer’s career.  If the 
  Trekkies read your Star Trek novel and like it, they may be tempted to purchase your 
  other books, too.
  So writing a series novel as a work for hire may be the best thing you can possibly 
  do to enhance your writing career.  If so, go to it.  Just don’t make a habit of it.  Generally 
  speaking, it isn’t a good idea to sell your soul to the publishers.  Even at series novel rates, 
  they still don’t pay as well as the devil!
  Publishing Rights, A Primer
  Having warned you about what not to do, let’s transition to the nuts-and-bolts 
  world of literary rights, a subject that isn’t nearly as straightforward as it once was.  
  Rights come in a variety of flavors and differ somewhat depending on the market to which 
  you are selling your work.  Periodicals (newspapers or magazines) purchase shorts term 
  rights, while book publishers would like to enslave you for life.  (Every contract has 
  something called the option clause, but that is a subject for a later time.)
  Literary rights can be broken down into a few basic groups.  These are: 
  First Serial Rights
  When a magazine purchases first serial rights, they are buying the right to publish 
  your article, story, or poem a single time.  They are also purchasing the right to be the first 
  publication to do so.  Magazine first serial rights are limited in duration.  Following the 
  publication of your story, full ownership reverts to the author.  Often first serial rights are 
  
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  further constrained by geography.  In all of the stories I published in the magazines, my 
  editors bought “First North American Serial Rights.”  That meant they had the right to 
  publish the story in the United States and Canada, and that I was free to sell it elsewhere 
  in the world.
  For a science fiction writer, “elsewhere in the world” generally means in the U.K. 
  and its commonwealth.  The reason for this is that science fiction is predominately an 
  English language literature.  Why this is so, I have no idea.  It just is.  I have sold books in 
  Japanese, German, and recently had a deal to sell to a Russian publisher, but in terms of 
  volume of book sales, English language science fiction outsells foreign SF by a wide 
  margin.  Obviously, if you are a different kind of writer, then your “other” prospects may 
  be much greater than were mine.
  One Time Rights (Simultaneous Rights) 
  One-time rights, also known as simultaneous rights, give a publisher the 
  nonexclusive right to publish your work one time in their periodical.  Simultaneous rights 
  mean just what they say.  You can sell the work to more than one publisher at a time. This 
  rather civilized arrangement has one major drawback.  If you sell the same work to two 
  competing magazines, it is unlikely that either editor will ever speak to you again.  
  Simultaneous rights are generally sold to non-competing magazines – say to “The 
  Lutheran Digest” and the “Autoworker’s Daily Scoop.”  Since the magazines are not 
  likely to share a readership (except for Lutheran autoworkers), then the commercial value 
  of your work to each magazine is the same as if they had sole rights.  Unfortunately, 
  multiple sales are hard to come by, and except for the religious press, hardly ever occur.  
  So I wouldn’t count on selling each of your works to ten different magazines.  
  Second Serial (Reprint) Rights
  Second serial rights give a magazine the right to publish a work that has already 
  appeared somewhere else.  Like simultaneous rights, second serial rights are nonexclusive, 
  and therefore, not worth as much as first serial rights.  Along with selling magazines the 
  right to print my shorter fiction, I generally sold them reprint rights as well.  This gave 
  them the ability to bring out books with anthologies of stories that had appeared in their 
  magazines.  Of course, I also charged them money for this distinctly different right 
  whenever I could.  It isn’t always possible to sell reprint rights, either because the 
  magazine isn’t interested in reprints or because the standard contract specifies that the 
  magazine is buying both first serial and second serial rights as a package.  If you are forced 
  to sign such a contract, don’t worry too much about it.  You aren’t losing that much.  Just 
  make sure they can’t reprint it ad infinitum.
  All Rights
  Selling “all rights” is slightly different from “work done for hire,” at least in my 
  mind.  If you are writing for hire, then the work is never in your possession.  It belongs to 
  your employer from the moment of its creation.  If, however, you write a book and then 
  sell all rights, you are giving someone else the rights to your work in perpetuity.  These 
  
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  are rights that belonged to you up to the moment you sold them, but will never belong to 
  you again.  My advice regarding selling “all rights” is the same as for a work done for hire.  
  Don’t do it!  If you run into an “all rights” clause in your contract, immediately call the 
  editor and begin negotiations to have it removed.  Better yet, have your agent do it.  If the 
  publisher won’t relent, refuse the deal.
  Subsidiary Rights
  Subsidiary rights are additional rights (other than the right to publish your work in 
  a book or magazine) that flow naturally from the fact that you went to the trouble to set 
  your words down on paper.  Subsidiary rights are gaining in importance every year as new 
  technologies multiply a writer’s options.  After you’ve sold your first serial rights, you still 
  have second serial rights, foreign language rights, other geographic rights, movie and 
  television rights, audio tape and various electronic rights, game rights, translation rights, 
  marketing rights, and God only knows what other rights to dispose of.  If you sell “all 
  rights” to your story, then you are cutting yourself off from this plethora of other 
  moneymaking opportunities.
  For instance, if you sell your book to a hardcover book publisher, who gets the 
  paperback rights?  If you guessed that the writer retains them, then you guessed wrong.  
  One little known fact of publishing is that hardcover books seldom make money.  Since 
  the publishers are in business to make money, they tend to be sensitive on this subject.  
  Before he will publish your book, the publisher insists that you sign over some portion —
  typically 50 percent — of the revenue from the paperback to cover the shortfall in hard 
  cover revenues.     
  Whether the subsidiary rights go to the publisher or the writer retains them, it is 
  very important that the disposition of each subsidiary right be spelled out explicitly in the 
  contract.  This can avoid endless arguments and litigation in the event the work turns out 
  to be as popular as the editor and writer hope.
  To aid those who have never seen a publishing contract, I have included typical 
  wording regarding the transfer of rights in the appendix to this chapter.
  Dramatic, Television, and Motion Picture Rights
  The dream of every writer is to have his or her book made into a movie.  Having 
  had one of my books, Thunderstrike!, briefly optioned by some people who work special 
  effects on Star Trek, I can tell you that it was quite a thrill.  I also got a tour of the 
  Starship Enterprise out of it.
  “Optioned?  What’s that?”
  It may surprise you to learn that a Hollywood producer who has read your book 
  and enjoyed it can’t just start producing a movie on the subject.  Why?  Because you own 
  the intellectual property rights to the entire concept.  One of those rights is the right to 
  turn it into a play, TV program, or movie.
  When someone is interested in filming your book, they usually begin with an 
  “option contract.”  That means that they aren’t actually buying your rights, merely offering 
  you a payment so that you won’t sell them to someone else for a specified period.  The fee 
  
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  for a one-year option is typically 10% of what you will be paid if the producer eventually 
  buys your rights.  In exchange for the payment, the party purchasing the option has the 
  exclusive right to attempt to interest producers, actors, and financial backers in the work 
  for the purposes of making a movie.
  Option contracts typically run for one year and are renewable for as long as the 
  interested party has money each year when the payment comes due again.  I have heard 
  that major studios pay as much as $70,000 per year just to hold the option; and that they 
  do so for several years running.  There are stories of writers who have actually been 
  disappointed when their books got made into movies because that steady stream of option 
  money dried up.  My own deal wasn’t with a major studio.  It was with some skilled 
  Hollywood technicians operating on a shoestring, and by major motion picture standards, I 
  sold them an option for a song.  Of course, Hollywood standards regarding money aren’t 
  like those of us mere mortals.  The option on Thunderstrike! amounted to 50% of what 
  the publisher paid me to write it in the first place.
  Conclusion
  As we noted in the last article, publishers are in the BUSINESS of printing and 
  selling books.  This means that they hire dozens of very expensive lawyers to draw up 
  their contracts for them.  If you think you will submit your manuscript to them, then 
  negotiate a million-dollar contract with every clause in your favor, you are having a 
  fantasy.  You will no more put anything over on the publishers than you can really get a 
  good deal from a new car salesman.  Just as the auto dealer knows what he paid for the 
  car and what he has to sell it for to make his minimum profit, the publishers know what 
  your book is worth to them and what they can afford to give away in the contract.
  So, once you’ve sold your book, get an agent and have him go over your contracts 
  carefully.  He or she will know the rights the publisher will negotiate and those he won’t.  
  The agent will advise you as to the rights you can afford to give up and those that must 
  remain sacrosanct.  The ensuing negotiations may be over quickly, or drag on for weeks.  
  Be patient.  Once negotiations are done, you can sit back, relax, and look forward to the 
  next phase in your publishing career – the part where you spend all of your time fighting 
  with the copy editor!
  In the meantime, enjoy the glow of your first acceptance letter.  There will be 
  plenty of time to worry about business tomorrow.
  
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  Appendix 4
  Excerpt from Typical Book Contract
  The following is typical wording from one of my book contracts.  Publisher’s contracts vary quite a lot, 
  but at least you can get an idea of what to expect when you get that first contract of your own. While 
  reviewing the contract wording, keep in mind that this is what my agent was able to get me after a lengthy 
  negotiation.
  Excerpt from Publishing Contract Regarding Rights
  1. The Author hereby grants to the Publisher during the term of copyright, including 
  renewals and extensions thereof in each country for which Publisher is granted 
  rights, the following rights:
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  Literary Rights
  The Art Of Writing Series
  August 2004
  � 2004, Michael McCollum
  Page 11
   Sci Fi - Arizona: www.scifi-az.com
  All Rights Reserved
  The End
  � 2001 by Michael McCollum, All Rights Reserved
  This article is the property of the author and of Sci Fi - Arizona.  It may not be 
  sold, or used for any commercial purpose whatsoever, without the written permission of 
  the author.
  Sci Fi - Arizona
  A Virtual Science Fiction Bookstore and Writer’s Workshop
  Michael McCollum, Proprietor
  WWW.SCIFI-AZ.COM
  If you enjoy technologically sophisticated science fiction or have an interest in 
  writing, you will probably find something to interest you at Sci Fi - Arizona.  We have 
  short stories and articles on writing– all for free!  And if you like what you find, we have 
  full length, professionally written science fiction novels in both electronic form and as hard 
  copy books, and at prices lower than you will find in your local bookstore.  
  Moreover, if you like space art, you can visit our Art Gallery, where we feature the 
  works of Don Dixon, one of the best astronomical and science fiction artists at work 
  today.  Don is the Art Director of the Griffith Observatory.  Pick up one or more of his 
  spacescapes for computer wallpaper, or order a high quality print direct from the artist.
  We have book length versions of both Writers’ Workshop series, “The Art of 
  Writing, Volumes I and II” and “The Art of Science Fiction, Volumes I and II” in both 
  electronic and hard copy formats.  We also have the Astrogator’s Handbook, Expanded 
  Edition, showing the location of 3500 stars.
  So if you are looking for a fondly remembered novel, or facing six hours strapped 
  into an airplane seat with nothing to read, check out our offerings.  We think you will like 
  what you find:
  1.  Life Probe - US$4.50
  The Makers searched for the secret to faster-than-light travel for 100,000 years.  
  Their chosen instruments were the Life Probes, which they launched in every direction to 
  seek out advanced civilizations among the stars.  One such machine searching for 
  intelligent life encounters 21st century Earth.  It isn't sure that it has found any...
  2.  Procyon’s Promise - US$4.50
  
  Literary Rights
  The Art Of Writing Series
  August 2004
  � 2004, Michael McCollum
  Page 12
   Sci Fi - Arizona: www.scifi-az.com
  All Rights Reserved
  Three hundred years after humanity made its deal with the Life Probe to search out 
  the secret of faster-than-light travel, the descendants of the original expedition return to 
  Earth in a starship.  They find a world that has forgotten the ancient contract.  No matter.  
  The colonists have overcome far greater obstacles in their single-minded drive to redeem a 
  promise made before any of them were born...
  3.  Gridlock and Other Stories - US$4.50
  Where would you visit if you invented a time machine, but could not steer it?  And 
  what if you went out for a six pack of beer and never came back?  If you think nuclear 
  power is dangerous, you should try black holes as an energy source — or even scarier, 
  solar energy!  Visit the many worlds of Michael McCollum.  I guarantee that you will be 
  surprised!
  4.  Antares Dawn  - US$4.50
  When the supergiant star Antares exploded in 2512, the human colony on Alta 
  found their pathway to the stars gone, isolating them from the rest of human space for 
  more than a century.  Then one day, a powerful warship materialized in the system 
  without warning.  Alarmed by the sudden appearance of such a behemoth, the 
  commanders of the Altan Space Navy dispatched one of their most powerful ships to 
  investigate.  What ASNS Discovery finds when they finally catch the intruder is a battered 
  hulk manned by a dead crew.
  That is disturbing news for the Altans.  For the dead battleship could easily have 
  defeated the whole of the Altan navy.  If it could find Alta, then so could whomever it was 
  that beat it.  Something must be done…
  5.  Antares Passage  - US$4.50
  After more than a century of isolation, the paths between stars are again open and 
  the people of Alta in contact with their sister colony on Sandar.  The opening of the 
  foldlines has not been the unmixed blessing the Altans had supposed, however.
  For the reestablishment of interstellar travel has brought with it news of the Ryall, 
  an alien race whose goal is the extermination of humanity.  If they are to avoid defeat at 
  the hands of the aliens, Alta must seek out the military might of Earth.  However, to reach 
  Earth requires them to dive into the heart of a supernova.
  6.  Thunderstrike! - US$6.00
  The new comet found near Jupiter was an incredible treasure trove of water ice 
  and rock.  Immediately, the water-starved Luna Republic and the Sierra Corporation, a 
  leader in asteroid mining, were squabbling over rights to the new resource.  However, all 
  thoughts of profit and fame were abandoned when a scientific expedition discovered that 
  the comet’s trajectory placed it on a collision course with Earth!
  
  Literary Rights
  The Art Of Writing Series
  August 2004
  � 2004, Michael McCollum
  Page 13
   Sci Fi - Arizona: www.scifi-az.com
  All Rights Reserved
  As scientists struggled to find a way to alter the comet’s course, world leaders 
  tried desperately to restrain mass panic, and two lovers quarreled over the direction the 
  comet was to take, all Earth waited to see if humanity had any future at all…
  7. The Clouds of Saturn - US$4.50
  When the sun flared out of control and boiled Earth's oceans, humanity took 
  refuge in a place that few would have predicted.  In the greatest migration in history, the 
  entire human race took up residence among the towering clouds and deep clear-air 
  canyons of Saturn's upper atmosphere.  Having survived the traitor star, they returned to 
  the all-too-human tradition of internecine strife.  The new city-states of Saturn began to 
  resemble those of ancient Greece, with one group of cities taking on the role of militaristic 
  Sparta ... 
  8.  The Sails of Tau Ceti – US$4.50
  Starhopper was humanity's first interstellar probe.  It was designed to search for 
  intelligent life beyond the solar system.  Before it could be launched, however, intelligent 
  life found Earth.  The discovery of an alien light sail inbound at the edge of the solar 
  system generated considerable excitement in scientific circles.  With the interstellar probe 
  nearing completion, it gave scientists the opportunity to launch an expedition to meet the 
  aliens while they were still in space.  The second surprise came when Starhopper's crew 
  boarded the alien craft.  They found beings that, despite their alien physiques, were 
  surprisingly compatible with humans.  That two species so similar could have evolved a 
  mere twelve light years from one another seemed too coincidental to be true.
  One human being soon discovered that coincidence had nothing to do with it ... 
  9.  Gibraltar Earth - US$6.00
  FIRST TIME IN PRINT ANYWHERE!
  It is the 24th Century and humanity is just gaining a toehold out among the stars. 
  Stellar Survey Starship Magellan is exploring the New Eden system when they encounter 
  two alien spacecraft.  When the encounter is over, the score is one human scout ship and 
  one alien aggressor destroyed.  In exploring the wreck of the second alien ship, spacers 
  discover a survivor with a fantastic story.
  The alien comes from a million-star Galactic Empire ruled over by a mysterious 
  race known as the Broa. These overlords are the masters of this region of the galaxy and 
  they allow no competitors.  This news presents Earth’s rulers with a problem.  As yet, the 
  Broa are ignorant of humanity’s existence.  Does the human race retreat to its one small 
  world, quaking in fear that the Broa will eventually discover Earth?  Or do they take a 
  more aggressive approach?
  
  Literary Rights
  The Art Of Writing Series
  August 2004
  � 2004, Michael McCollum
  Page 14
   Sci Fi - Arizona: www.scifi-az.com
  All Rights Reserved
  Whatever they do, they must do it quickly!  Time is running out for the human 
  race...
  10.  The Art of Writing, Volume I - US$10.00
  Have you missed any of the articles in the Art of Writing Series?  No problem.  
  The first sixteen articles (October, 1996-December, 1997) have been collected into a 
  book-length work of more than 72,000 words.  Now you can learn about character, 
  conflict, plot, pacing, dialogue, and the business of writing, all in one document.
  11.  The Art of Writing, Volume II - US$10.00
  This collection covers the Art of Writing articles published during 1998.   The 
  book is 62,000 words in length and builds on the foundation of knowledge provided by 
  Volume I of this popular series.
  12.  The Art of Science Fiction, Volume I - US$10.00
  Have you missed any of the articles in the Art of Science Fiction Series?  No 
  problem.  The first sixteen articles (October, 1996-December, 1997) have been collected 
  into a book-length work of more than 70,000 words.  Learn about science fiction 
  techniques and technologies, including starships, time machines, and rocket propulsion.  
  Tour the Solar System and learn astronomy from the science fiction writer’s viewpoint.  
  We don’t care where the stars appear in the terrestrial sky.  We want to know their true 
  positions in space.  If you are planning to write an interstellar romance, brushing up on 
  your astronomy may be just what you need.
  13.  The Art of Science Fiction, Volume II  - US$10.00
  This collection covers the Art of Science Fiction articles published during 1998.  
  The book is 67,000 words in length and builds on the foundation of knowledge provided 
  by Volume I of this popular series.
  14.  The Sci Fi – Arizona, Astrogator’s Handbook, Expanded Edition - US$14.95
  Writers of science fiction have an interest in astronomy that is different from that 
  of just about everyone else on Earth. We don’t care where the stars appear in the night sky 
  of Earth. We want to know where they are with respect to one another. Our motto is: 
  “Forget the pretty lights in the sky! Tell me how to get from Procyon to Aldebaran by the 
  shortest possible route!”
  The Sci Fi - Arizona Astrogator’s Handbook, Expanded Edition does just that. We 
  show you local space as viewed from the vicinity of Polaris, the North Star, using a 3-D 
  layered mapping system that makes it easy to visualize the positions of the stars in the sky 
  and their relationships to one another. Included in the handbook are:
  
  Literary Rights
  The Art Of Writing Series
  August 2004
  � 2004, Michael McCollum
  Page 15
   Sci Fi - Arizona: www.scifi-az.com
  All Rights Reserved
  �
  60 pages of instructions and information concerning astronomy.
  �
  7 overview star maps showing the 3500 stars in a 150 light-year cube centered on 
  Sol.
  �
  63 quadrant star maps showing the same stars with detailed information such as 
  name, position, and spectral type.
  �
  120 pages of tables of supporting data giving additional information on each star.
  �
  Indexes and diagrams that make navigating between the maps and tables effortless 
  and intuitive.
  �
  Designed such that the maps can be removed and combined to show a full 150 x 
  150 x 25 light-year slice of space at a glance.
  �
  The hardcopy edition comes in a plastic binder that allows the maps to be removed 
  and replaced multiple times for ease of use.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Crafts/Writing/McCollum, Michael - Literary Rights.pdf