Astounding Tales Second Issue

I have been getting AstoundingTales.com issue #2 ready for a September 1, release. I will actually let it go tonight before I leave work. It has some great stories and I wrote a couple of non-fiction items. I wish that I had more time to work on the art. I am not an artist and I have to resort to clip art libraries to get what I need. The cover art is a stock lunar setting from a clip art collection.
Arthur has done all of the editorial work. He has picked some very good stories and worked with some new writers to get some decent stuff that you will not see anywhere else.
It remains to be seen if the lawyers will object to this incarnation.

Story is up at ATSOISE

It feels good to have something in a Zine again. The Field of the Beasts can be seen at ATSOISE. This is not the best story I've ever written. I am afraid that it does not stand out. I researched it quite a bit and the local is authentic - nuns and all. The man who threw the party is a real person and the house is the actual house where he lived. The characters, however, don't seem to capture much of the flavor of old New Orleans.

Structurally, though, I think it hits the spot. I will have to return to it someday.

This is the first version of Les Choix des Armes. I like the second one better - it is currently in Amazing Heroes II. The two stories are totally different, but the concept of duel springs from a single idea.

Reject on S&S story

Lon at Neverary passed on a reprint of Le Choix des Armes, but he made nice coments. "It's very good", which is all I can ask for.

He wants the story to be at least a year old before he will reprint it.

I am afraid that no one will ever read it in "Amazing Heroes II". I don't think it has sold much.

Buy it here:

http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook24760.htm

Another rewrite request

This is the week for rewrites. I just got a request to fix up "Beast". I need coffee!!!

Some reponses over the weekend

Alien Skin returned "The Thoat" with a rewrite request. I'll do it as soon as the coffee kicks in this morning. They said it made then nostalgic for Lexx. Who is Lexx?

Irregular Quarterly returned my political short. I suspect that it may no tbe as good as I think it is, in spite of praise from several editors. I still think that it is a hot potato to editors who are afraid to alienate hlf of their audience. Also it is of regional interest (the region being US - which is large, but still...)

I wonder how internet usage breaks down on national demographics lines. Most of the users in my web logs come in through AOL. From what I can find (which is suspect is wrong.) The USA accounts for about 25% of world internet traffic and less than 50% of English speaking taffic. Asia is about 1/3 of all traffic and Europe is about 20%.

I would guess that a partisan political story from the US may be considered regional or even provincial.

I may start up StrangeTales.net as an Anonymous site and post my stuff there along with John's. I'll ask Bob (from poker) to donate to the cause.

Giant mutant ant colony found in Australia

Yahoo! News - Giant mutant ant colony found in Australia

There's the idea fo a 1956 movie here.

Russian scientists claim discovery of alien spaceship wreck in Siberia

Yahoo! News - Russian scientists claim discovery of alien spaceship wreck in Siberia
This was bound to happen.

Is Your Computer Possessed By A Demon?

Is Your Computer Possessed By A Demon?
Nohting to do wiht anything, but I love it anyway.

[TMP] Astounding Tales! Available in May

[TMP] Astounding Tales! Available in May

Hey what's this????

THE ASTOUNDING B MONSTER

THE ASTOUNDING B MONSTER
yet another!

Astounding Secrets - Free Secrets of Magic, Psychics, Mystics, Hypnotists and Fortune Tellers

Astounding Secrets - Free Secrets of Magic, Psychics, Mystics, Hypnotists and Fortune Tellers

Another Astounding site. This one is quite tacky.

The Astounding She Monster

The Astounding She Monster

Here's a site called Astounding Graphics that has a cool poster for sale.

Astounding Adventures

The comics and art of Elvis Deane

This is a particulary nice Flash site that features the work Astounding in a Logo similar to the one sometimes used in the late 50's in Astounding Science Fiction. I wonder if they received a letter?

Astounding Space Thrills | Official Web Site

Astounding Space Thrills | Official Web Site

I Wonder if these guys got a letter from Penny? It seems that they have a cool logo that is very similar to the one that I used.

I shipped off my response to the suits today

I shipped off my response to the suits today, registered mail. They asked me for four things of which I gave them three.
1) Immediate discontinuance of use of the trademark. Done! (Actually, I never used their trademark.)
2) Turning over all material which contain the trademark. There never was any. I offered merchandise from Cafe Press, but nobody ever bought anything. Also, their trademark is the later "Astounding Science Fiction" logo that was used in the 1940's. I copied an "Amazing Stories" logo changing the Amazing to Astounding.
3) An accounting of all sales... Sales = zero.

Item 4 is "an assignment of the domain name". This they won't get without a fight. There have been at least 4 and possible many more uses of the phrase "Astounding Stories" on science fiction products since 1930. To make absolutely sure, I moved all of the SF off of the url and onto another site.

They threaten me with 1) and award of damages for lost sales and profits. and 2) an award of attornys' fees.

Penny publications has no products that have the Astounding Stories trademark on them. In trademarks, it's "use it or loose it". I would be interested in accounting from Penny of any sales of trademarked products. I am quite certain that any sales are miniscule. The only trademarked product isn't even their product. 21st Century Archives (the original owners of the trademark) released a set of collecting cards based on early covers of Astounding stories. Street and Smith failed to renew the copyright on these early editions and in 1994 they were public domain. (Further proof that the Penny's trademark is invalid). The millenium copyright act might return the copyright to penny, but I don't think that ownership of the early issues can be traced through the many ownership changes of the Astounding magazines and then Analog. I doubt that any documents exist which grant penny ownership of "Astounding Stories", especially since the actual name of the magazine was "Astounding Stories of Super Science".

Why is Penny worried about my website? Could it be that they have a project planned which uses the title "Astounding Stories"? Could it be that they want the domain name for some reason?

I play poker with a successful TV producer. He is quite interested in my idea of using the title "Astounding Stories" as a basis for a TV show/series. I have written a few treatments based on stories that I have written and some summaries of stories that appeared in the original Astounding Stories. The idea seems to have legs, because he has found some backers who may be interested. Ownership of the domain is important to the success of this project.

I would suggest that Penny can't beat me, so they had better join me.

Research in trademark law:

We have seen that trademarks that are not currently being used, but will be used in the future, are included as registrable. However, for intention to use, it is insufficient to simply state the intention. It is necessary to show a likelihood of use in the future.
Marks that have not been used for three years are illegal and are called "dead wood;" they can be canceled for non-use. Of course, because it is difficult to examine a subjective intention, so called defensive trademark registrations do exist in actuality, even though there is absolutely no intention to use them, but at a theoretical level, they are not allowed.

From the www.uspto.gov site:

WHAT IS A DECLARATION OF EXCUSABLE NONUSE?
A §8 Declaration of Excusable Nonuse is a sworn statement, filed by the owner of a registration, that the mark is not in use in commerce due to special circumstances that excuse such nonuse and is not due to any intention to abandon the mark. Section 8 of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. 1058.
In general, nonuse must be temporary, and the owner must clearly demonstrate how the circumstances prevent use of the mark in commerce and what efforts are being made to resume use. Please note that nonuse due to the decreased demand for a product does not by itself constitute "excusable nonuse."

It seems like there is a lapse in the use of the trademark here.

The attack of the suits

Last Friday, August 6, I received a letter from the lawyers of Penny Publications Limited Partnership complaining about my use of the word Astounding and a logo which "resembles" a logo on which they have a trademark.

There is indeed a TARR (trademark lingo for a trademark registration record) in the database that shows someone registered the name Astounding as a line of Science Fiction Books and Trading Cards. I seem to remember that 21st Century Archives released the original Astounding Stories covers as a set of collectors cards. Penny must have acquired the trademark from that company.

I immediately took the site down and have since re-published it at a different URL without the Astounding Stories name.

It is interesting that the date of the TARR is 1994 with a "First Use" of 1990. I need to know if it is significant the the first use of the logo and name is actually 1930 and that after 1937 the magazine dropped the name (which was actually "Astounding Stories of Super Science") and used "Astounding Science Fiction" as the title. Since then, another magazine "Astounding Stories Year Book" used the name during the late 1960's, early 1970's.

I doubt if the use of a common adjective to describe Science Fiction as "Astounding" is a strong trademark. SF is, by nature, astounding. The trademark logo might be enforceable as a trademark, but I erased all of my copies.

Anyway, this is keeping me up at night. I want to use this experience to my advantage. My head is buzzing. I am writing my reply to the Penny letter tonight. Wish me luck.

Trunked a couple more

The only stories that I have out right now are the hard sells. I got back a story form neverary and anoher from nocturnal ooze. Booth had nice things to say, but also pointed out serious flaws in the stories. I will have to write some new stories rather than keep sending this stuff out.
I have a dog out at Alien Skin and another at Planet Mag. If Tyree ever reads his slush (once every 60 days) I'll be getting "Left Eye" back, but that one I can sell. I don't expect to get a sale at Glimmer Train, but that story I can sell to the Recipe anthology. Out of 5 subs and an a reprint sub, I expect to sell three, if I'm lucky.

Ernst Haeckel: Kunstformen der Natur

Ernst Haeckel: Kunstformen der Natur


Cool Artforms in Nature large scans of an old book. I will come back to this and make a CD of as many of these that I can download.

Elements of Surprise Finally Trunked.

I really like the story that I wrote about cell phone compression. No one seems to understand the technical aspects of the story. I am forced to trunk it, even though it is only one of two stories that I have ever written about writing code. The other, "Random Seed", will appear in Aoife's Kiss in December.
Tyrone Brooks at Quantum Barbarian said: might consider getting into the body of the story a little sooner.
This is ed-speak for: I was bored from the first words on and didn't even finish it.
I wish I could find a programmer's magazine that takes short stories.