We're still looking for submissions

We didn't get any submissions at all for our next Podcast Play - except from copperbadge, and while we adore him, he did write the first SpellCast Podcast Play, and we'd like to give someone else a shot if anyone else is interested.
So we've extended the deadline to November 1, although the chosen script will still need to be completed by November 5. If you won't be able to adapt your script, if chosen, in the first week of November, please do not submit at this time.

We're looking for stories that incorporate Christmas, Hanukah, Yule, Kwanza, Solstice and/or any other holiday celebrated in December. We will only accept scripts that are rated PG-13 or less.

APPLICATION
Please fill out the application and send it, along with the adaptation of the first page or so (or the entire script, if you've already adapted it) to [email]SpellCast@fictionalley.org[/email]

FA Username (you can register now if you're not already an FA member):
Title of fic:
Brief summary:
Link to fic:
# of male characters with speaking roles:
# of female characters with speaking roles:

We ask that you do a quick adaptation of the first page or so of your fic, to show us that your fic is an appropriate choice and that you understand the process of radio adaptation. Please include a list of all speaking roles for the entire fic (with brief descriptions if necessary). Put any stage directions or sound effects in brackets.

If the story is already in script-form, please feel free to send us the entire script.

You can adapt your own fic, or you can adapt someone else's fic if the original author(s) consent; if you are submitting an adaptation of a fic written by someone else, please attach the name and email address of the original author.

We recommend reading the advice on script-writing at LumosDissendium before you adapt the fic into script form.

Any questions? Ask by posting a reply to this comment or email us at spellcast@fictionalley.org. And if you sent in a submission already and it got eaten by gmail, let us know asap via help@fictionalley.org.

TPTB and Fanfic Mainstreaming

So I'm replying to a question from someone in FictionAlley Park, and the Google Ad at the bottom of the page - which I can't screencap because for some reason my MS Paint program is MIA - says the following:

Fanfiction Writing
Learn to write like a pro from HarperTeen editors and authors.
www.harperteenfanlit.com

It links me over to this page where Harper is using FanLib to encourage teens to write a story in pieces, using the FanLilb system where multiple people can submit sections or chapters, and then people vote and choose the one they like best and that becomes where the story goes next. Meg Cabot posted about it on her blog a few weeks ago, too. It's not the contest per se that I find intriguing.

It's the fact that Harper's is advertising it using the tag word fanfiction, even though it really isn't - it's original fic.

Is it another example of Fanfic Becoming Mainstreamed, or TPTB Knowing About And Being More Or Less Ok With At Least Some Fanfic? Is it another way to make Lee Goldberg's head explode as he surfs teh intrawebz?

I'm not sure. I don't know what Harper's google-ad people were envisioning when they wrote "fanfiction writing" and "learn to write like a pro" in their ad.

But it's really damned interesting and I'm wondering (a) what people who feel/want to feel that fanfic is a subversive/subculture/hidden thing think about yet another moment where a Really Big Company is Sort Of Jumping On The Bandwagon, and (b) whether people think this is a Bad Thing or a Good Thing.

Me, I'm all about the good. I think TPTB knowing about fanfic is terrific and fine and excellent as long as they don't try to bar it or shut it down, and when one uses fanfiction as a positive in an ad like this, it's (and her I get legalisticish again) a smidge of evidence that fanfic is a permitted act, or deemed a form of fair use, or allowed under an implied license unless an author explicitly states otherwise. Not a smoking gun, but a smidge of Good And Positive Support. And that's all about the good.

I hope.

ETA: Yes, I said as long as they don't try to bar it or shut it down above. As long as they don't try to bar it. As long as they don't try to shut it down.

This was a bit of a linguistic shorthand-abbreviation for my it-would-take-many-paragraphs-to-explain feeling about fanfiction as a matter of law, but so nobody gets the wrong idea, here's my take, based on copyright and trademark law today, October 25, 2006: I think that noncommercial fanfic (meaning fanfic that isn't sold like books are sold or where people have to pay to read; I believe that the lines surrounding whether one makes money from fanfic are blurrier where Google ads appear on the page, or a link to an Amazon or WB store is there, or there's some other potential financial support for the entity hosting the fanfic, but in circumstances like that experienced by the Harry Potter fandom, WB has consented to such links/ads/t-shirt sales/conference registration fees), as a general rule, falls under the Fair Use provisions of the Copyright Act because it's commentary on the source text, and qualifies as noncommercial usage under the Lanham Act and common law trademark laws for purposes of trademark infringement, but I haven't yet given enough examination to the recent dilution laws signed by Bush this past month to determine the full potential impact on fanfiction, although I'd be completely entertained by the Can Voldemort Be Tarnished? hypothetical. For more on law and fanfiction, I recommend Meredith McCardle's 2003 law journal piece (it's a PDF) as well as Rebecca Tushnet's 2004 Yale Law Journal piece, Copy This Essay: How Fair Use Doctrine Harms Free Speech and How Copying Serves It (also a PDF).

SpellCast 8

Ah, my favorite number!

With the end of October fast approaching, SpellCast episodes are
coming to you with the speed of a Snitch! SpellCast: Episode 8 is now
online and available for download. In this episode:

- Announcements: SpellCast wants YOU!
- The hosts respond to comments and questions from SpellCast listeners
in an all-new Mailbag segment.
- Writer's Corner takes on Dark!Harry fics with Becka and Cedar.
- Snape, Dumbledore, and their complicated relationship come into
consideration through the Fan Fiction Review of GMTH's "Any Means
Necessary."

As always, you can download the episode at our
website or subscribe
via iTunes. Remember to vote for SpellCast on PodcastAlley!

New Jersey News

I'm spammity today but I know some of you get news via LJ so...

From CNN
-- Gay couples have the same marriage rights as heterosexual couples under the New Jersey state constitution, the state Supreme Court rules.

ETA: americablog has the ruling itself which indicate that the legislature has 180 days to either legislate marriage or, if they don't, civil unions will then be allowed, or so it seems.