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George R. R. Martin: Zines, copyrights and Creative Commons
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George R. R. Martin started in fanzines
It's odd to think about it, but the punk Zines of the 70s actually had their roots in the nerdiest of origins, science fiction. Fantasy author George R. R. Martin, like many genre writers, rose through the ranks of SF Fandom:
Fandom is more integrated into the history and culture of sci-fi and fantasy than any other literary genre, certainly, and perhaps even any other leisure activity, with the possible exception of soccer. If not for fandom, we would not have Frederik Pohl, or Isaac Asimov, or any of the writers from the "golden age" of sci-fi, who started as convention-going fans.
And if not for fanzines, there might not be Hugo- and Nebula-winning author George R.R. Martin, who'll headline this weekend's COSine convention at the Best Western Academy Hotel.
Having started as a fan and writer of fan fiction, Martin's best known for penning the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, about the machinations of several rival families fighting for control of a mythic world called Westeros. He's written for television, including the new Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast. These days, when Martin hits conventions, it's as a guest of honor rather than an attendee.
Though, it started out as a bit of a fluke. Martin got a chain letter asking each person to send a quarter to the person at the top of the list, erase it, then send it on to others, the idea being, everyone would get rich. The guy at the top of the list happened to be putting out a superhero Zine for a quarter and assumed Martin wanted him to send a copy. Martin was hooked. Fanzines offered Martin a means to develop his craft until he reached a point where his work was good enough for the pros.
So, it's a bit odd that Martin is so opposed to fans writing stories set in his world:
Fanzines are often associated with Star Trek because they flourished among fans starved for new adventures of the cancelled TV show. Fanzines and conventions provided a means to let the show live on, and helped maintain enough interest for it to revive as an animated show, and a decade later, movies and several television franchises.
Considering the role fanzines played in Martin’s career, you would think he’d be a fan, but Martin is actually a vocal critic of people writing in another author’s universe because, he says, if you don’t actively protect your copyright, you can be in danger of losing it.
He doesn’t see any hypocrisy in this, because the fanzines he wrote for respected copyrights.
“I wrote about superheroes, but they were my superheroes. I knew better than that, even in high school,” he says. “Spock and Han Solo are fascinating characters, but… inventing characters is part of what you need to learn how to do.”
With the law as it is, you can understand why someone like Martin would be wary about risking his trademark by encouraging people to write in his worlds. The shortcomings of current copyright law to facilitate the sharing of information or the desire of companies to foster communities (such as fandom) around their creations is what led to the Creative Commons movement and Wiki Commons, which allows creators to grant limited use to modify and share photos and artwork while letting the creator retain some rights to his own work, usually requiring attribution.
Any blogger who has tried to clip or use a piece of artwork in a post knows why such a change in copyright law is so necessary. It is simply impossible to be able to buy rights or get permission for several posts a day, yet movie studios, who want the publicity, don't want to lose the rights to their PR material. These limited rights are the perfect way to address this.
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