License

Scope

This license applies to the website content for which I am the copyright holder: my stories, essays, photos and artwork. In particular, it does not apply to the works listed on the translations page, custom story artwork copyrighted by its artist, or the css I use in my website design.

Free as in beer

I believe that everyone should have access to ideas, even if they can’t afford to pay for it. The ideas in my writing are no doubt modest, but they’re what I have to offer. I make them freely available to read as an expression of this belief. If you enjoy my work, please thank me by doing something incredibly kind in the world.

Free as in speech

I believe that wonderful things happen when people build on ideas that are freely exchanged. A Creative Commons license encourages just that. All my work is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License. People are welcome to share and build on my work without asking or paying me, as long as they acknowledge its origin (the BY clause, credit must be given to the creator). The SA clause (adaptations must be shared under the same license) ensures that this freedom is always paid forward.

Commercial adaptations

In an ideal world, no one would need to monetize what they create in order to survive. In our actual world, however, money controls access to a great many things it shouldn’t. I chose a license without the NC clause (non-commercial use only) to honor that reality. I make my work free-as-in-beer, but you are free to request payment.

Here’s a concrete example to help make things clear. This license grants you the right to, say, turn one of my stories into a movie and charge people money to see it. You don’t have to ask for my permission, and you don’t have to give me a share of the profits. You do have to list me and my story in the film credits, and you do have to make it clear that I haven’t endorsed your movie (unless we’ve talked, and I have). You also do have to let other people use your movie under the same conditions — so they don’t have to ask your permission to, say, rip dvds and sell them, or sell tickets to show the movie to large crowds, and they don’t have to pay you a cent of what they make doing that. If you want to keep the exclusive rights to distribute and monetize your film, you’re better off contacting me to license the story under different terms.