Robert J. Shea's SHIKE released with CC
Mike Shea says:
LinkIn 1981, after writing Illuminatus! with Robert Anton Wilson, my father, Robert J. Shea, wrote Shike, a book set in medieval Japan. Last night I released Shike on BobShea.net under a Creative Commons license along with All Things Are Lights, another of my father's novels.
I only ask that those who take the time to read my father's work also take the time to send any corrections as the scan wasn't perfect.
Nothing is more important to me than to have my father's work available to the widest audience. Thank you for your support.
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Mike! You're doing it wrong! You're supposed to be milking your father's work for all it's worth! We need a Shike animated series and plush dolls, stat!
Seriously, thanks for this. It sounds like an interesting read and I'm happy you've decided to release it to the world.
First, really sweet. As a dad, I can say this: You're a good son.
Second, holy crap, I read this when I was in college. Really great read as I remember it. It absolutely opened my eyes to other cultures and social processes.
Very cool.
Thanks for doing this. If it's as good as I expect, I'll have to go buy a retail copy too.
Random tangent about Robert Anton Wilson:
I was at a rave at a Chicago warehouse in the early 90's, and halfway through the night the music stopped and lo-and-behold, Mr. Wilson started speaking.
It was very surreal to see a bunch of raver kiddies all sitting in a circle on the cold concrete floor listening to the imposing, grandfatherly figure of Wilson.
I remember clearly the last line of his speech, "And people ask me, when was the last time I took acid? And I tell them, today!"
Obviously, that got a huge cheer.
Disclaimer: I do not promote and have never done acid, but obviously he did
I can't thank Mark enough for posting this note. I can't describe how much it means to me.
Deadmeat, that's a great story! My dad was probably the more subtle of the two Bobs, but I've heard one or two stories like that. One time a woman showed up in our bushes in our suburban home outside of Chicago. My dad talked to her for a while and then she left. My mom wasn't very happy about the whole thing; she had flashes of John Lennon's end in her head.
I'm hoping some day to work out a way to get Illuminatus on the web. The rights are split up at the moment, with half to me. If anyone happens to have a digital text version, I'd love to get a copy. I don't think it's technically a copyright volation to send them to one of the copyright holders.
Also, if anyone has the energy and capability of scanning and OCRing my father's other books: Saracen and Shaman; I'd love to release those as well.
Thanks again!
Mike Shea
Well, if your willing to give electronic distribution rights to Project Gutenberg I can usually get the conversion and proofing done.
Greg Weeks
Great news! I love Shike and hope this creates more fans, movie, radio serial, comicbook, Happy Meal, german manga, church... :)
Thanks Mike.
Mike Shea, Stu Mark got it right: you're a good son.
Totally, totally über cool release - havent read this in almost a decade - thanks muchly!
I'm 98% sure that this text includes both books "Time of the Dragons" and "Last of the Zinja", can anyone confirm this?
This is fabulous! I loved that book!
Why this book has never been made into a movie, I don't know! It has all the power of "Titanic"! I could even see Celine Dion's song being sung over the credits! Seriously!
Great move, Mike!
I"ve never read, but I've often thought about who this Robert Shea was. Thanks a bundle!
These two works are also available at http://www.booksinmyphone.com packages up to run in regular cell phones - so you don't need to be tied to the computer to read them.
This was a two volume work. Is this just the first, or are both here.
I may still have copies of this at my mothers house.
Loved this book...
#9, agreed regarding the book being great movie material. Out of curiosity, what happens to the film rights when a novel is released under CC license? Can someone now write a screenplay based on the book w/o permission from the copyright holder?
I hope someone is going to hook Mike up with an etext of Illuminatus!
I've seen it around from time to time.
I can only imagine how the world would have been more different if more people had read the "Saracen" books. They were great introduction to the realpolitik and history of the Middle East.
A Japanese professor at CSUS loved Shike, which is a testament to the quality of research done to produce it.
All Things that are are Lights, is a beautiful/tragic take on the Crusades, and it's personalities. If I hear the names, I think of his characterizations.
Having read almost everything written by Wilson and Shea, it was obvious that Shea was a better overall writer. Wilson tended to recycle the same material, much of which was someone else's, be it Leary, or Fuller. I have to wonder if the bulk of the wordsmithing in Illuminatus was done by Shea.
I first read Shike back in '81 when it first came out, and still reread it every so often.
Now I won't need to go on eBay trying to find copies that aren't all banged up.
FNORD: Under the terms of "Shike"'s Creative Commons license [Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0], one may not use "Shike" for commercial purposes without Mr. Shea's permission. In addition, no derivative works are allowed, which means one may not alter, transform, or build upon "Shike" without Mr. Shea's permission. So, if someone never asked Marc Shea's permission and went ahead and wrote a screenplay and produced a "Shike" film, they would be violating the terms of the book's creative commons license and would therefore be infringing on Mr. Shea's copyright.
The term "noncommercial" and the restriction on derivative works doesn't mean that "Shike" can never be used commercially or be made into a movie. As the creativecommons.org site points out: "The 'NonCommercial' license option means that you do not receive the commercial rights via the Creative Commons license. You can always approach the licensor directly to see if they will separately license you the commercial rights.' The same goes for any derivative works.
See, the CC license in plain English:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/
http://creativecommons.org/license/
The Creative Commons licenses are not the same as placing a work into the public domain.
Here's a public domain dedication:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/
Mike - I've sent a .PDF copy of Illuminatus! your way. I greatly appreciate you releasing this copy of Shike. And any work you could get towards getting Illuminatus! to the public is something that I can get behind. I have an .HTML copy as well, but there are no images in the appendices, and that's just useless.
Cheers!
-ES
@ #3 Deadmeat: I remember clearly the last line of his speech, "And people ask me, when was the last time I took acid? And I tell them, today!"
This is similar to a line RAW spoke on Politically Incorrect back in '96, I think, on an episode dedicated to Tim Leary (on which Leary was supposed to guest but was too ill by then): "I am proud to say that I have not done acid in well over two... weeks."
Let me add my voice to the chorus thanking Mike for putting this out there. I have a copy of Saracen I've yet to get to; I may just read this first. Oh, and very cute with the 23 chapters.
@Whalefish: Derivitave works are allowed under the Creative Commons 3.5 License. See the end of the HTML.
"2. You may distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, or publicly digitally perform a Derivative Work only under the terms of this License, a later version of this License with the same License Elements as this License, or a Creative Commons iCommons license that contains the same License Elements as this License (e.g. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Japan)."
@other folks. This includes both Time of the Dragons and Last of the Zinja.
Thanks to all for the kind words and thanks to those who sent me the PDF of Illuminatus.
So next question for you fine folks: Would anyone be willing to volunteer to scan and OCR Shaman or Saracen?
Thanks again, my friends,
Mike Shea
> So next question for you fine folks: Would
> anyone be willing to volunteer to scan and
> OCR Shaman or Saracen?
I offered to do both by running them through www.pgdp.net for Project Gutenberg. There's a written permissions letter (it gives away less than the Creative Commons license you used) then the books go to pgdp to be proofed. The text ends up on Project Gutenberg www.gutenberg.org. You then take the text and re-release without the PG license under whatever CC license you want. It does take more than six months to go through the process.
Greg Weeks
I read this novel (actually, two novels, as I recall) back when they were first published. It was a fairly enjoyable reinterpretation of the Heike Monogatari and surrounding historical events.
Hi Greg, can you send me an email at mike@mikeshea.net? I'd like to talk to you more about how to do this.
Thank you very much!
Mike Shea
woot!
Finally finished reading this last night (around 2am) Maybe I'll finally get some sleep. What a great read! I kept going on tangents, comparing it to the historical context, and I learned alot that I had never known about the era.
Now to make good on the offer Mike made - reading a free novel in exchange for submitting corrections. What OCR was used anyway? I'm curious why there are so many capital E's.
Mike, how do you want corrections handled or sent?
Ooops, didn't realize I was the last one here. I'm a slow reader. Well then, I guess I'll just turn out the lights as I leave...