before I get off the stage. [Lagniappe: an unexpected bonus or
extra] Think of it as a "lagniappe" -- a little something extra
to thank you for your patience.

About a year ago, I released my first novel, Down and Out in the
Magic Kingdom, on the net, under the terms of the most
restrictive Creative Commons license available. All it allowed my
readers to do was send around copies of the book. I was
cautiously dipping my toe into the water, though at the time, it
felt like I was taking a plunge.

Now I'm going to take a plunge. Today, I will re-license the text
of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom under a Creative Commons
"Attribution-ShareAlike-Derivs-Noncommercial" license [HUMAN
READABLE LICENSE], which means that as of today, you have my
blessing to create derivative works from my first book. You can
make movies, audiobooks, translations, fan-fiction, slash fiction
(God help us) [GEEK HIERARCHY], furry slash fiction [GEEK
HIERARCHY DETAIL], poetry, translations, t-shirts, you name it,
with two provisos: that one, you have to allow everyone else to
rip, mix and burn your creations in the same way you're hacking
mine; and on the other hand, you've got to do it noncommercially.

The sky didn't fall when I dipped my toe in. Let's see what
happens when I get in up to my knees.

The text with the new license will be online before the end of
the day. Check craphound.com/down for details.

Oh, and I'm also releasing the text of this speech under a