New SF site for writers -- Kalkion.com (see also Bewares and Background Checks)

jst5150 · Apr 7, 2009

All,

An acquaintance is opening a new SF site. He's got great intentions and could use some help getting off the ground. The site is:

www.kalkion.com

He's created a small preview video. Again, I'm not sure of any specifics or payment options or much else. I do know the guy does have good intentions. He's also a SF nut. Plus, he seems to have the wherewithal to make something like this happen.

In any case, you can ask him specifics. Tell him I sent you (Jason Tudor from the Marshall Center). And you can work your own inroads from there.

Let me know what you find out.

Email to reach the founder is: arnieswap at gmail.com

ETA: Forgot this

ABOUT US:

Kalkion is the collaborative effort of passionate science fiction writers who
have come together for a noble cause. We have been thinking of the growth of
the genre for a long time., and are finally taking action!

Every time we come across an aspiring writers we are greeted with certain
questions: "how do I get my stories published? where do I get them published?
I sent my stories to various publishers but why did they send it back without
giving a reason for rejection? I am working on a story, but I need additional
scientific and technological information, how can I locate reliable sources?
Are there any sources where I can get ideas about a science fiction or
fantasy story?

We realised that we needed to do something. We started conceptualising a
project which may try to address some of these questions. We decided to set
up a platform which will provide those writers with much needed information.
Thus, Kalkion is born!

Idea Breeders
Kalkion will have a news section, wherein our reporters will report about the
latest developments in the areas of science and technology. The criterion for
news selection is that it should be able to be converted into an SF concept.
The format we chose for this is simple: the reporter will include a
commentary along with the news item as to what kind of SF stories can be
generated from the news item or how it could be used in a story.

This will create a continuous source of information and story ideas for
writers. The interesting part is, the same story idea, in the hands of
different writers, will come out as a distinct and new story. Also, we will
allow readers to comment on the story ideas and come out with their own
ideas. This will be beneficial for those who are perhaps not quite talented
in fiction writing, but are great "idea-breeders" and thus gain the
confidence to begin writing.

The most important goal we have in mind, is to publish those aspiring
writers. While we publish established and known writers we also encourage new
talent which can carry the baton to the next generation of SF writers. We are
also creating an atmosphere of community where our editors will make efforts
to work with the writers and improve upon their stories.
Starting NOW, we are accepting submissions for Science Fiction, Fantasy and
Articles related to science or science fiction. If you are a frequenter of
science fiction related events, then you could also join us as a reporter and
contribute news stories.

We are looking forward for the support from like-minded people who also want
to see the genre of Science Fiction and Fantasy to grow deeper and broader in
scope. We hope to see a many newbies who are interested in this mind -
bending genre - which is a source and stimlus of entertainment and wonder...
We trust that you will join us in the endeavour and Kalkion will become your
source for all that is science fiction.
This site doesn't belong to any individual, Kalkion belongs to the Science
Fiction and Fantasy community.

Come, join us. Now!

Team Kalkion

Submission Guidelines
>> http://kalkion.com/content/submission-guidelines
>>
>> Copyright and Licences
>> http://kalkion.com/content/copyright-and-licences
>>
>> Kalkion FAQ
Kalkion FAQ
>> http://kalkion.com/content/kalkion-faq
>>
>> Team Kalkion
>> http://kalkion.com/content/kalkion-team
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Vishwa Mohan Tiwari
>> Air Vice Marshal (retd)
>> Honorary Editor, Kalkion
Air Vice Marshal (retd)
>> Honorary Editor, Kalkion
>> http:kalkion.com
>> Check my profile at:
>> http://kalkion.com/vishwa_mohan_tiwari_editor

Thanks!

Izz · Apr 7, 2009

Sounds nifty!

mysterygrl · Apr 10, 2009

FYI from their website:

"Fiction and poetry published on Kalkion.com licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License. This licence means that you, as a user, are 'Free' to copy, distribute and transmit the work. However, you may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Read more about the 'freedom' you get by using Fiction/poetry published on Kalkion."

Izz · Apr 10, 2009

mysterygrl said:
However, you may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

Not so nifty.

Pthom · Apr 11, 2009

Do check out the discussion about Creative Commons licensing. It is becoming increasingly popular. Several noted authors swear by it: Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman, Vernor Vinge, John Scalzi, others.

Izz · Apr 11, 2009

Actually, i read the above quoted by mysterygrl wrong :e2tomato:

. I thought it was referring to the author, when it's actually referring to the user/reader/distributor. In that case i change my above thought to:

still very nifty

shelleyo · Jul 12, 2011

Their current short story contest bites writers in the ass, IMO. I'm posting this in the Bewares forum rather than here. But they take ownership of all submissions with the right to do anything they want with them, forever.

Bad for writers, very bad.

Shelley

Buffysquirrel · Jul 13, 2011

Ah, the wheel has been reinvented once again. *pats wheel*

Vaguely Piratical · Jul 13, 2011

Look at their "copyright and licences" page.

Copyright of all the content published on Kalkion goes back to the author under the condition that Kalkion will retain non-exclusive, unlimited rights over the content. Kalkion reserves all the rights to re-produce the published work in any form, format and medium (known and unknown today). Kalkion will try to inform the concerned author about the reuse, but it it is not mandatory.

They want an unlimited license to do whatever they want with your story forever without royalties. Don't submit.

twm · Jul 13, 2011

Yes, you want those kinds of rights, pay me for them.

shelleyo · Jul 13, 2011

twm said:
Yes, you want those kinds of rights, pay me for them.

Unlimited rights in perpetuity. They don't even have to inform you if they put your work in a dozen different mediums and profit from all of them.

It doesn't make sense to grant those rights even if they did pay.

Shelley

twm · Jul 13, 2011

Hey, I didn't say they could afford those rights.

Filigree · Jul 13, 2011

'Good intentions' can often mask 'utter cluelessness' or 'outright larceny'.

shelleyo · Jul 13, 2011

twm said:
Hey, I didn't say they could afford those rights.

Good point.

Shelley

Vaguely Piratical · Jul 13, 2011

Filigree said:
'Good intentions' can often mask 'utter cluelessness' or 'outright larceny'.

Yeah, I'm considering e-mailing the founder. He's got an AW Moderator vouching for him so I'll give the benefit of the doubt. He probably doesn't understand what he's asking for. There is no reason he needs anything other than the right to show the story on his site.

Even then, if he wasn't paying, I wouldn't give perpetual rights. If the site got a bad rep, started advertising porn, or became a liability to my reputation for some other reason I need the ability to demand my work get taken off the site.

EDIT: I sent an e-mail to the address Jason gave inviting him to come by and explain his reasoning for needing unlimited rites.

shelleyo · Jul 13, 2011

Vaguely Piratical said:
Yeah, I'm considering e-mailing the founder. He's got an AW Moderator vouching for him so I'll give the benefit of the doubt. He probably doesn't understand what he's asking for.

The contest rules state that all submissions to the contest--not even just winners, but submissions--become Kalkion's property to do with whatever they will.

Stories sent via regular submissions are also published with a Creative Commons license, which is not beneficial to writers, either.

Since neither is boilerplate, it does give the impression they know exactly what they're asking for. Now that you've contacted them, I hope they change their rights statements.

Shelley

Buffysquirrel · Jul 13, 2011

shelleyo said:
The contest rules state that all submissions to the contest--not even just winners, but submissions--become Kalkion's property to do with whatever they will.

Can we say rights grab? We surely can!

Vaguely Piratical · Jul 13, 2011

shelleyo said:
The contest rules state that all submissions to the contest--not even just winners, but submissions--become Kalkion's property to do with whatever they will.

Stories sent via regular submissions are also published with a Creative Commons license, which is not beneficial to writers, either.

Since neither is boilerplate, it does give the impression they know exactly what they're asking for. Now that you've contacted them, I hope they change their rights statements.

Shelley

I don't disagree. I just choose to give them a chance to respond and revise. But I agree, if the rights language doesn't change it is a blatant rights grab. Once someone tells you about a problem you can't claim ignorance.

shelleyo · Jul 13, 2011

Just a note since I brought this up--the rights at Kalkion have been rewritten, so apparently the really writer-unfriendly rights were in error rather than malice. I'm not endorsing the new rights; I'm only saying they did rewrite them.

I think anyone considering submitting there, though, should sample some of their stories at random. I read one to the end and read the opening paragraphs of several more. Be sure you do that before submitting to see if you want your story alongside those (and you should do this anywhere, by the way). It's eye-opening.

Shelley

arnieswap · Jul 14, 2011

Response from Kalkion

Hi all,

Thanks for brining this issue to my notice. We had no intention of grabbing a writer's rights. We sincerely apologise for any confusion.

As I replied to Vaguely Piratical via an email I would like to give a background where we come from.

After reader Will's email I went through the thread and read concerns of the authors. I do agree with such concerns being a journalist and writer myself.

We are staunch supporter of sharing of knowledge. We have other magazines, the flag ship being Muktware.com, a Linux and Open Source web magazine. There we publish articles written by other writers and we pay for it. We don't claim any ownership on such work and release it under a creative commons licence for others to use.

We have a team of in-house journalists which conducts exclusive interview and writes news items, articles and large manuals (something which takes up a lot of effort and time) -- we release all of 'our' work under creative commons licence for free of cost.

So, we have no evil agenda of taking ownership of someone else's work

The terms on the contest page, along with licences for regular submissions have been changed to address the problem. Please have a look and suggest.

http://kalkion.com/blog/1232/kalkion-rights-rewritten

"The author of the work retains all rights which he/she already holds over the work submitted to Kalkion. The author is the 'owner' of the submitted work.

Kalkion reserves the right to removes any content without prior notice to the author. Kalkion reserves the rights to republish the content on its sister sites in 'text' (online) format. Kalkion reserves the rights to translate the published work in any language in 'text' (online) format.

If we do plan to publish/produce your work in any other format – printed, audio or video, we will get in touch with you and will do so under a new contract, subject to your acceptance."

Best
Swapnil Bhartiya
Editor
Kalkion.com
Muktware.com

arnieswap · Jul 14, 2011

"Be sure you do that before submitting to see if you want your story alongside those (and you should do this anywhere, by the way). It's eye-opening."

Shelley, this is an interesting insight. Will you please elaborate what you meant by "It's eye-opening" so that we know what was your obervation and what was the need for the warning "if you want your story alongside those".

Thanks.

Swapnil Bhartiya

Obiwanbeeohbee · Jul 14, 2011

Great thread. Thanks!

thothguard51 · Jul 14, 2011

There is a world of difference between journalism and authoring a novel for sale... The editing is also very different...

shelleyo · Jul 14, 2011

I replied to Swapnil's question in the thread in the Bewares forum.

Shelley

Vaguely Piratical · Jul 14, 2011

Can we request a mod merge the two threads to make this a little easier?

New SF site for writers -- Kalkion.com (see also Bewares and Background Checks)

jst5150

Vorpal Comics. Weekly Podcast. Twitch Artist. Vet

Izz

Doing the Space Operatic

mysterygrl

Izz

Doing the Space Operatic

Pthom

Word butcher

Izz

Doing the Space Operatic

shelleyo

Just another face in a red jumpsuit

Buffysquirrel

Vaguely Piratical

twm

shelleyo

Just another face in a red jumpsuit

twm

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing

shelleyo

Just another face in a red jumpsuit

Vaguely Piratical

shelleyo

Just another face in a red jumpsuit

Buffysquirrel

Vaguely Piratical

shelleyo

Just another face in a red jumpsuit

arnieswap

arnieswap

Obiwanbeeohbee

figuring it all out

thothguard51

A Gentleman of a refined age...

shelleyo

Just another face in a red jumpsuit

Vaguely Piratical