Lawsuits lead to more scifi and Manipulated Photos

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I came across a couple of interesting items recently, thanks to Twitter and StumbleUpon, and I enjoyed them so much that I had to share them with you:

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There was an article in The Guardian a couple of weeks ago that made me laugh, about an author who is being sued for her use of a particular location as the setting in her crime thriller novel.

When Lalie Walker set about using the Marché Saint Pierre as the setting for her latest crime thriller she thought she was paying a nostalgic tribute to a much-loved Parisian landmark.

But, after reading her tale of a crazed killer who sews fear and loathing among the rolls of taffeta, the owners of the much-loved Montmartre fabric store have signaled that they do not appreciate her gesture.

Arguing that certain passages in her fictional depiction of a business rocked by threats, voodoo and staff abductions are defamatory, they are taking her to court and demanding €2m (£1.8m) in damages.

But it was the conclusion of the article that I particularly liked...

For Walker, the court case has come as a shock.

"I think this is serious. It means that every time you want to write a fiction you have to ask the permission of the owners or the place," she said. "Potentially it represents a big threat to our liberty."

She added, gloomily: "We will all have to end up writing science fiction instead."

So there you go! Just a few more lawsuits like this and there will be no dearth of science fiction literature, as authors will have no choice but to switch to genre writing. Though I actually think it will be the fantasy genre that will gain here because scifi novels are usually based on some reality, still leaving possible openings for lawsuits.

You can check out the full article here

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I just stumbled across this website that included some really cool manipulated photographs by
Eric Johansonn. Unfortunately I can't understand anything the site says, because it's all in Russian, but the photos are definitely worth checking out.