"Mike Resnick - Hunting Lake (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

Maybe, she suggests, the books are public domain. If KILLERS IN
AFRICA's copyright wasn't renewed in 1981, it's mine for the
taking; if it _was_ renewed, at least I'll be able to find out who
renewed it.
March, 1994: I call the Copyright Department. They ask what
years the two books were originally published, then tell me to
send them $40.00 for each title to track down the copyright
status. I send them a check for $80.00 on my birthday, March 5.
June, 1994: It is now two years since WorldComm has agreed to
publish THE RESNICK LIBRARY OF AFRICAN ADVENTURE, and Ralph
understandably wants to know where it is. I tell him that I moved
it from St. Martin's for the express purpose of publishing
Alexander Lake, and I'm not giving him any other titles until I
know beyond all doubt the Lake is unobtainable. He runs his own
copyright check -- evidently publishers have access to the
Copyright Department's data -- and can't find a renewal. I agree
that if they're public domain we'll publish them, but I won't be
satisfied until I get it in black-and-white from the Copyright
Department. Ralph mutters and grumbles, but agrees to postpone the
LIBRARY until 1995.
July and August, 1994: I call the Copyright Department
weekly, trying to find out what happened to my request. I never
get the same person twice, and no one there seems to know what's
going on.
September, 1994: I give up trying to get a response out of
the Copyright Department. I promise WorldComm that if I still
haven't determined Lake's copyright status by the end of the year,
I'll give them a different title to kick off the new line.
October, 1994: _Finally!_ The Copyright Department tells me


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that Lake's children, Storm Alexis Lake-Bartel and Richard K.
Nelson, renewed the copyrights, and gives me their addresses as of
1987: Storm is at a post office box in La Honda, Richard is in San
Mateo. I call Ralph Roberts to tell him the news. Now comes the
tricky part: if either of them say No, that's the end of it, and
my dream of bringing Alexander Lake back into print is dead...so I
have to decide which of them is more likely to say Yes. All I have
to go on is their names. There's a son, Richard, who _should_ be
called Lake and isn't (I don't know at the time that he's a
stepson; for all I know, he's a blood son who hated Lake and took
on a stepfather's last name to spite him); and there's a daughter,
obviously married, who could reasonably be expected to have dumped
Lake's name but chose to keep it: Lake-Bartel. Easy choice. I
write to the daughter. And two weeks later the letter comes back,
Address Unknown.
November, 1994: My very last chance is to make contact with