The server for this site isn't in Japan, as far as I know. It's covered by American copyright law. Without discussing all the various details of American copyright law, most works published before 1964 are in public domain, that is anyone can reprint them or otherwise publish them. This is not always so, and there is a web site that will tell you if a book or other matter is still under copyright.
Some authors make their work available for free reproduction. That’s an author’s personal choice, and it must be clearly stated some place in the work.
I write young adult fiction. I've had my work pirated before. It's upsetting. Authors and artists should be respected. There is, however, the fair use doctrine. It allows one to use short excerpts and quotations. Major bits of my books are readable on Google Books, but my arrangement with them is that entire sections are blocked out. This is in my interest. It lets a reader get into my books and decide if they like them. Like it? Want to read it all? Buy it. Thanks.
I’m smart enough not to publish under my real name. None of my books have magic in them. But they do have fantasy creatures. One of them has a dragon in it. Oh My GOD! I just realized I’ve corrupted Witness youth world wide! Do you have any idea how deeply and silently I chuckle when I see something I wrote sitting on a Witnesses’ shelf?
I’m probably getting myself into trouble with this post. Questions answered in advance: No, I won’t tell you what name I write under. My family knows it. If they found me here, there’d be heck to pay. No, none of my books have been made into movies. Close a time or two. One was optioned briefly. No movie. Too bad. I could use the money. No, I’m not Stephen King, though I wish I had his money. I’m not Ann McCaffrey. The only similarity between us is that we’re both older than dirt and we both have written about dragons. I’m not satisfying anyone’s curiosity, am I? I’m mildly sorry. But you understand the issues I think.
There are more Witness and ex-Witness writers out there than you may realize. One writes SF. One of the guys I pioneered with back in the 60’s writes history. A sister I grew up with writes chick books, mild romance with no sex and no violence - “I found true love” stuff that is sold primarily to the “Christian” market.
Isn’t it sad that creativity is frowned on by many Watchtowerites? When my first book was published my daughters wanted to tell everyone. No. Just no. I know “the brothers” well enough to know that someone would make it an issue, because they have 1. No sense of proportion in life; 2. Hate the very idea of creativity and see writing of any sort as the sole province of some under educated Brooklynite; and 3. It’s none of their business.
