Okay, I got the contract for "Jury Duty" as a pdf file along with my acceptance from the Eggplant people, and I had a question that maybe some of you out there may know the answer to. The third paragraph of the contract reads thusly:

Eggplant and the Author also agree that Eggplant shall have a nonexclusive option on nonexclusive world English-language anthology rights to the Work. This option may be exercised at Eggplant's discretion on or before December 31 of third year after publication. If Eggplant exercises the option, the Author will be paid an additional $5 for the anthology publication right.

This says to me that if Eggplant decides to put out an anthology that contains my work three years after it's published that they have the right to do this and pay me another five bucks. But it's the word "nonexclusive" that's tripping me up. At first glance, it appears to mean that they do not own full rights to reprint the story, but that they can reprint it if they want to. That I may be able to reprint it somewhere else as well. But I'm just not sure. The rest of the contract is fairly straightforward.

Anyone out there know for sure? It's only a little 300-word story, but I don't want to get hosed on it. If no one can help me out, I'll contact the Scholarly Communication Center on campus. Thanks in advance.

***

In other news, I went to the information fair at the student center on Friday, and though it was geared mostly for foreign students who had never been on campus before, I still got some good info. I talked to a woman at the afore-mentioned SCC, and found out that they have an on-site copyright attorney who can answer questions free of charge. I also discovered that there is a one-time travel fund disbursement given by the graduate school for traveling to a conference, so if I go back to ICFA next year (which I'm not sure of at this point, though I'd like to), they'll cover $200 of it.

After checking out everything I could check out, I went to the small art gallery upstairs to take a peek, and discovered that they have a show there right now for the members of Ant Farm, a cooperative artists' studio in Raleigh. There was actually a guy there from the studio, and he gave me the number of the guy to contact about interviewing for studio space. I figured that there's a good chance that my apartment might not be the best environment for Janet doing her art, and this might be a good alternative. They're located in town, so it's not too far away.

I've been very sloth-like this weekend, though I did manage to get out for a bit yesterday. Because of my steady overflow of books, and the fact that Janet will soon be sending more, I decided to go over to Target for a scouting mission on their prefab bookcases. I didn't buy one yet, but I did find a bamboo plant and some more printer paper. Then I went to Best Buy to check out the UPS's, realizing I'd probably need to wait a little while before buying one, and spent nearly half an hour playing the demo Playstation and Xbox games. The second season of Futurama just came out, and was on sale, so I got it, and spent most of the rest of the evening watching the episodes. There were some in there that I actually hadn't seen before, which was a great surprise.

I slept in this morning, then got up and started emailing resumes. I also got my Monster.com account current, and have an Agent out hunting for jobs (though he won't take off his sunglasses). Slowly, I'm getting materials ready for the chapbook, and will be emailing them to Janet later today. We're both in agreement that it should be printed in Singapore, since she's been checking out papers and binding styles and printers there. Plus, since we're signing all the copies, it just makes sense for them to get printed up there, her sign them then send them to me for signing and selling at World Fantasy.

I've been trying to start an essay on Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere to submit to Farah Mendlesohn at Foundation, but am having difficulty picking a topic. Any ideas would be very helpful.

Two days until I start school! I've got my knapsack and my folder and my notebook and my pencils all set. Yay!

---

Now Reading:
Viriconium by M John Harrison

Stories Out to Publishers:
9

Books Read This Year:
28