All stories in Free Sci-Fi Classics not authored by me, Blake Wilfong, are
selected from the public domain. These are:
"In a Thousand Years" by Hans Christian Andersen, 1853
"The Los Amigos Fiasco" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1892
"With the Night Mail" by Rudyard Kipling, 1905
"The Mad Planet" by Murray Leinster, 1920
"A Relic of the Pliocene" by Jack London, 1901
"The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion" by Edgar Allan Poe, 1839
"The Mortal Immortal" by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 1833
"Tobermory" by Saki, 1909
"From the London Times of 1904" by Mark Twain, 1898
"In the Year 2889" by Jules Verne, 1889
"Micromegas" by Voltaire, 1752
"Plato's Dream" by Voltaire, 1756
"A Dream of Armageddon" by H. G. Wells, 1901
"The Star" by H. G. Wells, 1897
WARNING:
I have edited these works--abridging, modernizing spellings, Americanizing
words, correcting errors, etc.--at my discretion. Thus the
editions appearing in Free Sci-Fi Classics should not be considered
"canonical" or "standard". Though I have endeavored not to alter meaning
or intent, I claim copyright in the compilation and editing of these
works and their illustrations.
All photographs and artwork in Free Sci-Fi Classics are my own
original creations, or come from royalty-free stock image sources or the
public domain. Here are mini-reviews of the stock image sources, followed
by detailed credits for every image in Free Sci-Fi Classics.
Corel MEGA GALLERY
and
Corel GALLERY Magic 200,000
Corel Corporation
Consisting of 1,000+ fonts, 50,000+ vector clipart images,
and 60,000 photographs from the fabulous Corel Professional Photos
collection, Corel MEGA GALLERY was already an indispensable
aid for WebMasters. Its successor, Corel GALLERY Magic 200,000, contains
most of the same material, plus 20,000 more photos and enough
additional clipart and Web art to reach the staggering 200,000 mark. Almost every
conceivable topic is covered, from fashion models to demons. The photos
are low-resolution and overcompressed--but at a street price of just $50
for the newer version, who cares? One of the best deals around has gotten
even better.
The license agreement for Corel GALLERY Magic 200,000 requires me to state
the following: the images from Corel GALLERY Magic 200,000 on this Web site
may not be saved or downloaded and are only to be used for viewing purposes.
Corel Galleria
Corel Corporation
This fabulous Web site hosts the entire Corel Professional Photos
Collection (and other products) along with an excellent search engine.
Thumbnails and high resolution watermarked images are FREE, but it takes
major ingenuity to find uses for them. The site's primary purpose is, of
course, to sell its 80,000+ images. Each is available in several
resolutions priced from about $4 to $20. For those who can afford to buy
stock photos piecemeal at these prices, Corel Galleria is a
treasure-trove.
The usage guidelines for the photos require me to state the following:
The images from Corel Galleria on this Web site may not
be saved or downloaded and are only to be used for viewing purposes.
Picture Factory #1
Photodex Corporation
This CD-ROM of 2,659 medium-resolution images sports a fast and friendly
search engine. There are few photos of attractive models, but a wide variety
of other topics are covered, including background textures. At $20, Picture
Factory is a fine addition to any stock photo library.
MasterClips 150,000
IMSI
MasterClips 150,000 consists of 14 CD-ROMs packed with about 2,000 fonts,
54,000 vector clipart drawings, 47,000 engravings from the Dover Pictorial
Archive Series in TIFF format, 41,800 low-res JPEG photos, 5,200 hi-res
JPEG photos, and more.
Ignore the buggy, clumsy search engine. (You can browse images with the
included printed catalogs or your own software.) Ignore the poorer quality
photos that look like video captures. Ignore the photos of recognizable
individuals since they're not model released. What's left? A cornucopia of
useful material--and a bargain at $70 street. After all, 150,000 is a
very large number!
The usage guidelines require me to state the following: The
images used herein were obtained from IMSI's Master Photos Collection,
1895 Francisco Blvd. East, San Rafael, CA 94901-5506, USA.
Famous Nineteenth Century Faces
Art Direction Book Company
This large format paperback book contains more than 1,000 copyright-free
engravings of yesteryear's famous people. The images vary in quality due
to the wide range of public domain source materials from which they were
taken, but most are superb. Stock images of famous people are surprisingly
rare, so at just $12.50 this collection is a steal.
Dictionary of American Portraits
Dover Publications, Inc.
This large, hardcover book contains thousands of black-and-white
portraits of famous people. Most are photographs; some are engravings or
paintings. Even more so than with Famous Nineteenth Century Faces,
quality varies widely depending on the source materials.
As is typical with the Dover "Pictorial Archive Series", no more than
10 images from this book may be used in a single publication without
written permission from Dover Publications, Inc. Furthermore, some of the
images originate from other collections, and require courtesy lines.
Despite its steep price (about $80), narrow scope (Americans only),
and licensing restrictions, this book is a good value simply because
royalty-free images of famous Americans are hard to find. If you need
them, buying it may be more a matter of necessity than choice.
Graphic Textures
Allegro New Media
This CD-ROM contains 101 nontiling textures in the form of medium
resolution TIFF files. Themes include stone, wood, brick, basketweaves,
money, computer graphics, brushed metal, etc. Included is a color poster
showing all 101 textures for easy reference. This title dates from 1993,
and appears to have been discontinued--which is appropriate since it
simply cannot compete with newer stock image libraries.
Photo-Objects
Hemera Technologies Inc.
I wish all stock photo libraries were such a joy to use as Photo-Objects.
This two CD-ROM set contains over 10,000 photos--most of which
are already removed from their backgrounds for your editing convenience!
Everything about this package is done right: thumbnails and keyword
indices for the entire collection are stored on both discs to
minimize swapping; the search engine is powerful and lightning-fast; the
export utility is versatile and user-friendly; the images are stored in
glorious high resolution; and a glossy color catalog is included. Best of
all, I found this gem on sale for just $40.
Detailed Image Source Information
The following listings document the source of every component of each image
in Free Sci-Fi Classics. Descriptions of the modifications I made
to these components are included. I also scanned my own photographs and
color-corrected, cropped, resized, sharpened, and removed compression
artifacts from all images as necessary.
