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When the unfortunately little-known (but excellent) author John M. Ford died in 2006, he was 1) in a relationship that had no legal existence and 2) had not made out a will. As a result, copyright for virtually all of his published works not at that time in print passed to his parents. Who, as a result of their strong opinions on item 1) (and on Ford's choice of career), decided that they were not going to allow any of those works to be republished. The only exceptions to this, as far as anyone knows now, are the two Star Trek novels he wrote, which are the property of Paramount Pictures; and "The Dragon Waiting," which was in print when he died and will remain in print in perpetuity to keep it out of his parents' hands.
There was also the novel he was working on when he died, about which I know nothing but the title, "Aspects." This had been initially submitted to Tor Books for publication, but had not reached the point of being publishable to everyone's satisfaction. There was a reasonable chance that because it had been submitted to Tor, they had the copyright and could at their discretion publish what they had from Ford. I'm not sure what sort of legal wrangling took place out of the public eye; it has come to nothing, though, as it was announced at Boskone this past February that "Aspects" would not be able to be released.
So all of you aspiring writers out there, think for a minute about who gets the rights to your stuff should you pass from this mortal coil prematurely, and think about who you want to get the rights. And plan accordingly.
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Martin's current relationship has legal sanction, AIUI, so he's on a bit more solid ground in that regard than Ford was. Besides, we're talking a few orders of magnitude more money in Martin's case; tough to maintain your principles in the face of that kind of cash.
(OTOH, here's a horror story for you: Martin's copyrights pass to someone who doesn't approve of his works, and licenses the exclusive rights to GoT sequels to Stephanie Meyer.)
I dunno... the Mountain needs a little sparkle...
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(OTOH, here's a horror story for you: Martin's copyrights pass to someone who doesn't approve of his works, and licenses the exclusive rights to GoT sequels to Stephanie Meyer.)Don't even joke about such a thing. THE HORROR, THE HORROR!!
QFT. I now know what hell is.