Welcome to my perfumed garden

Fanlib

This worries me greatly. Not this organisation in particular, but the change in mentality it represents, the attempt to comercialise fanfic.

This bit in particular gives me the heebies:
Notwithstanding the foregoing, FanLib reserves the right at all times to disclose any information as FanLib deems necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, or to edit, refuse to post or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, in FanLib's sole discretion...

However, by submitting the Submissions to FanLib, You hereby grant FanLib a non-exclusive, worldwide, and royalty-free license to use, reproduce, distribute, and display the Submissions in connection with the Website.

There is a very good, very detailed post about it here.

The way I see it, if fanfic ever becomes a source of income, the Big Boys will be on it like a ton of bricks, a ship-load of legality will suddenly appear; there will be sound, financial reasons to stamp on amateur fanfic and fandom as we know it will wither and perish.

I say, treat it like it's made of Ebola - stay away. If no one goes there, it will die.

(I'm no fool, I recognise that things are about to change and there's probably litle we can do to stop it, but we can take some control; the slope should be slippiest at our end, not theirs.)

I've approached a new agent, a rather good one actually, and he wants to see a chapter of my book. This is good.

He also (and I've discovered, this has become par for the course when approaching agents now) wants to see:

'1 page with a few lines on the five most recent competing and comparable books giving author, title, publisher and date of publication together with a note on how the books relate to the author's own book.'

This is not so good. Urm... Urm... Heck! I don't read travel books, I write them! Does anyone else read road books of this type - comic travel stuff...? Can anyone on m'flist rec a comic-type book of travels for me to peruse and decide if it fits the bill? 'Cause I freely confess, I'm at a bit of a loss here.

Quick summary: I've written a road story; true story - how me and a friend crossed Cuba at the height of its troubles; the Berlin Wall is down, the USSR is gone; everything is rationed, most of Cuba is getting four hours of electricity and three buckets of water a day. 33,000 people just fled the country on a raft and Maria and I decide to hitch across Cuba on ten pesos (50c) a day. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes, it doesn't  (We are offered jobs in the porn industry, are almost killed by a well-meaning mercenary, kidnapped by a voodoo priest... ) It's mostly funny, but with a few sad interludes.


I've got a short-list of potentials:

In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson

The Almond Blossom  Appreciation Society, Chris Stewart.

Narrow Dog to Carcassonne, Terry Darlington

Snowball Oranges, Peter Kerr

I haven't read all of these books.  I have read one of these books. OK, I have read about two thirds of the Bill Bryson book. I think it's clear, I need some help, here. ::wibbles a bit:: Have any of you read a book (preferably published in the last 3 years) that sounds anything like mine? All suggestions would be received with grovelling gratitude. You will be mentioned in dispatches the acknowledgements when if in the very unlikely event that it's published.

::kisses you in advance::