Macmillan Publishing sucks

“The Unofficial Tourist’s Guide to Second Life” or, as I like to call it, “Book of incorrect information and assumptions made by people that have never actually been in Second Life" – is published.

So there’s a new book about to hit the shelves called “The Unofficial Tourist’s Guide to Second Life”. I’m aware of this, because the publisher of this book, Macmillan Publishing in the UK, contacted my best friend to ask permission to use some images of a bookshop I built inside Second Life in this ‘book’. Why was my best friend contacted and not me, when as I said, I’m the creator of the bookshop? Hey, good question!

Anyone that’s spent any time at all inside Second Life knows that all a person needs to do is ‘right click’ on an object to learn the creator. Macmillan was going on the assumption that the Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Mill Pond was created by my friend, Grace McDunnough, because she was holding weekly poetry readings at the shop. If they’d actually checked or, ‘right clicked’ they could easily see that the shop was created by me. I made the shop because I was completely entranced and inspired by the real Shakespeare and Company in Paris, France and the unbelievable atmosphere and sense of community present there. Macmillan would never know that, though, because they never actually interviewed me about the inspiration behind it and have gathered their facts from third party websites without any attempt at all to obtain correct information.

Now don’t get me wrong, I adore Grace McDunnough and she’s one of my best friends in the world. She’s a marvelous woman and is incredibly talented, but damnit she did NOT build the bookshop. Thanks to Macmillan Publishing, though, anyone that buys this book and actually reads it will think she did.

I spoke with the publisher about this and was told ‘Oh hey sorry about that, it’s too late to fix it for the first printing, but we’ll fix it online and we’ll correct it for future printings”. Gosh thanks for that, but it’s sort of too little, too late now, isn’t it?

Why’s this a big deal to me? Because I’m an artist and this virtual world is my medium. Shakespeare and Company bookshop and the entire community where it resides is my art. Being fairly new to this whole ‘art’ thing, I was a little upset when I first heard that my work would be credited to someone else, but now I’m away beyond a ‘little upset’, I’m royally PISSED OFF. In fact, I may have to call upon a fellow resident of Mill pond and his law practice to help me out with this. This goes way beyond just not being a good and factual publisher, this is just unacceptable.

So, don’t waste your money on “The Unofficial Tourist’s Guide to Second Life’. It’s full of incorrect information. If you want to know the cool places to visit in Second Life and are just learning your way around, come hang out at the Mill Pond sim in our Open Latte coffee shop. We’ve got some great people there that will help you and welcome you with open arms.