When I began working on the Folklore & Fiction project at the When Words Collide writing festival in 2018, it was with the intention that I would publish a monthly newsletter on a folkloric topic of interest to storytellers as a means of clarifying my own thinking about that topic. Then, when I had published enough material online, I would revise it into a series of books on the storytelling craft. This is still what I plan to do. I hold an MA in English with a creative writing focus, I'm a PhD Candidate in Folklore, and I have over eighteen years of professional teaching and publishing experience. So you can trust my work now, and we'll both have reason to feel better about it once I revise the online Folklore & Fiction project into that book series. Meanwhile, please let me assure you that the Folklore & Fiction newsletters, dispatches, and podcasts are free for you to enjoy.
However, as the Open Source community is fond of reminding the world, "free" in this context is closer to "free speech" than it is "free beer." With this in mind, I've prepared a copyright and trademark statement covering all of the work published on this website and especially all of the work published under the Folklore & Fiction title here and elsewhere. This statement comes after consultation with my business and trademark attorney in Nova Scotia, who who also specializes in intellectual property law.
My work belongs to me.
All of the work on this website and all of the work published under the Folklore & Fiction title here and elsewhere is copyrighted to me, Ceallaigh S. MacCath-Moran. Work that is copyrighted to me is my intellectual property, and I defend it.
Sometimes Creative Commons licensing applies.
Sometimes I specifically indicate that I have either applied or made use of material under a Creative Commons license. You should never assume a Creative Commons license has been applied to work on this website unless you see a Creative Commons license on the webpage in question. If you do, click on the license, and follow the usage instructions indicated.
Always cite my work if you paraphrase or quote it.
You can paraphrase or quote my work in your own if you do it using Fair Use (US) or Fair Dealing (Canada) guidelines. Primarily, this means you can only paraphrase or quote small passages, and you must always cite them properly. My website has used Turabian Chicago Style citations since 2019 and used MLA citations before that, but your academic body or teacher may have different requirements. Respect them, or at the very least, link back to the page where you found my copyrighted material, which may have been on this website, in a Folklore & Fiction email, or on the Folklore & Fiction podcast.
Don't monetize my ideas in your own words.
This is a nuanced issue that requires some explanation. In professional academic environments where ideas are freely shared, we're careful to point at the scholarship that informs our thinking. For example, when I write that I prefer the term "vernacular religion" to "folk religion" because the term "folk" can have a dismissive connotation in religious discussions, I'm also careful to write that Leonard Primiano informs my thinking on this issue even though I've completely rephrased his words in "Vernacular Religion and the Search for Method in Religious Folklife." This is because the thinking that underpins Primiano's scholarship belongs to him, so it's important to credit him with it. Unfortunately, this sort of ethical rigour often doesn't happen outside the academy, especially in an environment where so many people are monetizing online content and need to retain subscribers. With the foregoing in mind, my ideas also belong to me, and it is unethical to monetize them in your own words. If I see this happening, I will call it out publicly. If it strays into copyright infringement, I will pursue it legally and financially.
Don't use my Sleipnir logo for anything.
My Sleipnir logo (the eight-legged horse and rider that complements Folklore & Fiction online) is copyrighted to me. I also have a trademark pending on both the image and the Folklore & Fiction name. Copyrights and trademarks are not the same, and trademark law (at least in Canada) strongly favours the business or individual who owns the trademark. So you are never free to use my logo or the Folklore & Fiction name for anything, and I will pursue anyone who does for legal and financial remedy.
I recognize that some of the language in this copyright statement is strong. It needs to be, but it isn't meant to inhibit your everyday enjoyment of the material I produce. Please understand that Folklore & Fiction is time-consuming, and even though the online version of it is free, it does important work for my career. So does everything else I produce. That work deserves to be respected and defended, especially by the person who creates it. So I do.
Last Reviewed on March 13, 2022
