In response to the plagiarism of the Folklore & Fiction project - both by human bad actors and large language models - I have developed the following Copyright Statement and Usage Guide. This guide is not meant to inhibit your everyday enjoyment of the work I do, but it does outline the ways you can and cannot incorporate my work into your own. Art is work. Music is work. Scholarship is work. Writing is work. That work deserves to be respected and defended, especially by the person who creates it. So I do.
My name, logo, and art belong to me.
I own the trademark to the Folklore & Fiction name and logo. I also own the copyright to the eight-legged horse and rider utilized in that logo. You are never free to use any of these materials for any reason without my written consent. Unauthorized use of these materials constitutes a trademark and/or copyright violation.
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 unless I have cited another person or group as the source of this work. Claiming any part of my work as your own is a copyright violation.
My ideas belong to me.
All of the ideas on this website and all of the ideas published under the Folklore & Fiction title here and elsewhere belong to me unless I have cited another person or group as the source of these ideas. Claiming my ideas as your own is an act of plagiarism.
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 Chicago Turabian Style citations since 2019 and MLA citations before that, but your academic body or teacher may have different requirements.
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 web page in question. If you do, click on the license, and follow the usage instructions indicated.
Never use my work to teach an artificial intelligence.
I prohibit the use of my work to teach the large language models behind Anthropic, ChatGPT, Google Bard and other, similar engines. Furthermore, I certify that no work bearing my byline will ever contain elements of AI-generated content. My work is rooted in academic folklore, animism, and storytelling, which are fundamentally human understandings of the world, and you may rest assured that in my hands, they always will be.
Last Reviewed on May 8, 2026