Ursula Le Guin gathers writers against Google deal

Science fiction writer Ursula Le Guin has gathered almost 300 signatures in her fight against a Google scheme to digitize books.

The 80-year-old writer known for the Earthsea fantasy series and books such as The Lathe of Heaven has been vocal in her opposition to the Google book settlement signed by the U.S. Authors Guild.

She made a public show of resigning from the guild in December over what she calls a "deal with the devil."

With the Jan. 28 deadline approaching for writers to opt out of the deal, Le Guin's petition has collected a long list of names to be exempted.

The petition declares that "the principle of copyright, which is directly threatened by the settlement, be honoured and upheld in the United States."

Le Guin's petition includes such luminaries as notable science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson and Nick Harkaway, author of the bestselling debut novel The Gone-Away World.

"We cannot have free and open dissemination of information and literature unless the use of written material continues to be controlled by those who write it or own legitimate right in it," states the petition.

Le Guin says authors have until Jan. 25 to put their names to her petition, which she plans to send to the judge overseeing the Google settlement case.

However, other well-known authors have decided to side with the deal. Back in September, some 50 writers including Garrison Keillor and Elmore Leonard, signed a statement declaring their support.

Recently,the family of John Steinbeck, the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning author of Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men,reversed its opposition to the deal.

"While we continue in our belief that what Google did was an imperious act of copyright infringement, it is time to step off the battlefield and evaluate our losses and our gains. When we look at the new conditions of the revised settlement, it meets our standards of control over the intellectual properties that would otherwise remain at risk were we to stay out of the settlement," wrote Gail Steinbeck in a statement released Friday.

Gail Steinbeck is the wife of Thomas Steinbeck, the author's son.