A Case of Fanfiction

“I’ve a rule about one-eyed yellow idols – and, indeed, idols of other precious hues with any number of eyes, arms, heads, or arses.  Simply put: hands off!” Truth.

4.13 Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D’Urbervilles

I am so glad I had this book to read while I suffered through the plague.  I could barely read, much less make sense of particular details of a plot, so the fact that this is a collection of familiar tales was perfect.  This is a love letter to Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, in which the Holmes role is played out by the dastardly Moriarty, and the role of Dr. Watson is filled by hired hit-man Colonel Moran.  All told from Moran’s POV, we revisit the adventures of Holmes from the side of the bad guy, all the way until the final fall, and it turns out to be just as much fun as you would expect.

Essentially, this is fanfiction.  In fact, Titan Books had published an entire series of what amounts to Holmes fanfic - made much easier by the fact Doyle is long dead and his works are part of the public domain.

There has been a lot of debate about fanficion in the publishing world lately as 50 Shades of Grey has become a certified hit (shudder).  EL James, the “author” has made millions off of her books that were originally published online as a Twilight fanfic. (They call it Pull to Publish as names are changed and all references to the original removed.)  My general opinion about fanfic is that it is great, as long as it remains exactly what it is.  Someone taking the characters and ideas of someone else and expanding on them, while giving all credit due to original author, actor, creator, etc.  I think it is great that so many people find a path to writing through inspiration from television, movies, or other books. I say use the characters, use their names, and be thankful for their origin, but please, don’t write it that way, then cut and paste in new names and say it is original in the effort to make a profit, it isn’t original and the authors (and now publishers) know it. 

A Royal with Cheese is still a Quarter Pounder, and Anastasia Steele is still Bella Swan, so just own it, and honor it, and if doing so means you pay royalties to someone else then write the check and be thankful.