1992
From Fan History Wiki
1992 is the year that will be remembered for the Marion Zimmer Bradley incident. Before going into the details, there are other some important events that should be referenced. Textual Poachers by Henry Jenkins was published. Highlander went on the air. ForKni-L Mailing List was created by Jean Prior and Laurie Salopek for the posting of fan fiction relating to Forever Knight. alt.ql.creative was created so that Quantum Leap fans could post their fan fiction. Enterprising Women, written by Camille Bacon-Smith, was published. The Rescue Rangers fan fiction community began to develop in fanzines after the cancellation of the show. The Phantom of the Opera fan fiction community started up.
Marion Zimmer Bradley, the exact details of the incident may never be fully known as there were several parties involved. Each party has their own version of it. The end result is known: Daw refused to publish a Darkover novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley out of fear of potential litigation on the part of a fan fiction author who had previously submitted materials to the Darkover fanzine. Marion Zimmer Bradley and a number of other authors and producers stopped tolerating fan fiction written in their universes. After that, the exact details are a bit confusing. According to Margaret Carter to SIMEGEN-L Discussion List, the fan accused Marion Zimmer Bradley of plagiarizing her submission. The fan then demanded to be listed as a co-writer on the book and sought monetary compensation. Another poster on the same list said that the fan author submitted their work for the Darkover anthology. When it was rejected, the person sought to make trouble for Marion Zimmer Bradley while trying to sell their original story, stripped of all Darkover references, to another publisher. Various other versions of the story exist. Marion Zimmer Bradley eventually had the following to say on the situation in the March 1999 edition of Writer’s Digest::
- ". . .While in the past I have allowed fans to 'play in my yard,' I was forced to stop that practice last summer when one of the fans wrote a story, using my world and my characters, that overlapped the setting I was using for my next _Darkover_ novel. Since she had sent me a copy of her fanzine, and I had read it, my publisher will not publish my novel set during that time period, and I am now out several years' work, as well as the cost of inconvenience of having a lawyer deal with this matter.
- Because this occurred just as I was starting to read for this year's _Darkover_ anthology, that project was held up for more than a month while the lawyer drafted a release to accompany any� submissions and a new contract, incorporating the release. I do not know at present if I shall be doing any more _Darkover_ anthologies.
- Let this be a warning to other authors who might be tempted to be similarly generous with their universes, I know now why Arthur Conan Doyle refused to allow anyone to write about Sherlock� Holmes. I wanted to be more accommodating, but I don't like where it has gotten me. It's enough to make anyone into a misanthrope."
See also:
- Canon released in 1992
- Fan fiction archives founded in 1992
- Fan fiction awards given in 1992
- Fanclubs founded in 1992
- Fanzines published in 1992
- Legal issues in the fan fiction community in 1992
- Mailing lists founded in 1992
- Stories published in 1992
- Technology innovations in 1992
- Usenet groups created in 1992
