In the course of the mega-meta-fanfic-rights discussion sparked by the Star Wars amateur tie-in novel, which is still going strong at Making Light, someone named Laura posted this in response to questions of how, really, nonprofit fanfic can hurt authors other than in the feelings.
John Norman has been rather pooh pooh on fan fiction based on his Gor novels. (The prevailing theory from people I've discussed this with is that fan fiction would be able to readily compete with his product based on quality of the fiction produced.) Still, the fandom surrounding his Gor books is a real potential turn off for fen. Knowing what the fen do, I and a number of others are not as willing to just pick up one of his novels to read and buy.
Um. John Norman. That John Norman. The problem is his creepy fans. Uh-huh....
Seriously. John Norman???
(You know, if I refused to read any authors based on the [real or presumable] existence of creeps among their readership, I don't think there's anyone I could read. Not even myself. Name me one fandom that doesn't have its bonkers fans - and that includes every genre, every century. Have you ever been to an English Dept. colloquium? And who really reads or doesn't read books based on who else might be reading them?)
But come on - John Norman!?!?
I'm trying not to make the obvious snark, but wotthehell - The only creepy fan who's offputting readers is John Norman's #1 fan, John Norman...
Full disclosure: I read about a third of one John Norman novel - Dancer of Gor, when it first came out, before throwing it against the wall in disgust, and skimmed through others, while working in the library as a teenager. It was very instrumental in preparing the groundwork for my protofeminist consciousness-raising...
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- bellatrys (
bellatrys) wrote,