# Examples of the amazing adventures of Tolkien's fanfiction in my country



## Alice (Apr 17, 2020)

Some people that I know wonder, if there were some examples of Tolkien fanfiction published in USA or other countries (excluding parodies). This question appeared, because in 1990's and 2000's in Russia arised the popularity of sequels, prequels, midquels and re-imagining of Professor's works, which were published as normal books (and at least one of them still has new editions). The most popular of them divided tolkienists into separate groups, which often fought with each other on the Internet: some claimed Tolkien was right and no one can change his world or use it for such aims, but some considered his books "pathetic" or "false" (I think, they were wrong, of course). It seems, some actually believed that Arda is real and Tolkien just told its story wrong, some just wanted to argue with the author. I tried to recall most famous examples of fanfiction, which were taken quite serious 15-30 years ago. I am a beginner historian, so it is a part of my professional interest.

As for me, I simply don't like poor (in my opinion) language of these fanfics. Also don't like alcoholic Beren, kind (and even mortal) Melkor, evil Gandalf and other so called re-imaging of Tolkien works made with serious face. There are many examples besides that and each can be analyzed with much more details. It is an important part of long history of tolkienism in my country and if somebody is curious about it, I can tell more.


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## Olorgando (Apr 17, 2020)

I'm wondering. Is there any divide, say pre- / post- Yeltsin, to these revisionist LoTR takes?
I personally would not woder if there is ...


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## Alice (Apr 17, 2020)

Olorgando said:


> I'm wondering. Is there any divide, say pre- / post- Yeltsin, to these revisionist LoTR takes?
> I personally would not woder if there is ...



Mm, let's say that before 2000 (approximately) there were agruments with Tolkien himself, but in the beginning of 2000's there appeared arguments with authors who agrued with Tolkien. And those debates soon became unimportant. I think, people just got tired of revisionism and postmodernism. But then arised younger fanfiction-makers, who got access to the Internet... And rights to publish Tolkien works were, em, fixed so there are no official published fanfiction anymore, excluding samizdat-versions for fans or Perumov's postmodern "Kolco T'my"


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (May 18, 2020)

Thank you for this, Alice, it's very interesting. But the thought just occurred to me: if the works you cited were published books, do they count as "fanfic"? I realize it's been a long time since I used to read the occasional piece of fanfic in a mimeographed or xeroxed SF fanzine, but it seems to me that a published book, especially one with several editions, would be something else -- what, I don't know.

But what do I know, in these Internet days? I was just reading the wiki article on the subject, and was surprised to learn the Fifty Shades books began life as fanfic of the Twilight series!

Of course, if it's considered fanfic in Russia, then I guess it is. I just never thought of a book I might buy in a bookstore as being fanfic.


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## Alice (May 18, 2020)

Squint-eyed Southerner said:


> Thank you for this, Alice, it's very interesting. But the thought just occurred to me: if the works you cited were published books, do they count as "fanfic"? I realize it's been a long time since I used to read the occasional piece of fanfic in a mimeographed or xeroxed SF fanzine, but it seems to me that a published book, especially one with several editions, would be something else -- what, I don't know.
> 
> But what do I know, in these Internet days? I was just reading the wiki article on the subject, and was surprised to learn the Fifty Shades books began life as fanfic of the Twilight series!
> 
> Of course, if it's considered fanfic in Russia, then I guess it is. I just never thought of a book I might buy in a bookstore as being fanfic.



I think It was rather considered normal books, not published fanfiction (but in the reality it is). And it could be find in the bookshops and was read by people, who even didn't read Tolkien's books before. But nowadays, of course, russian Internet fanfiction also exists, but it's absolutely nothing interesting about it


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## Alcuin (May 18, 2020)

It’s fanfic in the sense that Tolkien fans wrote it, it’s fiction, and it isn’t authorized by Tolkien Estate or their publishers. I’ve read the first few chapters of _The Last Ringbearer_ (_Последний кольценосец_) by Kirill Eskov (Кири́лл Есько́в). It’s not bad, but it’s not my cup of tea. But it does count as fanfic.

Tolkien Estate is most protective of their copyrights, particularly in light of the unauthorized Ace paperback editions of _Lord of the Rings_ in the 1960s. Apparently when the publisher approached him, Tolkien replied that “he would never allow his … work to appear in so ‘degenerate a form’ as a paperback book.” Since there was some flaw in the American copyright and the Ace publisher was offended by Tolkien’s response, Ace proceeded to produce an unauthorized version, which is why the old Ballantine paperbacks carry a signed statement by Tolkien on their back covers,
​This paperback edition, and no other, has been published with my consent and co-operation. Those who approve of courtesy (at least) to living authors will purchase it and no other.​​Tolkien Estate has blocked a number of books based on the author’s work over the years. I cannot see their authorizing alternative tellings of the tale. (They don’t own the rights to the films: Tolkien sold those in 1969 to pay his taxes.) Somehow, however, Harvard Lampoon managed to publish _Bored of the Rings_ in 1969, perhaps because it is so obviously a spoof, a lampoon, and it remains in print. The US Supreme Court has ruled that _parodies_ cannot be held in violation of copyright. (Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994)) And, according to _The Law of Public Communication_ by Lee, Stewart, and Peters, published by Routledge 2018 (tenth edition updated 2020), the usage must be for a parody, not a satire. In the words of Justice Souter, who wrote the opinion,
​Parody needs to mimic an original to make its point, and so has some claim to use the creation of its victim’s (or collective victims’) imagination, whereas satire can stand on its own two feet and so requires justification for the very act of borrowing.​​He also wrote that,
​Because “parody may quite legitimately aim at garroting the original, destroying it commercially as well as artistically,” … the role of the courts is to distinguish between “biting criticism that merely suppresses demand and copyright infringement, which usurps it.”​​This last citation is without citations or the brackets that denote the court’s editorial alterations.

And you must note that I am *not* an attorney, nor can you rely upon this as legal advice in any way, manner, or form. It is, however, how I believe _Bored of the Rings_ was published in the US, while the books Alice has mentioned are not.


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (May 18, 2020)

Yes, sometimes books can get by, calling -- or relabeling -- themselves as parody. This famously happened with "The Wind Done Gone", a sequel of sorts, or a reimagining, of "Gone With the Wind", even though it clearly isn't, and was not written as, a "parody", but was relabelled -- literally -- as such.


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## Olorgando (May 18, 2020)

Depending on how loosely one defines fanfiction, huge areas of post 1955 (high) fantasy publishing could be considered as such. Even those that went into what one could call "anti-Tolkien" modes fall into this loose definition - the old bit about needing a rule to know what the exception, the deviation is "from". To use astronomical terms, some were Jupiters, some were Mercurys, some were comets, some were asteroids, some were moons orbiting any of the above. Some were Alpha Centauris too, certainly. JRRT was the sun.


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (May 18, 2020)

As far as the Ace editions: I think I've seen that Tolkien quote before, Alcuin, but it's not from one of the Letters, is it? In any event, I believe he was likely under some pressure from his publishers, who were afraid a "cheap" paperback edition would cut into sales of the hardcovers, and thus their profits. That, as it turned out, was a very bad call.

I may have told this story elsewhere, but will repeat it here: as I understand it, the copyright laws then placed a maximum on the number of _unbound _copies that could be imported, and remain in copyright; this was a commonly used way of saving money on shipping costs, and apparently the publisher doubted US sales would exceed the maximum. Another mistake.

Ace, which was quite comfortable with underhanded practices, discovered the "loophole" and took advantage of it; hence the acrimony, and the panic at Allen and Unwin, leading to a deal with Ballantine for an "authorized" edition, and Tolkien scrambling to make enough changes to the first edition to justify calling it a "second", making the Ace obsolete. And I think it was also necessary for copyright reasons.

The Tolkien quote you mentioned, that appeared in the Ballantines, caused an uproar and a "revolt" among fans, with the college students who were the earliest wave of Middle-earth mania demanding that campus bookstores withdraw the Ace editions from their shelves, kind of a big deal at the time, as the Ace books cost 75 cents, as compared to 95 cents for the Ballantines. Seems paltry now, but not in those distant days, as I can attest.

There's an ironic twist in the tale: despite the understandable sputtering about "theft" and "piracy", the fact was that Tolkien had to share royalties from the Ballantines equally with A&U; when Ace decided to attempt to attenuate the damage and pay royalties (including retroactively) _all _the royalties went to Tolkien, cutting A&U out altogether. Their second printing featured a riposte to Ballantine on the back cover: "Ace Books is the only publisher paying royalties directly to the author" -- or words to that effect. Nevertheless, because of the backlash, which IIRC was beginning to expand to calls for boycotting _all _books published by them, Ace agreed to cease production after the second printing sold out.

Two points are worth noting in defense of Ace: the first and obvious one is that without their "piracy", there would have been no Ballantines, no paperbacks at all -- at least until A&U (and perhaps Tolkien) came to their senses. The history of LOTR would look very different.

A second, if minor point: given the ephemeral nature of paperbacks, and the print total of 400,000 copies, the Ace editions are scarce, but are the closest most of us will ever come to having access to the first edition. Try finding a hardback set of that!


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## Olorgando (May 18, 2020)

Not that I favor abolishment of the copyright laws that exist in the west, entirely the opposite. But this is a fairly recent development (as one can in part see with what happened with the Ace Books pirate edition in the US in the 1960s!). Now I'm posting from memory (as I continue to do, despite knowing its dangers, when my search for the source looks too daunting), but there seems tobe a totally different mind-set about such things in eastern Asia (which might include Japan and Korea besides China, and stray southwards). The highest accomplishment any student of a master could achieve was for his products to be indistinguishable from that of the master. That does have a certain "there was a golden age a while ago and we've degenerated from then" touch to it - like ancestor worship. Western science has put a very firm stop to that (except for those that don't understand it in the least - including many "westerners"). But this is not solely an east Asian phenomenon. Take the anglophone literary "saint", Shakespeare. "Antony and Cleopatra", "Coriolanus", "Julius Caesar", "Othello", "Romeo and Juliet", "Timon of Athens", "Titus Andronicus", "Troilus and Cressida", "The Merchant of Venice", many more … dear old Will stole like a bandit from Italian and Greek sources.
As did Bertolt Brecht, one of our literary "saints" in Germany. Or for that matter, Goethe did not write the first "Faust" (something that became a bit of a mania with German authors aiming for literary "immortality" later, like Thomas Mann - whose claim to that rests rather on "Buddenbrooks" - published 1901, Nobel Prize for literature 1929 - or the "Magic Mountain").
The main point now is whenever huge amounts of money are involved. Sometimes less so in the original product that in the huge merchandising parasites that attach themselves to it. McD, C-C, and the lot.


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## Olorgando (May 18, 2020)

Olorgando said:


> The main point now is whenever huge amounts of money are involved. Sometimes less so in the original product that in the huge merchandising parasites that attach themselves to it. McD, C-C, and the lot.


I just noticed I made a mental jump there. Might have to do with the fact that the "Harry Potter" books overlapped with the respective film series. As later did the "Twilight" franchises, IIRC. Now I have no idea how much merchandising was attached to the respective book publications. I'd just guess that merchandising that was attached to the films was possibly an order of magnitude larger, or even more. With LoTR, there were 46 years between last book volume and first film. With TH, it was 75 years ...


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (May 18, 2020)

For more on all of those topics, Olorgando, including the odd phenomenon of Harry Potter fanfic in China, see the Wikipedia article:









Fan fiction - Wikipedia







en.m.wikipedia.org


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## Alice (Mar 4, 2022)

Meanwhile, it's a wee Gollum's collection of Tolkien related fanfiction printed in paper


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Mar 4, 2022)

Excellent!

Now, how about describing them, for those like me, who can't read Russian? 😄


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## HALETH✒🗡 (Mar 5, 2022)

Alice said:


> View attachment 12022
> 
> View attachment 12023
> 
> Meanwhile, it's a wee Gollum's collection of Tolkien related fanfiction printed in paper


Пластилин? What is the connection between plasticine and Tolkien?


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## Alice (Mar 5, 2022)

HALETH✒🗡 said:


> Пластилин? What is the connection between plasticine and Tolkien?


Well Пластилин sounds like Властелин. 
По созвучию)
Original name is Bored of the Rings. Sounds alike with Lord of the Rings


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## HALETH✒🗡 (Mar 5, 2022)

Alice said:


> Well Пластилин sounds like Властелин.
> По созвучию)
> Original name is Bored of the Rings. Sounds alike with Lord of the Rings


It reminds me of this cover for a car license: 

For those who can't read Russian: 
"Властелин колёс" sounds like "Властелин колец" and means "The Lord of the Wheels". What is more, both rings and wheels have round shape. The inscription on the wheel says: "The license for my precious".


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## Olorgando (Mar 5, 2022)

HALETH✒🗡 said:


> It reminds me of this cover for a car license:
> The inscription on the wheel says: "The license for my precious".


Now *that's* a sentiment quite a few German car owners would probably sign on to! 😂
We're definitely a title contender for "car-daffiest nation on earth". 😁


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Mar 6, 2022)

I'd like more information on these books!


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## HALETH✒🗡 (Mar 6, 2022)

Squint-eyed Southerner said:


> I'd like more information on these books!


Me too. 
I'm afraid, you'll get an angry emoji.


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Mar 6, 2022)

I'm afraid you're right. 😄

Do you have any of these, or other of the Russian fanfics, by the way? Alice says there are many more she doesn't have.


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## HALETH✒🗡 (Mar 6, 2022)

Squint-eyed Southerner said:


> I'm afraid you're right. 😄
> 
> Do you have any of these, or other of the Russian fanfics, by the way? Alice says there are many more she doesn't have.


I don't have fanfics. I've always treated fanfics as not serious literature and tried to avoid reading them, but maybe I should change my attitude to fanfiction for the better. Anyway, some books from Alice's collection interested me.


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## Alice (Mar 6, 2022)

I can try to write more description on those books. Also on those which I read but don't have in paper.

My plan is to get BIG collection of them, best collection in Russia 😱


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Mar 21, 2022)

I just came across this:

__
https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/comments/tf5q68


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