Sunday, April 23, 2006

Whatever: The 2006 Stupidest FanFic Writer Award Gets Retired Early

Yeah, there's got to be an award of some sort in this one. At the time that I posted this, the book was still available on Amazon. Its mind-boggling. Check it out while you still can.

Whatever: The 2006 Stupidest FanFic Writer Award Gets Retired Early

"Via Nick Mamatas, I learn of Lori Jareo, who has written up a Star Wars fanfic novel, published it without the expressed, written consent of George Lucas, and has it listed for sale on Amazon. Oh, but she's not worried about the massive copyright violation; Indeed, let's see what she has to say about it in her 'author interview.'

"Q: Having set Another Hope in an already existing universe, I find myself wondering if there was any concern on your part regarding copyrights?

"No, because I wrote this book for myself. This is a self-published story and is not a commercial book. Yes, it is for sale on Amazon, but only my family, friends and acquaintances know it’s there.

"Let me repeat this, just to savor the juicy cluelessness of it: 'Yes, it's for sale on Amazon, but only my family, friends and acquaintances know it's there.' I feel myself getting stupider every time I read that line, but the good news is that I have a long way to go before I would be actually stupid enough to say that line myself.

"For those publishing novices out there, let me, as a public service, outline all the many ways Ms. Jareo's statement above is ill-informed and/or ignorant and/or just plain idiotic."

The part in italics is a statement by the author of the fanfic in question. This whole thing has a trainwreck quality to it, and it should be fun to see what happens once George Lucas finds out about it. I'm surprised that he hasn't already. [via Jonathan]