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07-22-2003, 08:55 AM | #1 |
Vegetable of Doom
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Tolkien Theft, or Tolkien Tribute?
This has been egging at me for a while now. When I was in Moscow's "Dom Knigi" (literally, the "House of the Book"), its biggest bookshop, I strayed over to the fantasy section (naturally), and began looking for Tolkien books which we might buy there instead of good old and expensive London. Well, as I browsed through the shelves, I found a set of books with a title to the effect of "Stories of Middle-Earth". In Russian, the word for "story" is the same as that for "history", so I thought that maybe I'd found HoME, which my mother would buy me after I told her how much cheaper these books are in Russia than in good old and expensive London. I started to leaf through one of the books, and was surprised/shocked: the word in the title i thought was referring to History, was in fact Story. This is a set of books about ME, with elves, orcs etc., but written by, well, not Tolkien or Tolkien Jr.!
I didn't know what to think, because on the one hand, this could be described as fanfiction, which I have nothing whatsoever against, but on the other, these people are using Tolkien's ideas, and Tolkien's world to make money for themselves... There were ongoing series, with ongoing characters, which in my opinion is a little beyond normal fanfiction, but then, these authors must be Tolkien fans, and quite serious ones, to actually publish what I'm sure they consider a tribute to him. What do you think?
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je suis une bonne odeur |
07-22-2003, 09:21 AM | #2 |
Denethor's True Love
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Mirkwood. With Thranduil... *swoon*
Posts: 2,049
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Anything so obviously related to Lotr, but not a direct part of it, would be a tribute in my eyes.
If it was indirectly related, with the same ideas but trying to hide it under a slightly different title, that would be a theft.
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'The Hobbit' 1st impressions: 1. Thorin is hot... Oh god, I fancy a dwarf. 2. Thranduil is hotter. 3. Is that... Figwit! 4. Does Elijah Wood never age? 2nd: It's all about Fili & Kili, really. 3rd: BARD! OMG, Bard. |
07-22-2003, 09:25 AM | #3 |
Shade of Carn Dûm
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Wind's Road
Posts: 467
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I would consider it in the same category as Bored of the Rings, a very famous fanfiction. i'm not sure where the profits went. I would consider both of those tributes.
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"My name is Mallard, but you can call me Duck." ~Random Saying, compliments of Sirith and her best friend, concerning a book. |
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