Unofficial literary LOTR sequel

[Mouseferatu]

Dennis L. McKiernan's publisher liked the trilogy. The publisher encouraged him to change the names and setting to sufficiently avoid a copyright suit and they went ahead and published. (The wisdom of this decision may be debatable.)

Before I ever knew this, I picked up the first book. Although I despise claims of copying Tolkien, I couldn't stop thinking it as I read through the book. I made it to around page 40-50 and quit. The writing quality was poor; obviously as a result of the re-write.

Glad I'm not the only one. I read it decades ago, completely ignorant of the LotR connection. (In fact, I hadn't even read LotR at that point, though I think I'd read The Hobbit.)

My problems weren't due to the LotR-like aspects--as I said, I didn't know about them--but just due to the fact that the books were bad. McKiernan might be a great writer, and the books he's published since could be fantastic. I honestly don't know; I've never had the urge to pick them up.

 

[Dire Bare]

First, this type of unauthorized copyright theft is the kiss of death in the SF&F publication industry in North America.

Theft? Seems you're overstating things if what's been posted in this thread is true. The man wrote it as an exercise and a personal labor of love. He is now trying to get it published, it is not published yet. I agree it's unlikely it'll ever get professionally published for the reasons you mention, but it's hardly theft or anything underhanded at all.

You're right, fan fic can have substantial quality. Frequently, though, it does not. It has a hefty reputation for poor quality, somewhat deserved, in my opinion.

I realize the stereotype of fan fiction is that of poor-quality, and I have no doubt the intertubz are filled with slash fanfic shlock. However, fanfic is a stereotype, and as usual with stereotypes it is often not true in the specific. It's the literary equivalent of independent film, community theatre, small-time RPG publishers, and small-town arts & crafts fairs . . . . filled with amateur artists, with a decent amount of professional and/or high quality artists as well. Truly the only difference between "fanfic" and "literature" is if you're getting paid, and probably paid poorly at that. And bookstores are crammed with crap quality professionally published stories.

 

[jonesy]

Theft? Seems you're overstating things if what's been posted in this thread is true. The man wrote it as an exercise and a personal labor of love. He is now trying to get it published, it is not published yet.

It is in Russia, kind of. By a publisher who is apparently a friend of his. Sold 100,000 copies. He got the equivalent of 300 dollars for it. This all from wikipedia so take it as you will. After that he has been writing original stuff, which seems to be selling quite well.

 

[Croesus]

There's a short summary of the first book, and even shorter ones of the other two here, plus some excerpts:
Autoren

Has anyone else gone to this site and checked the excerpts? It may be the original writing, or the English translation, or both, but I'm not impressed. Having read the two excerpts posted, I have no desire to read three whole books of the same.

 

[Thagdal]

Fanfiction of dubious legailty if he's trying to get cash out of an IP not his.

 

[RainOfSteel]

Theft? Seems you're overstating things if what's been posted in this thread is true. The man wrote it as an exercise and a personal labor of love. He is now trying to get it published, it is not published yet. I agree it's unlikely it'll ever get professionally published for the reasons you mention, but it's hardly theft or anything underhanded at all.

From the original post: "In 1993, Ring of Darkness is published in Russia. The novel goes on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies, making Perumov one of the pioneers of Russian fantasy."

That is copyright theft.

 

[Squire James]

Dennis L. McKiernan also wrote a sequel to The Lord of the Rings. When the Tolkien estate refused to authorise it, he changed the names and setting. I've never read it, but if it's anything like The Iron Tower, the prequel that he wrote as a background to his revised version, it must be pretty awful.

(Really, how many times can the dwarf "cast his hood over his eyes" whenever he gets some bad news or is feeling down?)

I was fortunate enough to read "Eye of the Hunter" as my first read from him, so I have a lot better general impression of him. I too was unimpressed with his earlier works, but by this point I suppose he was resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to be let into Middle Earth and in this book he finally started developing some true differences. It actually read more like a D&D novel than a Tolkien novel.