ATTN JMS: Fan Fiction

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: in_valens_name at hotmail.com
Date: 16 Sep 1999 15:02:11 -0600
Lines: 39

In article <7rp2t1$3d9$1 at nclient15-gui.server.virgin.net>,
  "Mark Alexander Bertenshaw" <Mark.Bertenshaw at virgin.net> wrote:
> Dear Joe,
>
> I have read elsewhere that you put a moritorium on fan fiction.  With
the
> end of B5 and the apparent demise of Crusade, is this now officially
ended?
>
> I asked this in a letter to B5 Magazine, and the editor did not take
up this
> question; so I would appreciate a reply from the source, as it were.
>
> Personally, I think that the B5 universe could have a future in print,
> although I can understand that you personally might not want people
in your
> "playground" whom you did not sanction.  I have to admit, though,
that I get
> frustrated by the lack of written fiction, especially when seeing the
shear
> amount of output from Pocket Books from the Start Trek "franchise".

An interesting question, and a feeling I share to some degree.  I would
like to see more novels from Del Rey, if they continue to explore the
whole B5/Crusade history and their characters, past and future, and
maintain the quality.

I'll be surprised as hell if JMS says anything to openly give the "OK"
to fanfic.  It's a legal can of worms.  But I'd hope he and Del Rey
would look into doing an anthology collection akin to Trek's STRANGE
NEW WORLDS by first time (professionally) authors.  The name would be a
natural: _Babylon 5: Dreams Given Form_ !  <g>

scott tilson.


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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 16 Sep 1999 18:21:57 -0600
Lines: 15

Fan fiction, however nice and fuzzy it may be as a community of folks, is still
a form of copyright infringement...it takes characters which are owned by a
studio and mass-produces them (well, even a few hundred copies is technically a
mass).  So no, I can't authorize or sanction it because that would put me at
legal odds with WB, which owns the copyright.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com




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