Star Wars Fan Fiction Pulled From Amazon.com April 28, 2006
Patrick Lee, News Editor of Scifiwire.com reports that Amazon.com has removed
a listing where a writer sought to sell fan fiction set in the Star Wars universe.
The self-published Star Wars fan novel Another Hope was finally pulled from sale on Amazon.com on April 25, though copyright holder Lucasfilm had asked it to be removed at least a day earlier. The listing, however, remains.
The book, an unlicensed and unauthorized book by Lori Jareo, has also been removed from sale at Barnes&Noble.com, but remains on sale at Amazon.co.uk as of 10 a.m. PT April 26. A listing also remains on Powells.com, though the book is listed as being "out of stock."
Lucasfilm spokeswoman Lynne Hale had told SCI FI Wire that the company asked Jareo to remove the book from sale, and that she had complied happily. SCI FI Wire e-mails to Jareo have gone unanswered.
News of the book first broke on the blogs of writers John Scalzi, Nick Mamatas and Lee Goldberg.
You can read more about the entire incident here. There is a lot of discussion going on right now on the Web about fan fiction, whether it's a good thing or a bad thing. But just a legal word of warning: whether you think it's a good thing or not it's illegal. Some (but not all) copyright holders turn a blind eye towards fanfic so long as it's not in print and the author doesn't try to sell it for profit.
If you decide you simply have to write stories in someone else's fictional world, it's best to keep them to yourself and your friends. You're going to get busted if you try to sell them to make a profit and LucasFilm in particular takes this kind of thing very seriously.
