Darkover - Fanlore

Darkover

Name: Darkover, MZB's Darkover
Abbreviation(s):
Creator: Marion Zimmer Bradley, et al.
Date(s): 1958-present
Medium: novels, short stories
Country of Origin:
External Links: Darkover on wikipedia
Subpages for Darkover:

A Meeting in the Hyades · Consenting Adults of Darkover · Dark-Ovan Language · The Horse-Tamer's Daughter


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The Darkover books are a series of novels and short stories set primarily on the fictional lost colony planet Cottman IV, also known as Darkover. Because they take place on another planet, and canon includes space ships and interstellar travel, these novels are sometimes called science fiction; but because they also involve societies whose main transport is the horse and who rule by telepathic aristocracy, it is also fair to call the series fantasy.

The works in this series were written out of time-order and span several hundred years, and so have many protagonists. Bradley explored several topics that were quasi-taboo at the time, including homosexuality (male and female) and polyamory, and was influential on the role of feminism in science fiction fandom.

Contents

Synopsis

Darkover is a planet with a reddish sun and a fairly cold climate, on which humans were stranded early in the history of interstellar travel. The Darkovans quickly discovered that many of their number had laran, a multivariate power, channeled through personalized blue crystals, that manifests as telepathy, telecontrol, empathy, and several other supernormal ways of relating to the world.

The novels cover periods in Darkover history when society has become basically medieval, with warring kingdoms restricted by powerful custom against major (or laran-based) weaponry. Women are historically subjugated, and several of the novels describe how individual female protagonists find their ways in the world: through an all-female guild called the Renunciates, through polyamory, through study and development of laran, and once contact is re-established with other worlds, through space travel.

Canon Terminology

  • chieri - a race of sentient hermaphrodites native to Darkover
  • The Compact - a legal requirement that nobody use ranged weapons for warfare; bows are used only for hunting, and rarely for that.
  • comyn - the caste of nobility. Comyn usually have red hair, which is taken as an indication of potential laran all over Darkover.
  • di catenas - traditional marriage vows, from words implying bondage.
  • Free Amazons - women who have taken an oath not to be under the protection of any man and live outside mainstream Darkovan society
  • freemate - a type of marriage in which spouses exchange limited vows, with the only permanent agreement being to tend to the welfare of any children that result. Can be done by same-sex couples.
  • game that walks itself from the trap to the cookpot - Darkovan equivalent of "out of the frying pan, into the fire."
  • ghost wind - seasonal winds that carry kireseth pollen far from the fields it usually grows in
  • keeper - a trained telepath who coordinates the efforts of other telepaths. Requires a cloistered lifestyle, as sexual energies an telepathic ones interfere with each other dangerously. By the time terrans rediscover Darkover, keepers are all female.
  • kireseth - a flower with pollen with strong effects on telepathic abilities; also causes lowered inhibitions and wild behavior
  • laran - translated to English (or "Standard") as "gifts;" used to refer to a set of psychic abilities.
  • matrix or starstone - a crystal with the ability to enhance telepathic powers if used correctly. Touching the stone causes damage to the person attuned to it.
  • tower - a place where telepathic training and work are done, similar to a university or monastery.

Darkover fandom

[Needs some insider history]

Uncommonly, some female fans of Darkover have gone so far as to adopt (formally or informally) the name-structure of the Renunciates/Free Amazons, signifying their independence from the influence and protection of men. This elocution is generally written as Firstname n'ha (daughter of) Mothersfirstname, i.e., that a daughter inherits her name from her mother rather than her father.

Fanzines

Darkover fanzines included:

Copyright Issues

For some time, Darkovan fanfic was encouraged by MZB, and several zines (including Mood Phases) had her approval or at least acceptance.

At one point, she wanted to use some concepts from a fanfic story in a novel, and contacted the author to say so. The author of the fanfic wanted co-author status and royalties. A lawsuit was threatened, but never took place. The book was shelved--has never been published--and that was the end of officially sanctioned fanfic about Darkover. This incident is frequently told as a copyright cautionary tale, usually by people who've only heard it thirdhand.

Some known facts and accounts:

  • Marion Zimmer Bradley's story "Contraband" was cancelled while still in the plotting stages.[1]
  • Jean Lamb stated in a 2001 usenet post:
I received a letter offering me a sum and a dedication for all rights to the text. I attempted at that point to _very politely_ negotiate a better deal. I was told that I had better take what I was offered, that much better authors than I had not been paid as much (we're talking a few hundred dollars here) and had gotten the same sort of 'credit' (this was in the summer of 1992).[2]
I was right in the middle of this and discussed this with the parties involved first hand. The following was acknowledged by both sides. Marion did offer Jean a special dedication and also $500. Jean refused this, saying that she wanted a byline for the novel. Jean also became convinced (erroneously) that Marion intended to plagerize from her fan-written work about Danvan Hastur.[3]
Then the lawyers got into it and that year everyone who got accepted got a big long contract to sign, instead of the short one we'd always gotten before. and after that they refused to let MZB do the pro anthologies anymore for fear she'd be sued by some fan writer who accused her of using one of their ideas.[4]

This case is often referred to by authors who refuse to read any fanfic related to their worlds.

  1. ↑ Re: Contraband. July 17, 2003 post by Robert Frieling to mzb_newsletter on Yahoo! Groups. Accessed September 30, 2008.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Re: The infamous Marion Zimmer Bradley case. March 19, 2001 post by Jean Lamb to rec.arts.sf.written. Accessed September 30, 2008.
  3. ↑ Re: Contraband. july 19, 2003 post by Nina Boal to mzb_newsletter on Yahoo! Groups. Accessed September 30, 2008.
  4. ↑ Re: [Marion Zimmer Bradley Newsletter: Darkover Anthology Stories (was Re: Digest Number 215)]. October 12, 2004 post by Diann Partridge to mzb_newsletter on Yahoo! Groups. Accessed September 30, 2008.
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