Raymond E. Feist

Name:	Raymond E. Feist
Also Known As:	R.E.F., Raymond Feist
Occupation:	Author
Medium:	Novels
Works:	The Riftwar Cycle
Official Website(s):	http://www.crydee.com/
Fan Website(s):
On Fanlore:	Related pages

Raymond E. Feist is an American fantasy author who wrote The Riftwar Cycle, a series of novels and short stories. His books have been translated into multiple languages and have sold over 15 million copies.

Views on Fanfiction

Feist heavily discourages fanfiction of his works, citing the Marion Zimmer Bradley incident as reason.

Fans are discouraged from writing any fiction in Midkemia or using any of the characters created by Raymond E. Feist in other settings. While the author understands this practice of "fanfic," or fan fiction stems from enthusiasm over the work, it is nevertheless a copyright infringement and an abuse of the author's legal rights. The author suggests that fans turn that creative impulse into creating their own, original, worlds and characters. It's much more entertaining creating your own universe than working in someone else's.

OK, that's the official disclaimer.

The reason I have to take this position is due to years of abuse by fans of other writers/TV shows/movies. The copyright issues are complex and often don't seem to make sense, but the financial risk to myself and my family is real. So, be the "Raymond E. Feist" of your own universe and have a blast. If you get good at it, you never know, someone might someday be writing you fan mail.

Thanks for understanding.

Best, R.E.F.

In 1997, some fans commented on Feist's fanworks stance:

Rather a strange stance for him to take, since I understand that some of his books extensively plagiarised the backgrounds and concepts created by Professor M. A. R. Barker in his game materials for Empire of the Petal Throne and the associated novels 'Man of Gold' and 'Flamesong.' There would have been legal action taken except that the Professor's publishers were unwilling to give financial support.

Ray Feist -hates- fanfic. I was involved in a discussion of it on the Genie computer network a few years ago, and his attitude was so hateful, that several of his fans who were on the network at the time swore off his works permanently.

A fan in 2006 quoted Feist, who mentioned, the Marion Zimmer Bradley Fanfiction Controversy:

Marion [Zimmer Bradley] was working on a Darkover novel, and at the same time reading and editing fan fiction for her Darkover 'zine. She found a story that was very similar in theme to what she was doing in her novel under work, and a character she really liked. So she contacted the author of that bit and asked if she could use the material and the character, and would give the author a tip-of-the-hat mention in the dedication. The author replied that Marion would have to split royalties, put the other author's name on the book, and if she used any of the material or similar (like the stuff Marion was already writing) the author would sue.

This was a woman who enjoyed fan writing and nurtured it, and the wannabe writer turned on her… [MZB] canned the project she was working on. Her publisher wasn't really happy about losing the book, nor were her readers. Marion changed her policy on fan fiction at that point, and in the end, a [fanfic writer] who was, in my opinion, greedy and stupid ruined it for a lot of Marion's fans.

[...]

Everyone is entitled to find their joy where they may, but not with my intellectual property.