Is there any published "literary" fic based on a source material still under copyright? All the ones I can think of are riffing on public domain material, which obviously makes a huge difference when you're trying to get paid for it.

There was the continuation of Gone With the Wind, and the V.C. Andrews stuff (and some Ludlum, I believe), but I don't know if you want to call that "literary".

I think "unpublished" is part of what makes something fic.

Granted, that line is starting to blur... and the differences between "published" "self published" "small press" "on the web" and a dozen other incrimentals are a shift that we likely won't be coming back from any time soon.

But, to the extent that it can still be used, "Published" "fic" is something more like an homage or an "in the style of" or a licensing arrangement. "Fan Fiction" is more like something written by fans to amuse themselves and their friends.

There was the authorized sequal to Gone with the Wind, but there was also "The Wind Done Gone" from the POV of the slaves/freed slaves, right?

Yeah, aside from some stuff that was contracted, I can't think of many of those types of books that aren't based on out-of-copyright classics.

Is there any published "literary" fic based on a source material still under copyright? All the ones I can think of are riffing on public domain material, which obviously makes a huge difference when you're trying to get paid for it.

That would be a huge factor in modern extrapolations.

Of course Shakespeare was incorporating existing stories. Three Penny Opera and Sweeney Todd are both the umpteenth retelling of their stories. I've heard Arlo Guthrie and other musicians joke about "the folk process" being what they just do and other folks would consider "stealing". So there are lots of examples of artistic midrash (if you will).

I think I'm going to go with "published for sale" v. "distributed for free among friends/peers" for the not-bright line distinction between other adaptive stories and current fan fiction.

I feel certain that Panic! at the Disco would be pleased that this is the conversation that arose out of asking who the hell they were.

Hmmmm. I can think of a book that I liked that was fic of the Bible: The Red Tent. Does that count?

And now I am off to driving in traffic to meet book group to talk about my faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave: Catch-22, which is not fic. That I know of.

If they're fic, they can't be canon, right? So yeah, I vote we count them as unfuckingbelievably bad fanfic.

That just seems right, doesn't it?