Zelazny would probably be horrified.

[bladespark]

The Same Coin (7688 words) by bladespark
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Corwin/Eric (Chronicles of Amber)
Characters: Corwin (Chronicles of Amber), Eric (Chronicles of Amber)
Additional Tags: Sibling Incest, Ghosts, Shameless Smut
Summary:

Corwin and Eric hated each other for many reasons. But at least some of the hatred had its roots in the intimacy, rejection, and shame that revolved around one specific night, long, long ago. Corwin had long since put that night out of his mind, and what did it matter, anyway? Eric was dead and gone. When one of his distant kin discovers something new about the pattern, though, Corwin realizes that those who walk it don't necessarily have to stay dead.

-----

So yeah. A gift to a friend, and a bit of an indulgence for myself, for that matter. It's gay, it's got a good streak of D/s in it, and also I gotta say that between this, my Luna/Celestia, and my Thor/Loki stuff, the sibling incest kink is starting to grow on me. :D

I have no particular reason to think that Zelanzy was a homophobe, by the way, but I have no particular reason to think that he wasn't either, and I believe I've already commented on his obvious sexism. So I don't really think he'd approve of the pairing I've made here. But the reason above all that I think he'd be horrified by this is that he said he never wanted anybody else to write Amber stories. That was his world, and only he should play in it. (As I understand it, this was in response to a fellow author suggesting one of those setting-based anthologies where other authors play in one particular author's world, which were common back in the day and which I always rather loved. Published fanfic by "real" authors of their own favorite friend-author's worlds! How great is that? But Zelazny said no, he wouldn't allow such a thing, because he wanted Amber to be his and his alone.)

It's interesting, honestly, thinking about the morals of writing fanfic of a story who's author has said he doesn't want such things. Does that desire carry any weight? Were the author living, I might say it had some. Dead authors can't suffer any pain, they're dead. :3 But I also feel that when you chose to publish something, you chose to lose control of it. Especially in this day and age, when everyone knows about fanfic. If you want a world to remain your own, you need to keep it to yourself, I'm afraid.

Besides the "eh, your sexism bugs me, so my fanfic can bug you" feeling, though, and the "authors don't own their ideas once they share them" feeling, I also feel that monetary interests stomped all over Zelazny's wish long before I did, given that there was an authorized posthumous sequel to the Amber books, and a Choose Your Own Adventure spin-off, and a few other odds and ends that involved other authors playing in Zelanzy's sandbox after his death, for the monetary gain of the publisher.

I'm just doing it for fun, and as a present for a friend, and that feels less gross to me, tbh. Take that however you will.

Comments

[zeeth_kyrah]

The only source I had for Amber stuff was the RPG, which got mention in various places for years because it was one of the *very* few diceless types. You just needed a pack of poker cards to play.

[bladespark]

Playing the game with a deck of cards is so very Amber, that's great.