Don't be an Ashley Carter.

Many years ago, I picked up a couple books at a yard sale.  They were "Taproots of Falconhurst" and "Scandal of Falconhurst" by Ashley Carter.  I eventually read all the Falconhurst books and was confused.  Did Ellen get freed and later murdered by Ransom Lightfoot, or did she die in the slave uprising on Falconhurst?  Why did one book contradict the others?  Just what was going on?  I sorted them out finally, not by the chronology of the story, but by publication dates, and what I discovered was this:  The series had three authors, two of which sometimes worked together.  These two quit, or died, or were abducted by aliens, and Ashley Carter took over.

I can't begin to describe how angry this made me and still makes me.  Not that another author took over, but that he ignored the established reality of that world to suit himself.  Using the works of the first two, I could have made a viable timeline, family tree, and maybe even a map.   For example, the character of Ellen was the young master's (ahem) favorite.  She came to the plantation as a teenager, bore many children, and was killed in a slave uprising.  I don't remember if her dalliance with a fellow slave was included in the Onstott/Horner books, but if it was, she was forgiven.  Ashley Carter, however, decided that Ellen's dalliance resulted in Ellen's being freed and sent away, then murdered.  WHAT?!

I can't imagine doing this to another author, but it seems to be fairly common and even accepted practice.  I argue all the time with my fellow Protoculture Addicts about Jack McKinney's novelizations of Robotech.  I just read a 'prequel' to Jane Eyre that did it - and has gotten good reviews.  There is an official Dracula sequel, written by some kin of Bram Stoker's, that does it.

Now, let me clarify.  I am not talking about works that take a "what if" approach.  I am not talking about alternate realities or reboots.  They don't claim to take place in the same reality as the original and promptly contradict it.    Play in the worlds of others if you like, but respect the creator of that world.  Don't be an Ashley Carter.