Lastly, I think if I write a book I deserve to earn royalties from that book for the entirety of my life and any subsequent posthumous printings should earn a royalty to my survivors and heirs. Unless of course someone offered me a big suitcase of bills.
If that's the
only motivation you have for writing, then you're going to be a pretty shitty writer. Writing takes more than just "oh hey I feel like putting an ungodly amount of effort into creating something that probably won't sell, because pop culture is fickle and arbitrary in its tastes", not even counting the resolve it would take to put all the effort into creating something, without some driving motive besides some unlikely profit. Hell, even hacks like Paolini must have motives beyond that, and I'd be willing to bet that they didn't start writing under the impression it would earning their great-grandchildren royalties.
This whole thing stinks of have-not whining like land reform or entitlement programs. Waaaaah someone else has better ideas than I ever had and I can't sell my middling fanfic because the original author doesn't want me tarnishing his canon with second-rate dreck.
Fan works are actually legal, counting as satire/commentary and thus being protected as fair use. If you're trying to sell it/use it commercially it's a little less clear cut, but it can still be done. Now, of course, legality has very little to do with whether or not you get away with it, because overly litigious copyright holders can sick packs of
lawyers heinous villains on you, with no threat of punishment for squashing legal activity, so unless you have the funds to fight back, it doesn't really matter.
SO ANYWAY FUTURAMA IS BACK ISN'T THAT KICKASS GUYS?
No, it's not. I loved Futurama, but I don't have cable, and my internet is too shitty to watch it some other way. >:|