sharecrop n.

fiction set in a universe that was created by (and is sometimes under license from) another, typically more-established, author

SF Encyclopedia


SF Criticism

  • 1991 J. Clute SF Novels of Year in D. Garnett New Worlds 1 249 John Clute

    Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke both ‘collaborated’ in the production of novels both of which—though neither outcome was technically a sharecrop, neither younger partner being sufficiently junior or impoverished to have to work for hire—had all the seeming of the sharecrop title: the clone gaze inwards of each book at the altar of the past; the enervating belatedness of plot and discourse; the medusa chill of the sealed and finished texts.

  • 1993 J. Clute Sharecrop in J. Clute & P. Nicholls Encyclopedia of Science Fiction 1092/1 John Clute

    Similarly, many sharecrops are tied to shared worlds ; but the author of a shared-world text may be the originator of that world (so the work in question cannot properly be called a tie) and may also retain copyright in his or her own name (so the work cannot properly be called a sharecrop).

  • 1994 Interzone Oct. 65/3

    This planetary romance appears to be a genuine collaboration rather than a sharecrop.

  • 1995 Interzone Jan. 57/2

    As sharecrop collaborations go, this yields more nutrition than most.

Research requirements

antedating 1991
Earliest cite

John Clute in 'New Worlds 1'
Research History
Jeff Prucher submitted a 1997 cite from the "Spinoffery" column in Interzone. Jeff Prucher submitted a 1991 cite from John Clute's essay in David Garnett's anthology "New Worlds 1". Bill Mullins submitted a 2002 cite from Mike Resnick and Barry N. Malzberg in the SFWA Bulletin. Bill Mullins submitted a 2002 cite from Paul Di Filippo in the SFWA Bulletin.

Rick Hauptmann submitted a 1993 cite from the second edition of the Clute/Nicholls "Encyclopedia of SF"; the cite does not appear in the first edition. Clute mentions in the Encyclopedia that the term is believed to have been coined by Gardner Dozois in the late 1980's. Gardner Dozois sent in a note stating that he did not coin the term (in any of its forms), and that he recalls reading it for the first time in a review, possibly in Locus.

We would like cites of any date by other authors.

Last modified 2020-12-23 17:02:40
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.