Cathy Young writes for Reason about the allure of fan fiction, those not-quite-sanctioned amateur stories starring beloved characters of literature, TV, and film. (We’ve touched on the subject before, most notably when a woman tried to sell her self-published Star Wars novel on Amazon.com.) Unlike other writers who describe the genre as little more than intellectual property theft, Young celebrates (the best) fanfic for its originality: “While the worst of fan fiction can make a Harlequin romance look like Charlotte Bronte, the popular stories are at least no worse in quality—and sometimes far better—than, say, The Da Vinci Code.”
But Young isn’t just an advocate, she’s also created quite a few Xena: Warrior Princess stories herself, at least one of which falls under the femslash rubric…as does, for that matter, a healthy percentage of all Xena fanfic. Heck, it’s pretty much what Xena fanfic was created for.