Luminous Times Universe

Luminous Times was a privately-circulated series of fan fiction stories that eventually became part of a larger shared universe. 
Written mainly in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the series was a crossover between the Robin of Sherwood characters and the musicians from the rock group U2 that was part AU, part RPF, and wholly original. Many stories in the universe were part of a shared timeline that tracked real time events that were happening during U2’s rock tours in the 1980s. In later years, some stories branched off and involved the actor Mel Gibson in his many movie roles as well as the lead character from MacGyver. The stories were then “published” in zine format, albeit with a small circulation of no more than 20-30 copies.
 
The universe is perhaps one of the early examples of multiple writers blending both media and RPF fan fiction. And while there may have been earlier examples, it is certainly one of the few remaining universes that was distributed in printed format. 
Approximately five writers participated and most of the stories were written from 1988 to 1992 with the fiction covering a time period from April 1194 to March 1989.
 
==Origin==
The series began when Fern Marder’s co-worker injured herself which led to Fern working long work hours with significant overtime. Being a writer, Carol Walske did what came naturally and started to commit words and ideas to paper: 
 
They talked about the story to a friend and then showed it another friend and she talked to some more friends on the way to a Clannad concert: “And they told some other people and we told some other people and somehow we ended up with a potential reader list of maybe twenty people who wanted to try their luck at reading our lark that was never supposed to see the light of day.” Source: editorial A Sort of Homecoming.
==Sharing With Conditions==
Because RPF was at the time a rarity and not well accepted, Fern and Carol placed conditions on how the series could be shared with other fans. First, the person had to be trustworthy - someone not inclined to make trouble for any of the creators in public or private. Second, the copies were to be accompanied by a LOC. Since the zine was never 'published' in the traditional manner and the concept of blending RPF and fandom characters was so unique for its time, naturally the writers wanted to know what others thought. In the end, Fern believes she received 17 LOCs from people outside her initial circle of friends."Fern Marder is a conversation with Morgan Dawn dated Oct 12, 2013, quoted with permission, including one from Australia.
She also learned that the sharing may have gone beyond those 17. When their Robin of Sherwood zine Another Time, Another Place first premiered at a Chicago convention, the inclusion of U2 song titles and lyrics was noted by fans who were perusing the dealer's room. A few immediately connected the publishers of Another Time to the creators of the Luminous Times Universe. "And that's how we knew that our copies of LT had spread far beyond what we had initially intended - when random strangers come up to you at events and are able to connect a Robin of Sherwood zine to U2 fanfic, you know there is a lot more copying going on. The only reason we were unhappy was that we had requested LOCs as part of the conditions of copying and sharing. "Fern Marder is a conversation with Morgan Dawn dated Oct 12, 2013, paraphrased with permission.
==The FanQ Award That Wasn't==
The circulation of copies led to one group of fans to set up informal reading parties. At one convention, fans who had passed around "A Sort of Homecoming read sections aloud at room parties. Some friends threatened, tongue in cheek, to mount a write in campaign to award the zine a FanQ award - although no one could agree on what category the zine should fit in.Fern Marder is a conversation with Morgan Dawn dated Oct 12, 2013, paraphrased with permission.
==Multi-Media Format==
The creators also selected lyrics to accompany the stories, and, for the first publication “A Sort of Homecoming”, created a mixtape:
At one point a fanvid was contemplated, but never created: 
==Stories in the Universe==
Main Universe
*A Sort of Homecoming
*Stories For Boys
*Luminous Times B Sides, Outtakes and Spurious Verses 
*Out of Control
 
Branching Off:
*Lethal Bodkin 1 & 2 - Mel Gibson, Hamlet and Martin Riggs in the Luminous Times Universe
*Maps & Legends I – MacGyver in the Luminous Times Universe
A Sort-of Related Zine:
* Another Time, Another Place (while it lacks the actual RPF element, this "concept zine" incorporates U2 lyrics into Robin of Sherwood fanfic and filks)
==References==
Category:Crossover Fanfiction
Category:Robin of Sherwood
Category:MacGyver
Category:U2
Category:Collaboration
Category:1980s Fanfiction
Category:1990s Fanfiction
Category:Shared Universes