And yes, I think the pendulum is swinging the other way now. Now that some ground has been broken - now that tears have been shed and boundaries have been crossed, more readers are getting ready to read something other than interpolated moments between the Brokeback Summer and the reunion, because there are only so many beautiful moments that can be depicted without getting to the hard reality of the plot, and because there is a point at which the big picture of the characters and their ultimate fates, needs to be faced and seen to be relevant.
I had a mail from an author who watched in sad silence for all of the flak I got for writing my "Moving On" story, and even though there had been Forster's "Ennis" for many months prior to my writing a word in this fandom, and even though there were other stories about Ennis after the end of the original book, the lashback against Ennis finding a new relationship really hit its stride when I wrote my story. I felt myself completely incapable of writing a story that changed the ending of BBM, so if I wanted to write something, I had to write it starting at the end of BBM, and not change any of the facts, at least of the short story, if I could. I thought that was adequately "respectful" in that the tale had not been changed at all. At any rate, this author of strictly "canon and au" stories told me that there was a time when the slightest adventuresome idea about life after Jack incited intense negative emotions, and in a year, that feeling in the fan fic arena has greatly changed, and that my story helped effect that change.
I was immensely flattered, but I also don't think I was alone in this, because I'm not the only person who ventured there with a story, I was just the most visible and prolific. Moving on or "Dead Jack" stories remain problematic, and a lot of people still avoid them, preferring "happy ending" or "happy interlude" tales still, but there is a growing taste for new things... and the newest thing of all is writing original post-Brokeback tales.
And I agree with you S del S - the future is in original gay and erotic stories - and I hope those of you who have found a voice in fanfiction go all the way and write something marketable and publish it, or edit your existing works, and publish them, because this, I believe, fulfills one of the deeper and more universal messages of BBM - carpe diem.