Plagiarism

So there was a big brouhaha this past weekend when Lorelei James found out that @AlisonGilmore had ripped off her entire book and put it up as her fanfic and then to a blog. AlisonGilmore claimed she was writing the book chapter by chapter. She wasn’t. She was and is a thief of the highest order. She ripped off someone else’s work and claimed it as her own. There was a huge internet smack down. HUGE. Like by several people all getting into the act and it brought her blog pages down and she ended up shutting off her twitter account. She now has a new twitter account and has made it private. Only the internet isn’t “private.” Not at all. The internet is very public and is forever.

Limecello posted a blog about the internet takedown.  As did Rilzy on her blog. They both have several pictures of the images capturing the twitter logs and the blog and the subsequent takedown. They have a, forever on the internet for all time and for anyone to see and read,  blog entry about the blatant plagiarism AlisonGilmore engaged in when she ripped off Lorelei’s book. The book was ALL JACKED UP.

Plagiarist aren’t new. They are the necessary evil when you are an award winning author. Only the internet makes it so much easier to find them and ferret them out. Like ridiculously easy. Almost as easy as it makes for someone to do the ripping off. So the internet is both a sword and a shield. It cuts and protects all at the same time.

What it can’t do is make stupid people smarter. Or people who can’t write, write. And that’s what it boils down to. Plagiarist are inherently lazy, stupid and weak. No talent is involved when you steal someone’s ideas and storylines. Word for frickin’ word.

AlisonGilmore sent a tweet that said in effect- writing romance, erotic romance and erotica is for talentless dweebs. I won’t go into why writing GOOD smex is hard- almost as hard as writing comedy. But what I will go into is my response to AlisonGilmore’s talentless dweeb comments. My tweet is below. I bolded what I wrote in response to her tweet. What I wrote is true. And it was a kick-ass response to her assertions.

 

D.R. Slaten ‏@DRSlaten 14 Jun

Plagiarism is for people who can’t think. @laurahunsaker @megantgrimm @loreleijames smut is for people who can’t write.

Smutty Sunday 4/21/13

Yeah, Yeah. I know. Today is the day that I help point you in the direction of smut to read. But before we do, here is a thought for the day. I heard a comedian say this… it’s only a joke if we both laugh. Think about that. How many times has someone said something hurtful, racists, criminal, etc. and played it off as only being a joke. If we both laugh, then yeah. If only the speaker is laughing then it is something other than a joke. Something that most people would only think would be okay told in a joking format. But underneath? Well, that dog don’t hunt, yeah?

So on to my normally scheduled program. Ilona Andrews and her Kate Daniels books are a series that I have read again and again. Seriously. They are that good. Urban Fantasy at its best. Not all Sci/Fi has to be high fantasy or deep space nine-ish. lol Urban Fantasy is part of that genre as well. A sub-set to be sure but nevertheless it is a pretty damn entertaining sub-set. And when it comes to my dollars, I like to be entertained. I like to read stories that seem fresh with strong characters. Ilona Andrews is a husband and wife team. They write kick ass books. I like the Kate Daniels ones the best but their Edge books rock just as well.

New Adult has been all the craze for a while. Everyone wants to be a New Adult Author, to rep a New Adult Author or to publish a New Adult author. I have waded through a lot of them. Most of the writing sucks. But there is a gem or two to be had. R.K Lilley’s Up in Air series is good as is Jodi Ellen Malpas’s This Man series. Both are trilogies so you get the characters for more than one book. One is set in the US, the other in the UK. I like books about British people. They say funny things. lol Some of the New Adult stuff seems to have a lot of conflicts and issues that don’t ring true. These two have decent explanations for why the characters are the way they are and a decent storyline that holds it all together.

For adult smut, I really like Lorelei James’ Rough Rider series. First, there is an assload of books in the series. Always a good thing. Then there are smokin’ hot cowboys in those assloads of books. Another good thing. Last but not least is the sex in them there books. A great thing. It’s an amalgamation of goodness all rolled into one. Most are M/F but one is MMF and then there are instances of menage that the characters engage in on an individual basis. See, something for everybody. lol

Now to my last recommendation for today. It’s an oldie but goodie. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. I have read this book at least once a year since it was first introduced to me. I love this book. When I first read it, I identified with Scout. Then I got to know all that was good about Atticus. At some point, I pondered Boo. But it wasn’t until I really thought about the old lady kicking her opium habit that I got the full flavor of the book. All of those things make this a book that I read again and again. Because as I get older, Scout, Atticus and Boo are people I wish I knew but it the little old lady that I wish I were. I want to be her. Courage. Strength. Determination. All of that. To be FREE of addiction and to meet death unfettered. And to make that happen. 30 minutes at a time. Strong. Brave. Resolute. Any of us can do that in 30 minute bites. Yup, I want to be her when I grow up. I surely do.