Don't really care, but

[merrily]

I know fandom is an insular place; thus, I spend my time lurking or dipping my toes in the shallows. It's safer. There are crazies in the deep end. And this evening I've spent a couple hours reading about the fandom craziness of Cassie Clare, a story that has fallen into the deep end, gotten stuck in the filter at the bottom and turned into a mucky, corpsified fandom legend. (If you think you might care, there's about 10,000 well-documented words on the subject starting here.)

Oh. My. God.

My eyes started to glaze after a while, but people care about the sitch a whole lot, and I understand why. Plagiarism makes me livid, too. Plus, I am boggled by "writers" who don't have a massive, bone-deep need to avoid any situation that might look even slightly like plagiarism. "Inspiration"? "Paying homage?" My ass.

The thing that really burns me, though, is the book that she has coming out. I'm an ardent Joss fan and I am Suspicious. Deeply Suspicious. The main character's name is Fray, for god's sake! Also, secret demon-hunting cadre? What, are they out to get rogue demons, too?

Fortunately, I am also a bookseller, able to request advance copies, and I am going to do so with our S&S rep tomorrow. I don't think the manuscript has even gotten that far yet, but I fully intend to take the first copy available and spend an entire weekend combing through it with my library, Google, and all the whedonverse scripts and printed material I can find.

I suspect her editor's not going to do it, and really, someone needs to. Certain things can not be tolerated in the artistic and book communities, and blithe stealing from other people's work is one of them.

Comments

[alicefortea.livejournal.com]

Plus, I am boggled by "writers" who don't have a massive, bone-deep need to avoid any situation that might look even slightly like plagiarism.

I agree. That's what I think is the most serious part about that. That she is this celebrated writer, but she hasn't actually acknowledged her plagerizing as plagerism (that I know of; I skimmed the history). And that's hugely disappointing - a popular writer treating plagerism as okay, basically, tolerating it, giving the impression to readers and other writers that such behavior leads to book deals.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Hi, I found your post in the Journal_Fen report on Cassandra Claire. Do you mind if I friend you? Whether or not Cassandra Claire plagiarized her novel will answer a lot of questions.

Icarus

[meallanmouse.livejournal.com]

Got here through the plagiarism hoopla (and 'nuff said about that) but mainly, also read back on your entries and thought it'd be nice to add you to my f-list. :) I hope that's ok, and no stress on adding back or not.

Because. BOOKS! :D

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

Can I friend you so I don't miss when you do write it up? (And you'd better! We're counting on you!)

[inalasahl]

Go you.