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

[inalasahl]

Go you.

I'm trying to be careful

[merrilily.livejournal.com]

I started watching the www.simonsays.com discussion boards (Atheneum, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, is publishing City of Bones), and I'm really weirded out by the vehemence. There are people who are really really angry (without having an apparent connection) and thus prone to calling everything possible plagiarism ("Other people used that title!").

Anyway. Thanks for being interested. I'll try to be fair and thorough.

Re: I'm trying to be careful

[inalasahl]

I've heard about some of the more vehement reactions, although I haven't seen it myself. I'm personally not angry about it, but I don't think she should get paid for plagiarising someone else's work. And I'm pretty sure that's what's happening.

It needs to be stopped before it's gets to be a really big story out in the world. She (and her ilk) give all of us a bad name. I was pretty darn annoyed by the pro writer who was all "I don't get it. It's fanfic. You're all stealing." I fear more of the same.