This morning...I remembered...but not for the reasons you might think...yes I am still appalled at the early allegations...but what I read today just about knocked me down and for the first time I found myself infuriated...
Again, probably not for the reasons you would expect...and really, I'm still trying to sort it all out in my mind so I'll know which way to shoot my anger arrows...
First, let me explain what started this fissure of fire coursing through my veins (yeah, I know, I'll never be up to the spirited prose of Cassie but she has years more experience than I do)...anyway...it all began in my email because of a newsletter from Wildlife eNews...here is a Quote in it's entirety:
Forbidden Romance -- Exposed!
When Candy Tan and Sarah Wendell caught wind of a plagiarism scandal and posted it on their romance novel blog, they broke a story that raised the stature of a once-thought-to-be-extinct critter of the prairie to the national level (see feature story above). Novelist Nora Roberts -- herself a victim of plagiarists in the past -- offered a challenge to readers of Tan and Wendell’s blog: raise $5,000 for Defenders, and the Nora Roberts Foundation would match it. Readers took to the challenge. In two short days, wildlife-loving readers raised more than $5,000 to help save black-footed ferrets and other wildlife.
Thanks so much to Nora Roberts, Candy Tan, Sarah Wendell and their faithful blog readers!
Awww...that's nice, something good actually came out of this mess...but then I clicked on the link: Read More in Newsweek and THAT is when I really got pissed off...
So many reasons to totally be annoyed with what is said in this article. Where oh where do I start...
I don't expect men to understand why women like romance novels, but I really get annoyed when they cop an attitude and tear the literary value to shreds as does Paul Tolme who drops right into the descriptives of twenty years ago calling Cassie Edwards novel a "bodice ripper". Haven't we moved beyond that?
What really rankled me beyond comprehension was Cassie Edwards herself and I honestly tried to keep an open mind on this whole thing from the moment I heard the first accusations ... because plagiarism scandals come ... and plagiarism scandals go ... and btw plagiarism is wrong. Period. But it is also the very dark side of the business we are in.
But what I found to be totally inexcusable and what really got me mad was this line, taken from Cassie Edward's book and reported in Newsweek:
Quote From Shadow Bear by Cassie Edwards:
Shiona then tells Shadow Bear how she once read about ferrets in a book she took from the study of her father. "I discovered they are related to minks and otters. It is said their closest relations are European ferrets and Siberian polecats," she says. "Researchers theorize that polecats crossed the land bridge that once linked Siberia and Alaska, to establish the New World population."
Really? Researchers theorize? Come on Cassie...and even more to the point was there a theory on the Siberian land bridge (let alone a published book) and why wasn't this referenced in the footnotes somewhere? But the far greater crime was that this chunk of dialogue actually made it to PRINT. If this book is set in the ...what ... guessing ... late 1800's ... and research was done ... say ... present day ... shouldn't an editor have been raising a red flag and had a discussion with Cassie before this book ever made it to wide spread sales?
Quote from Shadow Bear by Cassie Edwards
Shadow Bear responds: "What I have observed of them, myself, is that these tiny animals breed in early spring when the males roam the night in search of females." As the ferrets bound off into some distant bushes, he continues: "Mothers typically give birth to three kits in early summer and raise their young alone in abandoned prairie dog burrows."
Shiona: "I read that ferrets stalk and kill prairie dogs during the night. Using their keen sense of smell and whiskers to guide them through pitch-black burrows, ferrets suffocate the sleeping prey, an impressive feat considering the two species are about the same weight." Shiona shivers, upset by the thought of the cute animals locked in mortal combat.
Please realize that this entire conversation is post-coitus and even though my science nerd husband and I get into some pretty brain numbing "intelligent" conversations after having wild monkey sex, I don't think that Indian Joe and Little Caucasian Girl from The Prairie would have any such dialogue. Maybe I'm wrong.
I guess the reason I got so mad, no disrespect to Cassie herself because she has had a phenomenal career, was that this latest book demonstrates really bad writing (and if you are going to take the time to steal someone else's written word...shouldn't it actually read well enough to be worth stealing?) And yet this bad writing sells ... and sells ... and sells...
Thus Paul Tolme and every other superior feeling journalist out there is given the opening to poke fun at romance ... and in light of this current example ... I don't even feel right getting pissed off because the guy called it a "bodice ripper"... or took time to point out the really awful dialogue that was incorporated plagiarizing his work
Can we please raise the bar as an industry? Starting now?
BREATHE
JUST BREATHE
Okay, now that that is off my chest, on to something a little lighter...a post-coitus moment brought to you by Los Angeles comedy group Fries On The Side...and not appropriate for viewers under the age of 18 or others who may be offended by mature, alternative lifestyle humor.
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