Oh, Christ, is he back again? There's been a lot of discussion of this guy on the TTA Press forums. A real piece of work. It dissolved into a discussion of the various philosophies behind plagiarism, but the basic message on this sort of thing was to look before you leap. Always extensively google the publisher and editor you're considering submitting to. Make sure that they are legit, and that there isn't a mountain of complaints like this against them. It's not 100%, clearly, because these sort of people operate under many names. It's sad that in an industry where honest to God 99% of the people I've encountered are the loveliest people you could wish to meet, there is still scum like this floating around.
Fortunately, hard core plagiarists like this really are rare. It's a stupid offense, because its very nature leaves plenty of evidence behind. We've had a few deliberate plagiarists here, as opposed to thoise who violated copyright through ignorance of the laws. None seemed to be motivated by an intent to deprive the actual copyright owner of his or her profits save one, and that person, like Mr. Boyer, also had a trail of other copyright violations. The rest were apparently emotionally disturbed people seeking attention. Nearly all attempted to return under other aliases, and most who were here long enough attempted to pursue inappropriate real life relationships with other members. T^he plagiarism was just another aspect of seeking attention, trying to seem more creative than they actually were.
I think that must be the case with this guy, actually Cog. He's not selling stories to particularly high paying markets, though actually he has stolen from a few authors I have serious respect for. I'm not sure how much for profit it can be, unless he's plagiarising on a scale we haven't realised or conceived of yet...
This has been the second case this year where big name authors have had their work plagiarized. There was someone a while back who had been trying to publish (and in some places succeeded) Stephen King's work as his own. I was quite shocked to be honest. I can't imagine how bad the publishers and editors must feel when they find out that they have published plagiarized pieces. At least with the internet, word can be quickly spread around when these plagiarizers appear and work is stolen.
I guess if they use fake names, etc, they think that they won't get caught. Because how can someone get caught if you don't know who they really are? And if they use a billion and 1 different names as well, who's going to figure it out? (EVERYONE!!!!)
haha! wouldn't that be ironic? Someone should do some research on this guy and mold a story around his exploits. There might be a book deal in there somewhere.
As writers we're all warned about the dangers of not properly crediting the material of others we use. For instance, I might want to use a line from something of Jimi Hendrix's as a kind of preface, as many writers do. Obviously, we can get in trouble for not properly crediting the original author even when it's just an honest mistake (so general advice to be drawn from that is that if you're not sure where you stand and if you can leave it out, leave it out). But this guy really does take the mickey. Deliberately stealing the hard work of others and passing it off as his own goes way beyond the mark. Fortunately, those of us who are fairly familiar with the business are warned and know what we need to do so our work isn't plagiarised. Unfortunately, there are those out there who don't know like us what they need to do and just want to see their name in print. Some of those will have real talent and through no real fault of their own they'll find themselves having their intellectual property stolen. Thank God it's so rare.
lol true. i read about an Russian author who released a book called Garry Botter or something to that effect a little while ago, seriously though, how do these people think they will get away with it? then again, everyone is saying that JKR stole the idea herself, so maybe people do get away with it. Edit: The protagonist's name was Tanya Grotter.
This makes me sick. There seems to be nothing left in the world untouched by idiots like this. I hope he pays for everything he's stolen... in money or in blood
I'm surprised nobody has brought up Helene Hegemann yet. Germany's literature prodigy, they called her, for her book "Axolotl Roadkill". She copy-pasted from various bloggers and other people and later defended herself saying this behavior is modern youth culture and hence, a form of art. Having ambitions on the German book market, I deeply despise her. She made it even harder on the already hardworking young talents, to be taken seriously because hey - apparantly young authors steal!
And here we have another plagiarism case. This one seems to revolve around a gross misunderstanding of copyright law, and just plain rudeness. When a writer found her article published by magazine Cooks Source without her knowledge or consent, she complained, and was told that work posted on the internet was in the public domain (bollocks), that she should be grateful that they didn't just "lift" it and put someone else's name on it, which is what students do a lot (rude, untrue, and just plain insulting to students), and that it wasn't a particularly good piece of work, and she should pay them for the editing work they'd done on it. Outrageous.
You should take a look at their facebook page. Absolutely covered in people livid about it (including yours truly). Ironically, I bet they've never had as much attention.
Wow, I can't believe the audacity that editor had to tell the writer off like that. Pay them for stealing? For the "much needed" edit? Wow. Just wow. I've been robbed by a Russian publisher, Azbooka. Still waiting for my hush money, so no hush here. Took my picture from deviantART, told them I stole it from them so dA deleted it and warned me, and slapped it on a book cover, apologizing to me about a misunderstanding. WTF?
And they have a Twitter account now! Though it may be a joke account, I'm not sure. It's still funny to see them defending their position.
Do share I think they're ridiculing themselves by defending themselves. It's not like they made an honest mistake or committed an act of immature ignorance.
Upon closer investigation, I think the Twitter is a joke account. But it doesn't matter. The facebook page is buried under angry comments. Apparently there website is down. This magazine (and editor) is sunk. It probably had something to do with heavyweights like Neil Gaiman weighing in. Pete Tennant (on the TTA forums) commented that it makes the whole David Boyer thing seem mild. The wrath of genre is naught compared to the wrath of the cookery crowd.
Lol! Neil Gaiman left a comment?! Wow. I'm almost tempted to be a plagiarising jerk just to get Gaiman's attention.
Lol. I'm not sure if he commented, but he tweeted about it. Which is tantamount to nuking them, given how many people follow him.
More about David Boyer Hi, my name is Jeani Rector, and I am the editor of The Horror Zine. I saw this post about plagiarism, and I would like to let you know everything that I have documented about David Boyer's plagiarisms here: http://www.thehorrorzine.com/Beware/Boyer/DavidBoyerPlagiarist.html Please pass the word to prevent more victims. Knowlege is protection. thanks, Jeani Rector, Editor The Horror Zine http://www.thehorrorzine.com
