Categories: Cassie Edwards
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by Candy • Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 11:45 AM
Update! Thanks to Raj and Gemma, I now have included more complete quotes from Laughing Boy. The table below has been updated accordingly. All Hail Amazon.com Previews!
When Amy, one of our readers, contacted us and volunteered to check some Cassie Edwards novels for us, I said “Sure!” and expected more examples that have been typical to the pattern: passages lifted from old ethnographies or Native American memoirs, with scattered instances of wildlife articles from conservation organizations or encyclopedias. Several other readers have volunteered to look at various Cassie Edwards novels, and I was going to compile these instances into the PDF I’d created to document everything, and update the PDF without creating any new posts, because really, we’ve made our point: the instances are widespread and egregious, and people who aren’t interested in tracking this closely don’t need to have their faces rubbed with blow-by-blow updates.
What I didn’t expect in my inbox last night was a comparison from Amy detailing the similarities between passages in Savage Dream and Laughing Boy by Oliver La Farge.
Laughing Boy, unlike the other works, is not an ethnography, academic book or memoir. Laughing Boy is not only still under copyright, it is a fictional novel published in 1929, winning the Pulitzer in 1930.
This, in my opinion, drives the sheer wrongness of what happened to new heights. Using passages, word-for-word, of research material still isn’t a good thing by a long shot, but I can understand somebody being confused about the protocols of how much to acknowledge in a work of fiction. Using descriptive passages from another work of fiction, however, changes the tenor entirely. I talked to Sarah about posting this--I was very leery of driving the point into the ground when it’s been made with ample clarity--and we both agreed it was a different thing than the multitudes of other instances we’ve found, and that this deserved its own post.
Below is the table Amy compiled, comparing Savage Dream with Laughing Boy. I’m not bothering to include the reference works used in Savage Dream; I’ll be updating the PDF in a few hours and you can just look at that. I want to focus on the fact that this particular instances involves a work of fiction, and how it changes the tenor of the situation in a fundamental way.
Wow. Just… wow.
I firmly believe plagiarism includes all works, nonfiction and otherwise, but honestly, with this (and a Pulitzer winner! Did she think nobody would notice??): There can be no doubt.
said on...Okay, I’m pissed now.
said on...I am speechless.
azteclady said on...Holy WTF
Has Dorchester made a statement yet, and what about Kensington?
Did she assume no one would read a 60 year old book (at the time)? In some ways the rewarding of some of these passages disturbs me more than the word for word instances.
How many books of hers have now been verified to contain plagarized passages and how many sources are we talking about now?
Oh, wow. Savage Dreams 1990.
it’s official: my head a’sploded.
I’m tempted to compare the audaciousness of it to when I had to explain to another writer during this year’s NaNoWriMo that the title “Of Human Bondage” was not only already taken, but fairly famous… and she had not heard of it. **headbrick**
But this is…
daaaaaaaaaaang.
There are a couple of passages in this table that I’d say don’t really count in the “passages plagiarised” tally.
But there are more that do. Wow. It just goes on and on.
Looks like Jove was the first publisher. Who owns Jove now?
My cynical mind:
I am not really surprised.
WAITAMINIT! Go down to the one that starts “the roar of horses”
am I reading this chart right but did she put the same paragraph more or less in TWO separate places in the SAME book?
and nobody caught this? Not even to tell her when it first came out that “hey, you repeated yourself here”?
I am seriously questioning the abilities of anyone involved in the prepublication editing/proofing process of this one. I mean come ON!
Answered my own question. Penguin owns Jove. All right, will make it all tidy when there is some ‘splainin’ to be done.
said on...Robin: No word yet from Dorchester. And I forgot to e-mail Kensington, DOH, which is my bad.
I’m going to update the PDF in just a bit (it’ll take a few hours, because DAMN, there are a lot of new instances), firing it off to all the publishers concerned and then uploading it to this site. I’ll summarize the findings in this comment thread.
said on...As if this cake needed any frosting. . .
whoops, that should have read “the world was full of the roar of hooves”
and, I don’t know if this occurred to anyone else, but in a few of the old Warner Bros cartoons, Bugs Bunny used “Laughing Boy” as a derisive term to Daffy Duck. “Hey, Laughing Boy! One bullet left!”
**sad I knew that off the top of my head, but true...**
Okay, well Savage Dream is Dorchester, right, so maybe it’s time to send some public pressure their way, too, to address this.
Arlene: Yes, you read that right.
Savage Dream also contains several instances of paragraphs that are remarkably similar to another one of her own novels. This is not the first time things like these have been caught, and I have debated including them in the document, because I’m not entirely sure it’s noteworthy or newsworthy in quite the same way--if she wants to recycle her own passages, that’s not exactly great writing, but it’s not heinous in the same way.
I suppose I can create another PDF for those sorts of things....
That’s certainly putting the sprinkles on the frosting on the cake.
Okay, lone voice in the wilderness, but WHY does this take it to a fundamentally different level? Part of me agrees with you, much to my chagrin, but why is it more egregious to have her steal the words of a novel than a non-fiction source? Why?
said on...Anyone else feel like crying at this point? I mean, I had this whole post planned about the assumption (in my experience) that “copying” non-fiction of all kinds is okay*.
(BTW, this wasn’t meant to imply in any way that the earlier examples posted here were at all justifiable (IMO). But I was trying to understand why this sort of thing happens and how people can defend it.)
Now I just want to hold my head in my hands and weep.
Shit…
*It was just me and a soapbox ranting about how non-fiction is often seen as glamorous fiction’s boring, nerdy stepsister. And how there is a conflation of “facts” and the language they’re couched in. And how because non-fiction is merely the recital of “facts” little creativity is involved.
Which, as anyone who’s ever sweated days to try to make information interesting, readable, digestible and entertaining will tell you, is sweet, savage horse patootey.
And Arlene: YES, that usage of “Laughing Boy” was the first thing that struck me, too. “One buwwet weft? Hey, Laughing Boy, did you hear that? One bullet left!” I pondered to Sarah whether they were referring to this novel.
said on...Because by plagerizing fiction, it can’t be claimed as “research”.
As someone who used to teach college English, I looked at the previous samples and wondered if Ms. Edwards was like some of my students--genuinely baffled about the correct way to incorporate references. Doesn’t make it right, but it made me wonder . . .
This discovery really demolishes that theory.
This is just . . . just . . .
Sweet heaven.
Sarah: it takes it to a fundamentally different level because now there’s no longer even the veneer of a “shoddy research citation on non fiction material” defense. I agree that it should be no different/worse/bad to plagiarize nonfiction than it is for fiction, but once you swipe from fiction, the “research” angle goes out the window. That’s the angle, not from the inherent ethics POV, but from the perception of it POV.
Part of me agrees with you, much to my chagrin, but why is it more egregious to have her steal the words of a novel than a non-fiction source? Why?
Yes, that’s exactly what I want to examine. I agree fully with EAP said in this comment, and what many other people have said in other posts: Just because it’s research material doesn’t mean it’s OK to copy the language of the findings. I think part of it has to do with the fact that so many people DO see research as something that can be used as you see fit in a work of fiction, or being confused about what’s fair use and what’s not, and what needs to be attributed and what doesn’t.
But chunks of descriptive passages in a novel being used in another novel--reworked so that they fit the characters in the new novel? That basically colors the whole situation with intent, if you know what I mean; it’s much harder to argue for ignorance or innocent confusion in this sort of case.
Not that I’m accusing Edwards of malicious intent. Please take note, Legal Type Peoples Who May Be Representing Certain Interested Parties.
Sarah Frantz--I think it bothers me that the book won the Pulitzer. I mean, if you’re gonna plagiarize, go for the best.
Why this strikes me as so much worse, even CE has gotta know, you don’t copy from somebody else’s work of fiction. If her only excuse is well, hell, it was published in 1929, that still isn’t like saying my research was sloppy.
I think it goes beyond careless to not giving a flying fuck whose phrases she borrows.
if she wants to recycle her own passages, that’s not exactly great writing, but it’s not heinous in the same way.
Although it could be copyright infringement, especially if those other books are out under other publishers.
Okay, lone voice in the wilderness, but WHY does this take it to a fundamentally different level?
Like EAP, I don’t see it as any worse, but I’ve now lost any ability to even entertain the possibility that this was all about a confusion over factual information. Now I’ve shifted over to the “there’s NO WAY she could think this was okay” position, even though we know it never was. And yeah, now I’m starting to wonder more directly about her editors and publishers, too.
said on...[Everything I said before, without the generous benefit of the doubt I gave Edwards].
This is just horrible news. After reading through these absolutely lyrical passages, I can understand the temptation to copy and paste much more than I could in the case of the academic prose. But now the question for me becomes how much of Edwards’ manuscripts or indeed her writing “style” itself really belong to her? These passages would presumably be much much harder to spot as transcriptions. What are her fans really enjoying? If it is her descriptions, well we now know that many of those were taken word for word from other sources. If it is her “voice” then these examples bring the authenticity of even that in to question, as far as I’m concerned.
My sense of humor tends to the bitingly sarcastic, unfortunately, and I have exercised it--perhaps too freely--in my earlier posts. But this is just beyond the realm of humor and verging on a real tragedy for all involved. Please, please let the trolls understand that this is not something that can even begin to be excused as a lack of knowledge about proper attribution. This is behavior that any writer should instinctively shun, in my opinion.
Okay, I get what everyone’s saying. It’s not more worser from our POV, but from the understanding of her supposed intent. Check. I can get that.
I’m just going to watch the new Persuasion tonight on PBS and try to forget all of this for a while.
“why is it more egregious to have her steal the words of a novel than a non-fiction source?”
I can only think of one reason--and that reason conflicts somewhat with your post earlier today. There are instances in historical fiction when using someone else’s words verbatim is accepted. E.g. using an historical soldier’s journal for a fictional journal entry. If the use is acknowledged, it’s lauded as realistic detail. It doesn’t even need quotes or a footnote to get a pass--just (usually) acknowledgment of the source.
“am I reading this chart right but did she put the same paragraph more or less in TWO separate places in the SAME book?”
and nobody caught this? Not even to tell her when it first came out that “hey, you repeated yourself here”?
I wouldn’t necessarily jump on that. It’s a grey area in style. Often it’s a good thing to reinforce (or mirror) an earlier description. Making certain passages echo each other can give the book cohesion. That doesn’t mean it’s always good writing--too much, and it’s simply repetitive. But neither is it always bad writing.
That basically colors the whole situation with intent, if you know what I mean; it’s much harder to argue for ignorance or innocent confusion in this sort of case.
Even if she did think this was okay—heck anything’s possible—I think we’re finally at a point where it’s going to be tough for ANYONE ELSE to make the “it’s no big deal” argument or to dismiss this as *using* research material.
Before I was appalled, but hoping for the best, “Well she’s 71, they might not have covered plagarism versus research and proper citation way back when she was in school, I know pleanty of kids who never learned even now”
But from a ficitonal piece? The even if you never learned proper citation practices, sheer logic should tell you its different to use research material from a nonfiction than a fictional piece.
There’s probably a lot of “She’s 71! leave her alone!” going around. And even though I’d feel a lot better if this stuff were being thrown around on a 35 year old, I just keep reminding myself, she’s still writing and publishing so she is obviously not a poor senile old woman. My own father is 72, and if somebody tried to pitch him shit he’d be perfectly capable of handling it himself. And how old is Ursla LeGuin? Far older than Edwards. She’s a brilliant and fiesty author, and if anyone accused her of plagarism you bet she’d go for the juglar herself. What’s more, she may be 71 now, but she certainly wasn’t when she did this stuff. This certainly isn’t a case of a poor old woman, feeling to exhausted from her old-ladyness, couldn’t bring herself to carry more than one library book home.
Yes, it is very sad that a woman’s career could be destoryed by this (although whoever it was that copied Nora Roberts is still publishing, so there you go), but itn’t even sadder that her whole career is based on pulling stunts like this?
I keep thinking it might all come down to, “I just wanted to write, I didn’t think anybody would notice”. But writing is hard work, and any writer who takes pride in their work will tell you they are constantly trying to improve themselves. A writer wants to be able to say his or her latest book is the best of the collection, because it would certainly suck to start off well and then go completley downhill. Constant self improvement is as much of a goal as finishing the next story, so I’d feel a lot better about CE if, even if she’d done this at the beginning of her carreer, she’d tried to improve her methods later down the line. But from what I can see, she found a formula that seemed to work, and stuck with it. Now it’s come back to bite her.
said on...I have, for the record, forwarded an RTF document to Bill Bayers, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Gary Gentel, the newly-named President and CEO of Houghton Mifflin, who, according to our research, holds the copyright to Laughing Boy.
Because by plagerizing fiction, it can’t be claimed as “research”.
Reading fiction, particularly fiction set in a similar period or genre, can definitely be considered research. But to my mind, whether something is “research” is a red herring. Intent is not what ultimately determines whether it’s plagiary. What the author does is more important that what she means to do.
Oh - cringe. I had this book in my hot little mitts and only found (some, not all) of the reference works. Now I feel like a really crappy plagiarism-detector.
Must say, I’m not at all surprised by this latest development. If you can copy, word for word, 2-3 pages from an old reference text, why not fiction?
Plus, I’ve read her and she is a severely limited writer.
And Bernita gets ten points for predicting this development. Congratulations, Bernita. You have won this lovely lounge suite.
And our next questionis:
Does Cassie Edwards plagiarise-
a) Fiction
b) non-fiction
c) fan fiction
d) anything not nailed down
e) All of the above
Answer after the commercial!
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said on...“if she wants to recycle her own passages, that’s not exactly great writing, but it’s not heinous in the same way.”
Someone up there mentioned that if it were different publishers then theoretically they could sue. That is correct. I remember a case where this happened with a songwriter in the 70s I think. One of his publishers sued the other because of the similarity between songs. I can’t remember how it came out though!
ooook..I agree, this did have its own place as a post, seperate from the others.
I assumed from day one (or two) that so much had been found so easily and quickly that there was no telling what else would be discovered.
As to her age, I am one that posted a discomfort about her age and how this may be affecting her and that stands, its a compassion for the elderly not a “ leave her alone you bitches” .
She’s been writing many years and her choices are coming back to bite her in the butt, by now she’s probably wealthy enough to have attorneys to deal with all this anyway instead of having to deal with it herself.
I’ve recovered somewhat.
For the people arguing that the SBs and their readers should stop and leave the matter to the publishers: what do you think are the chances that this latest example would have come to light from Signet, or from Ms Edwards?
I’ll tell you: Zilch. Zero. Ninguna. Rien.
Kudos for all of those (in the bitchery and otherwise), going through the books published under Ms Edwards’ name in order to find all the plagiarized bits.
Kudos to SBSarah and Candy for publishing it, and for contacting all the publishers involved.
===========
A personal concern: I hope there’s some way to find a consensus on what, exactly, is plagiarism of non-fiction, as I’ve had an online discussion with a self-proclaimed ex English teacher who thinks that “by defintion, taking out a coordinating conjunction and adding a dot for a semicolon makes it NOT plagiarism.”
Needless to say, I’m at a loss to explain how far from correct that thinking is. I need help here, and having authors, writers, publishers, readers, agree on some sort of baseline would help.
I think.
I hope.
Arggh. I apologize for characterizing those people who have posted in support of Edwards as “trolls.” Not accurate, and I’m sorry. Fingers are faster than brain sometimes, dammit.
Intent is not what ultimately determines whether it’s plagiary. What the author does is more important that what she means to do.
Not necessarily. I just had a discussion of this unintentional echo syndrome; the story I completed for Nano this year had two major oopses, neither of them intentional: one line almost verbatim from “The Princess Bride” (and when it was brought to my attention I LMAOed myself sick) and a word I thought I’d made up that actually I’d forgotten was an item from a Final Fantasy game. Both are being rectified before the book goes out for the rounds, and neither, if I had noticed it as I was writing them, would have been in there in the first place.
Intent does matter, to a big degree. But intent as in “oops, forgot I knew that” and not intent as in “I didn’t know it was wrong to do that” or even the “it’s fair use, so nyaaa” as in the case of Ursula LeGuin’s one paragraph story being republished on BoingBoing without credit and the massive hassle that ensued, and the IMO inadequate response by the guy who did it.
snickers at E.Ann’s “ plage away”
said on...the plagiarism line has been taken out of her Wikipedia page.
said on...I think I find the whole thing arrogant. Arrogant in assuming that she’d get away with it, repeatedly.
BTW, my bestest chum, a librarian, should be sending you some info this weekend. She grabbed a book from the library she works in, and one set in New Orleans apparently lifted entire passages from material published by the Louisiana Folk Life Center.
“Intent does matter, to a big degree. But intent as in “oops, forgot I knew that” and not intent as in “I didn’t know it was wrong to do that” or even the “it’s fair use, so nyaaa” as in the case of Ursula LeGuin’s one paragraph story being republished on BoingBoing without credit and the massive hassle that ensued, and the IMO inadequate response by the guy who did it.”
Agreed. I realized as I hit “Submit” that I should have been more specific.
Sarah Frantz - I don’t know why some consider it more awful when a fiction writer is copied over a non fiction author. I think because we all have used non fiction sources at one time as a basis for writing that we did/do and therefore the knee jerk reaction is - but I wouldn’t plagiarize so it can’t be wrong.
This example lends some gravity to the situation for those naysayers out there and let me tell you - there are plenty.
Belated Credit:
I should mention that ‘lounge suite’ line is a direct rip-off of Monty Python’s Karl Marx game show sketch.
Thank you.
;-)
said on...Well, there goes the “it was only research” excuse.
I’ve been checking CE’s official website periodically to see if she’ll post a statement about the situation. It used to have her photo, bio, book list, news about upcoming releases, and so forth. Today, it’s just a link that says, “Please visit my MySpace page.” Interesting. I guess she’s not going to address anything right now. There’s no mention of it on her MySpace page, either.
Websites:
http://www.cassieedwards.com/
http://www.myspace.com/cassieedwardsromance
said on...francois, that was John Fogerty. He was sued by Fantasy Records (who owned the copyright to the Creedence Clearwater Revival catalog (Fogerty’s old band). Fantasy records said that his song “Old Man Down the Road” sounded too much like the Creedence song “Run Through the Jungle” but in the end it was ruled that it wasn’t plagiarism, just his style of writing/singing.
And in the interest of citation, the details of the above come from xponentialmusic.org, although I originally remembered it from one of those 100 most shocking somethings shows on E! or VH-1. Knew those would come in handy someday.
As to the case in hand, wow. After spending all day yesterday reading through all the comments on all the posts regarding this whole shitstorm, I ended up at Barnes & Noble in the romance aisle holding a Savage Something book, determined to find my own instances. I got through maybe three pages before I had to put it down, so good on you guys for muddling through. I’m really stunned at the sheer amount of the evidence at this point.
said on...I have a copy of Don Poynter’s “Self Publishing Manual” and he says “Make it a rule never to repeat any three words in a row” when he advises writers on steering clear of plagiarism. And here this writer is not only doing that, but taking entire paragraphs by adding a couple of conjunctions. And she’s doing this over and over ad nauseum.
If Edwards is not held accountable for this by her publishers and the courts, it will show that the whole publishing industry has become (and I pause for emphasis here and spit out the foul word) CORRUPT.
There is one thing I would like to see her address. Her author blurbs claim that her grandmother was a full-blood Cheyenne, and in one interview she said it was her father’s grandmother who was the Cheyenne princess. Savage Longings is, in fact, supposed to be based on this great-grandmother, Snow Deer and Charles Cline. One of my interests is genealogy, and I did a little digging. Her great-grandfather is a Charles Cline, but ‘Snow Deer’ appears in fact to be a white woman named Mamie Bolinger. I could of course be wrong, but every census record etc. I have found suggests that back at least 3-4 generations, she has no indigenous blood at all.
Please note. I am a classically trained mezzo-soprano. When I sing out the word “BUSTED!” at full volume, the whole house hears it. I only wish I could record it so that you could all enjoy.
BUSTED.
said on...The wikipedia entry does still mention the plagiarism. It’s now in its own section entitled ‘Alleged Plagiarism’. Scroll down if you don’t see it.
I’m guessing that this latest discovery means that reading is no longer a pre-requisite for editorial staff? You’d think someone in the office might have read a Pullitzer prize-winner, but apparently not.
P.S. ..... Just checked out Cassie’s MySpace page- from the touched up Glamour Shot photo, sure doesn’t look like she’s an unsophisticated 71 yr old granny who doesn’t know any better… take a look and see if you don’t gag like I did.
I just looked at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassie_Edwards again, and didn’t see it. The discussion page says it’s been removed for more stringent citations.
said on...Sara--
I’ve heard that CE sent out a bulletin via MySpace proclaiming her innocence while saying that she’s being picked on because of her Native American heritage.
I haven’t seen the bulleting but am tempted to track it down.
Anyone else heard of it?
If Lisa is right, and it turns out that CE lied about being part Cheyenne as well, the resulting internet explosion will be EPIC!
**puts on helmet**
The last login on her myspace page is 1/13/2008.
I hadn’t heard that, Nikki. I believe only your MySpace friends can read the bulletins you post, so unless one of us has friended her, I’m not sure we’ll be able to see it.
I sincerely adore that she’s MySpace friends with John DeSalvo!
Oh irony of ironies, this is a line from her wikipedia page:
“Edwards is known for her meticulous research.”
it’s in the Wiki page, at the bottom of the bio, right under the line “Edwards is known for her meticulous research.” The heading is “Alleged Plagiarism” and reads:
Alleged Plagiarism
On January, 8 2008, the romance novel blog site Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books began a series of posts alleging extensive copying from sources without attribution in the works of Cassie Edwards. Signet Books initially dismissed the charges, but within a few days announced that it was investigating them further. The author denied any wrongdoing[1].
This in case it gets torn down again.
“Because she’s Native American?”
to quote Dr. Phil (and the Texas accent must be used) “Are you KIDDING me??”
Guh! That should be “bulletin"--no “g.”
My brain must be fried from CE overload.
This has been bothering me for days…
... how does anyone, supposed Native American heritage or not, get away with titling one book “Savage” something, much less several?
I don’t care what you Smart (not!) Bitches (totally!) say. I’m still going to continue enjoying this delightful Edward’s novel called Proud Wind and Savage Bias:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single Indian brave in possession of much wampum must be in want of a squaw.
“However little known the feelings or views of such a brave may be on his first entering a tribal lands, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding tribes, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their virgin maidens, especially those white maidens who were kidnapped from Midwestern families and have golden hair and snowy bosoms.”
More than one person I know received the bulletin yesterday.
Lemme see what I can dig up…
said on...~but I’ve now lost any ability to even entertain the possibility that this was all about a confusion over factual information~
Yes.
I felt, and stated, that copying from any source as illustrated by the examples struck me clearly as plagiarism. But the examples found from fictional work now erase, for me, any possible ‘research’ or ‘accuracy’ excuse for it. Even if I believed the excuse was faulty.
This is a pattern, to me, of abuse.
If she is indeed claiming she’s being picked on because of her heritage, shame on her again.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, back up, bitch allegedly said what to the who now?
Cassie, your Native American heritage is pastede on yey.
Just as a general note: I’d really love it if we could quit whapping so hard on the Cassie pinata, especially when it comes to speculating wildly about her intent. (I haven’t exactly been the best about this, so feel free to yell “Physician, heal thyself!” at me.) The thing is, this is now so overwhelmingly awful; the situation speaks for itself, and really, I’m much more interested in talking about the issues, not about how bad her books are or whether she actually looks 71 or whatever.
Oh Marta…
you win the internet!
So this is like fiction by patchwork?
I saw David Bowie write a song for “Diamond Dogs” in a documentary. He wrote a poem, then cut it up and rearranged it.
Big difference is that Bowie wrote his own stuff.
So you pick some books you hope nobody’s read, at least the readers in your genre, pick some bits, retype or paste them into a document and kind of construct a story to fit?
Sounds like a lot of hard work to me, and nowhere near as much fun as writing your own. Hey, that’s just me.
Like the magnetic poetry sets? There is a romance one at the bookstore. It’s words though and not phrases from a book.
Like EAP, I don’t see it as any worse, but I’ve now lost any ability to even entertain the possibility that this was all about a confusion over factual information.
Robin, you’ve nailed it exactly.
I think that it has become gallows humor by this point. It’s just that you shouldn’t indulge in gallows humor in public. A lot of people don’t understand you are just breaking tension.
as Nora and others have remarked on Dear Author, it’s gone past the point of outrage, and is just horribly sad. and gallows humor is one reaction to that sadness, I suppose.
has anyone found a book of hers that does *not* contain lifted text?
There is the possibility she was told she had NA ancestry, and just took it at face value. It’s also possible that I just have the wrong people, and she is part Cheyenne. I think, though, that if her ancestry is fiction, then it ties into the rest of this story.
said on...Marta Acosta: I think I love you. You must let us know how the book turns out. ;-)
If she is truly claiming this is nothing but a racial attack then I am even more disappointed.
jessica said on...Wow, I’m speechless. Oh wait no I’m not, this is a work of fiction, and common sense alone should tell you that you don’t copy word for word from another book. I can understand that maybe she was confused about non-fiction and the use of citation, but fiction? Really?
01.13.08 at 12:58 PM |