Amazon’s publishing services have been touted for how easy they are to use. Much has been made of the story about writers bringing to market works while not having to go through the trouble of finding a publisher or agent. This is to say that…
St. Martin’s Press has announced that, despite the fact that much of the language of her book and several concocted scenes first appeared verbatim in someone else’s book, Lenore Hart did not commit plagiarism in her novel The Raven’s Bride. As a MobyLives report detailed…
In the face of overwhelming evidence, novelist Lenore Hart has vociferously denied charges that she plagiarized large parts of her historical novel about Edgar Allan Poe‘s wife, The Raven’s Bride — in an argument with her accusers on her Facebook page. As MobyLives noted a…
Spy novelist Jeremy Duns has been showing up on lots of blogs lately — including ours — for his fascinating posts about plagiarist QR Markham/Quentin Rowan. Of course, as he himself observes, everyone has been blogging about QR Markham/Quentin Rowan. But yesterday, Duns blogged about…
It seemed a big revelation: yesterday a Poynter Institute veteran named Julie Moos (“Director of Poynter Online and Poynter Publications”) accused pioneering media blogger Jim Romenesko of “a pattern of incomplete attribution” during his 12-year tenure as the country’s best known aggregator of media news…
Most of you have probably read by now about Assassin of Secrets, Q.R. Markham (aka Quentin Rowan)’s debut thriller that lifted choice bits from spy novels and political thrillers. The Daily News reported that Edward Champion of Reluctant Habits has been carefully reading the novel…
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has been accused of plagiarism in his new book, according to a wire report from the Associated Press. “Some parts of Opportunity Ukraine bear a striking resemblance to magazine articles, a lawmaker’s speech and even a college term paper” says the…
Earlier this year, the UK-based non-profit organization Media Standards Trust created the website Churnalism as a tool to determine when “journalism” is actually just a cut-and-pasted press release. Here’s how it works: you enter the text of a press release into the site’s “Churn Engine”…
Back in September — as reported on MobyLives — Michel Houellebecq caused a stir when he admitted that his Goncourt-winning novel La carte et le territoire included passages he’d lifted verbatim, without attribution, from Wikipedia. But he said that it was “ridiculous” to call copying text…
Whenever I’m tempted to say that something about our contemporary lives is radical or new, I’m reminded of the scene in No Country For Old Men where the retired, crippled deputy tells the sheriff played by Tommy Lee Jones: “Whatcha got ain’t nothin new. This…
