I’ve read the comparisons of Ms. Edwards book vs. “Laughing Boy” and I must say this, I can see SOME likeness to them. But Let me put this out there too, for any avid reader who loves books of every kind, and also that same avid reader who is also a writer, yes there are going to be some things that are alike!

I am coming to this discussion way too late (thought I’ve known about this situation for the past year, like everyone else). There is more than “some likeness” to these comparisons. Yes, any writer who bases her works on a “style” is going to have “some likenesses.”

But any hard-at-work writer is going to take that style and give it her own voice. She’ll also pick up her handy thesaurus and at least make the attempt to find other words to use. The problem with these phrases, though, is that they ARE alike, even down to the many descriptions.

Plagiarism is to prove — you have to prove intent and similarity. I can’t speak for intent (Edwards is clearly still maintaining her innocence). But there are too many of the same phrases and too many similarities to just brush this off.

I, too, am sorry for the Cassie Edwards fans. But I’m sorry — this definitely goes beyond just lifting research and moves into that territory of direct copying.

Apparently, some people can take responsibility when they behave unethically. (Saying that about this administration really hurt, though.)

And you apparently don’t need special training to be able to identify plagiarism. To paraphase Justice Potter Stewart’s 1964 statement on pornography (while I blush): you know it when you see it.

People need to stop assuming things.

For those of you who are waiting to see Ms. Edwards’ publishers drop their contracts…forget it! It’s not happening.

There are several very well known authors who are standing behind Ms. Edwards.

I have also been told that there are several publishers who will NOT print research resources even when the authors give it to them.

People need to get on with their lives instead of sitting around and wishing bad things on Ms. Edwards.

Do you have a TIN EAR Cassie Edwards?

HOW can you take the stark beauty of –

At the first light, before dawn, the desert is intimate, and each man feels the presence of others as an intrusion. Blinding colour has not supplanted soft greys, uncertain forms; cliffs harsh by daylight, and thunderous-walled cañons loom soft with wells of coolness. The east is white—mother-of-pearl—the world is secret to each one’s self.

and chew it up and spit it out, dripping saliva and cookie crumbs, as the mawkish and pedestrian –

At first light the desert is intimate, and somehow Shadow felt the presence of others as an intrusion this morning. …the blinding light of full day had not yet supplanted the soft greys of dawn, the uncertain forms and shapes of the cliffs had not yet become harsh with daylight, and the canyons were still soft with wells of coolness. The world was a secret place to each man…

You disrespected that beautiful passage. You hurt it. You slimed it.

It’s not just that you stole the words, Cassie.
You kidnapped them into a noisome dungeon and hacked them apart and sewed the pieces into a monster and sent it to stagger forth with a bolt through the neck.

Why do I feel like a group hug? Can I just say that I love you, authors?

are there any circumstances under which its discovery would be accepted without question and complaint?

Sadly, I think no. Motives would have been questioned whoever broke the story or talked about it (I’m still in shock over a couple of comments I’ve read that called Nora “jealous” and “trying to erase the competition” when she gave her opinion of the passages to the press).

Which, to me, is just one more signal that it’s time to work on separating the personality issues from the plagiarism issues and sort out what is and isn’t considered ethically acceptable within Romance fiction.

Word. Again.

All of which is my way of saying that while I agree with you that the “bad Romance” tag has been used as an excuse by some to dismiss what the friend and readers of the SBs have found, since NO ONE seems to have found all this before, are there any circumstances under which its discovery would be accepted without question and complaint? Whether through the NA angle, the title/cover issue, or the widespread review panning, it’s kind of a bummer all the way around, IMO, that this has been discovered with Edwards’s books. Which, to me, is just one more signal that it’s time to work on separating the personality issues from the plagiarism issues and sort out what is and isn’t considered ethically acceptable within Romance fiction.

But you have to wonder if, in her mind, once she’d done her “research” a few times in the manner she seems to have adopted (straight copying) and gotten away with it / gotten more contracts / fan mail / $$$$ she may have just relaxed and thought this is how it’s done. She was rewarded repeatedly over the years for this behavior so why not keep on? She probably is genuinely confused about what all the hoopla is about.

This is just me speculating about her motives with my rose colored glasses on.

Regardless of her intentions, her actions were wrong and need to be dealt with legally.

But I also think they’ve done a great job of keeping the personal out of it, as much as possible. And I also think any issue of mean girls and witch hunts detracts from the plagiarism issue as much as bringing up her bad writing (which, again, the SBs haven’t done. It’s just something that has been itching at the back of my mind over quite a few comments).

while I follow some of the points you are making, I’m in disagreement about wishing anybody but SBTB had broken the story.

I just don’t know who would have been ‘qualified’, since Mrs. Giggles has never given her more than 17/100 and AAR stopped reviewing her books because they would inflict only so many of her books on their reviewers and all got bad grades.

So, if not having remarked about and negatively reviewed CE was a requirement to make breaking this story more palatable, who would have been there to do it for us?

Now, granted I don’t follow all available review boards out there, so I might have missed a prominent review site.

Before this story, I had been many times to Mrs. Giggles and AAR and only 1 or 2 times to SBTB and was well aware of the first two panning Edwards and had not heard anything about SBTB doing so.