Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Commentary

Want to give a show of support outside making a comment? If you’ve read the Newsweek report by Paul Tolme, the ferrets whose “closest relations are European ferrets and Siberian polecats” are an endangered species.  Nora Roberts and the Smart Bitches have put together a wonderful sort of “pay it forward” campaign.  If you give money to the Defenders Wildlife, Nora Roberts will match your donation up to $5,000.00.  Yes, I did not hiccup when typing those 0s.

Deets at the SBTB site.

AP writer Hillel Italie obtain a statement and response from Cassie Edwards on the plagiarism charges.
“When you write historical romances, you’re not asked to do that,” Cassie Edwards told The Associated Press, speaking earlier this week from her home in Mattoon, Ill.
Edwards husband then chimed in with this defense:
“She doesn’t lift passages,” Charles Edwards said, adding that “you would have to draw your own conclusions” on how closely his wife’s work resembles other sources.
I’m not going to comment on this. I’ll let you all draw your own conclusions.

Importantly, the AP contacted a plagiarism expert, Dr. John M Barrie who “created the original architecture and fundamental technology behind iThenticate and Turnitin in 1994.” These programs are used by organizations to detect plagiarism. Dr. Barrie confirmed that the  material was “lifted.”  When contacted, RWA president, Sherry Lewis, claims that while the excerpts “raise some questions” that she (as a published author herself) says
“It’s not clear-cut to me,” she said. “You can see similarities in the passages, but I’m not qualified to make that assertion.”
I understand within the RWA that the Membership Committee makes a recommendation of exoneration or fault but the …

SB Sarah invited Dear Author to engage in a once a month cross blog debate. Our first was going to be . . . well, I can’t remember anymore, we threw around so many ideas. Out of the THREAD THAT WOULD NOT DIE however, came a very interesting concept about personal attacks and where the line should be drawn, if it could be drawn.

While much of the blog posting is about one particular blog in question, it is used as illustrative of an example that we believed was over the line, in terms of personal attacks. You may disagree. I think this is really an important topic because I see it discussed briefly from time to time. We want to know your opinion as to what is appropriate in terms of criticism.

Please join us, after a deep breath and some chocolate as Sarah says, at the Smart Bitch site for the first of the Smart Bitch/DearAuthor Cross Blog Debate.