"95% of vampire novels take place in Alaska, New Orleans, or Las Vegas"
January 8, 2025 2:59 PM Subscribe
Article by Katy Waldman in The New Yorker about an allegation of plagiarism in a romantasy series. Archive link. Unpublished novelist Lynne Freeman thinks that Tracy Wolff's Crave has used elements from Freeman's Blue Moon Rising, with involvement from her editor and publisher. Waldman discusses the difficulty of establishing plagiarism when the books are different in tone but have many similar details, particularly within a genre which uses tropes extensively. Via Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.
If you'd like a vampire novel that is NOT set in Alaska, New Orleans or Las Vegas, may I suggest the San Francisco-based Christopher Moore book, Bloodsucking Fiends?
Enjoy!
posted by Chuffy at 3:21 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
Enjoy!
posted by Chuffy at 3:21 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
I have quite a few thoughts about this, but what I really want to know is who on earth was advising Lynne Freeman. Did no one ever say, look, clearly they don't want your book, so self-publish the thing and move on to the next book? You never see anything in the New Yorker article--at least, maybe I missed it--about her writing anything else, while Wolff is plowing through words at a life-threatening rate of speed.
Why hold on to the book for years and years, hoping that someone will eventually publish it, when this industry has such a thriving self-published side that produces millionaires? Not saying Freeman herself would become a millionaire from it--it also produces plenty of poverty!--but at least the book would be in the hands of readers, some of whom would become fans, and whose love would help guide her next book.
posted by mittens at 3:48 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
Why hold on to the book for years and years, hoping that someone will eventually publish it, when this industry has such a thriving self-published side that produces millionaires? Not saying Freeman herself would become a millionaire from it--it also produces plenty of poverty!--but at least the book would be in the hands of readers, some of whom would become fans, and whose love would help guide her next book.
posted by mittens at 3:48 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
(There’s even a “cheese-shifter” paranormal romance, by the author Ellen Mint, in which characters can turn into different types of cheese.)
Mods, I think I'm going to need the image tag back so I can add an animate gif of a dog tilting it's head.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:07 PM on January 8
Mods, I think I'm going to need the image tag back so I can add an animate gif of a dog tilting it's head.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:07 PM on January 8
Reading about the rushed backstory behind Crave just makes this video all the better: I read the entire Crave series so you don't have to
posted by lock robster at 4:25 PM on January 8
posted by lock robster at 4:25 PM on January 8
« Older 📚 Under the fold: A Lot of Books 📚
posted by toastyk at 3:12 PM on January 8