Who's Zooming Who?

It's flattering to receive an interview request, isn't it?  Say from a man claiming to be a well credentialed writer named George LaCroix or David Byron or Sean Killian.  He's got a hot project.  You can be in it.

Let's say it includes a spiel like this:

The book will be an in depth look into their lives and careers, as well as an insight into their profession as an individual genre, and how much the genre has changed over the course of time. I think you would make a wonderful addition to the book, and would be honored if you would agree to let me send you some interview questions via email. I'd simply send you the questions via email attachment, you'd fill in your answers, send it back via email. 

Sounds safe enough, doesn't it?  Kind of flattering in a suck-up sort of way.

You get a few short email questions- which you answer at length and give permission for the interviewer to use what you've written so he can make money.  Where's the harm?  Maybe it will get your name out in public just a little more.

What if the man interviewing you turned out to be the David Boyer- the sleaziest plagiarist in the history of copyright infringement?  How would you like your name to be associated with him?  

He didn't tell you who he really was when he contacted you (because he's cyberstalked and misunderstood).  And sometimes he signs the contract with his pseudonym.  Is it a valid contract?  Sometime he signs his real name because it's too late for you, the writer- you write most of the content, you make nothing, he owns the interview and your named is smeared with his reputation.

So, really- who's zooming who?

Isn't it important to know who is interviewing you?

FrankenBoyer

Let me introduce you to everyone's new favorite Halloween toy.  A combination of Frankenstein and Gumby.  It's a  futile creature doll modeled after the plagiarizing publisher David Boyer of Vincennes, IN.

The idea came to a toy manufacturer after reading how Boyer tried to stitch together past plagiarisms from real authors into a new, nauseatingly bad  book.   He calls it "Shadow Dolls."  Why is ithis patchwork plagiarism so bad? One six year old expert think it's  "the bad man" stitched them together like a blind seamstress suffering from palsey.  I tend to agree.  But whatever the cause of his ineptness the result is stomach pain bad.

Let's try to understand this new failure of the puerile plagiarist.  Imagine if you will a plagiarist- a man with no creative skills of his own, and so low a character that he steals writings from teenagers and senior citizens alike- trying to blend a potpourri of plagiarism into a novel.  The idea can barely be contained within the human skull.

Perhaps we can gain insight by reaching back into the world of fiction.  In the novel Frankenstein, for example, Dr. Victor Frankenstein is brilliant but misguided in his attempts to create life.  Unfortunately, it was his bad judgement to include a defective brain in his newly created creature.  The results were dubious at best and should be intuitively obvious to the discerning student of human nature.

Likewise, when the pitiful plariazing publisher David Boyer of Vincennes, Indiana attempted to create a book that would be his own from multiple writer's work and not get caught, he started out with a brain issue.

Which is why, to this day, Gumby doesn't write.  You see, if you write using the mind of Gumby, for sure you're going to get Pokied.

Lisa Morton Stands Up to the Plagiarist

I'm sure that most of you will be familiar with the wonderful writer Lisa Morton. 
You'd think with her resume and accomplishments, she'd be immune from plagiaristic theft.  I won't go into the details now, but let me share with you how she stood up to the man as taken from the letter she wrote to him after reading this blog and finding out she'd had her story stolen, too!

"Dave:


I did not give you permission to use the story with YOUR NAME on it as author, nor did I give you permission to post it at online sites such as Booksie. Crediting the story to yourself is plagiarism, plain and clear. The story has now been removed from Booksie per my request, but I have a copy of the PDF, which I've attached here. The PDF clearly lists "Doc Byron" as the author; the story even generated compliments for you at Booksie, which you did nothing to dispel. You stole my story."

How's that for standing up for her rights?  She's a great example for the rest of us.  We don't have to tolerate plagiarism.

And all of you out here who have been supportive (and I can't believe how many of you there are!), it's your success, too.

I've asked him to come forward and confess, apologize, give us all a list of his various aliases and make a commitment to leave these bad practices behind.  I'm still waiting.  So we wait. What do you think?  Will he come forward?

In the meantime, let's see how many of his other aliases we can identify.