The Feeding Ground

The following excerpt is taken from my explosive new book about serial plagiarist David B. Boyer.  It comes from the chapter titled "The Feeding Ground."    I'm in negotiations for its release.  

*****

Writing groups are one of serial plagiarist David B. Boyer's most fruitful feeding grounds.  After reading what follows, I have no doubt that you will re-think how you view your own writing groups.

Boyer is a remarkably forgettable individual.  However, like most smarmy con men, he is expert at ingratiating himself into groups where the membership is built on trust.

In 2007, Boyer joined as a trial member in a writing group to which I belonged called the Michigan Horror Writers Association.  One purpose of this group was to share stories for mutual critique.  "Electrocuting the Clowns" was a story I'd written earlier and published in an anthology titled Beyond the Porch Light,  copyrighted in 2002.  Subsequently it was sold as a reprint to Dark Wisdom Magazine.

The Michigan Horror Writers Association had several out of state members, one of whom was David B. Boyer and he, along with others gave feedback on my story.  Boyer liked it a lot.  He wanted to post it on his website.  I refused.

Almost immediately, he began publishing my story under his own name.  Like a true creep, he had one of his cronies recommend it for a Stoker.  He began publishing it in book after book under his name or one of his many aliases.  He sent it out internationally, and it was accepted in a South African magazine.  He gave my story away for free on websites.

My story.

But let's go back to the correspondence we had when he was an out-of-state trial member of the Michigan Horror Writers Association, before I or any of the other members knew what a smarmy creep he was:

******

From: David Boyer [mailto:doc5948@yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2007 12:11 PM
To: Rick Moore
Subject: RE: story

That's okay, I will go ahead and delete it from my email files now. I only asked because it was such a good story, {and it would make my site look good!} I will send you another story some time soon, I am working on a new one called LIITLE BLACK BOOK, it is a just a small piece of flash fiction, but I thought it was kinda cute.

See ya later

                ME (David Boyer)


Rick Moore <vwriter@wowway.com> wrote:

Thanks for asking.  This one can’t be posted because I just sold the rights to a magazine and it hasn’t been published yet (most likely spring issue 2008).  I’m sorry I haven’t been back to you earlier, but I was on the road again today and have to head out tonight because a group of local university students are making a movie of one of my stories for their film class.

Tomorrow I’m going to catch up on my email (including you), and I apologize for taking so long.  Just been a killer month and this last week has been the worst.  How go things with you?  You seem like you’re writing a lot!  That’s a good sign.

Rick  Moore

Energy Lake, Inc.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Boyer [mailto:doc5948@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2007 9:46 AM
To: vwriter@wowway.com
Subject: story

Would you mind if I posted ELECTROCUTING THE CLOWNS on my website? If not, I will understand. Just wanted to ask you before I deleted it from my email files.

                                 ME (David Boyer)

*****

Or this damning exchange where the sleazy plagiarist actually (this is really creepy) warns me about the dangers of plagiarists!

*****

From: David Boyer [mailto:doc5948@yahoo.com]

Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 12:31 PM
To: Rick Moore
Subject: RE: story

Thanks for the story, I will log it into my flash disc so nobody else can see it but ME. Whenever someone is nice enough to send me something like this, I quickly put it on my disc and then delete the whole message. You have to be careful these days about plagarists.

Thanks again

Doc (David Boyer)


Rick Moore <vwriter@wowway.com> wrote:

Hey David:

I was up all night training with my instructor in Toronto (I’ve been his student for 25 years and if I don’t train with him when I’m in Toronto, he’d kick my ass even though he’s 80 years old).  I’m nearly blind with sleep deprivation right now, but after I snooze, I’ll crank through this new stuff, and then I’ll send you feedback.  One of the best things about a group is people to get feedback from.  By the way, I’m attaching one of my shorts to give you something to read as well.  This is being published in Dark Wisdom magazine early next year.

Rick  Moore

-----Original Message-----
From: David Boyer [mailto:doc5948@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 11:32 AM
To: vwriter@wowway.com
Subject: story

Well, here it is; THE SANDMAN, part 1. I know it isn't all that and a bag of chips, but it only the first draft, OKAY?!!

  I have had publishers tell me bfore that they leaned more toward my longer works, said they contained more ''structure'', and were more ''polished.'' After looking through some of my material lately, I'd tend to agree with them. Well, I hope you enjoy the story, and I will send you part 2 when It's finshed. Oh; I sent you another ''longer'' story as well, couldn't remember if i'd sent it yet or not.

                                                                          Sincerely,

                                                                             ME (David Boyer)

*****

Knowing now that he is a serial plagiarist, the Creep-O-Meter turns bright red.

The Michigan Horror Writers Association was not his only feeding ground.  There were others.  He also tried to ingratiate himself writing workshops for school-aged science fiction writers.  Storymania was one of his public feeding grounds, where he stole story after story.

Has he ever been a member of one of your writing groups?  He has so many aliases, how would you know? Do you accept out-of-state members?  If you do, you or one of your friends might be one of his victims.

Murder or Accidental Death- You Decide

Friends and family were distraught by news regarding the unexpected death of Bart the Chicken at a Vincennes, Indiana landfill yesterday.  Although police are still investigating the popular bird's passing, they have not collected sufficient evidence to rule out foul play.

"An unidentified suspect dumped a printout of David B. Boyer's plagiarisms and copyright infringements in the landfill at the edge of town sometime late Thursday night" said the detective in charge of the WTF investigative squad.  "It was a huge amount of paper and Bart just loved to eat paper.  Lots of birds do.  I had a crow that ate my grandmother's recipe for Plagiary Pie a year back.  We had to pump the poor little guy's stomach.  And that was only three pages!"

"Can you tell this reporter how many pages were printed out of Boyer's plagiaries?"  I asked.

The detective cocked his head toward the brooding Indiana sky as though looking for guidance.

"Well," he said finally, "a scientist from Vincennes University told us if you took all the ink used to print out David B. Boyer's plagiaries, poured it into a giant spaceship and dumped it on the sun, you could cause a complete and total eclipse that might destroy all life on planet Earth for a thousand years."

"Wow,"  I said.

"That's what I said," he agreed.  "And remember, Bart the Chicken only ate a fraction of Boyer's printed plagiaries.  If he ate all the pages or, say we stuffed them down his beak with a hydraulic plunger, why there'd be such an explosion we'd have feathers from here to New Jersey."

"And chicken shit,"  I added.

Since I've been investigating Boyer's plagiaries, I think of that phrase every time I hear his name.

Team of Surgeons Mull Conscience Transplant for Vincennes, Indiana Plagiarist

Of all the earlier pieces of investigative articles I've published on David Boyer, the serial plagiarist from Vincennes, Indiana, this piece got the most reaction.  Except from Oprah, who never returned my emails or calls, but did send me a coupon for the new chain of restaurants she's opening in Egypt.


The research behind this article gave me the idea for the book in progress "American Sleaze."   And it led me to a source who was more than willing to dish out details on David Boyer and his seedy plagiaries. I'll post segments of these shocking interviews over the next few weeks, and they form the thematic backdrop of the new book.


Here's the investigative piece that started my wheels turning:

*****

Las Vegas oddsmakers are giving odds of 20:1 against the notorious plagiarist David Boyer of Vincennes, Indiana accepting a remarkable offer from the Arkham College of Neurosurgeons to attempt the world's first Conscience Transplant.

Dr. F. Lobe urged Mr. Boyer to accept the offer.

"What's to lose?" she said.  "Talk to the man's victims- he's done nothing for them, not even admit publicly that he plagiarized them.  So I'm saying to him, like a doctor and a good mother- get a conscience, even a little one can't hurt."

Finding a conscience donor, however, could be tricky.  He will need a real conscience, one from someone recognized for their integrity, to balance his morality deficit.  Scientist Sarah Bellum, PhD points out that Boyer's brain currently registers negative on the conscience scale.  "Of course," she admits, "I've only scanned him from a distance.  I didn't want to get too close in case he felt tempted to steal my doctoral thesis."

This reporter contacted the Ghandi Institute in India, since the headquarters in Pontiac, MI did not return our phone calls.

"Ghandhi's dead,"  said Rasheej Gukathason, the security guard who answered the phone.  (time differences can be very tricky, even for an investigative journalist).  "His conscience is gone someplace.  Who knows where?  Don't ask me, I'm just the security guard."

"Where does the conscience go after death?" I asked.

A burst of solar radiation most likely was the cause of the dial tone that followed my question.

I later contacted a mysterious man known only as "The Donor Hunter," and he suggested that Donor Consciences could be purchased if you knew the right people.  "Charlie Sheen, for example," he said.  "He used to have a conscience, but he's not using it now.  Maybe for bond money he'll sell it if you have enough cash.  Or go to politicians.  They have absolutely no use for them.  And some of them lie better than Boyer so it would be a good match.  And they always swear they've done nothing wrong, just like he does."

"So his brain won't reject the conscience in question if it comes from an out of control actor or a sleazy politician?"

"Exactly," said the Donor Hunter.

"But then he'll still suffer from Conscience-Deficit Syndrome," I pointed out.

The Donor Hunter's mouth dropped open.

"You thought he was going to change?"  I asked.

"What was I thinking?" he wondered.

She's Too Grossed Out to Read and It's My Fault

The call came late last night.

"Hello?"

Never sleep with your cell phone near your bed when trying to finish a good dream.

"My daughter won't come out of the closet, you creep.  That sleaze David Boyer's still at it and now she's too grossed out to read.  Thinks Boyer plagiarized Doctor Seuss.  What are you going to do about it?"

I sat straight up in bed.  It was happening all over again.  

"Ma'am," I said, "have you filed a report with the Attorney General of Indiana?"

"Fat lot of good that's done so far.  Where's that book you've been working on about serial plagiarists if you're so smart?"


I slid into my jeans, turned on the light and saw they were on backward.  It's important to label your clothes "Front" and "Back" if you're an emergency plagiary responder.  I made a mental note.

"Sorry about the delay.  I was looking for a new title due to recent events.  Plagiarism is so widespread now I thought I'd call it American Sleaze instead of Indiana Sleaze."

"What kind of plagiary reporter are you?"  she asked.  "You take nine months on a new title?  I gave birth to two kids in nine months."

She had me there.  In my defense, I'd finished two novels and was closing in on a third.  Besides I was giving the Assistant Attorney General of Indiana a little maneuvering room.  And I'd been working on the alien/Boyer connection, but the government's denying everything.  That's how I knew I was on to something.

"Well?"  she snapped.  "How many kids too grossed out to read is it going to take for you to finish that book exposing creeps like David Boyer?"

"Ma'am, I'm not the plagiary police."

"You got the rest of us writers stirred up- you better be something."

"I'm a good investigative reporter," I said.  "Maybe I could put those skills to use."

It's true.  I claim full responsibility for covering Bigfoot's march to Vincennes, Indiana to howl at Boyer.

"Then finish that book!  At least you'll expose him."

I took a deep breath.

"I'll do it," I said.  "You're right.  I got everybody stirred up- time to finish the job."

"Put your pants on straight first," she said and hung up.


Before I did that, I got some duct tape and stuck it over the camera lens on my cellphone.

Is Amazon Guilty of Consumer Fraud?



I like Amazon.  Love them, in fact.  But can someone tell me their corporate address in case Consumer Fraud Charges need to be filed against them?

We know they're the world's largest lovable book store.  Great prices.  Great inventory.  But guess what?  Now they're a publisher, too.

They publish books.

Many fine authors publish via Amazon.

Guess who else they publish? 

David Boyer, the sleazy plagiarist operating out of Vincennes, IN.

So if you're a writer, and David Boyer under one of his many aliases steals your stuff and publishes it for profit through Amazon, is Amazon guilty, too?  They know he's a plagiarist and have yanked some of his plagiarized works off their internet shelves.  But when he sends them a book like "Shadow Dolls" or "Mystery Indiana," they publish them without checking to see if they're plagarized.

So I ask you, if they know he's a plagiarist because they've had to take down some of his books, and they publish his new books without checking to see if they're plagiarized, are they now accomplices?

If they don't take a stand against David Boyer the Vincennes, IN plagiarist, is it because they don't mind making money off of stolen works?

Does this make them guilty of Consumer Fraud?

Boyergate Flash- Aliens Arrive in Vincennes, Indiana to Sign InterGalactic Treaty with Notorious Plagiarist!

Looking Around

for

"The Great One"

The town of Vincennes, Indiana became instantly famous today with the confidential admission of a city official that an entepreneurial mission of Aliens from the Snicker's galaxy has arrived to sign a contract with the city's most notorious and prolific plagiarist.

This reporter was priveleged to interview the lead alien negotiator.

In response to my first question, "Hello, what is your name?" he responded "$@&***(^"

A thirteen year old boy with strawberry blond hair was called in to run the alien's answer through Google Voice and Language Translator, which rendered it as "I'm a good boy."

Further calibration of the Google translator gave us this version, "Where is the Great Plagiarist of Vincennes, Indiana?"

"He's running late," I told him. "It's hard work creating fake identities to hide behind when you're selling stolen work. And it's time consuming when you have to lie to the authors, claim a mob of cyberstalkers is after you, tell people your computer was hacked, and even pretend it's not your fault if you inadvertantly used their stories. He'll explain it to you when he gets here."

"$$-^^^^_+!!!," said the alien.

The teenager translated, "Maybe he said goody goody?"

"Why do you want to be trained in the art of plagiarism and copyright infringement?" I asked.

The alien ambassador grew excited and waved his arms up and down while making a hooting noise. His entourage did the same. It was like they were having an extraterrestrial orgasm and quite embarassing for an earthling to watch.

"Wow," said the kid. "They're saying that there's been no theft on their world. They never thought of stealing until the Great Plagiarist contacted them with a potato powered radio transmitter and offered to scan all of earth's books and give it to them for a percentage of the proceeds when they sell them throughout the universe."

"How much do the authors get?" I asked the kid, who duly ran my request through the Google Voice and Language translator.

After my question was translated, the aliens responded with a raucus chorus of owl sounds punctuated by all of them pointing at what I think were their crotches.

"What?" I asked.

"I think they're busting a gut," said the kid.

Suddenly, I realized why it was worth it for them to travel all the way across the galaxy to consult with the Great One of Plagiarism and it made me mad.  With any luck, they would take the great plagiarist back to their own planet to study.

An Open Letter to Amazon

They're big, they've got money and clout and we all need their help to protect our works from plagiary for profit, a.k.a. Consumer Fraud.  NEW: Here's their FAX number in case you want to send a letter of support

206-266-7010 FAX

Amazon Legal Dept. Fax

(Send Them a FAX Saying We Need Them to Contact Tom Irons, Indiana Deputy Attorney General, Consumer Fraud Division and Tell Him Boyer Publishing & Selling Books with Stolen Content is Consumer Fraud!)

Here's the letter I just FAXED them:

*****

October 19, 2011

Amazon.com
Legal Dept.
P.O. Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108-1226

Reference File No. 10-CP-62157, Consumer Fraud Filing, Office of the Indiana Attorney General, Consumer Fraud Division. Filed with Deputy Attorney General Tom Irons, 302 W. Washington St., 5th Floor, Indianapolis, IN 46204

Dear Amazon Legal Department:

I want you to write a letter.

My name is Ferrel D. Moore and I’ve filed the Consumer Fraud Complaint cited above against the plagiarizing publisher David Boyer of Vincennes, IN. Mr. Boyer has plagiarized over 60 writers and is currently producing extensively plagiarized books using your publishing services and selling these products to unsuspecting consumers using Amazon’s storefront.

Two examples of this are his books “Shadow Dolls” and “Mystery Indiana.” In them, he has plagiarized Richard Matheson, Mr. Matheson’s son, George R.R. Martin and many others. To see the extent of his documented plagiaries, you may visit the site we prepared for Mr. Irons, the Deputy Attorney General of the state of Indiana, Consumer Fraud Division. The website address is https://sites.google.com/site/bthoughtful/

The National Writers Union, Local 1981 UAW, the SFWA and the HWA have all written Mr. Irons in support of my filing, as well as hundreds of writers across the country.

I and many other authors have filed consumer fraud charges against Mr. Boyer. We are filing consumer fraud because the laws apply. He is selling stolen works, re-packaging them under false label as his own works and then selling them to consumers across the country using Amazon’s publishing services and storefront to profit even though this leads to the “…leads to sales wherein the consumers either do not receive the good or service or the good or service is materially different than what the seller initially represented it to be.” Which is, in a word, consumer fraud.

To the best of all of our knowledge, Amazon is unknowingly participating in this enterprise. Amazon’s reputation for dealing swiftly and efficiently with such instances of fraud is impeccable.

It is for this reason that I’m asking you to send a letter of support for our efforts to treat this as consumer fraud. We, both the writers and cited organizations supporting our efforts, understand that copyright violations are involved. These avenues are, however, too expensive for the average writer to pursue, especially when the matter crosses state lines. For example, I spent over $7,000 having my works removed from his books that you and others published.

Consumer fraud is a different matter. There is no cost for a writer to file a consumer fraud complaint with the appropriate state Attorney General’s Office.

But we need your help to stop this plagiarizing publisher and others like him. He changes his name, changes his book titles, and then publishing the same stolen works all over again. But you have his social security number, which he uses to publish these works. It doesn’t mean that every word he publishes is plagiarized. It takes time to dig into that.

In cases such as those documented on the website I directed you to, the evidence is clear.

Would you please consider sending a letter to the Deputy Attorney General of the State of Indiana supporting the principal of my Consumer Fraud filing? You are not the police force for the book world, but you are the single strongest, most respected presence in the world for the written word and we very much need your help.

Google David Boyer, plagiarist. See what you come up with.

Then write a letter, if you think the cause is just, to:

Deputy Attorney General Tom Irons
Office of the Indiana State Attorney General
Consumer Fraud Division
302 W. W. Washington St., 5th Floor,
Indianapolis, IN 46204

I’m posting this as an open letter to you on my writers blog http://thewriterandthewhitecat.blogspot.com so that the other hundreds of other writers sending letters to Mr. Irons and organizations who have done the same can see what I’m asking. There are too many of them involved to contact them separately.

Ferrel D. Moore
White Cat Publications, LLC.
33080 Industrial Road
Livonia, MI 48150
editor@whitecatpublications.com

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.

Writer Activists

Activism among writers has a long and proud history.  We're good at fighting for others rights.  Non-fiction writers are most frequently given credit for prodding our social consciences, but fiction writers, too, have a proud history of doing the same in ways that are equally if not more forceful.  Victor Hugo, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Steinbeck and James Baldwin are good examples of this.

But what about our own rights?   How well do we stack up on this front?

A.C. Crispin, Victoria Strauss and Richard C. White of Writer Beware® are personal heroes of mine for their work in keeping us informed about those who would pirate or infringe upon our rights.  The SFWA, MWA and Horror Writers have shone marvelous backbone in the fight, too, as organizations that actively stand up for their members.  The National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981/ AFL-CIO not only has helped me spearhead the effort to get pirating publishers to be investigated and convicted under state Consumer Fraud laws, but they also provide grievance redress. 

I also want to thank all of you out there who have respectfully written to Mr. Tom Irons of the Indiana Attorney General's Office, Consumer Fraud Division to prosecute David Boyer for his theft of so many of our works, putting his own name on them and then selling them for his personal profit.  You are truly friends of every honest writer out there.

But for those of you who haven't written Mr. Irons yet, why not?

If this method of using Consumer Fraud legislation against plagiarizing publishers is again successful in Indiana, then when you need a method to go after a publisher who has plagiarized you, it will be there for you, too.  You will be able to file a complaint against the crooked publishing company in the state where they stole your work.

We've all got to help each other stand up to these plagiarizing publishers.

We're so good at sticking up for the rights of others, now it's time to stand up for our own rights.

Call to Action for All Writers- Please Write the Indiana Attorney General

I'm asking for your help.

The Attorney General's Office of Indiana is looking at whether or not to shut down a crooked publisher named David Boyer of Vinncennes, Indiana by using Consumer Fraud regulations.  These can carry criminal penalties as in the case of David Caswell.  Boyer steals other writers works (take a look at the size of the partial list of victims on the left hand side of B-Thoughtful's blog - it's over double that now and she's still updating her database) and illegally sells them to consumers claiming he wrote them.  He steals our stuff and sells it illegally, claiming he is the author.

Remember, like all publishers and or writers, he is operating as a business.  A shoddy, tawdry business, but subject to business and Consumer Fraud regulations nonetheless.  Let's get them enforced.  If it works in Indiana, we can expect similar decisions by AG offices across the country.  If they're not on board, we take the campaign to them.

In the past, the only recourse a writer had was to file an expensive, time consuming and ultimately unproductive lawsuit against creeps like Boyer who them claim they're bankrupt.  Help me change that.  Tell the Attorney General's office for the State of Indiana how important it is for this plagiarist publisher to be subject to the same penalties as any other crooked business.  We want him pursued under Consumer Fraud regulations at their cost, not ours.  He's defrauding consumers by selling them our stuff with his name on it.

International emails of support to the Attorney General of Indiana are also very important.  Show him that writers of the world are you united in their common goal to protect writers.  The email is listed below.
Here's where to send your respectful but firm letters and or emails of support and be sure to include the File Number File No. 10-CP-62157:

Tom Irons



Consumer Protection Division,


Office of the Indiana Attorney General


302 W. Washington St., 5th Floor


Indianapolis, IN 46204

email: Tom.Irons@atg.in.gov
 
 
If we don't act together to convince the Attorney General to shut down the creep David Boyer of Vincennes, Indiana you might be next on the list.  And if he keeps getting away with it, how many more people can steal your work and get it away with it?  Send an email, send a letter or call and leave Tom Irons a respectful but firm message that we need his help.  If you're a member of a writer's group or writing organization, ask them to write, too. 
 
If we can get the Romance Writers of America behind this effort, this guy will go down.  If the SFWA gets behind us, this guy will go down.  That goes for the Myster Writers of America and the HWA, too.  Anyone who knows anyone in those organizations, please ask for their support in this letter writing campaign.  They know how to get out the troops.  I've already contacted the National Writers Union.
 
So now I'm asking you personally to help by contacting Mr. Irons.
 
Let's put a stop to writers having to spend a fortune defending their rights when it's really not only about copyright violation, it's about Consumer Fraud.

A Victory Against Plagiarist David Boyer of Vincennes, Indiana

Great news in the fight against serial plagiarist David Boyer of Vincennes, Indiana!!

The Attorney General's Office for the State of Indiana has written me that since they cannot mediate the matter with Boyer (who couldn't see that one coming), that they now need "... evidence of a pattern of deceptive conduct in order to sue under the consumer protection statues we enforce."

Fortunately, B Thoughtful compiled a massive pile of evidence proving conclusively Boyer's pattern of plagiary against innocent authors!

So now we are contacting Boyer's victims and packaging up the evidence for all the people we've found that he plagiarized and will be presenting it to the AG of Indiana.

This is a key breakthrough in information for busting serial plagiarists like David Boyer (under his plethora of aliases), Richard Ridyard (who we're now actively after), Angela Priest and many more.  Establishing the pattern for the state AG's lets them go after them.

We're setting up the legal defense fund (adding a Donate Button to the Fight Against Plagiarism, packaging up the evidence, and then going after David Boyer first and foremost!  We'll need lots of help, so I'm contacting the National Writers Union.  Every writer should join them as their first and foremost defense.


Finally a way to bust these plagiarists!

Boyer's Stoker Scam

Boyer a Stoker Nominee?

Have you been nominated for a Stoker Award lately?  It's the supreme award for Dark Fiction issued yearly by the HWA.  You probably think it's a lot of work to get nominated for a Stoker.  First you have to be recommended (lots are recommended), then you have to make the cut to be nominated. 

But wait, there's an easier way- The Boyer Way!  All you have to do, according to David Boyer, the Vincennes, Indiana plagiarist, is write in the bio of one of your books that you were nominated.  Just put it there, and that means you really were nominated for a Stoker award by the HWA.  You don't really have to be nominated.  Since you've claimed your imaginary nomination in black in white, it must be true.  Name it and claim it.

People claiming they received awards or nominations for awards they either weren't nominated for or didn't get are the bane of our industry.  And David Boyer, the Vincennes, IN plagiarist, is the most notorious of these.  He claims he was nominated for a Stoker (for the story he stole from me), but he wasn't (it was only recommended).  He just slaps the imaginary nomination in his bio and figures readers are too lazy to check it out.  After all, someone would have stopped him if he was lying, wouldn't they?

Not really.  Readers are loathe to think writers are that dishonest.  But they're wrong.  Writers like Boyer are that dishonest.

It's the oldest trick in a con man's book- claim you were nominated for something.  No one checks unless you claim you won.  There are lots of writers out there without scruples who claim in their bio that they were nominated.  They figure we're too dumb to catch them at it.

Why would a writer risk their integrity when things like this are so easy to check?  In Boyer's case, he has no integrity.  He's a plagiarist.

What have we come to as writers when the award claims are more important than the quality of our stories?

David Boyer Caught Plagiarizing Dean Koontz!!

It's official!

David Boyer- the Vincennes, Indiana plagiarist- has made the jackass move of all time.  He actually plagiarized Dean Koontz. 

Want to see the proof?  Go to http://b-thoughtful.blogspot.com/

And you wonder why I'm writing a book about Boyer?

I Want to Know- Where Do You Get the Pictures for Your Blog?

She Has Copy Rights, Too

*****

Artists have Copyrights, too.  Most of us bloggers, even with the best intentions, from time to time forget that.  Jonathon Bailey wrote an extremely helpful article on this back on July 14, 2009.  Here's the address for his article: http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2009/07/14/creative-commons-image-search/
I recommend every writer who blogs read it.  Most of us are focused on copyright infringement as it it pertains to writing.  We run non-commercial blogs and we do it because we love to write about all things writing related.  But after being plagiarized, I learned that pictures have to be attributed properly to be used. 

Some of you may have noticed that for months I have been buying photos to use in my blog and going backward to replace photos and pictures that I can't remember where I got the originals from (PhotoBucket, mostly) with new pictures that I purchased the right to use.  I've been using iStock Photo for this purpose, since they have a good reputation.  I've even taken down a year's worth of posts to eliminate anything that I might have questions about in deference to artists and photographers.  All that's left are postings with pictures I've bought rights to use.

Maybe I've gone to extremes here, but I'm trying to learn from the mistakes that David Boyer made.  I have to admit, his actions have made me think.  After I saw that he'd used Ben Templesmith's art on the cover of some of his books without getting permission, I started to think that this must have been accidental or incredibly stupid.  Who would blatantly steal from a famous artist and expect not to get caught?  But he did it for money, not on a non-commercial blog so in the end what he did was very, very wrong. 

So I have to ask all of you- where do you get the pictures you use on your blog?  How do you make sure you're treating artists and photographers the right way on your blog?  Is it enough to attribute the creator, or do we need to get written permission?

Over the Holidays, I'd Like What Every Other Writer Would Like

No, Not Another Lump of Coal...

This year, all I want for Christmas is to be able to write for one week straight without having to deal with the rest of the world.  That includes working for a living, of course.  Bills.  Holiday colds.  That sort of thing.

I admit it, when someone says the word Holiday, I usually think of even less time to write.  It's not that I'm not grateful for friends and family and parties, I'd just like for the rest of the world to reconsider.  To think that there should be a holiday from holidays.  At least for writers.

Or bring back patronage.  It worked for artists a ways back.  It could work for writers.

And with the publishing houses investing less in marketing and promotion and expecting more and more of writers including conventions, blogging, Facebook and, yes, the dreaded twittering- when do we get time to write?  Are any of the rest of you social networked to death?  I just learned about LinkedIn.  Or something like that.  Very helpful to writers, I was told.  I admit, I covered my ears while the informant was talking.

So next year, we have to have a new holiday for writers, where all we have to do is write.  No cards to send out- just time to write.

What a present that would be!

A New Boyer Mystery!

A Boyer Quote- But is He Lying Again?

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One last thing on the Boyer matter:

Which one of you is the smartest at finding where a quote came from?

Here's what I'm trying to find out-  

In a recent interview (pulled down almost immediately) posted on "KCBOOKS From Mom to Author & Everything in Between," David Boyer is quoted as saying the following:

"Stephen King once told me told me 'We create our own horrors in order to deal with the real ones."'

Really?  I thought I read that in a Stephen King book.  Maybe I'm wrong.  Is it possible David lied again?  Or is he telling the truth?  Is any one of you well connected it enough to contact Mr. King to see if if he actually personally shared this moment with David?  Or anybody clever enough to get the question to him?  Does anyone really believe Stephen King shared this thought with Boyer personally?  But until the great horror writer gets back to us, can anyone find where that quote is from please?

Because now that I'm pressing forward legally, my attorney- who is the best copyright attorney in Michigan- tells me its time to lay off of posting on David Boyer/David Byron/Iron Dave and let the firm do what I'm paying them to do. 

We will be cooperating fully with the Indiana Attorney General and pressing forward legally along with all the rest who are demanding accountability for Boyer.

So I will be getting back to writing matters until my attorney instructs me otherwise.

This is the part I've been waiting for- the serious part.

The Cooks Source Video- Boyer This One's for You

All credit to Nemspy at you tube.  Nemspy, could you do one just for David Boyer?

International Plagiarist David Boyer Invents New Aliases- Part I

David Boyer Might Be Losing Weight

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Or not.

Pictures can be deceiving.  Although stress can be hard on you.

But he's had plenty of energy to work at being an International Plagiarist.  You see, he published my story in a South African online magazine called "Something Wicked."  The editor there, when he learned of Boyer's trunchant treachery, acted like a true professional and both apologized to me and attributed my story correctly.  Now there's a magazine editor!  And of course, I'm contacting this editor asking that they file with the IC3 as well.

After I learned he'd plagiarized me on another continent, Stuart Yates (now living in Spain) was worried he couldn't do anything about the time Boyer plagiarized him. But he  has now filed with the IC3 ("The Internet Crime Complaint Center).  And since David Boyer and his entire family of aliases live in Indiana, the complaint and investigatory responsibility goes to the Attorney General of Indiana.  You see that's where David Boyer does business.

So that's South Africa and Spain now.

Then there's Stephen Blundell who today filed with the IC3 all the way from Australia!

Wow.  South Africa, Spain and Australia.  Busy, busy, busy.

Is there more coming?  Of course!

Stay tuned.

In our next episode- how creepy plagiarists like David Boyer use false identities and aliases to cover their tracks and how to find them anyway so you don't get robbed of your creative work.

By the way, Stephen and Stuart don't take things lying down- they fight back. 

Do you know how to fight back and not have to spend a fortune doing it?

Scam Publishers- The Black Eye of Indie Presses

David Boyer, is that You?

*****

Tyree Campbell (Publisher of Sam's Dot Publishing) has written a highly informative and thoughtful article on the plagiarist David Boyer (a.ka. David Byron, Iron Dave, and a long list of other aliases).  It's worth reading and lends a lot of credence to what we're discussing in this post.  Here's the link to Tyree's article: http://www.samsdotpublishing.com/atthedot.htm

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Most writers, in their early days, are so desperate to be published that they never question who their publisher is.  The idea that the person at the other end of their submission might be unscrupulous never seems to occur to them.  Just the opportunity of being published in a print magazine is enough to make young writers shove their common sense in a drawer.

But writing is a business- shouldn't you know who you're doing business with?  I've been fortunate enough to know my publishers personally.  William Jones and Tyree Campbell are two of the finest men you would ever want to meet.  But believe me, after learning what I have about the dark underside of Indie Publishing, before I go to another publisher with anything, I'll research them thoroughly before I submit my work.

For example, imagine all of the writers thrilled to be accepted by David Boyer (David Byron, etc.), not knowing that he is a plagiarst on a shocking scale.  He makes money by stealing other writer and artist's work and selling them for profit.  To promote his shaky self-image, he even gives work that he doesn't own away for free.  Who would think that the little town of Vincennes, Indiana harbors such a con man?  Without checking David Boyer (David Byron et al) out thoroughly, how would they know who they were really dealing with?

Did you know that our favorite plagiarist is still soliciting stories and interviews?  All this while the deeper we dig, the more we find he's stolen and used.

Perhaps you think he is the only publisher out there like this?  Think again. 

Although the genre organizations- The Horror Writers Association, the SFWA and such- were quick to respond to the Boyer alert, is there no Indie Press Association to report this guy to?  What exactly are the standards of the Indie Press industry?  An email address and the phone number for a Print-On-Demand company?  Is there no industry association to vet these small presses?  If there is, can someone please let me know who they are, because I want to work with them.

How about this- how many of you have not been paid royalties by scam publishers?  Did you know that you have legal recourse to report this to the Attorney General where their businesses are located?  Earlier I wrote about the Caswell case in Indiana, which tipped me off to this avenue of redress.  How about you?  When you don't get paid promised royalties, do you let it drop so that other publishers don't think you're difficult, or do you stand up for yourself.

We're trying to find every instance of where David Boyer/ David Byron cheated writers out of their royalties so we can send this information to the Attorney General for the State of Indiana.  They come down hard on scam publishers.

Remember, David Boyer/ David Byron had people sending manuscripts to him all the time.  How many of them did he plagiarize?

Think about it.  Writing is a business- what can we do to protect ourselves and each other from crooks like David Boyer/ David Byron?

Tin Foil Dave used multiple identities and freewebs to hide his activities under a myriad of personna.  Next post we'll look at how easy it is to sort through that kind of smokescreen.

How To Catch a Plagiarist

Let's Go Sherlock on these Clowns

So you've written a novel, a story or a poem, or created a graphic design.  You were pretty confident that you owned it and no one could take it from you without your permission.  Then, you read about David Boyer, who plagiarized my work, Lisa Morton's work, Jane Baxter's work and even seems to have stooped to grabbing Activision's copyrighted artwork.  Suddenly you're not so confident anymore.  You realize that you don't even know how to find out if your work has been stolen. 

What can you do to find out?  Finding the answer to that question is the first step to catching a plagiarist.

If you're an artist/graphic designer and are looking to see if your work has been plagiarized, I suggest going to the website Tin Eye to use their reverse image lookup.  Take an image of your own work, upload it and watch as it goes through over a billion web images in mere seconds so you can see if someone else is using it.  My lead researcher discovered this resource, and I suggest you use it.

If you're a writer, you've probably heard about sites like The Rusty Nail, or Preditors and Editors or Writer Beware.  They keep you up to date with the latest information about who to watch out for.  The HWA's Lisa Morton has written a powerful cautionary piece called "PIRATES! Or, How to Protect Your Intellectual Property on the High Seas of the Internet."

And now I'll share what my researchers learned along the way:

First, plagiarists, as they get more canny, will change the titles of your work so that you can't easily find what they do.  But you should still look for your titles first.  But remember, titles are not copyrightable so you will probably run into a few works using your title.  Maybe you'll find some of your own stories under the title you gave them.  That would be great, but don't stop there because, as I said, they can also change the titles on you.

What next?  Take unique blocks of texts from your story and search the net for them with your favorite search engine.  Sometimes that will yield the good result.  Other times not, even if your story is actually out there.  What to do?  What can we do if they change the titles.  I was at a loss.

But here's something interesting that my lead researcher discovered- a lot of the works plagarized are available through Google, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. with searchable contents.  Take the books you suspect and use those searchable contents to your advantage by looking for your unique blocks of text within those windows.  You'll even be able to see the Table of Contents- and maybe just see your title there.


And screenshot every violation you find- that way when the plagiarist goes back to delete the evidence, you'll still have what you need to prove your case.


Plagiarists want to use the Internet to steal our creative work, sell it or give it away as a free download like Boyer did to me.

Let's turn the tables and use the Internet against them.  And we don't have to fight them alone.  When we find we've been plagiarized- we can let our friends in the Blogosphere know.  You'll be surpised how many good people willing to help.