I thought I would circle back to this post from almost three years ago. As you know I am a fan of Cassandra Clare’s books. I have read all of her books in the Shadowhunter-verse and find her character’s compelling. In 2016 another author I read, Sherrilyn Kenyon accused Clare of copyright infringement and stealing elements of her own series the Dark-Hunters. I’ll admit that I haven’t been paying attention to the outcome of the suit but it was recently brought up again due to stranger the fiction happenings in Kenyon’s life. (more on that later) Clare went to Tumblr to set the record straight and the frustrations of having your work questioned with little coverage on the outcome. You can read them here and here. It turns out that the suit of copyright was dropped in 2016 after Clare and her legal team were able to prove that elements of Clare story she felt was stolen from Kenyon was either written and/or published before Kenyon or was inaccurate. The part of the suit that was settled in 2018 was for the trademark that had more to do with Clare’s publisher’s marketing materials and the Shadowhunter’s TV show then it did with Clare herself. It’s a shame that the dropping of copyright lawsuit wasn’t as widely covered as the initial lawsuit because that is two years that Clare had to deal with rumors and accusations that her work was not her own. In the time passing from there and now I head many comments about how Clare is a plagiarist and it wasn’t even true. I’m glad that she was able to clear it up and hopefully she and everyone else can move on.
So what brought this on, you say. Well Sherrilyn Kenyon in her January newsletter to fans revealed that she has been poisoned by her husband and his mistress that is also their kids tutor in an conspiracy to take her money and life’s work. It reads like one of those bad Lifetime movies that you watch in the middle of a Sunday when there is nothing else on. Is it true, who knows? In the letter Kenyon mentions that it was her husband that had brought suit to Clare and not herself. (It’s also worth noting in the letter Kenyon says that the lawsuit was settled and not dropped but from Clare’s posts we know that is not true) Kenyon also claims that her husband is suing her for the copyright of her characters and this is why some of her books have been put on hold. I’m a big fan of her Chronicles of Nick series. The latest book in the series or spin-off series, I’m not sure how to categories it. The latest book was supposed to come out last September but September came and went without any news of it until December when I read it had been taken of the publishing schedule altogether without a reason. So it makes sense if she is in a legal battle over her books characters that they would be put on hold. If true, then Wow! Her husband is one piece of trash. The audacity to claim any kind of ownership over her work is truly appalling. I do hope it gets settle quickly and if allegations are true that he has been poisoning her then I hope he goes to jail. Anyway, the letter is one crazy read and reminder that sometimes reality is stranger than fiction.