Reality is Stranger than Fiction

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.

What do you do about alleged Plagiarism?

This Tuesday Cassandra Clare is set to release the next book in her Shadowhunters Novels. Her series is highly popular and is now on it’s third series inside this world.  The previous The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices were highly successful.  The former has already inspired a movie (a really bad one) and a TV show (from what I’m told is actually not bad and is doing well in the ratings but I personally couldn’t get past the first 2 episodes). Unfortunately the release of Lady Midnight, the first book in The Dark Artifices series is under a little bit of a cloud.  Sherrilyn Kenyon, the author of the Dark-Hunters series, is suing Clare for copying her ideas.  Kenyon’s series was first published in 1998 and Clare’s in 2007. They both center around an elite set of supernatural warriors that defend the world against demons and other supernatural beings.  Clare has of course denied it by saying she wasn’t influenced by Kenyon’s work.  I have read all of Clare’s books but I haven’t read any of Kenyon’s Dark-Hunters books.  I’ve read the Chronicles of Nick, which I love.  Seriously, I can’t recommend it enough.  The series is a YA spin-off of the Dark-Hunters series and has overlaps with her original series, with characters appearing in both.  Are there similarities? Sure? Probably?  I don’t think the idea of elite warriors who fight demons is new or original.  So I’m not sure what the outcome is going to be but does it matter?  Should I be concerned that Clare might have taken some ideas from Kenyon?  It hasn’t changed my opinions of her books.  They may have similarities but they are both very different in tone and style that they don’t feel the same.  Actually, until this lawsuit I didn’t even occur to me that they were similar.  Not the same way that drew comparisons between Julie Kagawa’s Talon series to Sophie Jordan’s Firelight series.  I wouldn’t say that one copied another but they definitely pulled from the same ideas. I think this gets a little murkier is the fact that Clare has been accused for plagiarism before.  During her fan fiction days, she was accused of adding quotes from TV shows and whole passages from an out-of-print book. There are whole debates about the ethics of fan-fiction.  Some would argue that fan-fiction itself is a form of plagiarism.  Needless to say this doesn’t help Clare’s cause but I don’t think it necessarily proves anything either because again, I think there is some ethical murkiness when it comes to fan-fiction. From what I’ve read, Fifty Shades of Grey is far closer to Twilight then Clare’s The Draco Trilogy was to Harry Potter but I can’t say for certain.  So where does this leave me?  I had already bought my copy of Lady Midnight before this came out so I will read it but my excitement towards it has lessened.  As readers do we have a responsibility here or not? If so, what exactly is it?  I’m kinda I’m curious to hear what others have think about this.