Awards ceremony involving footage of Tiananmen Square set to "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

Cassie Claire: Long HP epics which lifted lines of dialogue from Buffy without attribution.

I forget what else, if anything, she got caught taking, but it got her kicked off ff.net. Yet her supporters are legion.

CC retyped in LENGTHY sections of Pamela Dean, merely changing the nouns. Pamela Dean has forgiven her, but I haven't.

For the record, all of the RWA board but three (the holdouts including the President) have issued a formal apology for the ceremony.

Ah. Thanks!

I think it was Cassie Claire who took quotes from lots of sources -- Buffy, Red Dwarf, etc and so on and put them in the mouths of HP characters.

I think it was Cassie Claire who took quotes from lots of sources -- Buffy, Red Dwarf, etc and so on and put them in the mouths of HP characters.

I cannot tell you how scared I am of doing something like this by accident. Not entire passages, but clever lines that pop to mind as if they were something I thought of rather than read or heard somewhere.

I think some amount of that is almost inevitable. It's not as if every two words that a given author puts together can be considered copyrighted for their use only. Just, y'know, be on the lookout for "I'm drowning in you, SummersWinters!" phrases popping up unconsciously.

Delurking for a quick bit because I love Cassie Claire stories...

The thing about the Cassie Claire plagiarism incidents was that it *wasn't* accidental with the bits of dialogue from various shows. She was putting them in on purpose, supposedly to give fans of the story a bit of a guessing game (like, "oh gosh, that line is from Buffy, right?"). She didn't disclaimer them though because... uh, I think because it was fun and a game and she didn't need to disclaimer them (and maybe because she liked people say "OMG CASSIE U R SOOOO CLEVAH!" but I am a cynical bitch side) if it was just a game. Or something.

The "several passages of Pamela Dean's" plagiarism - well, the story's changed a couple of times on that. I've heard it was "accidental plagiarism" (so big meanies can't call Cassie a plagiarist since she didn't do it *on purpose*) - evidently Cassie copied down those passages in her notebook because she loved them, and then when she was writing her Draco trilogy, happened upon them, thought it was something she wrote, and put it into the story. This explanation has changed a couple of times, though. I've heard that she knew it was Pamela Dean's work and just forgot to disclaimer it, I've heard that she put it in and didn't disclaimer it at all, and I've heard claims that she had permission at the time from Pamela Dean to use it (what I've never heard is her say, "Wow, I was wrong and I'm sorry" but there's my cynical bitch side raising her head again).

Supposedly she know has permission from Pamela Dean to use the passages, and she disclaimers all her fic including the quotes, so now she's not a plagiarist. Not that she ever was one. Ask Heidi Tandy.

The iPod and laptop things are other stories.

Since the Cartographer story Anne recced is still incomplete, I decided to put off my anticipation issues by reading some of sam_storyteller's older stuff instead.

I'm about a third of the way through "Laocoon's Children, Year One" and am absolutely loving it. It's an AU HP fic; basically, it's The Sorceror's Stone if

1) Lucius Malfoy was put in Azkaban years ago, and Draco was raised by an increasingly neurotic hemit in Narcissa.

2) Sirius was never falsely accused, Peter Pettigrew escaped and at some point kidnapped both Harry and Neville for some scary magic involving blood-letting, when they were 8.

3) After that event, Neville moved in with Andromeda, Ted, and Nymphadora Tonks, and Harry went to Wales with Sirius and Remus.

It's neat. Some interesting elements (minor, minor spoilers, but you'll know this less than a quarter of the way through the book, follow):

* Harry, Neville, Draco, and Padma Patil become friends on the train. They are sorted one into each house - Draco argues himself into Hufflepuff because he really doesn't want to follow his family, Harry goes into Slytherin, and Neville and Padma are Gryffindor and Ravenclaw respectively.

* Snape rather likes Harry, having met him and established a liking for him during the events of 2-3 years ago, I think. Backstory still unclear.

Anyway, it's cool. I recommend it highly, so far. Whatsmore, it appears to be continuing, as Year Two is slowly approaching completion (mixed with the Cartographer story). I kinda hope it continues all the way through, a slightly different tack on JKRs stories. That would be neat.

Gris, have you read "Stealing Harry?" It's the story that sets up "Laocoon's Children." The guy's Discworld fanfic is also extraordinarily good.