Of Plagiarism, Torch-Wielding Villagers, Lanaia Lee, and Her Lost Atlantis

Comments are now closed on this post. It seems like everyone is just beating a dead horse, and it’s sort of boring me now. This is after all a Halloween and horror blog and not a forum for bashing people. Go elsewhere and do that. You folks have had your say.

I remember as a wee lad seeing the 1931 classic “Frankenstein” with Boris Karloff. Even as a child I couldn’t get past the fact that perhaps the monster didn’t really deserve what he was getting. Yes, he did throw the little girl into the water, but this was obviously from naivety more than a desire to hurt the child. The wretched creature had no idea what was going to happen to his new friend when she hit the icy grip of the lake. From Frankenstein’s monster to King Kong, who I cried over when he was finally toppled from his skyscraper refuge, I guess I’ve always had a soft spot for the thing that was chased by the angry villagers. What an amazing snapshot of the mentality of the mob these films are.

So that brings me to this post. This month’s contest contains an original short story or poem from author Lanaia Lee, or rather I should say contained. Lanaia has a lot on her plate right now. On Friday I posted about her new book “Of Atlantis” in an interview with Lee, and while I was checking Technorati, a blogging community site to see how this post was doing I noticed a growing controversy about “Of Atlantis”. It seems that the first few chapters of this book are nearly identical to the first few chapters of a book by David Gemmell called “Dark Prince”. I must say I was a bit shocked to see such blatant plagiarism; however, being the one with sympathy to the monster I tended to want to gather all the facts before I rushed headlong into the mob-frenzy that has been growing ever rampant. Check my own post’s comments if you don’t believe the villagers are in a tizzy. I’ve even been emailed and questioned about my own integrity. What a lovely bunch of folks these must be to scour the web looking for any mention of Lanaia Lee so they can right the wrongs of the world and trash her. I shall continue to approve their comments - at least the non-vulgar ones - for your amusement.

So folks here’s the deal. There’s a wealth of posts in the blogosphere about Lanaia Lee and this issue of plagiarism. Read this one from Victoria Strauss of Writer’s Beware if you would like to see a well- reasoned response about it.

Here’s a small quote from the post. Hopefully I’m not plagiarizing when I reference it:

Christopher Hill of Hill & Hill Literary Agency was an Edinburgh-based fee-charger who went to extraordinary lengths to convince his clients that he was working on their behalf, including fabricating reams of documentation: submission records, publisher acceptance emails, even publishing contracts. When he could no longer keep all the scam balls in the air, he torpedoed his own operation by posing as a victim. I covered the scam last year in a series of blog posts. There’s also a lengthy thread at Absolute Write, with many posts from writers he conned.

Ms. Lee has shown me the PayPal transactions that she paid Hill who she thought was an honest literary agent. Hill, a known scumbag charlatan, promised to do some ghostwriting to help her sort out her ideas, notes, and writings in to a workable manuscript. What he did was copy Gemmell’s work changing out names (most of the time) and present it as his own. She trusted him, and while she then did take his work and say it was her own I can’t really fault her for that. She was told this is the way things are done and she believed it. I must add that I can’t tell you how many good writers I’ve met at conventions that make ends meet by ghosting for other writers. This is a practice that’s done more than you know so anyone that wants to fault her for doing that in the first place should check their facts. There wouldn’t be the term “ghost writer” if it didn’t exist.

What Lee is guilty of is naivety - nothing more. She is trying to rectify this situation by doing a rewrite on the plagiarized chapters and has hired a lawyer to go after Hill. I doubt she’ll get him. Honestly I believe her story and have more than a little sympathy for her plight. It will take some time for her to recover from this if she ever can.

From Lanaia Lee:

I can totally understand why everyone thought I copied the work of the deceased author. Death is an old nemesis of mine after losing my parents, my siblings, six children, and almost my own life, which a lot of you think is funny, but be in a wheelchair for fifteen years, an I think you would change your mind. Knowing what this is like I would never intentionally defame the dead, their memory, to their legacy.
That being said, I started the book Of Atlantis, three years ago. At that time I was approached by Hill and Hill Literary Agency, with the promise of a contract with a major publishing house. To say I was flattered beyond belief, only describes a part of what I felt. When all the things said about Christopher Hill, being what he truly was, a fraud, I let my flattery blind me. Ignoring everything derogatory I read about him on various sites across the Internet. For the first part Of Atlantis, I thought I needed some one more familiar with the king’s English, needed for the first part of the book. Christopher being from Scotland, I thought he would be perfect for a ghost writer. He only did ghost writing on the first few chapters of the book. At this time, I stupidly had total faith in him. I never dreamed he would use some one else’s work. If I had known, I would have never used it.
Of Atlantis was scheduled for release at the end of the month, but now my attorneys, my agent, my publishers and I have put the book on hold until we can resolve this matter.
As far as Roval Publishing goes, yes they are self publishers, and I used them because I wasted almost two years of my life with Christopher. My husband talked me into self publishing because he thinks the book is that good and he thinks when it is in book stores, the book will literary blast off, because he thinks it is that good. So, self publishing we did because my health is not good at all and I just pray I can complete all five books in the series, so far I have completed three.
My disease is called erratic hypertension; I’m not suppose to have any stress, but the last 48 hrs, I have had enough stress for a life time.
I do apologize to the memory of Mr. Gemmel and his family, for what some one else did to him that had no right and God as my witness I did not know. I am also including proof as I paid Christopher and proof of him coaching me. Honestly I meant no harm to any one and I apologize for being so stupid. Like I said I included proof about Christopher.

Here she gives me all the information including PayPal transactions and correspondence with Hill. I don’t think this should be open information so it has been omitted.

I do apologize for bein so stupid.
Thank you,
Lanaia

It’s easy to anonymously use the web to put someone on trial. It’s easy to try and hurt someone you’ve never met. That’s just not something I plan to participate in. I am, however, going to put a disclaimer on my “Of Atlantis” post, and since Ms. Lee will be busy getting her house in order I will add a substitute prize to the October Prize Pack. May the torch-wielders take their medications and find other monsters to chase.

October 15th, 2007