The First Reader recently complained about Oakley Hall’s La Adelita because, he said, the author “stole” an episode from John Reed’s Insurgent Mexico. Isn’t Reed’s book non-fiction? I asked. Yes, but… Did Hall copy Reed’s wording? No, but it was the same sequence of events, and he wrote it as if it was happening to... Continue Reading →
More on plagiarism
Good morning, all. I'm going to take the easy way out this morning and go back to my first role at MGC, that of pointing out interesting stories and linking to them. The reason is simple. First, I believe this is an issue we should all be aware of, whether we are writers, readers or... Continue Reading →
What to do next?
I want to start by admitting I overslept this morning and that is one of the two reasons the post is late today. The second is because my brain is still on vacation after two weeks of very long and demanding days. All I want to know is why you guys haven't shown me the... Continue Reading →
And the World Keeps Turning
I'm going to start this post with an admission. This isn't the post I want to write. The post I want to write would set the interwebs on virtual fire because I am so frigging tired of seeing people I care about attacked and, in some cases, slandered simply because they aren't spewing the... Continue Reading →
TANSTAAFL – pt. 2
One early morning during my undergraduate days, I walked into a Russian History class to find TANSTAAFL written on the board. Our professor stood in one corner of the class, watching as we staggered and lurched to our chairs and prepared for the lecture. As the other students looked at what he'd written on the board,... Continue Reading →
Unethical Writers
I was a little disconcerted Friday morning to walk into my classroom carrying my take-home exam in my hand, as prepared as I could be to take the ACS final that morning, and find the room abuzz with activity. Most, but not all, of the other students were huddled up comparing notes, not on the... Continue Reading →
I’m a hack and proud of it
Yesterday a link popped out at me on Facebook that had me shaking my head. It's a Q&A with Harlan Ellison. I'll admit feeling a wide range of emotions as I read it: incredulity, frustration, anger and once or twice agreement. But, more often than not, my head exploded, at least metaphorically speaking, on a... Continue Reading →
Tuesday morning thoughts
Last week -- was it only last week? -- I wrote about how I was finding myself forced to take some downtime after finishing a novel. That need has pretty much passed, only to be replaced by the body numbing exhaustion that came from a weekend filled with graduation and commissioning activities for my son.... Continue Reading →
A new outlet, more haters and other thoughts
In case you guys haven't figured it out over the last couple of years, I'm not a morning person. I do my best to write my posts the night before they are due to go live but don't always manage it. That's exactly the situation I find myself in this morning. No post, not nearly... Continue Reading →
Kindle Fire, Plagiarism and Other Thoughts
by Amanda S. Green Let me start with a quick apology. This post is going to be a bit late going up because, sigh, I forgot. It may take another week for me to get used to being here on Tuesdays. Of course, it doesn't help that, for the first time in a long while,... Continue Reading →