Best... Worst... Plagiarism... EVER

You may have heard of this controversy already, but this is awesome. This is beyond awesome. This is may be (wait for it) the GREATEST CASE OF COMEUPPANCE... EVER.

From Newsweek-

Move Over, ‘Meerkat Manor’
A nature writer suddenly finds himself at the heart of a hot plagiarism scandal.

When I traveled to South Dakota in 2005 to write a story about black-footed ferrets, I never imagined my words about the little weasels would one day appear in a trashy romance novel. I just wanted to write an informative and entertaining piece about these endangered prairie carnivores.

Three years later my story ("Toughing It Out in the Badlands") is at the center of 2008's sexiest plagiarism scandal.

Plagiarism scandal. And it gets better.

In the Internet age, every freelance writer fears that his or her words will be appropriated without compensation. First I was angry. Then I had to laugh. To see my textbook descriptions of ferrets in a bodice-ripper, as dialogue between a hunky American Indian and a lustful pioneer woman who several pages later have sex on a mossy riverbank, is the height of absurdity.

Yes. Apparently, a novelist plagiarized an article about FERRETS for her trashy romance novel. And not well-plagiarized, either.

"They are so named because of their dark legs," Shadow Bear says, to which Shiona responds: "They are so small, surely weighing only about two pounds and measuring two feet from tip to tail."

Shiona then tells Shadow Bear how she once read about ferrets in a book she took from the study of her father. "I discovered they are related to minks and otters. It is said their closest relations are European ferrets and Siberian polecats," she says. "Researchers theorize that polecats crossed the land bridge that once linked Siberia and Alaska, to establish the New World population."

Ohmygod that is so hot.

If you're like me, you just spit up laughing at the bad dialogue. Now, it's no David Mamet dialogue, but let's see Mamet try to work post-coital ferret-talk into one of his plays.

Because I SO WANT TO SEE DAVID MAMET WORK POST-COITAL FERRET TALK INTO HIS PLAYS.

Maybe Kevin Smith. He could do a good job with that, too.

I could pile on this train wreck, but it's just too easy. Plus Paul Tolme, the original author who was plagiarized, has already done a fantastic job of eviscerating the thief. Go read his entire article on Newsweek's site.

And to think when I started this blog, I never knew I'd someday be blogging about plagiarizing ferrets.