A non-fiction note related to the fiction here

[HFC05]

Apparently there is a publisher called Plush Books that is stealing and selling fan fiction on Amazon. This included my work, and may include yours.

The thievery is blatantly obvious as they don't even change the title. They will add a sub title, and steal some cover art from somewhere else.

Here is a twitter thread on this topic, and steps to get to get Amazon to remove your works.
https://twitter.com/KokomRoily/status/1603843494904270848

It sounds like this person or group mainly targeted long form stories, so if you have an Atlas or Dire Wolf size opus like mine, I strongly suggest you check.

The only positive note is that when they create the cover they claim it is a "#1 best seller." So if you find your work on Amazon you can claim that you were, "a number one best seller on Amazon according to a thieving pirate publisher." That is certain to make you more interesting at parties, or command additional respect when you invoke a Batchall.

[Daryk]

Of the five "Mech Warfare" books in their list, three are listed as "not currently available".  Two of those used art from actual CGL book covers I recognize.

The two that are still up (A Light in the Shadow and Where the Wind Takes You) also appear to use official CGL art, but I don't recognize the sources.

I would hope this kind of stuff also gets reported to the legal departments of the ultimate owners of the IP.  This is the kind of thing legal departments are FOR.

[Cannonshop]

Huh, weird, all I found were a bunch of low-dollar cookbooks.  Maybe it's a regional block?

[Daryk]

I had to scroll a LOT to find the five "Mech Warfare" books.

[Cannonshop]

I had to scroll a LOT to find the five "Mech Warfare" books.

well, I'm pretty sure MINE aren't in that (Despite my output here, the fact is, I doubt very much my kind of work would be appealing to hijack like that.)

[Daryk]

Not by this particular pirate, at any rate... Drakensis reported some of his stuff was swiped by a different one.

[drakensis]

No this was the one. I believe it's been taken down.

They seem to have had a large cookbook selection and then for some reason added several dozen dressed up fanfictions for Battletech, Tomb Raider and a few other properties.

I didn't see any of Cannonshop's, but there were fourteen "Mech Warefare" books (and that's exactly how they spelt it)

[BATTLEMASTER]

...but there were fourteen "Mech Warefare" books (and that's exactly how they spelt it)

Now I'm imagining a Kingfisher carrying a spatula out to a circle of equals...

"Go on, Star Commander.  Show us that you can make a 3-egg omelette with two eggs as was bid," said the opposing Star Captain in the Hellbringer.

"I will beat you, Bobby Flay!" challenged the Star Commander as the Kingfisher's other hand twirled a giant egg beater.  Noise of excitement came from the surrounding circle.


Anyway, I don't actively look for BattleTech fiction on Amazon.  So if I do come across any, how can I tell if it's legit?  If it's not legit, what's the reporting process?

[Daryk]

If there were 14 and I only saw five, I think that's progress? ???

[cklammer]

On amazon.de I only saw two books just now: "A Light In The Shadow: Mysterious New Invaders Arrive (Mech Warefare)" for 19.51€ and the unavailable "The Path Before Us: Negotiation Tactics (Mech Warefare)" both by "Plush Books".  :P

Going down the rabbit hole "Plush books" I got 21 pages of results - mostly publications of cooking/baking recipes.  xp

Hmmm.

Any links to the original tales or are these tales victims of past forum crashes? I like long battletech tales ....  ;D

[croaker]

"A Light in the Shadow" seems to be describing "A Candle in the Dark" which crossed Battletech with a homebrew setting known as "Fenspace".

https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/candle-in-the-dark-relit-battletech-isot-madness.287281/

[ThePW]

I wonder if I'll see any of my stories from my time on ALFA on any of these nefarious sites? ...Although I am not shocked to hear this being a thing...

[drakensis]

Any links to the original tales or are these tales victims of past forum crashes? I like long battletech tales ....  ;D

Riding the Dragon should currently be on the front page, as I put a notice of the plagarism on the thread.

Plush Books had marketed it as Dragon's Breath: Empires at War. Which has fortunately been taken down.

[Trace Coburn]

  Thread pinned as a public service announcement.  I’ve also pinged Mal-3 over on Spacebattles, bringing “A Light in the Shadow” to his attention.

  For my parts, words cannot express the degree of INCOHERENT RAGE I am currently experiencing.  :ticked:

[Daryk]

And for that (pinning as a PSA) we thank you!  :thumbsup:

[HFC05]

Thank you Trace. I suppose having people steal and scam is the nature of the internet, but I agree it is infuriating when they are so blatant about it.

I'm surprised Amazon doesn't run a plagiarism scan (similar to what colleges use) against fan fiction sites to prevent this sort of thing. 

[cklammer]

Riding the Dragon should currently be on the front page, as I put a notice of the plagarism on the thread.

Plush Books had marketed it as Dragon's Breath: Empires at War. Which has fortunately been taken down.

Ah, ok: Thank you.

[cklammer]

  Thread pinned as a public service announcement.  I’ve also pinged Mal-3 over on Spacebattles, bringing “A Light in the Shadow” to his attention.

  For my parts, words cannot express the degree of INCOHERENT RAGE I am currently experiencing.  :ticked:

Thank you.

(Unasked advice on how to deal with your incoherent rage: restart the "Virginia War" tales and go and KICK those space-mussolinis HARD ::) )

[Mal-3]

I WILL SHIT ON SOMEBODY'S HEAD FOR THIS.

*ahem*

What I mean to say is: thanks Trace for giving me the heads up, measures are being Taken as we speak. Hopefully I've worded the letter correctly and Bezos' goon squad will handle it eventually.

[Cannonshop]

  Thread pinned as a public service announcement.  I’ve also pinged Mal-3 over on Spacebattles, bringing “A Light in the Shadow” to his attention.

  For my parts, words cannot express the degree of INCOHERENT RAGE I am currently experiencing.  :ticked:

your rage seems pretty coherent from here.  and Justified.


Part of me was a little disappointed my stuff wasn't deemed worthy of theft, but that part is outweighed by the relief of knowing nobody (so far) is stealing from my friends (Well, maybe friends is too strong a word-"People I've met Personally and think relatively well of") using what I banged out here to get the noise out of my head.

[monbvol]

I do suspect that the anti-bot measures of these forums probably do actually make it just enough effort that they don't bother.

[ThePW]

I do suspect that the anti-bot measures of these forums probably do actually make it just enough effort that they don't bother.

what stops a bot from doing a program that simply Right-Clicks, copies the PAGE, goes to the next page, repeat? I suppose that the scammer still have to go through the mess to remove links and such...?

[drakensis]

  Thread pinned as a public service announcement.  I’ve also pinged Mal-3 over on Spacebattles, bringing “A Light in the Shadow” to his attention.

  For my parts, words cannot express the degree of INCOHERENT RAGE I am currently experiencing.  :ticked:

Yes, that was my Saturday morning. Less the 'they're stealing my story' and more 'someone is going to be sued and it could be me'.

[cawest]

Yes, that was my Saturday morning. Less the 'they're stealing my story' and more 'someone is going to be sued and it could be me'.

i would think that amazon would be held liable for this.  they should have vetted the company before putting a dozen works up for sale.  and they get a cut of each sale. 

[Daryk]

True, but they have a heck of a legal department to get them out of that kind of liability.

[trboturtle]

(https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_qA03Gfc_m8kkBjd1N1J61uAnQP5gMsNcSrLFvvJX2o/edit#gid=0)]https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_qA03Gfc_m8kkBjd1N1J61uAnQP5gMsNcSrLFvvJX2o/edit?fbclid=IwAR1RXtzf0IrC1c-eGeZZIBBXe-c3f_3MHM5M222uXLlhbm2s6iwMJagDZF0#gid=0](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_qA03Gfc_m8kkBjd1N1J61uAnQP5gMsNcSrLFvvJX2o/edit#gid=0)

A listing of all the fanfiction that was stolen by Plush publishing, and there is a lot of it...... The BT listing is 242-254

Craig

[Daryk]

Yikes!  Has anyone reached out to DoubleG yet?  He posts here too...  :-\

[HFC05]

your rage seems pretty coherent from here.  and Justified.


Part of me was a little disappointed my stuff wasn't deemed worthy of theft, but that part is outweighed by the relief of knowing nobody (so far) is stealing from my friends (Well, maybe friends is too strong a word-"People I've met Personally and think relatively well of") using what I banged out here to get the noise out of my head.

I wouldn't be too disappointed, it looks like this was a bot that hit Fan Fiction.net and Archive of Our Own. I don't necessarily think they had discriminating tastes, probably just an interest in a large enough word count to "look" like a real novel.

Remember every year your peers give you a Stompy Atlas Award. Recognition of peers, and 100 ton 'mechs are two of the most powerful things in the Galaxy.

[DarthBoof]

Upside to the above Google doc detailing the stolen fics. Gives me new BT Fics to read ;D. from their ORIGINAL authors.

[Wrangler]

Holy crap, I hate that someone doing that!!!

Is there anyway stop them from doing it? This is Fan Fiction.  If anything people will stop writing if their works being stolen by such automated criminal theft.

I been archiving fan stories to preserve them.   I think format generally i've storing them are broken up by chapters usually. I'm not sure, absolute theft makes me upset.

[Dreadpool]

For my parts, words cannot express the degree of INCOHERENT RAGE I am currently experiencing.  :ticked:

Shouldn't that be 'Tranquil Fury'?
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TranquilFury

[Wrangler]

well, I'm pretty sure MINE aren't in that (Despite my output here, the fact is, I doubt very much my kind of work would be appealing to hijack like that.)

I think it's because you mainly write more naval space warfare stuff. Perhaps you're looking in the wrong place? Either case that makes me mad that people do that. I try to get permission to put anything up on the wiki.