Sweet Savage Flame
cassie edwards

Cassie Edwards

Appendix: Articles About Cassie Edwards

These articles were written about Cassie Edwards and date back to 2006. Some were obtained from the Internet Archive, while others can be found at the linked addresses. Being that websites are constantly purging their content or going defunct, we think it’s important to record as much of the past as possible.

Now that the drama has settled, we post these links in order to provide more context for informational, educational, and non-commercial use.

PDF FILE: SBTB Tracks Similarities from Edwards’ Books to Other Texts

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Article: A Romance Novelist Is Accused of Copying

NY TIMES by Felicia R. Lee Jan. 12, 2008

[Part I]

Allegations this week that Cassie Edwards, a popular romance novelist with more than 100 books to her name, inserted large chunks of unattributed material into her work blossomed into a controversy that led Signet Books, one of her publishers, to announce on Friday that it was examining all of her work that it has published.

The controversy began when Smart Bitches Trashy Books, a blog devoted to romance novels, posted excerpts from Ms. Edwards’s novels this week alongside passages from other sources to show the similarities, which the site’s authors said they had discovered by plugging some of Ms. Edwards’s writing into Google.

The novels they checked include “Running Fox,” “Savage Longings,” “Savage Moon,” and “Savage Beloved.” Ms. Edwards often writes about romances between Native American men and white women, complete with vivid descriptions of Indian life.

In the novel “Shadow Bear,” published by Signet in 2007, the bloggers said a reader was able to find lines that appear to have come, with little or no modification, from a few sources, though mostly from a novel, “Land of the Spotted Eagle” by Luther Standing Bear, and an article about black-footed ferrets from Defenders of Wildlife magazine.

At one point, for instance, a character in “Shadow Bear” says, “Researchers theorize that polecats crossed the land bridge that once linked Siberia and Alaska to establish the New World population.”

[Part II]

An article by Paul Tolme in the summer 2005 issue of Defenders of Wildlife, headlined “Toughing It Out in the Badlands,” contains this line: “Researchers theorize polecats crossed the land bridge that once linked Siberia and Alaska to establish the New World population.”

This week, many readers on romance novel blogs said they felt betrayed by Ms. Edwards. Some called for a boycott of her work.

Although Signet Books, an imprint of Penguin Group, initially denied any wrongdoing on her part, the company issued a new statement on Friday calling for a broader examination. Craig Burke, a spokesman, said Signet has 12 of her books in print.

Of the seven novels examined by the bloggers, three were said to come from Signet, one from Topaz, two from Dorchester Publishing, and one from Zebra.

[Part III]

“Our original comments were based on Signet’s review of a limited selection of passages,” Mr. Burke’s statement said. “We believe the situation deserves further review. Therefore, we will be examining all of Ms. Edwards’s books that we publish, and based on the outcome of that review, we will take action to handle the matter accordingly. We want to make it known that Signet takes any and all allegations of plagiarism very seriously.”

Earlier this week, when the allegation became public, Signet had maintained that “copyright fair-use doctrine permits reasonable borrowing and paraphrasing of another author’s words, especially for the purpose of creating something new and original.”

Nora Roberts, a novelist who is one of the biggest stars in the genre, said Friday that the controversy should force renewed attention to the issue of intellectual theft with ramifications well beyond the world of romance writers. Ms. Roberts had said earlier this week that what Ms. Edwards did was “not fair” and that copying someone’s work and passing it off as your own is plagiarism.

“I believe the impact should be bringing the issue of plagiarism into public perception,” Ms. Robert said in an e-mail message on Friday. “It should make people, and most especially writers, understand it’s a line that can’t be crossed. Intellectual theft is still intellectual theft.”

[Part IV]

Ms. Edwards told an Associated Press reporter earlier this week that she did not know she was supposed to credit her sources. “When you write historical romances, you’re not asked to do that,” she said.

Reached at her home in Mattoon, Ill., on Friday, Ms. Edwards declined, through her husband, to comment further on the controversy. According to a Friday morning post on the Web site that started it all, the bloggers said they had so far examined seven novels that were published from 1983 to 2007 and uncovered 14 “outside sources” in them, including a short-story collection.

Candy Tan and Sarah Wendell, the blog’s co-authors, said that while Ms. Edwards may not have infringed copyright law, they consider her actions unethical.

“It’s disappointing because, as a reader and a consumer, I assume it’s something this person wrote,” Ms. Wendell said in an interview. “A good many historical romance novels contain author’s notes listing where you can go for more information. There are romance novelists who use footnotes.”

[Part V]

Ms. Wendell estimated that they had found dozens of examples of writing that suggested borrowed material. Some of the sources were as old as a 1902 memoir, “Indian Boyhood.”

The investigation began when a friend of the bloggers, who is a college student, began reading Ms. Edwards as part of a course in romance novels. Noticing that “Shadow Bear” sounded strangely didactic in places, she used Google to trace the source of the writing.

The Romance Writers of America said in a statement that Ms. Edwards’s membership appeared to have lapsed. She is listed on their “honor roll,” the statement said, and “if guilt is admitted or established, the R.W.A. will take appropriate steps with regard to the honor roll listing.”

A Romance Novelist Is Accused of Copying

Alleged Response from Cassie Edwards Issued via MySpace

Original Message
From: Cassie Edwards
Date: January 11, 2008, 11:58 AM

[Part I]

Hi, Lisa,
I just got on MySpace, and I found your wonderful encouraging letter. Thank you for believing in me, for I have done nothing wrong. My publisher is standing behind me 100%, for they know my work better than anyone, and they know that all romance authors who use research for historicals have to use reference books to do this. My readers love this accurate material about the Indians. And if I couldn’t use this material, my books would not be worth anything to my readers, who depend on me.

The sad thing is that I am writing these books now in a way to honor our Native Americans, past, present and in the future. And I am honoring my great grandmother who was a full blood Cheyenne. She would be so proud of me if she could read what I am writing about the Indians who have been so maligned for so long.

[Part II]

And do you know? I feel picked on now, as our Native American Indians have always been picked on throughout history. I am trying to spread the word about them, and what do I get? Spiteful women who have found a way to bring attention to themselves by getting in the media in this horrible way.

Right now, I am getting hit from all sides….CNN, The New York Times, AP, everyone who those women could think of to contact. And what is also sad is that a fellow author has spoken up and condemned me.

Thanks again for your support. When I am feeling stronger, I plan to write a bulletin on My Space, but right now, I am totally drained of energy from what has been done to me. I hope that you will tell your friends, who are so much also mine, the wrong that has been done to me, and tell them that I will get through this. I will be found innocent and vindicated of any wrong.

For now, it’s all too raw and horrible, but I will be alright.
Love, Cassie

Forum Post: A Cassie Supporter Responds To SBTB & Nora Roberts

SBTB FORUMS

January 16, 2008, at 5:42 p.m., Joanna writes:

[Part I]

“Nora – what’s the matter, writer’s block? Can’t find any more strange plot twists to write about today to add to the drivel being published in your genre? If you’ve got time on your hands to cross-reference CE books with Hiawatha…

“What a sad day for the romance genre. Do any of you realize that no one cares? That you and this genre are going to be nothing but the butt of jokes from here on out (as if you weren’t before?), and you all taking it a.) so very seriously or b.) being snarky bitches about it is going to come back and bite you in the ass big time. Oh well. yawn. This blog itself is here simply to support or trash someone else’s career. What a lofty goal! You do nothing here but gossip, or gossip about gossip.

“This is like watching some surreal Twilight Zone show where someone who uses plastic flowers is judged on their arrangements, complaining someone else used their plastic flower ideas. I can’t believe someone wasted hours of their life pouring through fiction; they hate to find evidence of something so minor in the scheme of things.

[Part II]

“I can’t believe a published author with novels in the genre herself spent time doing so. Then again, maybe I can. What damage has really been done legally? How could a court possibly determine what damage has been done to the authors of these reference books or the readers who read CE’s fictional twist on their information? Who really cares?

“Even the authors of the reference material are making light of it (hot ferret sex, anyone?), and this is just the tip of the iceberg if this issue gets as big as you all seem to want to make it. And hell, for some of you, it may be your first chance to hear from Longfellow or hear about the plight of black-footed ferrets. Maybe CE was really doing the romance genre as a great service.

“Yes, CE plagiarized. It’s very clear. And so?

“‘Oh, gee, wasted my time reading her!’

“Like, you couldn’t have said that before the plagiarism issue came out in the first place? Discovering this does what–protects the good integrity of the trashy romance industry? Please. Yours is nothing but a genre of pure escapism. If Toni Morrison or Alice Walker, or Amy Tan had been found to be a plagiarist, then THAT would be news. This? This is just pathetic.”

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