Yes, it’s a controversial subject and I’ve been thinking long and hard about whether I actually wanted to jump into this fray or not. So here goes…
I recently read a book by a fellow author and guess what? It was based on a book and movie called Howl’s Moving Castle. How do I know? Because it’s one of my favorite movies. I’ve seen it a million times. So when I read this book and saw that from the beginning of the book through to the end was the plot and storyline of Howl’s I couldn’t believe it. While the names of the characters were different from the book and movie, the descriptions of the characters, their hair, dress, mannerisms and personalities were spot on to the characters in Howl’s Moving Castle.
Then the phone calls and e-mails started. Why? Because I’d recommended this author’s book to other folks (who happen to love anime, too) BEFORE I’d actually read the darn thing.
One of my reader friends was so outraged they even threatened to call the studio in Japan that created the movie, as well as contact the original author of the work. Now THAT put me in a less than welcome spot. What was I supposed to do?
Should I contact the publisher and let them know that one of their authors basically wrote a romance around someone else’s well-known work? Hmmm, not sure. What if the publisher decides I’m the troublemaker or simply claims that neither they nor the author was aware? Well, perhaps I should contact the author? Probably not – it’s not as if the author doesn’t know that the romance she wrote was based line-on-line and precept-on-precept on someone else’s work, right? Right.
So then where does that leave me? Frankly, I have no idea…
