Tag: Holly’s Amused

The Story Siren: How to Gracefully Act When You’re a Plagiarist

Posted May 24, 2012 by Holly in Discussions | 22 Comments

When the story broke about Kristi of The Story Siren being a plagiarist, we all watched – completely dumbfounded – as she made non-apologies and refused to accept responsibility for her actions. Here’s what I wanted to see happen:

Dear Beautifully Invisible and Grit and Glamour,

I’m sorry I plagiarized your posts. I did it intentionally and then made it worse by lying about it/trying to cover it up. I apologize deeply and sincerely for what I did. I hope you can forgive me someday.

Signed,

Kristi

What happened instead? She apologized without actually owning her actions. She continually made things worse by retracting and changing her statements. And she never once, not in all this time, reached out to her victims to either apologize directly or to ask her scary rabid fangirls to stop harassing her victims.

That was bad enough. But then she did one better. She launched a Week of Awareness on her site, where she asked authors, librarians and readers to talk about plagiarism (Link to Smart Bitches site where you can find info. I’m not linking to TSS direct, sorry). I am..deeply disturbed by the tone of the posts going up over there this week. A lot of what I’m reading is “Plagiarism isn’t that bad” or “This isn’t really plagiarism”. W.T.F. No wait, I think this deserves a full What.The.Fuck. I’m sickened and saddened by her behavior and that of the authors/guest posters on her website. Like Lauren Baratz-Logsted, author of The Bro-Magnet, a book I really enjoyed but will no longer recommend to my friends.

Thinking about this today, and feeling sad and disturbed, I tweeted about what I like to call “The MM Apology” (MM being my husband).

Tweets start from bottom up

If you’d like more information about Kristi’s non-apologies, you can read Beautifully Invisible’s The Art of the (Non) Apology.

I probably would have left it at that, and not written this post, but then Kristi did something amusing and I felt the need to share. She blocked me on Twitter.

*insert sad face here* That’s right, folks, I can no longer see Kristi’s tweets and she will no longer get my @replies to her. Please wait while I take a minute to compose myself and dry my tears.

…

Ok, we’re back.

Apparently I’m not the only one she blocked, either.

That’s right. She actually blocked one of the people she plagiarized from. I think we need to say it again.

What.The.Fuck.

I gotta tell you, I’m not feeling the love.

Stay classy, Kristi.

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Don’t Miss This Holiday Season’s Number One Read: The Italian Gourmet-Baby-Food Baron’s Ironically Pregnant Virgin Mistress

Posted December 22, 2008 by Holly in Promotions | 1 Comment

He needed children for an advertising campaign. . .

All Cesar Machismo wants is to ensure the bambinos of the world experience the flavor explosion of his company’s newest baby-food, Thai Shrimp in Peanut Dressing. But when he goes to an orphanage looking for a new spokes-baby, he finds twins with eyes the color of pureed Cornish game hens. Mama Mia! He must take them home!

What he got was a ready-made family!

Content with her lot in life, Chastity Bliss slaves for her stepmother at the orphanage. This way she stays with her babies, though she can never acknowledge them. When Cesar adopts her twins, she follows as their nanny. What can she do? She has no choice, because though he doesn’t know it . . .

Cesar is their father!

December 15th – Carolyn Jean posts chapter 1
December 16th – Ann Aguirre posts chapter 2
December 17th – Tumperkin posts chapter 3
December 18th – Bettie Sharpe posts chapter 4
December 19th – Carrie Lofty posts chapter 5
December 20th – Meljean Brook posts chapter 6
December 21st – Kate Rothwell posts chapter 7
December 22nd – Lorelie Brown posts chapter 8
December 23rd – Dionne Galace posts all 8 chapters

The Italian Gourmet Baby Food Baron’s Ironically Pregnant Virgin Mistress will eventually be available for download through Amazon and Scribd. Story concept and project vision by Tumperkin; cover design: Bettie Sharpe.

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In The Interest of Full Disclosure

Posted November 3, 2008 by Holly in Reviews | 15 Comments

I’m doing my best to help promote Meljean Brook and her Guardians series this week. I adore her novels and feel she’s a truly talented and amazing author. Beyond that, I think she is an amazing person. She’s kind, funny and extremely clever.

Ok, the truth is, I have a major girl crush on Meljean. So much so that, well, I really want to have her babies. And guess what? She said I could! No, really! She did. I’m not making this up. As a matter of fact, I have proof. The lovely and amazing Rosie was kind enough to bring me a signed copy of Demon Night from RWA this past July. And guess what the inscription says?

I’m not lying when I tell you she’s amazing and her series rocks, but I thought maybe I should give you the full story before letting you decide if you want to try her. Not that I’m biased or anything. Just because we’re planning our love child doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s good and what’s not.

Right?

P.S. I have to ask that none of y’all talk about the baby in front of my husband. He’s a little bitter over how eager I am to have another woman’s baby. Poor guy.

Don’t forget: Buy a Book, Win $100

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The Testicle Cookbook eBook Now Available From Yudu

Posted October 3, 2008 by Holly in Promotions | 18 Comments

Recipes for “Testicle Pizza”, “Battered Testicles” and “Bull Testicles
With Bechamel Sauce” are among 31 dishes served up in the world’s first
testicle cookbook.

I really don’t know how I feel about this. Gourmet Chef and author Ljubomir Erovic specializes in cooking testicles. The book, which is available online through Yudu, even includes videos. Apparently there are recipes that include testicles from Bulls, Stallions, Ostriches, Sheep and any other testicle you can think of.

“This book is a small step for testicle cuisine but a giant leap for
cookbooks as a genre”, says Richard Stephenson, CEO of YUDU. “Multi-media
cookbooks open new possibilities – such as, in this case, being able to
watch the author peel and slice testicles.” (The book includes a how-to
video on slicing frozen testicles.)

I’m thinking this might end up being popular w/ the scorned women of the world, no? I would totally buy one just to keep it on the counter for when my husband annoys me.

This book is available from Yudu. You can buy it here in e-format.

Via PRNewswire

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Meljean Brook Contest and A Poll

Posted August 28, 2008 by Holly in Discussions, Giveaways | 11 Comments

The lovely Meljean Brook has promised me exclusive rights to a certain Hellhound (*coughSirPupcough*) if I tell you about this great First Blood contest she’s hosting (What? That’s how I remember it happening). So here you go:

Book Cover

The “I’ve never tried Meljean Brook’s Guardian series but I’d like to!” FIRST BLOOD giveaway*

*Or, for some, the “I tried her work once and it didn’t totally click for me, but I’m willing to try again!” FIRST BLOOD giveaway.

I’ve got twenty-five copies of First Blood sitting in a box, and they want a new home. If you haven’t read any of the Guardian series but have been considering it (or if you have and are on the fence about the series, unsure if you want to go any further) then just leave a comment below by September 1. On September 2, I’ll randomly choose twenty-five names and send them a copy of First Blood.

Full contest details here.

Meljean, you are SO the coolest thing since sliced bread. ;0)

Moving on..

I think the Shomi Spotlight has been going wonderfully, but we kind of got a late start with it (totally Casee’s Rowena’s not my fault). As a result, I still have several reviews to post, a couple excerpts to share and about 14 more books to giveaway (not including the 7 being offered here). So I’m thinking about extending the spotlight an additional week.

If I can direct your attention to the sidebar for a moment, you’ll see I’ve posted a poll. Will you please vote? I’ll decide whether or not to extend the spotlight and give away those other 14 books or keep them for myself based on the results.

Thanks!

ETA: Please note: This is NOT a Book Binge Sponsored contest. If you’d like to be entered, you need to go to Meljean’s blog and leave a comment there. Sorry for the confusion.

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