I've seen similar
kinds of "borrowing" before.
First, some genre or
fringe writer creates *
something interesting but
not slick, not polished.
Than someone "borrows"
key points, slicks it up mainstream,
and laughs to the bank.
Of course, mainstream cash,
then, can buy the best lawyers
and press mouthpieces . . .
(Every now and then,
they'll steal from a fringe player
like Ellison. Hah! * *)
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* "MAD ABOUT MUGGLES Next month, the Maryland-based publisher Thurman House will release a title that may sound familiar: The Legend of Rah and the Muggles, by N.K. Stouffer. Larry Potter [!!!] and His Best Friend Lilly, also by Stouffer, will follow this fall. If these books sound like blatant Harry Potter knockoffs, it might surprise you to learn that the Stouffer books actually predate the more famous Potter series by a decade or more. "I get accused every day of copying J.K. Rowling," Stouffer says. First published in 1984, the Rah and Larry Potter books nearly led to a seven-figure publishing and licensing deal. That deal fell through, however, when Stouffer's original publishing company filed for bankruptcy, tying up her rights to the material. A few years later, when Stouff..."
* * "The story behind another entry, "Soldier," is perhaps even more interesting than the story itself.
"Ellison adapted the story for an episode of the original "Outer Limits" television series. Many years later, a certain big-shot movie director took huge chunks of it and turned it into a movie, "The Terminator."
"Yes, the director was James "Titanic" Cameron. Ellison sued Cameron, and now every "Terminator" videotape and DVD credits Ellison for the story idea.
"The lesson: Even the "King of the World" can get taken down a peg if he doesn't behave."
That's not the case with The Legend of Rah and the Muggles, by N.K. Stouffer. Larry Potter [!!!] and His Best Friend Lilly, also by Stouffer, will follow this fall. If these books sound like blatant Harry Potter knockoffs, it might surprise you to learn that the Stouffer books actually predate the more famous Potter series by a decade or more. "I get accused every day of copying J.K. Rowling," Stouffer says. First published in 1984, the Rah and Larry Potter books
At best she has two coincidences. The word "muggles" in The Legend of Rah. and the charcter "Larry Potter" in a totally unrelated children's colouring book.
In any case there is no evidence that Stouffer's works, in their current form, existed before c.2000
Check the library of Congress. The woman practically copyrights her shopping lists. The Legend of Rah listed there is just 8 pages long, not the nearly 300 page work she claims was "stolen".
Then there is the little matter of the "publisher's proof" she presented to court as her claim to Larry Potter, printed using technology not available in 1993.
And read the Intro to The Legend of Rah in realmuggles.com. Stouffer's work is "interesting" only in the sense "Michael Jackson* is interesting".
(* The singing, dancing MJ, that is. Michael Jackson the beer and travel writer is actually interesting.)