Post: #1

My dads father was a defense attorney and had a lot of strange, shady connections, so when my grandma wrote a short novel he passed it on to a publisher he knew.

They never heard anything and assumed it wasnt to be published. A year or two later my grandmas friend called her and said " they are reading your book on the radio". It turned out the book she had wrote had been copied, almost word for word and was under another authors name.

The book she wrote was "toby the little seagull" and was renamed johnathan livingston seagull. It was a best seller and as i understand it launched the career of richard bach. Supposedly my dad still has her original handwritten book.

My grandma was dead within year of me being born and my grandpa when i was 8 or something, so this story is all second hand to me. If there was anyway to litigate, i assume my lawyer grandad would have figured something out. Bach still lives in the same area as my family. Just a strange story i thought worth sharing.

Post: #2

Cool story, bro.

Post: #3

I was an English major in college, one of my final exams I got to pick whatever I wanted to write about basically. It was 18th century British Lit, Wordsword, Keets, Shelley etc. I wrote it in rhymed iambic pentameter similar to the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and put most of the writers and their characters on a ship and had them interacting. My prof typically gave everyone shit grades, I got an A for the final and and A for the class. He said he wanted to keep the paper to make a copy of it, and if I want it back, just to put a stamped envelope in his box in the teachers lounge with my address on it and he would send it back after making a copy. I never got it back, and my hard drive died later and I only have a rough draft of it. I am guessing he published it in some literary journal in his own name, but who knows?

edit
I assume that is what this thread is for, weird plagiarized stories, and went with it.

Post: #4

I believe the story was told, I just don't believe the story is true. Not that this sort of thing doesn't happen, people get ripped off all the time. It's just that whenever I've heard these stories in the past, certain details told me the storyteller wasn't 100% correct.

I've heard people claim that they invented something, but they didn't realize that it was invented before they were born. Or they claimed to have written a song/book but the song was around before they said they wrote it.

I'm predicting that "Toby the Little Seagull" does not exist or if it does, it differs greatly from Richard Bach's novel.

Post: #5

Post: #6

There's a guy I know, every time I go back to my home town, there he is hanging out in the park. He looks and acts pretty normal, except for the fact that he is in the park all day, and keeps beer and ice hidden in the bottom of a garbage can in case cops come through. If I show up, he kind of acts like the park is his personal den and the guys are having a drink. "Beer?" he says, rooting around in the garbage can, just like a suburban dad fussing around in his home bar. No thanks.

Whenever I share with him things I have read, or movies I have seen, he always says the same thing. "Yeah, they're always taking my best stuff."

Post: #7

I have read the Johnatan Livingston Seagull it was great and I don't belive it was written by a woman because - it was great.

Also - what is the purpose of this thread?

I would sooner believe that either you or your grandma are trolling.

Post: #8

I was talking to this guy in a bar once, and after about 20 minutes, he claimed he was the lead investigator in the hunt for that missing Malaysian Airlines flight that disappeared with no trace. (I know they've just found wreckage for this in recent weeks).

The thing is, there's no doubt that this guy was making up pure bullshit. He was one of those guys who can't help telling one tall tale after the next. I've known several of these in my life. It's a strange phenomena.

OP, I'm sure your grandma was a fine lady, but I wonder if you've heard of her telling some other tall tales.

Post: #9

Post: #10

I actually wrote the Quran as a sci-fI thriller and it kind of just blew up to take a life of its own.

Post: #11

Just out of curiosity, I went to WorldCat, which is a database of all the books that were every published. WorldCat is one of the biggest databases in the world, and it has everything we know about, from ancient manuscripts to stupid Amazon fanfiction. Hell, it's even got some shit with my name on it, and those things sold 10 copies and were mostly used as doorstoppers and bird cage liner.

So I went there, and I plugged in a search for "toby" and "seagull". And the good news is, I found a match! The bad news is that it's probably not the book you were hoping for.



"O'Neill's music of Ireland : [over 1,000 jigs, reels, hornpipes, long dances & marches, in a newly printed & corrected collection of the dance music of Ireland : an introduction on the history of Irish music : tips on playing with an authentic feeling ; new settings from the playing of Michael Coleman & the Sligo fiddle masters]."

So evidently your grandmother was one of the Sligo fiddle masters, which is a much cooler story than how she got ripped off for Jonathan Livingstone Seagull.

Post: #12

I believe you OP.

If your dad still has the original handwritten book then get it from him and contact a lawyer immediately. You might be entitled to a significant sum.
At least threaten to take the story to the media and make some hush money if possible. Definitely worth a shot.

Intellectual property theft pisses me off to no end. Kids always used to take the credit for my work back in middle school. I wrote a play in 8th grade where Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao and Adam & Eve were on trial on the final day of judgement by the angels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. In the end they all are allowed to live their lives again if they promise to do as much good in the world as they did bad in their past lives. It was a group project so this really ambitious girl takes credit for most of it since she was the group leader. That bitch won a school award and even met got to meet the mayor.

I'm rooting for you.

Post: #13

(04-26-2016 02:51 AM)LongDongSilver Wrote:  My dads father was a defense attorney and had a lot of strange, shady connections, so when my grandma wrote a short novel he passed it on to a publisher he knew.

They never heard anything and assumed it wasnt to be published. A year or two later my grandmas friend called her and said " they are reading your book on the radio". It turned out the book she had wrote had been copied, almost word for word and was under another authors name.

The book she wrote was "toby the little seagull" and was renamed johnathan livingston seagull. It was a best seller and as i understand it launched the career of richard bach. Supposedly my dad still has her original handwritten book.

My grandma was dead within year of me being born and my grandpa when i was 8 or something, so this story is all second hand to me. If there was anyway to litigate, i assume my lawyer grandad would have figured something out. Bach still lives in the same area as my family. Just a strange story i thought worth sharing.

Either your grandfather was a shitty attorney or a good attorney who knew your grandmother didn't write that book.

Post: #14

(04-26-2016 12:10 PM)Tex Wrote:  I actually wrote the Quran as a sci-fI thriller and it kind of just blew up to take a life of its own.

Your book has actually started a whole subculture. I heard it's real popular in middle east and is fast spreading into Europe too. It's the latest trend - a real hip and chicks dig it.

You should monetarize it by talking with Holywood about making a movie. Any ideas who could make a good leading role? Cristopher Lee would have been really good, too bad he died not a long time ago. Maybe Travis Fimmel? He is well used to that type of character.

Post: #15

(04-26-2016 12:30 PM)Mage Wrote:  

(04-26-2016 12:10 PM)Tex Wrote:  I actually wrote the Quran as a sci-fI thriller and it kind of just blew up to take a life of its own.

Your book has actually started a whole subculture. I heard it's real popular in middle east and is fast spreading into Europe too. It's the latest trend - a real hip and chicks dig it.

You should monetarize it by talking with Holywood about making a movie. Any ideas who could make a good leading role? Cristopher Lee would have been really good, too bad he died not a long time ago. Maybe Travis Fimmel? He is well used to that type of character.

I would but some fag took all the credit.

Post: #16

I think that we should believe every one who says they've been plagiarismed no matter what.

Enough of this victim shaming. I'd suggest you go to the police about this, but I know it can be hard to re-live the plagiarism.

Aloha!

Post: #17

Yea who knows maybe the story is bullshit i think its true though. There is no way to prove it without the dude admitting it. I asked my dad about it and he said there was no paperwork when he handed it off to the publisher guy so it was just he said she said.

I just thought it was an interesting story and theres a lot of stealing in with creative shit. I was reading about joke thieves in comedy and how they are seen as lowest of the low amd it made me think of bach. It was the only decent book the faggot wrote and he stole it from my grandma.

Post: #18

The only thing i could think of is showing up with the handwritten original to a book signing or something and recording his reaction. That would probably be pointless though. My grandpa was actually a pretty boss attorney and handled some high profile shit i was just googling him. He was a defense attorney, had a lot of black musician clients.

Post: #19

(04-26-2016 12:30 PM)Mage Wrote:  

(04-26-2016 12:10 PM)Tex Wrote:  I actually wrote the Quran as a sci-fI thriller and it kind of just blew up to take a life of its own.

Your book has actually started a whole subculture. I heard it's real popular in middle east and is fast spreading into Europe too. It's the latest trend - a real hip and chicks dig it.

You should monetarize it by talking with Holywood about making a movie. Any ideas who could make a good leading role? Cristopher Lee would have been really good, too bad he died not a long time ago. Maybe Travis Fimmel? He is well used to that type of character.

I would imagine that it would be difficult to portray the rape scenes in a tasteful manner - it might unfairly cast the main protagonist in a bad light.

Post: #20

(04-26-2016 11:55 AM)RoastBeefCurtains4Me Wrote:  I was talking to this guy in a bar once, and after about 20 minutes, he claimed he was the lead investigator in the hunt for that missing Malaysian Airlines flight that disappeared with no trace. (I know they've just found wreckage for this in recent weeks).

I knew a guy years ago who was a musician, actually pretty talented, but who either just wasn't good at songwriting and/or didn't have the time to record his own stuff.

The way he'd try to pull chicks is he'd tell them he was a recording musician and if they'd like to listen to some of his work and ask them for their contact info. Then he'd find some music that he liked, it was usually good stuff, but fairly obscure. He'd send them a link to a copy he made of the track and tell them that it was his recording. Then proceed to try to get with them.

I'm sure this worked a few times, but eventually he got careless and started using music that while still not totally mainstream tracks, was stuff that girls would say "Yeah, this is way too professional for this random guy to be doing, if this were really his stuff he'd be on tour right now" and got called out on it.

He didn't just lie about that, he was also one of those guys the guy you mention who was a pathological liar, lied about his education, employment, relationships, health, everything. Harvard grad, did military service in Afghanastan, worked in the NSA, survived cancer twice (for the sympathy bang), the whole nine yards. Didn't just stretch the truth a bit like everyone does from time to time, but straight-up Secret Life of Walter Mitty type confabulation. None of it was true.

Post: #21

(04-26-2016 10:41 AM)Mage Wrote:  I have read the Johnatan Livingston Seagull it was great and I don't belive it was written by a woman because - it was great.

Also - what is the purpose of this thread?

I would sooner believe that either you or your grandma are trolling.

Agreed. The book was bad ass. I doubt a woman wrote it, and it's HIGHLY unlikely that this actually happened. Any lawyer worth his salt would've pursue it if it was legitimate.

If your grandma was THAT good of a writer, she would've written at least 1 or 2 other books on a similar level that would've made good money or there would be plenty of other handwritten stories that would show off her excellent writing.

Post: #22

I believe the OP, because the same thing happened to me a few years ago.

I spent years working on this novel...damn it was a lot of work! I was an unknown, unpublished author though and when I finally submitted it to a publishing house [which I can't name for copyright reasons], the editor suggested I use a well known ghost writers pseudonym. Stupidly, I agreed.

They published it exclusively on their own and I got squat. Not one dime and zero credit.

The douche called it "The Brothers Karamazov" or some crap. My working title was "Alex and his Family" way cooler...obviously.

Anyway, moral of the story...be careful who you entrust your original works to.

Post: #23

I think this is probably BS.

But if it's true, you should know that copyrights in the US exist from the moment the intellectual property is recorded to a fixed medium. "Fixed medium" means that you type the story on Microsoft word or you write the notes to your song as notches on a stick. While not necessary, her book should've been registered with the US Copyright office BEFORE shopping it to publishers.

Again assuming this is true I don't like you chance of winning this case since your first instinct was to broadcast it on an online game forum instead of locating the original manuscript and consulting with a professional copyright/IP attorney.

Post: #24

The book was made into a movie and Neil Diamond won Grammy awards for the soundtrack. It was released by Colombia records.

If this is true it looks like Long Dong Silver has some suing to do. He's worth millions.

Aloha!

Post: #25

I once worked for a publishing house and we weren't getting any good books, other than our award winning 'semen recipe' range so we needed some innovation!



Anyway, this nice old lady brought in an awesome book called "Toby the little seagull" and instantly I knew this was our new hit. I changed one or two words so that nobody would suspect a thing and I rang up my friend Hank Moody as he was my favourite writer and womanizer and #1 semen recipe cook and said "Hank, i've got the perfect book, can I put your name on it?".

"Yes" Hank said and it was our #1 best seller! I have heard rumors of a man who took the book and handwrote it out word for word on old paper trying to discredit my publishing company though.. shame!