Move Over, 'Meerkat Manor'

A nature writer suddenly finds himself at the heart of a hot plagiarism scandal.

Newsweek Web Exclusive
Updated: 1:14 PM ET Jan 15, 2008

When I traveled to South Dakota in 2005 to write a story about black-footed ferrets, I never imagined my words about the little weasels would one day appear in a trashy romance novel. I just wanted to write an informative and entertaining piece about these endangered prairie carnivores.

Three years later my story ("Toughing It Out in the Badlands") is at the center of 2008's sexiest plagiarism scandal.
It all began when a mysterious e-mail arrived in my inbox last week with a link to a romance novel blog, www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com.

While reviewing a novel by best-selling romance writer Cassie Edwards, the self-proclaimed "smart bitches" had discovered passages that matched, word for word, my ferret story.

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As this is a "family oriented website" I'll leave it to those who may be interested in how this hot bodice-ripping novel details the lusty practices of the ferrets in clinical (and other) detail.

There's some comment on about the species endangerment, etc., as well.

(It really is a hoot - especially if you can share with someone. Maybe Little Hawk and Chongo can get up a more complete review for us.)

Johnn