I don't know whether to be flattered or angry.
While I have "Ask Websites Not To Track" checked off on my WordPress configuration, every now and then I do a cursory Google search for "Voenix Rising" to make sure that they aren't.
Imagine my surprise today however, when that search produced this:
I read the first few pages. I could not believe what I was seeing.
The entire first chapter of this book was lifted, verbatim, from this post, dated 25 January 2020. (The book wasn't published until just this year.)
My curiosity piqued, I dropped $10 for the Kindle edition, to see just how much of my work had been plagiarized.
It was apparently only that first chapter that was ripped off. The story then goes off on its own, and after the author sloppily changed Rory's sex (not via a sex change, just sloppy writing), I couldn't be bothered to read any more. In fact, what I did read sounded like little more than a ChatGPT-generated romance novel.
I've looked online into what's involved with getting a Take Down notice, and it would appear that all the internet-based services are nothing more than scams. You pay the service $200, they send a letter, and if it's ignored, you're out $200 since the service has no enforcement capability. Hire a lawyer? That will undoubtedly cost more than it's worth, but if this "author" (who obviously reads this blog) continues to steal my work I will not hesitate.
