Is the book 'Walkers' disrespectful to 'The Walking Dead'?

[Williambebb]

I was under the impression Rick was just a deputy. but I agree its shoddy writing to steal someone elses literary universe and try to siphon away readers from the original source material. BUT if what you say about the author's writing being horrible is true I wouldn't worry too much about him or the story he wrote. Most readers are fairly smart and will judge the plagarist on how well or how badly the story is.

[Ian]

Isn't that just what they call Fan Fiction, or am I misinformed?

[Kristin (Blood,Sweat and Books)]

Ian wrote: "Isn't that just what they call Fan Fiction, or am I misinformed?"

Sounds exactly like Fan Fiction to me.

[Williambebb]

I'm all in favor of fan fiction, but when you charge money for it and borrow (some might say steal) a character such as Rick Grimes even without having him appear in your story it seems too plagristic, at least to me. I could be wrong but was under the impression fan fiction is usually done primarily for goofy fun and not to make money. But, I'm no expert on fan fiction.

[Kristin (Blood,Sweat and Books)]

He's upfront about it and isn't trying to pass it off as The Walking Dead series. Right in the synopsis it says "A Serious Parody of The Walking Dead, from Faniverse Books".

[C.E.]

Sounds like copyright violation, not plagarism. He's not passing off someone else's work as his own--he's using someone else's characters without permission.

[Kristin (Blood,Sweat and Books)]

I'm not even sure you could get him on copyright since it is a parody of the series not a direct copy. I've read a bunch of books that Parody other ones and they all use the base world and characters from other books but deviate after that.

[C.E.]

I agree, Kristin. Although someone made a good point about the "Serious Parody". That's a conflicting statement as parody isn't serious. Doesn't Fair Use exemption require there to be some humor in a satire/parody?

In any event, I think calling it plagarism was a little heavyhanded and overly serious.

[Kristin (Blood,Sweat and Books)]

C.E. wrote: "I agree, Kristin. Although someone made a good point about the "Serious Parody". That's a conflicting statement as parody isn't serious. Doesn't Fair Use exemption require there to be some humor in..."

I haven't read the book but maybe it has some in it?

[Mark]

I wouldn't call it plagiarism, just bad writing.

[Richard]

I detect jealousy in this thread...

[Nicole]

Williambebb wrote: "I was under the impression Rick was just a deputy. but I agree its shoddy writing to steal someone elses literary universe and try to siphon away readers from the original source material. BUT if w..."

Yes, Rick was a Sheriff's Deputy!

[Nicole]

I haven't read it & from the above review probably won't, but w/ the newest Webisodes does this book contradict what we were shown about the hospital, the people & what happened inside?

[Mark]

No idea. I didn't read the book and I feel what happened in the Hopsital aside from Shane leaving Rick behind doesn't really matter.

However, I wouldn't choose not to read the book just based off of Josh's review. He comes across as really biased. Every author should be given a chance imho.

[Nicole]

So Jason since you are the person actually READ the book can you answer my question about the book contradicting the Webisodes?

[Nicole]

HA HA HA HA! Thanks Jason! I have no interest in an author who can't even spell, one typo is one thing, but multiple times!!?

[Stacy]

This series is flat out stealing. The sorry thing is so many people have actually bought this guys "work"

[Tim]

Interesting. It does sounds like a gray area, but parody is given a lot of wiggle room from what I understand. Those movies, like Starving Games, that parody big films are a good example.

[Papaphilly]

Stacy wrote: "This series is flat out stealing. The sorry thing is so many people have actually bought this guys "work""

I haven't read the book and have no idea if it is good or not. With that said, the work presents itself as a parody, then it is not stealing. It is satire and that has a very long history. It acknowledges the Walking Ded. There are numerous examples such as Spaceballs: The Book and Bored of the Rings: A Parody of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The second book makes no bones of the fact that it was for the money and laughs at the reader for buying the book.

Satires of other materials depend on said materials to start with or there could be no satire. Whether it is disrespectful or not depends on the eye of the beholder. All you can ask of the book is that it is well written.