Fraud!

[Katie]

I just read the first few pages of Exquisite Corpse, and the main character (Andrew Compton) is CLEARLY based on serial killer Dennis Andrew(!) Nilsen, yet it says that "any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons is entirely coincidental." They both lived in London, they both killed a skin head w/ a tattoo of a dotted line around his neck that said "cut here," which they did. They were both gay & they both kept the bodies as company until they started to smell too strongly to keep. The real killer tried flushing body parts & got caught when the neighbors called a plumber. Her character has explained the foul odor as a backed up toilet, and was caught when his neighbors called the police. All of these things cannot be a coincidence. This is disappointing. Why lie to your readers?

[Katie]

No, but her main character was based on a real person. (Dennis Nilsen.) Basically she is imagining what would have happened had he escaped prison. The details of what got them into prison were almost exactly the same though. (The number of victims was different.) Later in the book, when Tran temporarily escapes, the scene unfolds somewhat similarly to the escape of one of Dahmer's victims. (Konerak Sinthasomphone.) They both escape, wounded, only to have the police return them to their captors. I probably wouldn't have thought much of that one if it weren't for the BIG similarities in the first chapter. The real-life killer and Brite's character both decapitated a skin head w/ the exact same tattoo? Come on ...

[Mary]

That's a standard disclaimer which publishing companies include in their books. I doubt the author had anything to do with it.
That said, if Brite was inspired by a particular real-life person, that's something I always appreciate knowing from an Afterword. I haven't looked for interviews Brite has done on this book - perhaps something exists which would flesh out her/his "inspiration" for the book.

[Phil]

Mary wrote: "That's a standard disclaimer which publishing companies include in their books.

Exactly, it keeps the author and publisher from getting sued for libel. It's called artistic license and freedom of speech. Without it, we wouldn't have books in the first place.

[Mary]

Yes, exactly - it's boilerplate legalese, copied and pasted, likely the same exact language used by the publisher for every book they publish. It's also in other media (look toward the end of movie credits for similar language).

For example, from the first three books I grabbed off my shelf, on the Copyright Page:

"Frog Music" by Emma Donoghue, publisher Back Bay Books: "The characters and events in this book are fictitious; any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author."

"Tenth of December" by George Saunders, publisher Random House: "Tenth of December is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental."

"Those Across the River" by Christopher Buehlman, publisher The Berkeley Publishing Group: "This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental."

The similarly worded liability disclaimer on my copy of "Exquisite Corpse" is also on the Copyright Page.

Legal liability issues aside, I agree with the complaint in general - as I've said, I appreciate an author's Afterword to talk about such things as what might have inspired them to write a book, especially if it's a real-world circumstance. It is unfortunate that there is no such information included by Brite in "Exquisite Corpse."

[Maria Mhemnoch]

Pués en mi edición, en la portada, dice claramente que está inspirado en ese asesino en serie!

[Tairyn]

This book is not for the feint of heart. I read it and was horrified, but it was like a train wreck. I could not stop reading even though I was disgusted by it.

[Nina]

I wouldn't call it "fraud" as such, but certainly inspired by Nilsen's uh... work.