Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

It’s been a year since I first blogged about serial plagiarist “Iron” Dave Boyer (among many other names), whose prolific pilfering of other writers’ words has become something of an Internet legend, especially in the horror community, where he concentrates his efforts.

The fact that Boyer’s multiple misappropriations have been extensively exposed by intrepid researchers and bloggers, and discussed on popular message boards, doesn’t seem to have fazed him in the slightest. He is still at it, swiping stories from writers both known and unknown, and selling them to unwitting consumers as his own original work. Lately, he has branched out into snitching song lyrics–something that, unlike merely filching fiction, can get you into real trouble with the corporate overlords. (See B.Thoughtful’s blog for an encyclopedic expose of Boyer’s prose pirating, as well as a list of his many aliases.)

Now, thanks to activism by Ferrell Rick Moore, one of Boyer’s first victims, the Attorney General in Boyer’s home state of Indiana is investigating whether to pursue Boyer on consumer fraud charges.

Here’s where we can help. From Rick’s blog (the bolding is mine):

In the past, the only recourse a writer had was to file an expensive, time consuming and ultimately unproductive lawsuit against creeps like Boyer who then claim they’re bankrupt. Help me change that. Tell the Attorney General’s office for the State of Indiana how important it is for this plagiarist publisher to be subject to the same penalties as any other crooked business. We want him pursued under Consumer Fraud regulations at their cost, not ours. He’s defrauding consumers by selling them our stuff with his name on it.

Here’s where to send your respectful but firm letters and or emails of support, and be sure to include the File Number File No. 10-CP-62157:

Tom Irons
Consumer Protection Division
Office of the Indiana Attorney General
302 W. Washington St., 5th Floor
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Tom.Irons@atg.in.gov

Please add your voice to this campaign. A letter of support has already been sent by the Horror Writers Association. Mine went off this morning.

Please feel free to share this post, or put the call out on your own blog. There’s also a Facebook page where you can express support and check for updates. Thank you!

(As a matter of interest, Indiana is one of the few states that has actually prosecuted literary scammers–vanity publisher New Century Publishing in 2010, and self-publishing service/marketing company Airleaf in 2008.)