Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 14:09:14 -0800 From: Eros Publishing Subject: Press Release Masquerade Books 801 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Tel: 212 661-7878 - Fax: 212 986-7355 - E-mail: MasqBks@aol.com For Immediate Release Author Wensley Clarkson Plagiarized Best-Selling Erotic Fiction in True-Crime Novel Richard Kasak, publisher of New York's Masquerade Books, has contacted Wensley Clarkson, the well-known author of true-crime books and quickie celebrity biographies, about Clarkson's plagiarism of a book by a Masquerade author According to Kasak, who contacted Clarkson through his publisher, St. Martin's Press, Clarkson plagiarized passages of Sara Adamson's erotic novel, The Slave, in his work Slave Girls, purportedly a work of non-fiction. "We were alerted to Mr. Clarkson's liberal borrowing of entire passages from The Slave by a fan of Ms. Adamson's," Kasak says. "The reader couldn't believe what she was seeing; it was that blatant." Clarkson's plagiarism extends through at least three pages of Adamson's novel; a sample passage appears below. Sara Adamson is the pseudonym of Laura Antoniou, the author of several works of erotic fiction, including The Marketplace Trilogy, the series that includes The Slave. (The other two titles are The Marketplace and The Trainer.) Antoniou's books have sold several hundred thousand copies worldwide. All of Ms. Antoniou's books have been published by Masquerade Books. "What astounds me is that Mr. Clarkson uses parts of a work of fiction to 'prove,' in a work of non-fiction, that female sexual slavery exists as he describes it," Kasak notes. "Such an assertion needs to be explained, then backed up with other kinds of evidence, to say the least." Moreover, it is fair to ask what other passages in this work of ‘true' crime—and in other works by Clarkson are fictional." Mr. Clarkson has offered no explanation for his plagiarism of Ms. Adamson's novel. In a letter to Kasak, he refers the publisher to his attorneys. The charge against Clarkson comes at a moment when putation as the leader in true crime books," according to The New York Times. "It is certainly ironic that Mr. Clarkson would reach for a work of erotic fiction to flesh out a work of ‘true crime,'" Kasak says. Sample Passage Laura Antoniou, The Slave (© 1994) She was trapped in a little steel box, with burning walls tight against her flesh on all sides. The air was musty and smelled of bitterness, like chemicals spilling over copper. She couldn't see, it was too dark, and no one could get to her, could let her out before the sun burnt through the steel and melted it all against her body, running in rivulets, scorching her, going through her, until she screamed and screamed and ran out of air and couldn't breathe... (p. 361) Wensley Clarkson, Slave Girls (© 1996) Hawa was trapped in a little steel box, with burning walls tight against her flesh on all sides. The air was musty and smelled of bitterness, like chemicals spilling over copper. She couldn't see, it was too dark, and no one could get to her to let her out before the sun burned through the steel and melted it all against her body, running rivulets, scorching her, going through her, until she screamed and screamed and ran out of air and couldn't breathe... (p. 219) Meet me at The Lava Lounge www.wolfenet.com/~aubrey/lava.htm