I was reading Shih-Li Kow’s Ripples when I came across this on the main website for Silverfish books.
An apology was written by Adeline Lee who published her first book, Lethal Lessons, with Silverfish books at the tender age of 18. I found more about the issue at Sharon Bakar’s Bibliobibuli, a blog about book-dependency (I like how she calls it like she sees it).
In short, the writer plagiarized a story from the well-known Chicken soup for the soul series and masked it to be published as one her own writings.
Although she has apologized, the apology in my humble opinion is half-hearted and does not reflect her comprehension of the seriousness of her actions.
However, I do not blame her as many Malaysians do not see the severity of publishing something plagiarised.
However again, it can do much damage on the long run.
For one thing, nothing else that Adeline writes in future will not have its originality scrutinized by readers.
Two, Silverfish books could have easily be forced to close shop if the publisher or author of the plagiarized story decided to sue.
C, she did not copy from a fellow Malaysian writer, which begs the question, are Malaysian writers not copy-worthy?
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