Reminder: All Bustin' Chops Content Is Open

Just a quick reminder, that all content on this blog is open and free use, for anyone. You may quote, copy, reproduce, share, link, duplicate, bend, fold, spindle or mutilate to your heart's content. You do not need permission, authorization, link-backs, kudos or a postage stamp.

Smoke & Mirrors

To diverge momentarily from the endless plagiarism chase:

RM writes:

"Rochelle Moore was born in Dublin Ireland to a family of artists, healers, posts and she is an eclectic witch. Her first book KARMA; a tiny book both inspirational and multidominational was written in 2005. Rochelle then went on to write Aromatherapy & Herbalism (Scents & Spells -beginners to mid-level) which really placed her on the international author's map. Book 3, Witch an Autobiography was released in January 2009 and Rochelle has appeared on TV, radio with the most recent interview in New York on the David James Live Psychic Show. Rochelle's newest book, released on 1st Mary (beltane) has rocketed her into international status and her agents (richard.kashmiragents@gmail.com) are currently organising her worldwide book launch for BEYOND THE THIRD EYE - a journey into the realm beyond our phsycical existence. Rochelle has won awards in the Uk and the USA for her poetry and is a freelance journalist."

We've seen this promo spam countless times online, bad spelling and poor grammar included. But is any of it true? Not really. Her 'agents' are not listed anywhere, and all phone numbers to reach them are missing a digit or non-functional. She is invisible, except for the massive online promo spam. No one in Ireland can recall her 'famous' grandmother, either.

I found one mention online that corroborates this particular claim, however:

"..with the most recent interview in New York on the David James Live Psychic Show"

David James appears to be an online 'call in for a reading' psychic ($3.28 per minute). He doesn't have a New York show - unless you count a brief online blog 'radio show' a show, and toss in that he lives in NY (although he claims to be a Scottish seer here.). His blog, which appears to have begun in February 2009 and died in April 2009 -with six followers- mentions his 'show' being on an internet radio blogcast provided by The Spiritweaver. A search of Spiritweaver archives (& his blog) did not locate any Moore interview, although he did promote on his March 23, 2009 blog, four weeks before his final post, that Moore would be his guest. In any event, Spiritweaver is an online site where all persons are participating by phone.

There is not a single mention anywhere of any other Moore activity, poetry 'awards' or anything else - except in her hundreds of self-promoting internet notations.

Incidentally, what exactly is 'multidominational?' :)

UPDATE: There never was an agency; Kashmir Agents was Moore's (now former) husband, Richard, and named after a favorite Led Zeppelin. Her 'international poetry awards' were not plural, it was one from Voices.net, where anyone that fancies themselves writers and poets can post their writings and then vote for each other. The link takes you to Siobhan (Rochelles) member profiles.

Crash Course On How Bad Writers Get Published

So here I was, wondering how such truly bad 'authors' manage to get published, let alone listed on Amazon. Most of us think publishing a book means a publishing company was interested in the book, it went through editors, was polished up, had a cover designed and then was printed, marketed and sold, with the author being paid & subsequently gaining a royalty percentage from sales, yes?

Completely wrong. How much I have learned. This blog being about Rochelle Moore/Siohban Moore Whelan/et al, I will use her first c&p book from 2005, Karma, as the example.

Moore cobbled together a handful of quotes from religious and historical figures (use Amazon's Peek Inside feature), threw in some really bad poetry, and then paid Booksurge to publish her little tome. Judging from the cheapy cover, she went with the Express package for $99, got an ISBN, submitted her PDF file and - voila - her book was on Amazon.

It's a sad statement about modern progress, and I won't even touch the irony of the term 'desktop publishing.'

Who owns Booksurge? Amazon. But wait - there's moore. From the Amazon listing of Karma, the rather misleading product promo includes the following statement:

'As reviewed by Ellen Tanner Marsh – New York Times Best-Selling Author: Karma-It's a seeming simple concept that is either misunderstood or ignored entirely.'

Reviewed by a Times bestselling author; that must be good, you might think. Until you find out that Ellen Tanner Marsh has a 'working relationship' with BookSurge.com, and as a premium add-on service, BookSurge allows self-publishing authors to purchase a personally crafted review written by "New York Times bestselling author, Ellen Tanner Marsh."

An entire system aimed to mislead consumers & profit from every lousy wanna-be author.

The Great Question of 'how does such unedited/misspelled/grammatically-incorrect trash get published?' has been answered.

For more about the self-publishing world in detail, see this.

What Can Cut Can Copy

(Thanks to SH for this info.)

- from WITCH AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, by Rochelle Moore

ANCIENT WITCH CHANT

"What can kill can cure.
No mistletoe, no luck!
Faerie folk live in old Oaks
be silent as the Sacred Oak.
More in the garden grows
then even the Witch knows.
Where Rosemary grows,
the Missus is master.
Where Parsley grows
a Witch is at home.
Where the Yarrow grows,
there is one who knows.
If ye would herbal magick make,
be sure a spell in rhyme ye spake."

The Original:
Scott's original poem appears below (courtesy of SageSyren at http://storywrite.com/SageSyren); stolen sentences are highlighted in red:

Herbal Rede
By Scott Cunningham

What can kill, can cure.
More in the garden grows, than the Witch knows.
Sell your coat and buy Betony.
No ear hath heard, no tongue can tell, the virtue of the Pimpernel.
Treoil, Vervain, St John's Wort, Dill, hinder Witches of all their will.
Where Rosemary grows, the missus is master.
Faerie-Folks are in Old Oaks.
Sow Fennel, sow sorrow.
Only the wicked grow parsley.
Plant your Sage and Rue together, the Sage will grow in any weather.
Snakes will not go where Geraniums grow.
Where the Yarrow grow's, there is one who know's.
If ye would herbal magick make, be sure the spell in rhyme be spake.
Woe to the lad without a Rowen-Tree God.
Rowen tree and red thread, put the Witches to their speed.
Eat an apple going to bed, make the doctor beg his bread.
The fair maid who, the First of May, goes to the field's at break of day, and washes in dew from the Hawthorn tree, will ever after handsome be.
Plant not a Cypress vine, unless it bring death to thine.
Beware the Oak, it draws the stroke. Beware the Ash it courts the flash. Creep under the thorn, it saves you from harm.
An Apple a day, keeps the doctor away.
Flower's out of season, sorrow without reason.
He would live for aye, must eat Sage in May.
One to rot, one to grow, one for the pigeon, and one for the crow.
St John's Wort and Cyclamen, in your bed chamber keep, from evil spells and witcheries, to guard you in your sleep.
I Borage, gives courage.
No Mistletoe, no luck.
Be silent as the sacred Oak!

Llwellyn, Scott's publisher, has been notified, and additionally has been given Rochelle's real name and location. If anyone knows who is managing Scott's estate, please feel free to forward this info.

EDIT - additional info:

Moore has also published Scott's work on Witchvox, claiming it to be an 'ancient witch chant by an anonymous author:'

ANCIENT WITCH CHANT by Anonymous
by Rochelle Moore


I came across this ancient witch chant whilst researching my book Witch

Rochelle Moore

ANCIENT WITCH CHANT

"What can kill can cure.
No mistletoe, no luck!
Faerie folk live in old Oaks
be silent as the Sacred Oak.
More in the garden grows
then even the Witch knows.
Where Rosemary grows,
the Missus is master.
Where Parsley grows
a Witch is at home.
Where the Yarrow grows,
thereis one who knows.
If ye would herbal magick make,
be sure a spell in rhyme ye spake."

enjoy
blessed be

Moore Steals Erica Jong Poetry - Again, or Still?

Rochelle has saturated the internet with her promotional spam and hundreds of duplicated 'articles.'

The problem with that, of course, is that no one can possibly remember where they posted everything. Having already once been caught out for theft of an Erica Jong poem, she removed the pirated work.

But she forgot something - or assumed the smoke had blown over and reposted it.

From her MySpace page, dated June, 2009:
-click to enlarge-
















RM writes:
Monday, June 08, 2009

THE SIN OF BEING A WITCH - rochelle moore author WITCH AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=28... (Note: article pulled from her Associated Content library & her many Facebook pages the first time the plagiarism was discovered.)

ANONYMOUS POEM FROM THE 16TH CENTURY For all those who died-stripped naked, shaved, shorn. For all those who screamed in vain to the Great Goddess, Only to have their tongues ripped out by the root. For those who were pricked, racked ,broken on the wheel for the sins of their inquisitors. For all those whose beauty stirred the... "
12:17 PM 0 Comments 0 Kudos

THE ORIGINAL (and undisputed author) - from Erica Jongs website:

*For All Those Who Died
From Witches

For all those who died-
stripped naked, shaved, shorn.

For all those who screamed
in vain to the Great Goddess
only to have their tongues
ripped out at the root.

For all those who were pricked, racked, broken on the wheel
for the sins of their Inquisitors.

For all those whose beauty
stirred their torturers to fury;
& for all those whose ugliness did the same."

(..Erica's poem continues here)

*Copyright ©1997-2009 Erica Mann Jong

...................................................

Stunning hubris. Does anyone know if this 'anonymous 16th century poem' appears in Moore's Witch book?

Moore Baloney

On March 30, 2009 10:01 AM EDT, at Gather.com, a Gather member named SALEMSSISTER posted this exciting headline:

ROCHELLE MOORE (the Celtic Witch) her book reaches NUMBER 1 BESTSELLERS LIST - WITCH AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

NUMBER 1 BESTSELLERS LIST WWW.AMAZON.COM

This was followed by cut & paste Moore promotional stuff. Salemssister, interestingly enough, joined Gather.com on Feb 8, 2008 - just in time to promote Moore's book, Beyond The Third Eye, which 'she' did lavishly - and her next-to-final post was to promote Witch; one month after it's release.

What someone apparently doesn't know - wait for it - is that Amazon archives all it's bestseller lists. You can search by year, month week, and even day.

Aren't databases and IT perfectly lovely?

Being the inquisitve little cat that I am, I searched March, 2009 for a mention of Witch on Amazon's bestseller list. Imagine my surprise when it was not amongst the 1-100 bestsellers. I then tried April, just in case Ms. Salemssisters had been a bit late writing her gushing review. Nothing. I then tried weeks, and days. Nothing. Witch never made it to any bestselling list on Amazon. Ever.

Ms. Salemssisters third and final post to Gather was on May 23, 2009 06:54 AM EDT , with this awe-inspiring news:

In conclusion, I leave a fitting tribute to Salemssister, to celebrate Witch hitting the Amazon Bestseller List:

Turn it UP

;)

Abstract from Moore: I Spy with My Thieving Eye

On her Associated Content, published November 03, 2008, Rochelle abstracts her upcoming 'I Spy With My Third Eye' book, with this article on Celtic Supernatural Entities.

Regarding the identical Death & Burial Customs, by Kimberly Powell -an About.com guide; I have contacted Kimberly and await her response. I will update here should she reply.

RM writes: "Globally and since the beginning of time superstitions surrounding death have prevailed. Death has always been both celebrated and feared. As far back as 60,000 BC, man buried their dead with ritual and ceremony. Researchers have even found evidence that Neanderthals buried their dead with flowers, much as we do today."

-from Kimberly Powells Death & Burial Customs:
"Death has always been both celebrated and feared. As far back as 60,000 BC, man buried their dead with ritual and ceremony. Researchers have even found evidence that Neanderthals buried their dead with flowers, much as we do today. " She does not date her article, nor cite Rochelle as a source. Rochelle does not cite Kimberly.

RM writes: "In Ireland, Neolithic monuments and chambers for the dead are a legacy left behind by a section of the ancients, are literally sprinkled all around the country. "

-from The Irish Times, published Sep 9, 2008 (one month before Rochelle's):
"Magnificent megaliths (Need subscription to view full archived article)
by Amanda Phelan

GO IRELAND: Neolithic monuments and chambers of the dead are scattered all over the country"

RM writes:
In Loughcrew, Ireland, the "Hill of The Witch", a Cairn of stones lies at the crest and after the darkest night of each year, just as the sun begins to shine, light illuminates the length of the passage carved into the hill. The Hill of The Witch is 7,000 years old with stone age engravings and linear chambers to pay tribute to the dead, to gods of the Sky, Sun, Moon and the Stars. Other famous sites include Newgrange, The Burren passage tomb, Queen Medbh's Tomb and, many other wonderful monuments erected to the dead. Ancient superstitions surrounding the dead include using lucky charms, Magickal words, charms and incantations and it is amazing how many ancient myths are now part of our everyday lives and traditions. "

-from The Irish Times, published Sep 9, 2008 (one month before Rochelle's):
"Magnificent megaliths
by Amanda Phelan

AFTER THE DARKEST night of each year the feeble light of the rising sun shines on to a cairn of stones on the crest of Loughcrew, or Hill of the Witch, in Co Westmeath. An extraordinary feat of prehistoric architecture means the light illuminates the length of a passage hewn into the hill. As it has done for 7,000 years, this beam shines on to a flat altar stone at the back of the passage. The light strikes first on a fist-sized carving of the sun, and as the real thing rises in the east its rays pass over a series of Stone Age engravings. The spotlight moves diagonally to highlight another etching - and then, after less than an.."

Can anyone with an Irish Times subscription grab the full article from their online archives for me?