Alexis M. Smith Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers, Education Media and Publishing Group Ltd., EMPG International Ltd. Does MARROW ISLAND by Alexis M. Smith Infringe the Copyright of THE FISHER KING by Hayley Kelsey? Portland Oregon

Does MARROW ISLAND by Alexis M. Smith Infringe the Copyright of THE FISHER KING by Hayley Kelsey? Read on to Decide for Yourself (and see more at https://medium.com/@hayleykelseyauthor)

History:

Between May 7-21, 2011, I gave away e-copies of my novel to 25 Goodreads and 20 LibraryThing Free Giveaway winners in exchange for reviews. Smith has been a Goodreads member since August 2007. 

On December 12, 2011, I submitted a query letter, synopsis, and first 50 pages of my novel to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which published alleged infringing titles Marrow Island and The News from the End of the World.

On September 23, 2013 and December 20, 2013, I submitted a query letter, synopsis, and first 50 pages of my novel to agent Seth Fishman at The Gernert Co., who represents alleged copyright infringer Alexis M. Smith.

On January 19, 2014, I submitted a query letter, synopsis, and first 50 pages of my novel to agent Chris Parris-Lamb at The Gernert Co., which represents Smith.

On June 7, 2016, Marrow Island was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Does MARROW ISLAND Have Striking and Substantial Similarities to THE FISHER KING?

• Setting: In The Fisher King, environmentally damaged Chesapeake Bay island experiencing extreme weather events. In Marrow Island, environmentally damaged Pacific Northwest island experiencing extreme weather events.
• Nearly identical character’s nickname: In The Fisher King, “Sister.” In Marrow Island, “Sister J.” 
• Identical use of characters’ names: In The Fisher King, Sonny is named for father. In Marrow Island, Lucie’s father was named for his father.
• Identical minor characters’ names and roles: In The Fisher King: Mae. In Marrow Island: May.
• Identical character traits: In The Fisher King, Gail is tall, mid-thirties. husband Sonny is innocent, straight-arrow Boy Scout. Sonny is totally at ease in own skin. Lover Peter is skinny, long-haired, over-age Seapeace activist. In Marrow Island, Kate is tall, mid-thirties. Lucie’s boyfriend Carey is innocent, straight-arrow Eagle Scout. Kate is totally at ease in own skin. Husband Tuck is skinny, long-haired, over-age former Greenpeace activist.
• In The Fisher King, greed pushed big business (commercial farming and fishing) to over-farm and -fish, damaging the island and bay, depleting them of natural resources, polluting them with chemicals, destroying the islanders’ health (specifically fertility), putting residents out of work, and forcing them to vacate the island. In Marrow Island, greed pushed big business (refinery) to overproduce, which caused explosion, damaging the island and bay, depleting them of natural resources. In extinguishing the fire, the company polluted the land with chemicals, destroying the islanders’ health (specifically fertility), putting residents out of work, and forcing them to vacate the island.
• In The Fisher King, the plot centers around the importance of reclaiming the island and surrounding bay from environmental damage while still earning a sustainable living from it. In Marrow Island, the plot centers around the importance of reclaiming the island from environmental damage while still earning a sustainable living from it.
• In The Fisher King, the community tries to turn fishery into a profitable business. In Marrow Island, the commune tries to turn island farm into a profitable business. 
• In The Fisher King, the conflicting plans of watermen, government, and environmental activists divide the community. In Marrow Island the conflicting plans of commune, government, and environmental activists divide the commune. 
• In The Fisher King, the island is threatened by a three-year-long drought and government intervention. In Marrow Island, the island is threatened by a three-year-long drought and government intervention.
• In The Fisher King, the continuously burning landfill is recurring symbol of the environmental wasteland. In Marrow Island, the continuously burning forest fire is recurring symbol of the environmental wasteland.
• In The Fisher King, Gail keeps the books for the family business. In Marrow Island, Katie keeps the books for the commune’s business.
• In The Fisher King, Gail’s brother died suddenly in accident. In Marrow Island, Lucie’s father died suddenly in industrial accident.
• In The Fisher King, three deaths occur (Wes, Gail’s father, King) and Gail stays at King’s deathbed. In Marrow Island, three deaths occur (Lucie’s father, miscarried babies, Sister J) and Lucie stays at Sister J’s deathbed.
• The Fisher King is narrated from the first-person point-of-view of an unemployed, outsider, gutsy female protagonist. Marrow Island is narrator from the first-person point-of-view of an unemployed, outsider, gutsy female protagonist. 
• In The Fisher King, Gail’s lover favorably compares her intimate scent to the fishery. In Marrow Island, Lucie’s lover favorably compares her intimate scent to fish roe.
• In The Fisher King, Gail escapes to the island to struggle to come to terms with her role in the accidental death of her brother. In Marrow Island, Lucie returns to the island to struggle to come to terms with the accidental death of her father.
• In The Fisher King, two brothers left the island 20 years earlier for college, while one remained behind to fish. In Marrow Island, Lucie left the island 20 years earlier for college while childhood friend remained behind to farm.
• In The Fisher King, Gail’s mother always hated the farm and wanted to be free of it. In Marrow Island, Lucie’s mother always hated the cottage and wants to be rid of it. 
• In The Fisher King, Gail’s grandfather deeds property to Gail’s mother to keep her on farm. In Marrow Island, Lucie’s mother deeds cottage to her—to keep her on island, she wonders? 
• In The Fisher King, Gail lives in shed made from salvaged wood on the island. In Marrow Island, Katie lives in shack made from salvaged wood on the island.
• In The Fisher King, Gail sleeps in two-hour shifts on a cot. In Marrow Island, Carey sleeps in two-hour shifts on a cot.
• In The Fisher King, Gail can’t decide what to pack in a suitcase. In Marrow Island, Lucie can’t decide what to pack in a suitcase.
• In The Fisher King, islanders repeatedly try and fail to get pregnant. In Marrow Island, islanders repeatedly try and fail to carry a fetus to term.
• In The Fisher King, Sonny is sterile as a result of environmental pollution. In Marrow Island, Tuck’s sperm may be damaged as a result of environmental pollution. 
• In The Fisher King, husband Sonny saves cherished list of baby names on a much-folded piece of paper. In Marrow Island, boyfriend Carey saves cherished poem on a much-folded piece of paper.
• In The Fisher King, four plot points turn on scenes of mis-delivered mail, old mail, unopened mail, and a character other than the addressee who opens mail. In Marrow Island, four plot points turn on scenes of mis-delivered mail, old mail, unopened mail, and a character other than the addressee who opens mail. 
• In The Fisher King, Gail buys a pregnancy test kit and buries the “wand” in a trash can. In Marrow Island, Lucie buys a pregnancy test kit and buries the “stick” in a trash can.
• In The Fisher King, Gail has affairs and becomes pregnant with illegitimate child at end. In Marrow Island, Lucie has affair and becomes pregnant with illegitimate child at end. 
• Nearly identical symbols: In The Fisher King, a landfill symbolizes the environmental wasteland. In Marrow Island, the island symbolizes the environmental wasteland.
• Identical denouements: The Fisher King ends ambiguously. Neither watermen, big business, nor environmentalists win in the end. Gail comes to terms with brother’s death and moves on. Sonny leaves island, freeing himself from painful family influences, gains independence and maturity. Marrow Island ends ambiguously. Neither Lucie nor the commune win in the end. Lucie comes to terms with father’s death and moves on. Lucie leaves island, freeing herself from painful family memories, gains independence and maturity.
• Identical themes: In The Fisher King, importance of reclaiming and restoring island and bay from environmental damage. Characters are trapped by circumstances beyond their control, including extreme weather. The environmental, economic, and health (specifically reproductive) consequences of ecological damage. Emphasis on necessity for and consequences of lying and shame. Coming to terms with guilt over the death of a family member. Importance of work to identity. Importance of place, specifically island, and historical connection to it. Importance of community to feeling of belonging, sense of purpose. Importance of fertility to pass on farm, island, family name, genes. Importance of inheriting and passing on to next generation farm, island, family history, genes, opportunity, and a future. In Marrow Island, importance of reclaiming and restoring island from environmental damage. Characters are trapped by circumstances beyond their control, including extreme weather. The environmental, economic, and health (specifically reproductive) consequences of ecological damage. Emphasis on necessity for and consequences of lying and shame. Coming to terms with guilt over the death of a family member. Importance of work to identity. Importance of place, specifically island, and historical connection to it. Importance of commune to feeling of belonging, sense of purpose. Importance of fertility to pass on farm, island, family name, genes. Importance of inheriting and passing on to next generation farm, island, family history, genes, opportunity, and a future.

Does MARROW ISLAND Have Plot and Theme Similarities to THE FISHER KING?

There are the eight main elements that comprise the “heart” on which The Fisher King turns, and Marrow Island takes seven of them:

1. Business—Greed pushed big business (farming, commercial fishing or refinery) to overproduce, causing overfarming and overfishing or explosion. In the process of farming or extinguishing fire, farmers or refinery polluted environment with chemicals, depleting it of natural resources (fertile soil, groundwater, fish), damaging the eco-system, destroying residents’ health (specifically fertility), putting all residents out of work, and forcing them to vacate island.

2. Conservation—The importance of reclaiming island and watershed from environmental damage.

3. Setting—The importance of place, specifically island, and historical connection to it.

4. Community—The importance of community or commune to feeling of belonging and sense of purpose.

5. Inheritance—The importance of inheriting and passing on farm, island, family history, genes, a future

6. Infertility—The importance of fertility (esp. male) to pass on farm, island, family name, genes.

7. Illegitimacy—Main female character has affair(s) and illegitimate pregnancy.

Does MARROW ISLAND Have Line-by-Line Similarities to THE FISHER KING?

7—Setting: Marrow Island, coastal island SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 5—Trappe Island, coastal island

7—The postmark on the letter was three weeks old. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 17—I checked the postmark: March 14. Nearly two weeks earlier. 

8—There had been times over the years when I knew she wanted to be rid of the cottage, when it was a burden to her…”You can always sell it.” She leaned toward me, put her hand on mine. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 418—“Remember when they wanted to buy it [the farm] in the 1980s?...In fact, why didn’t you [sell it] then?”…“But you always hated this place,” 419—I reached out and covered her hand with mine.

13—I stand on my toes and kiss the back of his neck SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 6—I wrapped my arms around him from behind and kissed the back of his neck

13—There’s a pile of mail on the table..I let it sit there a week. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 160— In the middle of the kitchen table was a pile of newspapers, bills. Judging by the height of the stack, it looked like a week’s worth of mail.

16—he [Carey] didn’t know how often I became disoriented. (Lost. Say it. Lost.) SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 358—I sat up…disoriented. 174—“Now will you admit we’re lost?...Face it, we’re lost! We’re hopelessly lost.” 

27—dew had started to form between my breasts and under my arms. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 275—perspiration…pooled in the crevices of my body

30—[older woman May, sewing bee in church basement with cookies] NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 196-197—the congregation filed down to the basement for refreshments...Mae Dize…passing paper napkins

33—Dad’s marker. William Whitman Bowen, his father’s name within his own. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 17—“Mr. and Mrs. Kingsley,” Sonny’s parents. Our name too.

39—I couldn’t help myself…I opened it. There were...a prescription bottle of Klonopin with Jacob Swensons’ [sic] name on it. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 182—I had no business opening it…I couldn’t help myself. 225—I opened the medicine cabinet…it was Regina’s name I saw on the labels of opaque brown bottles of hormones.

42—The first time he went down on me...he told me I tasted like the sea. I kissed him and tasted myself in his mouth, and it was true—it was like urchin or salmon roe. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 275—his mouth busy between my legs, said in a voice deepened by desire, “God, Gail, you taste like the place where the earth meets the ocean.” It was an earthy smell, yes, like the rich soil that swallowed up my feet along the shoreline and the salty sea that rose to meet it. 119—when we kissed...the taste of his saliva.

43—a crumpled, weathered piece of my notebook paper with deep crease lines from the folding and unfolding. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 16—It’s [notebook paper]…worn…The ink has faded and where the sheet was folded and unfolded dozens of times the paper is creased and thin.

46—I smell the water before I see it.  STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 194—I heard the sailboat before I saw it.

55—my internal ballast shifting with the waves 58—the boat was moving...I could feel a rise in my throat every time I swallowed…I must have looked green 60—I managed to turn and lean as far over the edge of the boat as I could to throw up. We hit another swell and I lurched forward 125—I saw you there, seasick green SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 423—my circadian rhythms needed to reset themselves 71—the constant rocking of the boat sent my stomach pitching to and fro. The constant sloshing back and forth of the bilge water only seemed to make it worse. I couldn’t keep my balance and wave after wave knocked me off my feet to send me grabbing onto the coaming and heaving over the side 71—I hadn’t been able to keep anything down … he said, “You’re looking a bit green around the gills,”

61—She was tall…She had…always seemed at ease with her body, confident and deliberate in her movements. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 81—my tall…frame. 125—I was as tall as he was 57—More than anyone I’ve ever known, Sonny was totally at ease in his own skin. 172—he looked—confident, purposeful 6—He moved…with the same fluid grace.

62—a single paved road that ran down the center of the island … Unmarked gravel road and dirt roads … others used the harbor … A village trading post … a one-room schoolhouse SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 94—harbors … The roads had been formed by well-trod footpaths … the general store and the swap shop … There was also a one-room schoolhouse

71—back before global warming had set in  SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 264—global warming 274—had been before climate change

73—“I’ve missed a lot,” I said. IDENTICAL TO 266—“I missed a lot,” he said.

74—Katie handles the books. “What we buy, what we sell. Money.” STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 208—I was doing the books...balancing the books each week fell to me.

90—[Tuck was an environmental activist who went] to work for Greenpeace. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 185—[Peter is environmental activist who works for Seapeace]

93-94—“You find levels of carcinogens and endocrine disruptors” IDENTICAL TO 230—“xenoestrogens...synthetic substances, that disrupt regular endocrine...production.” 282—“endocrine disrupters”

94-95—I asked questions that I knew the answers to, just to see how Tuck would answer them. I couldn’t tell if he was putting on a show for me. His answers were confident and not economical … his patronizing tone. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 103—Asking questions was all right, the more ignorant the better, because they gave him a chance to parade his knowledge. 103—he began to talk, volubly and at length  111—his tone condescending lectures 100—“Don’t patronize her.”

98—Suffocation, the word wrote itself over and over inside my skull. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 102—I couldn’t breathe and felt like I was suffocating. 119—The humidity … suffocating. 276—a heavy, suffocating blanket 335—The words … repeated in my head. 

114-115—little shacks...made of salvaged wood and windows and doors.“Some [came] were from cottages here … they took them down piece by piece and reused everything they could.” NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 136—The shed … materials had been salvaged from older structures.

121—the drought that was descending on the West. It was difficult to imagine, looking out to sea, that there could ever be an absolute end to the rain SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 284—The record-long drought 337—The drought … was still upon us. 344—The drought that had left us parched all summer. 344—With no rain … looking towards heaven and praying for rain as we had all summer.

129—I tried to hear her thoughts, to communicate telepathically. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 280—I could almost hear him thinking 299—I stared at him in an effort to telepathically get through to him.

152—call them all ‘Sister’… Like they did with Sister J … as if it were her given name. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 148—she often called me “sister” or “sissy” in Southern fashion.

154-155, 158—shrink...the flesh does … I sit next to her bed...They’re giving her regular morphine … she sleeps intermittently … She slips in and out of consciousness all day … I don’t want to leave the room, in case she wakes. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 367—King had shrunk to half his former frame. 410—I hurried to his side … He [nurse] rotated the valve that adjusted King’s morphine. 409—he drifted in and out of sleep throughout the day. 409—For days, he’d been slipping further and further into unconsciousness. 407—I kept a round-the-clock vigil.

161—sending my thoughts to her like beams of light, so that she can please, please, be with Janet. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 130—I willed him to...Please, I silently implored him, please don’t. 

191—I didn’t know where I was, but the island was only six square miles. As long as I kept the sea to my left, I would come to the Colony eventually. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 71—I had no idea where I was. 94—the island … was five miles long, seven miles wide at it widest. All I had to do was keep circling around and eventually I’d find the house.

196—They have cots in the back of the station and take turns catching a couple of hours’s sleep each. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 146—the solid back wall was an aluminum-frame cot where I would sleep in one- and two-hour shifts.

197—the CB radio … I suspect the machine is older than both of us. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 183—HAM radio crackled to life with static. We rarely used it anymore; it was left over from the days before digital … the old ship-to-shore.

198—He [Carey] was an Eagle Scout. He did everything to the letter. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 154—Sonny’s old Boy Scout sleeping bag 167—My husband, the choir boy, I thought.

199—he took the page out every night he could and read those words before falling asleep … a paper to worn and soft it could be a hanky. He carefully unfolds it. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 16—It’s … worn … The ink has faded and where the sheet was folded and unfolded dozens of times the paper is creased and thin... not only had he kept it, but he’d kept it within easy reach.

199-200—His lips linger over my skin. I haven’t shaved in weeks, but he buries his face in my armpit and pushes aside my tank top, tastes the tender side of my breast. My skin is covered in sweat and dust and DEET, and when we kiss, I taste it all in his mouth … He unhooks my bra, kisses my belly, unbuttons my shorts, and slips his hand between my legs. He’s pushing my shirt up with his face. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 274—combined with an inability to bathe...my own sweat. 275—I longed to splash my...armpits with cold water. 137—He bent to them [breasts], taking first one then the other in his mouth. 84—He buried his face in my stomach. 59—He buried his head between my breasts. 306—My T-shirt was hiked up over my breasts and my shorts were unzipped. 119—[kiss] the taste of his saliva. 136—His lips drifted from my breasts down to nuzzle my belly. 314—put his hand between my legs. 137—His hands...burrow between my legs 

205—a transmission comes through on the radio—I keep it on to hear the weather. In the strange mechanical voice of emergencies, the robotic man declares that the National Weather Service SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 155—Always the talk [on radio] was of the weather. 323—the flat drone of the farm report on the radio. 49—The radio announcer’s monotonous drone 152—glued to the NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] forecast … the NOAA weather report.

206—”I can’t remember mine [last period] either. Maybe we’re both pregnant.” I count the days in my head, but I am counting my own … ”I can’t be pregnant,” I say. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 283—My mind automatically began calculating the number of days since my last period. 275-276—I never knew where I was in my cycle or when to expect my period...so I’d simply stopped paying attention. 172—I did a quick calculation of where I was in my cycle. 283—I wasn’t pregnant.

208—That night we lie in the cot side by side. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 280—Afterwards, we lay on the cot in silence.

213—I lay down for just a minute, on the cot. I smell the pillow, but even her scent is gone. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 58—I looked at the impression his body had left in the mattress and was suddenly seized by the desire to lie down in it … to drink in his smell.

217—a pile of unopened mail on the table … The light on the answering machine is blinking … I lie down on the unmade bed, press my face into the sheets to smell him … The scent of him makes him real to me, and I sink into the bed. But I smell someone else there, too … I’m smelling, but my own scent … There’s a fermented odor to me now. I inhale the remnants of us on the sheets. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 160—In the middle of the kitchen table was a pile of newspapers, bills, seed catalogs. 182—the mail from the kitchen table. 406—the answering machine’s blinking light 58—I looked at the impression his body had left in the mattress and was suddenly seized by the desire to lie down in it … to drink in his smell. 275—my body’s own natural scent, a scent that while a little overripe 92—my skin and everything smelled slightly fermented. 120—I … inhaling the musty, unmistakable smell of sex.

221-222—I find my suitcase in the closet and throw it open on the bed. Stand over it, bewildered, not remembering what I filled it with when I came out here. I look around the room … I have two drawers of the dresser, so I pull them out and dump them over the suitcase … A small, cluttered bag of makeup and toiletries … I take everything, right? I pack it all, just in case? The suitcase yawns from the bed...Then I pick up the random objects from each room and pack it till it’s full. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 394—My gaze fell on my suitcase. I’d packed it weeks earlier … I threw open the suitcase on the bed and stood looking down at it. I debated with myself whether to exchange my flannel nightgown for a nylon one, my wool booties for cotton socks. I opened dresser drawers, repacked the suitcase, then remembered the cold nights and switched them again. Back and forth I went, unable to choose until, disgusted by my indecisiveness, I finally stuffed everything in.

224—I can’t muster the shame I think I should feel. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 383—confessing filled me with, not shame exactly, but embarrassment. 

224—I walk to the post office … In the three-minute walk to the post office … I gather our mail, stuffed into the small PO box … I go through it next to the trash can, tossing out junk mail … In the end there’s … a card for Carey from someone with his last name … and a small manila envelope for me, with a Spokane postmark and the shaky handwriting. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 18—The post office on the mainland … a post office box for company mail  19-20—[Gail gathers mail from P.O. box] 16—a black plastic garbage bag … I dragged it … to the mailbox, tugged open the metal lip, and let the junk mail … fall in … a salmon-colored postcard … addressed to “Mr. and Mrs. Kingsley,”… Our name too” 413—in shaky, nearly unrecognizable handwriting

225—The owner … doesn’t even give me the once-over. Not even when I ask him for a Western Family pregnancy test. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 334—a few fatigued truckers … looked me over with boredom. 338—I’d picked up a pregnancy test kit on the way home.

228—I was genuinely grateful when he brought [to] me [in hospital] tabloid magazines and Peanut Butter Parfaits from the Dairy Queen up the street. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 341—[in hospital] Ceremoniously, they extracted … celebrity magazines … I dashed out and returned a few minutes later with a bag of greasy burgers and fries, grateful.

230—I bury the [pregnancy test] stick under toilet paper in the trash can.  SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 338—the little wand [pregnancy test] … I … dropped it in the trash can

238—I hear them before I open my eyes.  STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 194—I heard the sailboat before I saw it.