I'm Bethany Walkers, a very young author and student living in the UK. I've written two books, Show No Mercy and Race. I'm currently working on my third book, Crashed Into You...
The most books I've read in one day is ten. I love books. Deal with it!
At the moment I'm roughly 10% done with Crashed Into You
I am on track for it to have an early release - maybe 1/2 months earlier.
When I'm done with writing Crashed Into You, I'm going to write a book called Save Me. After that, I am going to write a book called Chained. Then I am going to write a book called Dream Come True.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7792667.Bethany_Walkers
Mercy! How on earth does she find the time to study?
Quite easily, actually.
Walkers' first book, which was published through CreateSpace, was released on 5th March. It opens with a poem, presumably by Walkers herself since it isn't attributed to anyone else:
When I lay and think, in my bed at night,
the day you'll arrive seems nowhere in sight.
I toss and I turn, dreaming of you,
opening my eyes...checking if my dream came true.
(And more in the same McGonagallesque vein.)
Two days later Walkers' second novel,
Race, hit Amazon's virtual bookshelves. Impressive, eh? Her Goodreads page includes quotes from
Race in the form of short poems, beginning with
It's a race of breaths,
A race of love and longing
It's a race of heartbearts,
My heart is racing on.
Anyway, back to
Show No Mercy. It didn't take fans of the romance genre long to find a number of strange similarities between Walkers' novel and several books by Colleen Hoover, including the following:
"Sophie, I'm not kissing you tonight but believe me when I tell you, I've never wanted to kiss a girl more. So stop thinking I'm not attracted to you because you have no idea just how much I am. you can hold my hand, you can run your fingers through my hair, you can straddle me while I feed you spaghetti, but you are not getting kissed tonight."
From Show No Mercy
"Sky, I'm not kissing you tonight but believe me when I tell you, I've never wanted to kiss a girl more. So stop thinking I'm not attracted to you because you have no idea just how much I am. You can hold my hand, you can run your fingers through my hair, you can straddle me while I feed you spaghetti, but you are not getting kissed tonight."
From Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
"Okay. Would you rather I looked like Leonardo Dicaprio or Justin Timberlake"
"Ryan Gosling," she says.
She answers a little too fast for my comfort. "What the hell, Sophie? You're supposed to say Mitchell! You're supposed to say you want me to look like me!"
"But you weren't one of the options," she says.
"Neither was Ryan Gosling!"
From Show No Mercy
"Okay. Would you rather I looked like Hugh Jackman or George Clooney?”
“Johnny Depp,” she says.
She answers a little too fast for my comfort. “What the hell, Lake? You’re supposed to say Will! You’re supposed to say you want me to look like me!”
“But you weren't one of the options,” she says.
“Neither was Johnny Depp!”
From Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover
A quote from
Show No Mercy on Walkers' Goodread page reveals that she didn't confine herself to Colleen Hoover's work:
“Babe, just confide in me your deepest feelings, tell me your fantasies, and they shall all be fulfilled. I will do anything it takes to make you happy because that is the only thing that matters to me anymore. You are perfect in my eyes, and there is absolutely nothing that I would ever change about you. I know that no one can be perfect but you, Babe, in my eyes, are as perfect as anyone could be. It leaves me amazed, yet blessed, to have found someone as special as you are."
This was lifted from a sample letter by Dr Mel Luthy:
Babe, just confide in me your deepest feelings, tell me your fantasies, and they shall all be fulfilled. I will do anything it takes to make you happy because that is the only thing that matters to me anymore. You are perfect in my eyes, and there is absolutely nothing that I would ever change about you. I know that no one can be perfect but you, Babe, in my eyes, are as perfect as anyone could be. It leaves me amazed, yet blessed, to have found someone as special as you are.
http://www.writeexpress.com/missin67.html
Every single quote from
Show No Mercy was lifted from the same source.
You get the picture. But what about that introductory poem? A Google search turns up DOZENS of possible sources and attributions. It's been going the rounds for years. The oldest source I could find dates back to 2002:
http://www.somaliaonline.com/community/topic/a-tear-on-my-pillow-37/
Walkers also plagiarized Hoover's own poetry from her book
Slammed!
In addition, part of
Show No Mercy's plot was lifted from the 2002 film
Memento or its 2008 Bollywood version
Ghajini. Which leads me neatly to the source material of Walkers' second novel
Race:
Noah and Ronan are half brothers. They co-own a stud farm in South Africa. The brothers couldn't be more different; Noah is shrewd and volatile whereas the laid-back Ronan is in the grip of alcoholism. Owning a farm isn't the only thing that ties the brothers together; there are also women in their lives: Noah's long-term girlfriend Chantelle, who is an American ramp model, and Alice, Noah's personal secretary, who is in love with her boss. But true love doesn't always run smoothly, and both Chantelle and Alice become involved with the wayward brother Ronan. When emotions run high, violence often plays a role. Now, there is a murder, and a contract killer is on the loose. Who is next on the target list?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/149613902X/?tag=absowrit-20
Compare and contrast the synopsis with the plot of another Bollywood hit...
Race:
A voice-over by RD (Anil Kapoor) introduces the four main characters: Ranvir Singh (Saif Ali Khan) who runs a successful business he inherited from his father. His younger brother Rajiv Singh (Akshaye Khanna) who mooches off of Ranvir and is an alcoholic. Ranvir is dating an upcoming model Sonia (Bipasha Basu), while his personal assistant Sophia (Katrina Kaif) appears to be secretly in love with him. Ranvir is also involved in an intense competition with a rival horse-owner Kabir (Dilip Tahil). The film opens with a murder plot involving a car accident which Ranvir narrowly survives. When Ranvir loses money in a race because his jockey had been bribed by Kabir, Ranvir plants a bomb in the jockey's car and kills him, showing Ranvir to be a ruthless businessman.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_(2008_film)
Yes...Walkers couldn't even be bothered to think up an original title. The previously quoted poem from her novel
Race is an English translation of Sameer's lyrics from the film
Race! A couple of others are also Hindi song lyrics.
I've saved the best for last. You may recognise one of Walkers' poems from
Race:
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am home again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am whole again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am young again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am fun again
However far away, I will always love you
However long I stay, I will always love you
Whatever words I say, I will always love you
I will always love you
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/39921437-race
Sounds familiar? No wonder - they're the lyrics of
Lovesong by Robert Smith, written for the Cure but better-known through Adele's 2011 version!
I've long suspected that CreateSpace and other vanity/self-pub platforms are a gift to plagiarists, but this is a particularly egregious - and stupid - example. After being exposed Walkers took down her blog and website and vanished from Facebook and Twitter. With any luck
Crashed Into You,
Save Me,
Chained and
Dream Come True will never see the light of day.
