[issybird]

I'm not accusing Gabaldon of plagiarism, which would be very serious indeed, just saying she was greatly influenced by an earlier novel. In fairness, that's not the same as fanfic; she did change the names, lol! Nor did she copy from it verbatim.

It is entirely bizarre, however, that she thinks fanfic is teh evil, when it's people (her fans!) having fun with her books with no monetary incentive, but she thinks it's entirely ok for an established author to plagiarize public domain books without disclosure and for profit.

ETA: What bothers me most in all of this is that she'd puff her son's work without disclosing their relationship.