The noise you hear is me smacking my head agains the table.

It's now not enough I have to patrol pirate file sites for my stuff. Apparently I have to also now patrol sites where writers can post writing.

I found a site where some nimrod was in the process of posting my book, "Love Slave for Two." AND passing it off as their own. Get this -- they'd copied, word for word, the cover blurb that appears on my publisher's site. And on all the third-party sites where it's legally for sale. Including Kindle.

Where it was NUMBER ONE IN EROTICA in the Kindle store, and currently is holding pretty steady in the top ten and has been for the past several weeks.

People had posted comments liking the book, and this a$$hole posted thanks like they were taking credit for writing it!!!!

I mean, it either takes a set of brass f***ing balls or zero brain cells (or both) to post something as your own that's a best seller.

And not only me, but ALL the other postings in this user's account were illegally posted, copyrighted, PUBLISHED books!!! Again, this jerk was taking credit for having written them!!!

And it took me all of five minutes to track down the correct publisher and author and another hour or so to report the f***er to not only the website honchos, but to the publishers as well.

I mean, HELLLOOOOO!!!!

Let's go over this ONE. MORE. TIME. (I apologize to those of you who aren't thieves and/or morons. This isn't directed at you, this is directed at the jerks who are THIEVES and apparently don't understand why STEALING IS WRONG.)

When you buy an ebook, you do NOT have the same rights to it as you do a dead-tree book!!

• YOU CANNOT SHARE IT.
• YOU CANNOT SELL IT/RESELL IT.
• YOU CANNOT GIVE IT AWAY.
• YOU CANNOT UPLOAD IT.
• YOU CANNOT POST IT ON ANY WEBSITE.
• YOU CANNOT CLAIM IT AS YOUR WORK.
• YOU CANNOT OFFER IT AS A PRIZE IN A CONTEST.
• YOU CAN delete it off your computer/reader if you don't want it anymore.

Capice? All right? I work DAMN hard to make a living writing. And while I'm flattered someone likes my work enough to share it or try to plagiarize it, hello, it's STEALING to do that!

Grrrr.

Sorry to rant. But dammit, if you wouldn't steal in "real life" what makes you think it's okay to post something to another site??? Or maybe these people do steal in real life too.

GRRRRRRRR!