History CowboyBeBopAtHisComputer / Literature

* To continue with Terry Pratchett, several news people have reported on the similarity between the ''Discworld'' series and the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series based on the presence of a wizarding school (Unseen University, which is clearly a college parody and not a magical boarding school like Hogwarts) and the presence of the Christmas-like holiday Hogswatch, which sounds a bit like Hogwarts. Pratchett's responses to these claims have been polite, well-thought out versions of "What? No."

* Similarly, Creator/DianeDuane's ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series has been accused of ripping off ''Literature/HarryPotter'' by people who don't realize that Diane was writing them ''twenty years'' before JK Rowling first put pen to paper.

** A Swiss teenage magazine published an article right before the release of DH, claiming that the next book will contain "the first Harry Potter sex scene ever". They also published a list of possible endings for the book, including "Dumbledore isn't dead, [[HesJustHiding he hid in the lake]] after Snape killed him," (er... what about the body?) and "Ron turns evil and slips poison into Harry's pumpkin juice". After DH was actually released, they claimed that "Ginny gives Harry her virginity as a birthday gift."[[note]]In the actual book, they just have a passionate kiss [[MomentKiller and are interrupted by Ron.]][[/note]] They also published a Draco/Harry manip and seemed to believe that Daniel Radcliffe and Tom Felton came out of the closet and were in a relationship.

* The 1998 sf textbook ''Decades of Science Fiction'' says "[[Creator/MarionZimmerBradley Bradley's]] husband, Leigh Brackett, wrote ''The Literature/{{Darkover}} [[UniverseConcordance Concordance]]: A Reader's Guide'' (1979) to help sort out the complexities of the series." Creator/LeighBrackett was a woman sf author who died in 1978. Bradley's husband and the author of the ''Concordance'' was Walter H. Breen.

* Angus Fletcher's ''Wonderworks'' [[https://slate.com/culture/2021/03/wonderworks-angus-fletcher-review.html]] does this to the extreme of ComicallyMissingThePoint. He claims that authors down through history have invented various literary devices that change readers' psychoneurology to help cope with things like grief, loss and loneliness. His examples border on the absurd, and occasionally cross that line. Did you know that Creator/WilliamShakespeare 's ''Theater/{{Hamlet}}'' was really written to help you process your own personal losses?

* In 2021, the British Royal Mint issued a two-pound coin in celebration of Creator/HGWells which managed to fit in at least three egregious errors: depicting ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'' with a top hat, the tripods from ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' with ''four'' legs (as if there wasn't a clue in the name) and a quote, "Books are warehouses of ideas" which is (i) extremely obscure, (ii) wrong (the original line refers to ''ideals'', not ''ideas'') and (iii) [[IsntItIronic means the opposite to what the coin implies]] as it's spoken by a character who is arguing that the ideals stored in books should ''stay'' there instead of being acted on.

** Thus the necessity for WNYC Studios' ''On the Media'' guide, ''[[https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/articles/breaking-news-consumers-handbook-pdf The Breaking News Consumers' Handbook]]'' and [[https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/breaking-news-consumer-handbook-fake-news-edition its]] [[https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/breaking-news-consumers-handbook-gender-and-politics-edition]] [[https://www.wnyc.org/story/breaking-news-consumers-handbook-airline-edition/ many]] [[https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/breaking-news-consumers-handbook-infectious-disease-edition-article iterations]] for specific kinds of disasters and events. [[https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/projects/breaking-news-consumers-handbook Print these out]] and carry copies with you or put them up on the wall over your tv set. There is a special edition [[https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/breaking-news-consumers-handbook-bearing-witness-edition-2 for people recording events with the camera on their phone]].

* In 2021, the British Royal Mint issued a two-pound coin in celebration of Creator/HGWells which managed to fit in at least three egregious errors: depicting ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'' with a top hat, the tripods from ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' with ''four'' legs (as if there wasn't a clue in the name) and a quote, "Books are warehouses of ideas" which is (i) extremely obscure, (ii) wrong (the original line refers to ''ideals'', not ''ideas'') and (iii) [[Isn'tItIronic means the opposite to what the coin implies]] as it's spoken by a character who is arguing that the ideals stored in books should ''stay'' there instead of being acted on.

* A review was circulated on several sites of the ''Mortal Instruments'' trilogy by Cassandra Cla(i)re, formerly a BigNameFan in the Harry Potter fandom. It claimed that she took the title of her books from a Harry/Draco FanFic she had once written, and quoted a few paragraphs. In fact they came from another of her stories, and the fanfic originally titled ''Mortal Instruments'' was a tale of BrotherSisterIncest between Ron and Ginny.
** However, she had committed plagiarism in her fanfics previously, so this person had obviously done ''some'' research -- making the errors all the odder.
* A Game Informer preview of the then-upcoming ''VideoGame/{{Genji}}'' for Playstation 2 described it as based on ''Literature/TheTaleOfGenji.'' Given that said work was a '''romance''', it would have led to a very different game than the actual result... which was based on ''TheTaleOfTheHeike''.

** The characters of ''1984'' never talk about something called "Tiny Train Town" at any point.

** In general, a RunningGag among the casual fans and press is to point out that Harry has "saved the school X times" everytime someone doubts or mistrusts Harry, X being the number of previous books. To say that Harry makes a habit of "saving the school" is extremely inaccurate; while he certifiably did so in the second book, none of the other books feature him doing any such thing. Plus, all of his heroics involve excessive rule-breaking and have few witnesses; acting as if Harry should be treated like a hero who saves the school and that mistrust of him is dictated by RuleOfDrama is a solid example of this trope.

* In Britain in 2005, there briefly appeared a Swiss chocolate called Baci (similar to Ferrero Rochers, but predating them in Switzerland), the wrappers of which contained fortune-cookie-style slips with sayings or quotes on them. One such had the quote "[[GrowOldWithMe Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be]]", which it attributed to George Sand. It's actually the first two lines of ''Rabbi Ben Ezra'' by Robert Browning.

* In ''A Companion to the American Novel'', Bendixen describes criticism directed at ''Literature/UncleTomsCabin'''s "racial stereotyping of its major African American characters, especially Tom and Little Eva". [[SpoiledSweet Eva]] is not black.

* Creator/RussellTDavies once defended Disney's ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'' by saying "many more millions of children than have ever read the original Creator/OscarWilde story can come to know and love 'The Little Mermaid'." ''Literature/TheLittleMermaid'' might have the same sort of ''feel'' as Wilde's children's stories, but it was by Creator/HansChristianAndersen.

## He’s been dead for three years. The tribute came from his assistant, who still runs the @terryandrob Twitter feed.

** If you read the blurb to the first American edition of ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'', you'd be confronted with the question "Who in this world, or any other, would write a novel about a football team that falls victim to a pack of wily elves?" Now, it's understandable that Americans might not "get" Morris dancing, but...
** Marvel at the Worcestershire Library Service's [[http://capitadiscovery.co.uk/worcs/items/629079 summary]] of ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'': "The Hogswatchnight yuletide season is disrupted by the evil deeds of the Auditors, who replace the red-suited Hogfather with a scythe-bearing demon, prompting the Unseen University wizards and their monster-bashing nanny to launch a rescue plan." Parts of it are partly correct; the most notable error is that the sycthe-bearing replacement is not a demon and is ''also'' trying to [[SavingChristmas save Hogswatch]] from the Auditors. Also, while Susan is a nanny (well, technically a governess) and working with the wizards, she's not "their" nanny, although she'd probably be the first to say they need one. What's baffling about this is that the mistakes look like ones made by someone who only read the cover blurb - but they get things ''right'' that aren't in the blurb (it doesn't mention the Auditors, for example).

*** There is also the fact that ''Discworld/TheColourOfMagic'' was written about a decade before the first ''Literature/{{Harry Potter|and the Philosophers Stone}}'' book was released.

** A deliberately poorly-written synopsis from [[http://www.flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/homework.htm the Tolkien Sarcasm Page]] was used as a source by the London Times.

* As of February 2017, there are 412 ratings (including at least one 1-star rating) of the fourth Literature/CormoranStrikeNovels book on [[http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28170940-untitled GoodReads]] -- despite the fact that absolutely nothing at all is known about this book (including its title, and when or even ''if'' it will be published), making all those "ratings" so much hot air.

** A book erroneously titled ''The Anime Encyclopedia'' not only fell under this trope, they leaped under its wheels like [[UrbanLegend crazed Krishna worshippers beneath a juggernaut.]]

* In ''WebVideo/TheDomReviews'' episode on ''Literature/{{Goldfinger}}'' and [[Film/{{Goldfinger}} it's film adaptation]], the Dom complains about how often the phrase "yellow-faced bastard" was used in the book... but a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHjnrDi6S5s response video]] shows that "yellow-faced bastard" is ''never used at all'' in the book (though to be fair the responder does find another offensive phrase which The Dom may have been thinking of).

** WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic once referred to "Harry Potter [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Ring Wraith]] rip-offs". Dementors and Ring Wraiths share ''nothing'' beyond a superficial appearance; while both wear black cloaks, Dementors can fly, feed on happy memories, steal souls and spawn in dark, hopeless places, whereas the Ring Wraiths are nine corrupted humans drawn to the One Ring's power.

** WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic once referred to "Harry Potter [[LordOfTheRings Ring Wraith]] rip-offs". Dementors and Ring Wraiths share ''nothing'' beyond a superficial appearance; while both wear black cloaks, Dementors can fly, feed on happy memories, steal souls and spawn in dark, hopeless places, whereas the Ring Wraiths are nine corrupted humans drawn to the One Ring's power.

* The people profiled in Time Magazine's "Man/Woman/Person of the Year" issues have always been picked by their relevancy during a given year, not to promote the best leaders. Several news websites, particularly those with a right-wing conspiracy theory bias, were shocked (or perhaps, ''pretended'' to be shocked) to see that Time "endorsed" UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler as its "Man of the Year" during the height of the Third Reich. Anyone who actually ''read'' the issue would have learned that the magazine was calling him off for being the sick bastard that he was, not praising him.

** In the ''Literature/WaxAndWayne'' series Bands of Mourning claims that a Kandra researcher has gotten to Elendel with evidence of the legendary Bands of mourning. Except the entire premise of the novel is that the Kandra never managed to reach Elendel and only two images came back, one of which may have hinted to the bands existence and the other foul play. Wax is only contacted in order to find the missing Kandra in the first place.

** In ''Literature/Warbreaker'' it is claimed that it follows the story of a lesser God and an immortal trying to undo their mistakes made hundreds of years ago. Firstly the Lesser God, referring to the character Lightsong, is not a lesser God in his pantheon at all. He is actually at the current moment one of the main gods. The only God he is lesser to in anyway is the God King, and even then every God in the pantheon is lesser to him. Also the immortal, referring to [[spoiler: Vasher]] isn't attempting to undo any of their past mistakes. Rather they are trying to prevent a war from happening in the present. The closest thing to having trouble with past mistakes is that if [[spoiler: Conflict with Denth who he new from earlier in his life. Even then the conflict has nothing to do with the past but rather trying to stop a war in the present. Only Denth, an entirely different character, is trying to get revenge for the past but still is not trying to undo any mistake.]]

** The UK blurbs off the books make it very clear whoever wrote them didn't read or didn't understand the text. For the book of ''Literature/TheWayofKings'' the blurb claims that the book is about a war over shard blades. Whilst there is a war happening throughout the book that war has nothing to do with trying to get shard blades at all.

** For ''Literature/WordsofRadiance'' part 2 says the character Janash Kholin is the sister to Dalinar Kholin when she is actually his niece. It also says that Janash is caught up in the war despite the fact [[spoiler: she dies in part one.]] [[spoiler: Except not really. Even still though by the time she returns the war is already over. She never partook in it in anyway.]]
** In ''Literature/Oathbringer'' it is said the character Shallan Davar is a man. She is a woman. It also claims she tries to unite the worlds nations despite the fact that is Dalinar Kholins story arc. It seems whoever wrote the blurb somehow got confused between the two characters and combined their story arcs.
** In ''Literature/Mistborn'' for the book the Well of Ascension it is claimed in the blurb that Vin is now the most powerful mistborn in all of Scadrial. This is plainly incorrect as a more powerful mistborn than her is an important character in the book.
** In the Wax and Wayne series Bands of Mourning claims that a Kandra researcher has gotten to Elendel with evidence of the legendary Bands of mourning. Except the entire premise of the novel is that the Kandra never managed to reach Elendel and only two images came back, one of which may have hinted to the bands existence and the other foul play. Wax is only contacted in order to find the missing Kandra in the first place.

** The UK blurbs off the books make it very clear whoever wrote them didn't read or didn't understand the text. For the book of ''StormlightArchive/TheWayofKings'' the blurb claims that the book is about a war over shard blades. Whilst there is a war happening throughout the book that war has nothing to do with trying to get shard blades at all.
** For part two of The Way of Kings claims that Shallan carries out research throughout the book that reveals the true cause of the war. No such thing happens, the closest there is to this claim is the character Janash researching into the history of the Knight Radiant [[Spoiler: She also discovers the true nature of their enemy the parshendi during the war as voidbringers. This still has nothing to do with the current war they are fighting though.]]
** For ''StormlightArchive/WordsofRadiance'' part 2 says the character Janash Kholin is the sister to Dalinar Kholin when she is actually his niece. It also says that Janash is caught up in the war despite the fact [[Spoiler: she dies in part one.]] [[spoiler: Except not really. Even still though by the time she returns the war is already over. She never partook in it in anyway.]]