Does OF SEA AND CLOUD by Jon Keller 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:
On September 23, 2013 and December 20, 2013, I submitted a query letter, synopsis, and first 50 pages of my novel to agent Eleanor Jackson at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner, who represents alleged infringer Jon Keller. (In 2013, Danielle Burby interned at the agency, see above website for connection.)
On September 23, 2013, I queried agent Danielle Burby at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.
On July 1, 2014, Of Sea and Cloud was published by Tyrus Books, owned by F+W Media, Inc. and Tinicum Partners, L.P.
Does OF SEA AND CLOUD Have Striking and Substantial Similarities to THE FISHER KING?
Identical main characters’ names: In The Fisher King: Randolph, Wesley. In Of Sea and Cloud: Randolph, Wesley.
Similar “royal” minor characters’ names: In The Fisher King: King, Regina. In Of Sea and Cloud: Royal James, Duke.
Identical use of main character’s nickname: In The Fisher King, only youngest son Randall, Jr. is called by nickname (Sonny), and older sons are not. In Of Sea and Cloud, only youngest son Joshua is called by nickname (Jonah), and older son is not.
Nearly identical use of myth in names: In The Fisher King, Gail symbolizes the grail knight; King believes a woman’s presence aboard ships is bad luck. In Of Sea and Cloud, Jonah symbolizes The Book of Jonah in 2 Kings 14:25; A “jonah” is someone whose presence aboard ships is bad luck.
Nearly identical boat names: In The Fisher King, named Gailforce. In Of Sea and Cloud, named Gail Warnings.
Nearly identical island names: In The Fisher King, named Barren Isle. In Of Sea and Cloud, called barren island.
Nearly identical images: In The Fisher King: burning landfill located on nearby Barren Isle. In Of Sea and Cloud, nearby Burnt Island.
Identical island description: In The Fisher King, claw-shaped landmass curves around harbor. In Of Sea and Cloud, claw-shaped landmass curves around harbor.
Nearly identical outbuildings: In The Fisher King: shed is small, isolated, in protected cove, with pumped water line, propane refrigerator. In Of Sea and Cloud, camp cottage is small, isolated, in protected cove, with pumped water line, propane refrigerator.
Similar Setting: In The Fisher King: small village on Chesapeake Bay island, coast. In Of Sea and Cloud: small village on Maine island, coast.
In The Fisher King, greed pushed big business (commercial farming and fishing) to over-farm and overfish, damaging the island and bay, depleting them of natural resources and fish, putting residents out of work, and finally forcing them to abandon the island. In Of Sea and Cloud, greed pushed big business (commercial lobstering) to overfish, damaging the coast and bay, depleting them of natural resources, putting residents out of work, and forcing some to abandon the island.
In The Fisher King, generations of Kingsley family have lived and worked on the island for over 200 years; patriarch King was successful businessmen who kept island employed in cannery, now in the red, he and watermen both welcome business plans for the fishery and resist change to traditional fishing. In Of Sea and Cloud, generations of Graves family have lived and worked on island/coast for years; Patriarchs Nicholas and Osmond were successful businessman, now in financial straits, Osmond and lobstermen both welcome business plans for lobster pound and resist change to traditional lobstering.
In The Fisher King, traditional commercial fishing is threatened by fluctuating price of catch, global marketplace, global warming, advanced technology, and competition from nearby watermen. In Of Sea and Cloud, traditional commercial lobstering is threatened by fluctuating price of catch, global marketplace, global warming, and competition from neighboring and Canadian lobstermen.
In The Fisher King, King is tyrannical, controlling patriarch who raised sons to be watermen, exerts power over family, espouses “family first.” In Of Sea and Cloud, Nicholas was tyrannical, controlling patriarch who raised sons to be lobstermen, exerted power over family; Osmond is tyrannical, controlling patriarch who exerts power over family, espouses “family first.”
In The Fisher King, two brothers left for college on mainland and return while one stayed behind to fish with father, is presumed family business heir. Only youngest son wants inherit fishery while two others do not. In Of Sea and Cloud, One brother left for college on mainland and returns while one stayed behind to fish with father, is presumed family business heir. Only ones son wants inherit lobster pound while other does not.
In The Fisher King, younger son Wes is dreamy, unsuited to farming, feigns interest; father causes his sudden death while farming. In Of Sea and Cloud, younger son Jonah is dreamy, unsuited to lobstering, feigns interest; father nearly causes his sudden death while fishing.
In The Fisher King, brothers-in-law (Don and Peter) have affairs with brother Sonny’s wife Gail, she becomes pregnant; Sonny nearly kills Don out of jealousy. In Of Sea and Cloud, brother-in-law Osmond has affair with brother Orrin’s wife Laura, she becomes pregnant; Osmond nearly kills Orrin out of jealousy.
In The Fisher King, guilt-stricken older sister Gail blames self for her role in younger brother Wes’s accidental death. In Of Sea and Cloud, guilt-stricken older brother Bill blames self for his role in younger brother Jonah’s near-death.
In The Fisher King, aging patriarch King falls ill but resists doctors. In Of Sea and Cloud, aging patriarch Virgil falls ill but resists doctors.
The Fisher King concludes with Gail’s pregnancy and birth. Of Sea and Cloud concludes with Erma Lee’s pregnancy.
The denouements are identical: The Fisher King ends ambiguously b/c neither big business, environmentalists, nor islanders win; patriarch dies; Gail gives birth to illegitimate baby; older sister Gail comes to terms with her guilt and moves on; younger son Sonny turns his back on family business and leaves home, gets free of father’s influence, gains maturity. Of Sea and Cloud ends ambiguously b/c neither big business nor islanders win; patriarch dies; Erma Lee is pregnant with illegitimate baby; Bill comes to terms with his guilt and moves on; younger son turns his back on family business and leaves home, gets free of father’s influence, gains maturity.
The themes are identical: In The Fisher King, identity strongly tied to being watermen; characters are trapped by circumstances of their own making but beyond their control; unresolved guilt over younger brother’s death determines a character’s actions; importance of inheriting and passing onto next generation fishing grounds, family business, genes, vanishing way of life, a future. In Of Sea and Cloud, identity strongly tied to being lobstermen; characters are trapped by circumstances of their own making but beyond their control; unresolved guilt over younger brother’s near-death determines a character’s actions; importance of inheriting and passing onto next generation lobster pound, family business, genes, vanishing way of life, a future.
Does OF SEA AND CLOUD 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 Of Sea and Cloud takes five of them:
Overfishing—Fishermen’s greed caused them to overfish fishing grounds, putting themselves out of work; turf wars with other fishermen
Work—The importance of work to identity; plan to turn fishing into business
Setting—The importance of place, specifically coastal area & historical connection to it, to identity
Inheritance—The importance of inheriting and passing on: fishing grounds, family business, land, genes, vanishing way of life
Illegitimacy—Female characters have affairs and illegitimate births to pass on: family name, genes, vanishing way of life, a future.
Does OF SEA AND CLOUD Have Line-by-Line Similarities to THE FISHER KING?
Jacket flap—Nicolas Graves raised his sons to be lobstermen. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 121—He’d [King] raised his sons to work the water.
8-throughout—main character named Osmond Randolph IDENTICAL TO 122-throughout—main character named Randolph Kingsley
10, 175—to Osmond Randolph friendships were finite whereas bloodlines were not. 175—Osmond was not the sort of man to abandon his family SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 215—“Business is one thing,” King interrupted sharply. “But family…family is something else again. You can always get more business, but you can never replace family”
15—where the barren island called Ram’s Head rose as if to plug the harbor mouth SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 97—informally, it was known as Barren Isle 101—Barren Isle lay before us like a broad, flat swath 152—On the other side of the curled spit north of Shad Strait lay Barren Isle.
26—the tide’s right up overtop the wharf...She’s lapping the bait house doors...Fuel pumps and all are going under. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 382—the bay overspilled our shores...then seeped under our doors...The rising tide rose over the docks.
27-28—Bill: The Downcoast Highliner is going into the lobster pound business with his big brother is what...I know we figured I’d take his share in the pound and you’d get the camp, but I’m thinking on you and me going in half partners. Jonah: I ain’t gardening lobster in that mud hole and counting numbers in books. Bill: You always was good with books. That pound is worth more’n twice what the camp is worth and so if we go partners with you taking a share of the pound, them numbers can work out. The price ain’t s**t but...by March the price’ll be up. Bill: You want in the pound or not? It’s family, Jonah. Always been...The pound’s...security. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 8—Each caught fish now cost us nearly twice as much in equipment, bait, and labor as when we’d first started nearly twenty years earlier...A number of other small fishing businesses up and down the bay had been slowly losing money for a while and cutting back on their fleet and crew to stay afloat 8—Since I kept the books 26—“Gail can keep the books” 218—I was doing the books... balancing the books each week fell to me 23—“Don’t you remember when...we went over the books together?” 215—“Business is one thing...But family…family is something else again. You can always get more business, but you can never replace family 267—[young watermens’]...self-reliance was shaky and they were after greater certainty, some sort of guarantee 335—If he liquidated all his holdings—factory, marina, fleet—he’d be able to keep his head above water.
31-32—Virgil: You’re not a businessman and you’re not a highliner like Nic and the Captain. Jonah: What am I then? Virgil: I haven’t told you the deal yet. I’m talking business. Jonah: I ain’t a businessman. I been thinking on moving out of this shithole and into the old man’s camp. Virgil: The price will go up, Jonah. Nic’s gone and the price is f**ked. The government’s got their fist so far up our asses that I can taste their f**king cuticles. Bait and fuel cost twice what they used to. Virgil: Listen to me, Jonah. This is important. You need to remember what matters here, what really goddamned matters. Price does not matter, not right now. What matters is who we are and what we do. Virgil tapped his chest with the rim of his glass...We got to fish hard. We have got to maintain. Jonah: Bill wants me in the pound with him and Osmond. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO Chapter 5—[Sonny and Gail move into father’s house; Gail moves into shed] 8—Each caught fish now cost us nearly twice as much in equipment, bait, and labor as when we’d first started nearly twenty years earlier 251—It was an endless tug-of-war between watermen and the government. Politicians claimed they were forced to police watermen who refused to police themselves 264—It was as though, loosed from their jobs, they had also lost touch with everything else they knew: not only their homes on the island but their place in the world not only their positions in the community but their very sense of themselves
38—most of the coastline was dark land that pinched the harbor like a claw STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 97—Two claw-shaped spits of land curved out from the western shore...Tucked inside the crook of each claw the breakwater protected a pair of harbors.
39, 284—Jonah heard the background rumble of Bill’s boat Gale Warnings. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 142—Maybe even get the Gailforce [boat] back.
41—Then later when the Jennifer [boat] was handed down from Nicolas to Bill to Jonah SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 238—“My granddaddy passed his boat down to my daddy who fished the same way. And my daddy handed his boat down to me and I did the same.”
42-43, 69—What if he cut Osmond’s ropes and tossed the buoys overboard and left Osmond’s traps lost like trash on the seafloor? If he let Osmond fish his territory then he may as well not fish at all...He hauled each trap and cut the nylon heads open so the traps would not continue to fish. Then he cut each buoy off and tossed the mess overboard...He’d heard stories about trap wars 69—They cut our traps? Those sonsofbitches cut our traps? SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 233—“are you suggesting we drive out newcomers by cutting their traplines like Maine lobstermen do?” 159—Virginia Capes. They returned well after dark, exhausted by the long day and the turf wars with Virginia watermen...They endured poaching and severed crabpot lines. Once, when they stopped to re-fuel, someone even threw their day’s catch overboard.
43—Nicholas had been fishing the Leviathan [fishing grounds] since before Jonah was born and territory was lineage. Osmond knew that. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 148—[the bay] was his heritage from his father and the generations of watermen who preceded him 80—King had inherited the fishing business from his daddy, who’d inherited it from his daddy going back as far as anyone could remember.
43—Jonah...nodded to himself as if finally agreeing with his own thoughts. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 202—He paused, as though to let his own words register, then nodded in agreement with himself 361—He nodded knowingly in agreement with himself.
45—The causeway led to a small island called Burnt 57-throughout—the Burnt Island 203—the coastline around Burnt Island 246—the dark head of Burnt Island 320—an island called Burnt. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 102—link it to Arster Point with a short causeway...Barren Isle lay before us like a broad, flat swath 153—On the other side of the curled spit north of Shad Strait lay Barren Isle...fires erupted...what was burning 359—fires often burned for days.
50—My goddamned friend Royal James 74—Virgil: Just been up visiting with Royal. Celeste: Visiting with Royal ...What were you doing with Royal James? SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 122—Randolph Kingsley was familiarly known by his last name—King for short. 185—they had jokingly given their father the royal “handle”
75—Do you need to see a doctor? 156—Celeste put her hand on his forehead. I’m calling a doctor...If you don’t look better in the morning, I’m calling a doctor 215—You don’t look so good, Virgil. You doing okay? Finger licking, Virgil said. Jonah: You sure? SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 235—King eschewed doctors 381—But he continued to maintain that there was nothing wrong with him and refused to see a doctor despite urging from Regina and Sonny.
86—Osmond: You can stay at the house, Julius. There’s the mooring there for you…so you know...you’re always welcome. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 201—“You tie up there as long as you want,” King said loudly. “That slip is yours as long as you need it” 278—Peter untied the Seapeace from the slip at King’s Cove and moored her off Arster Point instead.
84-throughout—Wesley IDENTICAL TO 13-throughout—Wesley
92-93—Virgil: Benji ain’t been well for years. But sell the wharf? He can’t do that...He doesn’t care about the fishermen or the harbor anymore. Says that’s what gave him the cancer. Virgil: Would it be bad to get bought up by one of these Boston conglomerates? Christ yes, it’ll be bad. Sell it to a local outfit. Celeste: There aren’t any local outfits. Virgil: Sure there are. Their pockets just aren’t as deep. The big money guys are buying wharves up and down the coast. If they own the wharves, then they’ll own the fishermen. Then we get pushed out. Jonah: They ain’t going to buy all the wharves. Virgil: The hell they ain’t, Jonah. Look around you. Look down the coast a hundred miles. What do you see? You see a handful of outfits buying everybody and everything up. When they get enough wharves then they control the price. Then we’re f**ked. He [Jonah] tried to imagine the wharf being run by some company out of Boston or New York but it seemed ridiculous. A small harbor wharf was the center of family and community...He said, But the price is supply and demand, just like anything. You said so yourself. Virgil grunted. It is for now. But that’s what the big boys want to change. They want to control the price. That’s when the lights go out. They did it with shrimp in the Gulf and they did it with crab in Alaska. All the fisheries are f**ked. We’re the last one, d**n near. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 424—The diagnosis—prostate cancer—surprised no one 222—“God, I hate those slimy developers and corporate types with their...deep pockets” 403—“Atlantic Seafood, with its deep pockets and easy access to institutional investors” 260—They were moneymen, too. They were hammering out some sort of deal, trying to come to terms 386—the moneymen in the restaurant with Pruitt 386—influential bigwigs, like the moneymen in the restaurant with Pruitt last summer, sought to wine-and-dine delegates in an attempt to sway their votes up until the final ballot 438—I saw the moneymen from the restaurant 135—“He’ll end up owning you” 224—It allows you to control the marketplace instead of being controlled by it 214—He began by explaining the law of supply and demand as it affects the food chain and how it, in turn, impacts commerce 224—“It’s called the law of supply and demand 390—“based operations on a different business model—the law of supply and demand” 225—“Or are we at the mercy of your law of supply and demand?” 200—“They tried to do the same thing to shrimpers in Louisiana and purse-seiners in the Gulf of Mexico”
229—A quota is just another word for a limit. By putting a limit on the number of fish you can catch—a limit they set—they’re trying to force you out of business. Fewer watermen means less competition for them. This adds up to another Atlantic Seafood monopoly. Do you want a corporation controlling how you earn a living? 5—the last inhabited island left on the bay.
94—His chest began to lurch and his knees shook and he felt as though Virgil had sucker-punched him... He knew Virgil was right but still wanted to say, You don’t know me. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 419—His chest caved in, as if he’d been sucker punched, and for a split second his body looked as if it would crumple in on itself 417—I stared at him. How little you know me, I thought.
95—The price of lobsters goes up twenty-five cents in Japan and…Some clamf**k restaurant chain in Tokyo decides to put lobster on their lunch menu and our world shifts SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 233—“The fisherman in Japan or China or Chile is your competition” 309—“The fish sandwich from your neighborhood McDonald’s comes from Chile. The fish oil in your cat food comes from the South China Sea. And fish that came out of the bay this morning end up on plates in Singapore tomorrow.
96—Virgil: he [Osmond] beats all hell out of [brother] Orrin...Beat the s**t right out of his own...brother. I mean beat him to a pulp...Laura comes screaming that Osmond is killed Orrin, Osmond killed Orrin. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 402-403—with one arm while the other came down on Don. It was all over in seconds. Don didn’t have time to fight back or cry out. He lay on the floor covered in blood, his limbs twisted at right angles, unconscious, and barely breathing while I screamed at Sonny to stop, please stop, stop killing him.
96—Celeste said, but she didn’t want an answer. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 214—He didn’t really expect an answer 345—He didn’t expect an answer 407—But he didn’t really expect an answer.
100—[Main character’s nearly identical “royal” name] Duke STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 122— Randolph Kingsley was familiarly known by his last name—King for short.
110—but Jonah was more interested in watching birds or clouds or currents. Sometimes Bill would hook one and hand his rod to Jonah and Jonah would feign excitement. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 31—Wes was dreamy 46—He was always an imaginative kid, given to daydreaming and drawing, off in his own little world 111—The puppyish, eager-to-please demeanor.
119—Osmond looked at Bill as if being patient with an adolescent. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 133—His smile turned indulgent. His head slowly wagged back and forth. “Gail, Gail,” he said in a gently reprimanding tone as though to a slow-witted child.
122—[he] held it to his stomach like a woman embracing her pregnancy...He couldn’t stop watching Julius as Julius watched the skull as if it were the only thing in this world. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 276—She glanced down at her [pregnant] belly cradled in her arms. 360—Sonny...gazed rapturously down into the baby’s sleeping face as if they were the only two people in the world.
126—This pound will bankrupt. We will go bankrupt. 136—There’s just no possible way to drain that pound and have those boys not go absolutely bankrupt. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 7—After the bankruptcy hearing. 8—bankruptcy began to look like the only way out 11—part of filing for bankruptcy... bankruptcy was a blessing in disguise.
128—Virgil: The price went up this morning. We got an extra quarter. Jonah: A quarter? Virgil: That’s right. Now we’re getting closer to half what it was last year. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 132—the business would net a mere $28,000 for the season: half of what Sonny and I had earned in years past 225—“the market price...If we charge, say, $1.25 for Number One Jimmies instead of a dollar.” 274—Peter’s warnings that competing among ourselves again would drive down the price of crabs to pre-strike numbers proved true. A week later, we lost the margin we’d gained and were back where we started. Number One Jimmies dropped to a dollar each. 281—“That’s a twenty-five percent increase...Now they’re back where they began, lucky to get seventy-five cents.”
152—I stayed home, and fished with the old man. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 422—“I’m the son who came back. I’m the one who carried on the family tradition. I’m the one who put in the years.” 80—The implicit promise was that Sonny, the son who’d stayed behind.
152—The sun wasn’t visible but it lit the world. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 144—Then the sun waked the world.
153—They heard the Leviathan before they could see it. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 194—I heard the sailboat before I saw it.
154—they faced each other as each silently beseeched the other. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 344—I looked from one to the other, silently beseeching them.
162—Jason: It was Nicolas who hated change, wasn’t it? STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 248—Like his father, Sonny had always strenuously resisted change.
162-165—The Chinese are the same. They want to slap a spiny two-claw b*****d on a plate and say that Osmond Randolph caught this thing yesterday and it’s still wet. Osmond: The fishermen in that harbor won’t like the idea. Not one bit of it. Jason: Why not? At the very least, they’ll get the same price as any other wharf. Osmond: It’s change, Jason. They don’t trust change. Especially from someone from away… I don’t like change but I accept it. Technology has changed and the market has changed so we must change. Virgil and Bill, they will fight it. They think we are still an isolated harbor surrounded by an endless sea. They don’t know this is a global economy. Their faith evolved from their grandfathers and earlier and they hold onto that because it is what they understand. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 309—the South China Sea. And fish that came out of the bay this morning end up on plates in Singapore tomorrow” 248—Like his father, Sonny had always strenuously resisted change 99—were still considered “foreigners” who were “from away” [first edition] 199—“you invested in all that high-tech equipment to make it easier to fish, right?” 262—“These men are kidding themselves! They want things to be like they used to be when fish were abundant and every man with a boat could be his own boss. But it’s not like that anymore.” 309—“Things aren’t like they were even a few years ago. The world economy is more interdependent today. Commerce, the marketplace, they’re no longer local they’re global now 392—“our economy has gone global. 80—King had inherited the fishing business from his daddy, who’d inherited it from his daddy going back as far as anyone could remember 238—“My granddaddy passed his boat down to my daddy who fished the same way. And my daddy handed his boat down to me and I did the same.”
177—Things are already changing. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 146—“You have to realize things have changed.”
182—Bunch of pussies is what they are...They’re a couple of pussies. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 185—They didn’t have say it their response said p***y.
187—Virgil...looked at his daughter in a way he’d never looked at her before…Celeste had seen the look before but never directed at their family. The look chilled her. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 421—he shot me a cautionary glance...It was a look I recognized from feral barn cats with a field mouse in their sights but had never once seen on Sonny’s face.
192—He shook his head at his own thoughts. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 133—I shook my head to clear my thoughts 180—I shook my head once, twice, to clear it.
206—she held a small pair of black lace panties in her hand...I wear this stuff for him, she said. And he don’t care. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 69—I’d tried everything I could think of in the last year plus a few things that had never occurred to me like mail-order black lingerie. Nothing worked [for Sonny].
213-214—Virgil: The end of the ocean is what it is…And it ripples down. The demand for lobsters in Asia goes up so the price goes up. All of a sudden this coast is worth something...Those markets f**k our lives, and it ain’t right, and it’ll get worse. Look at scallops or groundfish or salmon or crab. Big business runs the government so they make the regulations. That’s how they win. Now they have fish farms that run on computers and drift across the Atlantic…genetically engineered salmon. It’s real and it’s coming. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 260—“The bay is dying” 371— “You have to face the fact that the bay is dying” 255—I saw the ripple effect firsthand 301—Were the seed oysters genetically engineered? 309— having to do with fish farming and aquaculture 402—“the explosive growth of fish farming in Asia, Latin America, and Europe has introduced a new element of control into the fishing industry, giving them an edge in U.S. markets...groundfish, Alaska sea crabs, Atlantic scallops.
221—in his other pocket with his other hand found a hard candy. He unwrapped the candy and put it in his mouth. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 408—I rooted around in my purse...My hand came up holding a lint-covered cherry lozenge. I dusted it off and popped it into my mouth.
232—Placed his elbows on the table and held his fingertips together. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 314—King pondering this, hands tented, fingertips tapping 175—He leaned forward, tented his hands together.
232-235—Jason: Tell me our biggest problem. I mean, in our venture…The market’s flooded is the matter with your plans...The problem with what you’re doing is market. There just ain’t a market. Ten years ago we caught forty million pounds and now we catch over seventy-five. Next year it’ll be over ninety. That’s a lot of product. We can’t expect the market to support that...Global warming’s changing things…catch limits have put a dent in the trade...You fishermen think your nut size depends on your haul size. Well it doesn’t. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 199—“Were you aware that it’s [catch limit] gone up over 800 percent in the last ten years alone?” 264—I recalled reading that around the globe oceans were steadily rising—something to do with…global warming 274—the island...as it had been before climate change 224— “This overabundance floods the market, which drives prices down...Higher catch also results in diminished populations...And when there are fewer crabs for sale, the opposite happens. Prices rebound. Scarcity, the harder something is to come by, always drives prices up, right?”
248—His future was out there STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 250—“We don’t need...Any barriers between us and the future. It’s still out there.”
283—A bank of clouds like a mountain range stood at the other end of the sea. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 119—the sun dipping behind the overcast sky had left layers of gauzy blue peaks like a series of distant mountaintops.
286—Charlotte: What do you want? Julius: Just what I have. Just to go lobster fishing. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 13—“I don’t want another job!” he burst out...“I already have the job [fishing] I want.”
Jon Keller Reviews
Does OF SEA AND CLOUD by Jon Keller 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:
On September 23, 2013 and December 20, 2013, I submitted a query letter, synopsis, and first 50 pages of my novel to agent Eleanor Jackson at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner, who represents alleged infringer Jon Keller. (In 2013, Danielle Burby interned at the agency, see above website for connection.)
On September 23, 2013, I queried agent Danielle Burby at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.
On July 1, 2014, Of Sea and Cloud was published by Tyrus Books, owned by F+W Media, Inc. and Tinicum Partners, L.P.
Does OF SEA AND CLOUD Have Striking and Substantial Similarities to THE FISHER KING?
Identical main characters’ names: In The Fisher King: Randolph, Wesley. In Of Sea and Cloud: Randolph, Wesley.
Similar “royal” minor characters’ names: In The Fisher King: King, Regina. In Of Sea and Cloud: Royal James, Duke.
Identical use of main character’s nickname: In The Fisher King, only youngest son Randall, Jr. is called by nickname (Sonny), and older sons are not. In Of Sea and Cloud, only youngest son Joshua is called by nickname (Jonah), and older son is not.
Nearly identical use of myth in names: In The Fisher King, Gail symbolizes the grail knight; King believes a woman’s presence aboard ships is bad luck. In Of Sea and Cloud, Jonah symbolizes The Book of Jonah in 2 Kings 14:25; A “jonah” is someone whose presence aboard ships is bad luck.
Nearly identical boat names: In The Fisher King, named Gailforce. In Of Sea and Cloud, named Gail Warnings.
Nearly identical island names: In The Fisher King, named Barren Isle. In Of Sea and Cloud, called barren island.
Nearly identical images: In The Fisher King: burning landfill located on nearby Barren Isle. In Of Sea and Cloud, nearby Burnt Island.
Identical island description: In The Fisher King, claw-shaped landmass curves around harbor. In Of Sea and Cloud, claw-shaped landmass curves around harbor.
Nearly identical outbuildings: In The Fisher King: shed is small, isolated, in protected cove, with pumped water line, propane refrigerator. In Of Sea and Cloud, camp cottage is small, isolated, in protected cove, with pumped water line, propane refrigerator.
Similar Setting: In The Fisher King: small village on Chesapeake Bay island, coast. In Of Sea and Cloud: small village on Maine island, coast.
In The Fisher King, greed pushed big business (commercial farming and fishing) to over-farm and overfish, damaging the island and bay, depleting them of natural resources and fish, putting residents out of work, and finally forcing them to abandon the island. In Of Sea and Cloud, greed pushed big business (commercial lobstering) to overfish, damaging the coast and bay, depleting them of natural resources, putting residents out of work, and forcing some to abandon the island.
In The Fisher King, generations of Kingsley family have lived and worked on the island for over 200 years; patriarch King was successful businessmen who kept island employed in cannery, now in the red, he and watermen both welcome business plans for the fishery and resist change to traditional fishing. In Of Sea and Cloud, generations of Graves family have lived and worked on island/coast for years; Patriarchs Nicholas and Osmond were successful businessman, now in financial straits, Osmond and lobstermen both welcome business plans for lobster pound and resist change to traditional lobstering.
In The Fisher King, traditional commercial fishing is threatened by fluctuating price of catch, global marketplace, global warming, advanced technology, and competition from nearby watermen. In Of Sea and Cloud, traditional commercial lobstering is threatened by fluctuating price of catch, global marketplace, global warming, and competition from neighboring and Canadian lobstermen.
In The Fisher King, King is tyrannical, controlling patriarch who raised sons to be watermen, exerts power over family, espouses “family first.” In Of Sea and Cloud, Nicholas was tyrannical, controlling patriarch who raised sons to be lobstermen, exerted power over family; Osmond is tyrannical, controlling patriarch who exerts power over family, espouses “family first.”
In The Fisher King, two brothers left for college on mainland and return while one stayed behind to fish with father, is presumed family business heir. Only youngest son wants inherit fishery while two others do not. In Of Sea and Cloud, One brother left for college on mainland and returns while one stayed behind to fish with father, is presumed family business heir. Only ones son wants inherit lobster pound while other does not.
In The Fisher King, younger son Wes is dreamy, unsuited to farming, feigns interest; father causes his sudden death while farming. In Of Sea and Cloud, younger son Jonah is dreamy, unsuited to lobstering, feigns interest; father nearly causes his sudden death while fishing.
In The Fisher King, brothers-in-law (Don and Peter) have affairs with brother Sonny’s wife Gail, she becomes pregnant; Sonny nearly kills Don out of jealousy. In Of Sea and Cloud, brother-in-law Osmond has affair with brother Orrin’s wife Laura, she becomes pregnant; Osmond nearly kills Orrin out of jealousy.
In The Fisher King, guilt-stricken older sister Gail blames self for her role in younger brother Wes’s accidental death. In Of Sea and Cloud, guilt-stricken older brother Bill blames self for his role in younger brother Jonah’s near-death.
In The Fisher King, aging patriarch King falls ill but resists doctors. In Of Sea and Cloud, aging patriarch Virgil falls ill but resists doctors.
The Fisher King concludes with Gail’s pregnancy and birth. Of Sea and Cloud concludes with Erma Lee’s pregnancy.
The denouements are identical: The Fisher King ends ambiguously b/c neither big business, environmentalists, nor islanders win; patriarch dies; Gail gives birth to illegitimate baby; older sister Gail comes to terms with her guilt and moves on; younger son Sonny turns his back on family business and leaves home, gets free of father’s influence, gains maturity. Of Sea and Cloud ends ambiguously b/c neither big business nor islanders win; patriarch dies; Erma Lee is pregnant with illegitimate baby; Bill comes to terms with his guilt and moves on; younger son turns his back on family business and leaves home, gets free of father’s influence, gains maturity.
The themes are identical: In The Fisher King, identity strongly tied to being watermen; characters are trapped by circumstances of their own making but beyond their control; unresolved guilt over younger brother’s death determines a character’s actions; importance of inheriting and passing onto next generation fishing grounds, family business, genes, vanishing way of life, a future. In Of Sea and Cloud, identity strongly tied to being lobstermen; characters are trapped by circumstances of their own making but beyond their control; unresolved guilt over younger brother’s near-death determines a character’s actions; importance of inheriting and passing onto next generation lobster pound, family business, genes, vanishing way of life, a future.
Does OF SEA AND CLOUD 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 Of Sea and Cloud takes five of them:
Overfishing—Fishermen’s greed caused them to overfish fishing grounds, putting themselves out of work; turf wars with other fishermen
Work—The importance of work to identity; plan to turn fishing into business
Setting—The importance of place, specifically coastal area & historical connection to it, to identity
Inheritance—The importance of inheriting and passing on: fishing grounds, family business, land, genes, vanishing way of life
Illegitimacy—Female characters have affairs and illegitimate births to pass on: family name, genes, vanishing way of life, a future.
Does OF SEA AND CLOUD Have Line-by-Line Similarities to THE FISHER KING?
Jacket flap—Nicolas Graves raised his sons to be lobstermen. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 121—He’d [King] raised his sons to work the water.
8-throughout—main character named Osmond Randolph IDENTICAL TO 122-throughout—main character named Randolph Kingsley
10, 175—to Osmond Randolph friendships were finite whereas bloodlines were not. 175—Osmond was not the sort of man to abandon his family SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 215—“Business is one thing,” King interrupted sharply. “But family…family is something else again. You can always get more business, but you can never replace family”
15—where the barren island called Ram’s Head rose as if to plug the harbor mouth SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 97—informally, it was known as Barren Isle 101—Barren Isle lay before us like a broad, flat swath 152—On the other side of the curled spit north of Shad Strait lay Barren Isle.
26—the tide’s right up overtop the wharf...She’s lapping the bait house doors...Fuel pumps and all are going under. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 382—the bay overspilled our shores...then seeped under our doors...The rising tide rose over the docks.
27-28—Bill: The Downcoast Highliner is going into the lobster pound business with his big brother is what...I know we figured I’d take his share in the pound and you’d get the camp, but I’m thinking on you and me going in half partners. Jonah: I ain’t gardening lobster in that mud hole and counting numbers in books. Bill: You always was good with books. That pound is worth more’n twice what the camp is worth and so if we go partners with you taking a share of the pound, them numbers can work out. The price ain’t s**t but...by March the price’ll be up. Bill: You want in the pound or not? It’s family, Jonah. Always been...The pound’s...security. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 8—Each caught fish now cost us nearly twice as much in equipment, bait, and labor as when we’d first started nearly twenty years earlier...A number of other small fishing businesses up and down the bay had been slowly losing money for a while and cutting back on their fleet and crew to stay afloat 8—Since I kept the books 26—“Gail can keep the books” 218—I was doing the books... balancing the books each week fell to me 23—“Don’t you remember when...we went over the books together?” 215—“Business is one thing...But family…family is something else again. You can always get more business, but you can never replace family 267—[young watermens’]...self-reliance was shaky and they were after greater certainty, some sort of guarantee 335—If he liquidated all his holdings—factory, marina, fleet—he’d be able to keep his head above water.
31-32—Virgil: You’re not a businessman and you’re not a highliner like Nic and the Captain. Jonah: What am I then? Virgil: I haven’t told you the deal yet. I’m talking business. Jonah: I ain’t a businessman. I been thinking on moving out of this shithole and into the old man’s camp. Virgil: The price will go up, Jonah. Nic’s gone and the price is f**ked. The government’s got their fist so far up our asses that I can taste their f**king cuticles. Bait and fuel cost twice what they used to. Virgil: Listen to me, Jonah. This is important. You need to remember what matters here, what really goddamned matters. Price does not matter, not right now. What matters is who we are and what we do. Virgil tapped his chest with the rim of his glass...We got to fish hard. We have got to maintain. Jonah: Bill wants me in the pound with him and Osmond. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO Chapter 5—[Sonny and Gail move into father’s house; Gail moves into shed] 8—Each caught fish now cost us nearly twice as much in equipment, bait, and labor as when we’d first started nearly twenty years earlier 251—It was an endless tug-of-war between watermen and the government. Politicians claimed they were forced to police watermen who refused to police themselves 264—It was as though, loosed from their jobs, they had also lost touch with everything else they knew: not only their homes on the island but their place in the world not only their positions in the community but their very sense of themselves
38—most of the coastline was dark land that pinched the harbor like a claw STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 97—Two claw-shaped spits of land curved out from the western shore...Tucked inside the crook of each claw the breakwater protected a pair of harbors.
39, 284—Jonah heard the background rumble of Bill’s boat Gale Warnings. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 142—Maybe even get the Gailforce [boat] back.
41—Then later when the Jennifer [boat] was handed down from Nicolas to Bill to Jonah SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 238—“My granddaddy passed his boat down to my daddy who fished the same way. And my daddy handed his boat down to me and I did the same.”
42-43, 69—What if he cut Osmond’s ropes and tossed the buoys overboard and left Osmond’s traps lost like trash on the seafloor? If he let Osmond fish his territory then he may as well not fish at all...He hauled each trap and cut the nylon heads open so the traps would not continue to fish. Then he cut each buoy off and tossed the mess overboard...He’d heard stories about trap wars 69—They cut our traps? Those sonsofbitches cut our traps? SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 233—“are you suggesting we drive out newcomers by cutting their traplines like Maine lobstermen do?” 159—Virginia Capes. They returned well after dark, exhausted by the long day and the turf wars with Virginia watermen...They endured poaching and severed crabpot lines. Once, when they stopped to re-fuel, someone even threw their day’s catch overboard.
43—Nicholas had been fishing the Leviathan [fishing grounds] since before Jonah was born and territory was lineage. Osmond knew that. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 148—[the bay] was his heritage from his father and the generations of watermen who preceded him 80—King had inherited the fishing business from his daddy, who’d inherited it from his daddy going back as far as anyone could remember.
43—Jonah...nodded to himself as if finally agreeing with his own thoughts. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 202—He paused, as though to let his own words register, then nodded in agreement with himself 361—He nodded knowingly in agreement with himself.
45—The causeway led to a small island called Burnt 57-throughout—the Burnt Island 203—the coastline around Burnt Island 246—the dark head of Burnt Island 320—an island called Burnt. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 102—link it to Arster Point with a short causeway...Barren Isle lay before us like a broad, flat swath 153—On the other side of the curled spit north of Shad Strait lay Barren Isle...fires erupted...what was burning 359—fires often burned for days.
50—My goddamned friend Royal James 74—Virgil: Just been up visiting with Royal. Celeste: Visiting with Royal ...What were you doing with Royal James? SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 122—Randolph Kingsley was familiarly known by his last name—King for short. 185—they had jokingly given their father the royal “handle”
75—Do you need to see a doctor? 156—Celeste put her hand on his forehead. I’m calling a doctor...If you don’t look better in the morning, I’m calling a doctor 215—You don’t look so good, Virgil. You doing okay? Finger licking, Virgil said. Jonah: You sure? SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 235—King eschewed doctors 381—But he continued to maintain that there was nothing wrong with him and refused to see a doctor despite urging from Regina and Sonny.
86—Osmond: You can stay at the house, Julius. There’s the mooring there for you…so you know...you’re always welcome. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 201—“You tie up there as long as you want,” King said loudly. “That slip is yours as long as you need it” 278—Peter untied the Seapeace from the slip at King’s Cove and moored her off Arster Point instead.
84-throughout—Wesley IDENTICAL TO 13-throughout—Wesley
92-93—Virgil: Benji ain’t been well for years. But sell the wharf? He can’t do that...He doesn’t care about the fishermen or the harbor anymore. Says that’s what gave him the cancer. Virgil: Would it be bad to get bought up by one of these Boston conglomerates? Christ yes, it’ll be bad. Sell it to a local outfit. Celeste: There aren’t any local outfits. Virgil: Sure there are. Their pockets just aren’t as deep. The big money guys are buying wharves up and down the coast. If they own the wharves, then they’ll own the fishermen. Then we get pushed out. Jonah: They ain’t going to buy all the wharves. Virgil: The hell they ain’t, Jonah. Look around you. Look down the coast a hundred miles. What do you see? You see a handful of outfits buying everybody and everything up. When they get enough wharves then they control the price. Then we’re f**ked. He [Jonah] tried to imagine the wharf being run by some company out of Boston or New York but it seemed ridiculous. A small harbor wharf was the center of family and community...He said, But the price is supply and demand, just like anything. You said so yourself. Virgil grunted. It is for now. But that’s what the big boys want to change. They want to control the price. That’s when the lights go out. They did it with shrimp in the Gulf and they did it with crab in Alaska. All the fisheries are f**ked. We’re the last one, d**n near. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 424—The diagnosis—prostate cancer—surprised no one 222—“God, I hate those slimy developers and corporate types with their...deep pockets” 403—“Atlantic Seafood, with its deep pockets and easy access to institutional investors” 260—They were moneymen, too. They were hammering out some sort of deal, trying to come to terms 386—the moneymen in the restaurant with Pruitt 386—influential bigwigs, like the moneymen in the restaurant with Pruitt last summer, sought to wine-and-dine delegates in an attempt to sway their votes up until the final ballot 438—I saw the moneymen from the restaurant 135—“He’ll end up owning you” 224—It allows you to control the marketplace instead of being controlled by it 214—He began by explaining the law of supply and demand as it affects the food chain and how it, in turn, impacts commerce 224—“It’s called the law of supply and demand 390—“based operations on a different business model—the law of supply and demand” 225—“Or are we at the mercy of your law of supply and demand?” 200—“They tried to do the same thing to shrimpers in Louisiana and purse-seiners in the Gulf of Mexico”
229—A quota is just another word for a limit. By putting a limit on the number of fish you can catch—a limit they set—they’re trying to force you out of business. Fewer watermen means less competition for them. This adds up to another Atlantic Seafood monopoly. Do you want a corporation controlling how you earn a living? 5—the last inhabited island left on the bay.
94—His chest began to lurch and his knees shook and he felt as though Virgil had sucker-punched him... He knew Virgil was right but still wanted to say, You don’t know me. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 419—His chest caved in, as if he’d been sucker punched, and for a split second his body looked as if it would crumple in on itself 417—I stared at him. How little you know me, I thought.
95—The price of lobsters goes up twenty-five cents in Japan and…Some clamf**k restaurant chain in Tokyo decides to put lobster on their lunch menu and our world shifts SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 233—“The fisherman in Japan or China or Chile is your competition” 309—“The fish sandwich from your neighborhood McDonald’s comes from Chile. The fish oil in your cat food comes from the South China Sea. And fish that came out of the bay this morning end up on plates in Singapore tomorrow.
96—Virgil: he [Osmond] beats all hell out of [brother] Orrin...Beat the s**t right out of his own...brother. I mean beat him to a pulp...Laura comes screaming that Osmond is killed Orrin, Osmond killed Orrin. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 402-403—with one arm while the other came down on Don. It was all over in seconds. Don didn’t have time to fight back or cry out. He lay on the floor covered in blood, his limbs twisted at right angles, unconscious, and barely breathing while I screamed at Sonny to stop, please stop, stop killing him.
96—Celeste said, but she didn’t want an answer. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 214—He didn’t really expect an answer 345—He didn’t expect an answer 407—But he didn’t really expect an answer.
100—[Main character’s nearly identical “royal” name] Duke STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 122— Randolph Kingsley was familiarly known by his last name—King for short.
110—but Jonah was more interested in watching birds or clouds or currents. Sometimes Bill would hook one and hand his rod to Jonah and Jonah would feign excitement. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 31—Wes was dreamy 46—He was always an imaginative kid, given to daydreaming and drawing, off in his own little world 111—The puppyish, eager-to-please demeanor.
119—Osmond looked at Bill as if being patient with an adolescent. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 133—His smile turned indulgent. His head slowly wagged back and forth. “Gail, Gail,” he said in a gently reprimanding tone as though to a slow-witted child.
122—[he] held it to his stomach like a woman embracing her pregnancy...He couldn’t stop watching Julius as Julius watched the skull as if it were the only thing in this world. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 276—She glanced down at her [pregnant] belly cradled in her arms. 360—Sonny...gazed rapturously down into the baby’s sleeping face as if they were the only two people in the world.
126—This pound will bankrupt. We will go bankrupt. 136—There’s just no possible way to drain that pound and have those boys not go absolutely bankrupt. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 7—After the bankruptcy hearing. 8—bankruptcy began to look like the only way out 11—part of filing for bankruptcy... bankruptcy was a blessing in disguise.
128—Virgil: The price went up this morning. We got an extra quarter. Jonah: A quarter? Virgil: That’s right. Now we’re getting closer to half what it was last year. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 132—the business would net a mere $28,000 for the season: half of what Sonny and I had earned in years past 225—“the market price...If we charge, say, $1.25 for Number One Jimmies instead of a dollar.” 274—Peter’s warnings that competing among ourselves again would drive down the price of crabs to pre-strike numbers proved true. A week later, we lost the margin we’d gained and were back where we started. Number One Jimmies dropped to a dollar each. 281—“That’s a twenty-five percent increase...Now they’re back where they began, lucky to get seventy-five cents.”
152—I stayed home, and fished with the old man. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 422—“I’m the son who came back. I’m the one who carried on the family tradition. I’m the one who put in the years.” 80—The implicit promise was that Sonny, the son who’d stayed behind.
152—The sun wasn’t visible but it lit the world. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 144—Then the sun waked the world.
153—They heard the Leviathan before they could see it. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 194—I heard the sailboat before I saw it.
154—they faced each other as each silently beseeched the other. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 344—I looked from one to the other, silently beseeching them.
162—Jason: It was Nicolas who hated change, wasn’t it? STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 248—Like his father, Sonny had always strenuously resisted change.
162-165—The Chinese are the same. They want to slap a spiny two-claw b*****d on a plate and say that Osmond Randolph caught this thing yesterday and it’s still wet. Osmond: The fishermen in that harbor won’t like the idea. Not one bit of it. Jason: Why not? At the very least, they’ll get the same price as any other wharf. Osmond: It’s change, Jason. They don’t trust change. Especially from someone from away… I don’t like change but I accept it. Technology has changed and the market has changed so we must change. Virgil and Bill, they will fight it. They think we are still an isolated harbor surrounded by an endless sea. They don’t know this is a global economy. Their faith evolved from their grandfathers and earlier and they hold onto that because it is what they understand. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 309—the South China Sea. And fish that came out of the bay this morning end up on plates in Singapore tomorrow” 248—Like his father, Sonny had always strenuously resisted change 99—were still considered “foreigners” who were “from away” [first edition] 199—“you invested in all that high-tech equipment to make it easier to fish, right?” 262—“These men are kidding themselves! They want things to be like they used to be when fish were abundant and every man with a boat could be his own boss. But it’s not like that anymore.” 309—“Things aren’t like they were even a few years ago. The world economy is more interdependent today. Commerce, the marketplace, they’re no longer local they’re global now 392—“our economy has gone global. 80—King had inherited the fishing business from his daddy, who’d inherited it from his daddy going back as far as anyone could remember 238—“My granddaddy passed his boat down to my daddy who fished the same way. And my daddy handed his boat down to me and I did the same.”
177—Things are already changing. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 146—“You have to realize things have changed.”
182—Bunch of pussies is what they are...They’re a couple of pussies. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 185—They didn’t have say it their response said p***y.
187—Virgil...looked at his daughter in a way he’d never looked at her before…Celeste had seen the look before but never directed at their family. The look chilled her. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 421—he shot me a cautionary glance...It was a look I recognized from feral barn cats with a field mouse in their sights but had never once seen on Sonny’s face.
192—He shook his head at his own thoughts. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 133—I shook my head to clear my thoughts 180—I shook my head once, twice, to clear it.
206—she held a small pair of black lace panties in her hand...I wear this stuff for him, she said. And he don’t care. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 69—I’d tried everything I could think of in the last year plus a few things that had never occurred to me like mail-order black lingerie. Nothing worked [for Sonny].
213-214—Virgil: The end of the ocean is what it is…And it ripples down. The demand for lobsters in Asia goes up so the price goes up. All of a sudden this coast is worth something...Those markets f**k our lives, and it ain’t right, and it’ll get worse. Look at scallops or groundfish or salmon or crab. Big business runs the government so they make the regulations. That’s how they win. Now they have fish farms that run on computers and drift across the Atlantic…genetically engineered salmon. It’s real and it’s coming. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 260—“The bay is dying” 371— “You have to face the fact that the bay is dying” 255—I saw the ripple effect firsthand 301—Were the seed oysters genetically engineered? 309— having to do with fish farming and aquaculture 402—“the explosive growth of fish farming in Asia, Latin America, and Europe has introduced a new element of control into the fishing industry, giving them an edge in U.S. markets...groundfish, Alaska sea crabs, Atlantic scallops.
221—in his other pocket with his other hand found a hard candy. He unwrapped the candy and put it in his mouth. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 408—I rooted around in my purse...My hand came up holding a lint-covered cherry lozenge. I dusted it off and popped it into my mouth.
232—Placed his elbows on the table and held his fingertips together. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 314—King pondering this, hands tented, fingertips tapping 175—He leaned forward, tented his hands together.
232-235—Jason: Tell me our biggest problem. I mean, in our venture…The market’s flooded is the matter with your plans...The problem with what you’re doing is market. There just ain’t a market. Ten years ago we caught forty million pounds and now we catch over seventy-five. Next year it’ll be over ninety. That’s a lot of product. We can’t expect the market to support that...Global warming’s changing things…catch limits have put a dent in the trade...You fishermen think your nut size depends on your haul size. Well it doesn’t. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 199—“Were you aware that it’s [catch limit] gone up over 800 percent in the last ten years alone?” 264—I recalled reading that around the globe oceans were steadily rising—something to do with…global warming 274—the island...as it had been before climate change 224— “This overabundance floods the market, which drives prices down...Higher catch also results in diminished populations...And when there are fewer crabs for sale, the opposite happens. Prices rebound. Scarcity, the harder something is to come by, always drives prices up, right?”
248—His future was out there STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 250—“We don’t need...Any barriers between us and the future. It’s still out there.”
283—A bank of clouds like a mountain range stood at the other end of the sea. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 119—the sun dipping behind the overcast sky had left layers of gauzy blue peaks like a series of distant mountaintops.
286—Charlotte: What do you want? Julius: Just what I have. Just to go lobster fishing. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 13—“I don’t want another job!” he burst out...“I already have the job [fishing] I want.”