Blue Worlds Revisited

A few posts back I related some peculiar similarities I'd noted between the new movie Avatar and a short story I had read a few years back by Jeffrey Thomas. Searching the net, I discovered Thomas's blog and learned the short story in question has in fact matured into a full-fledged book entitled Blue Wars, published in February 2008. I sent Thomas an email outlining my experience of rediscovering his story and he was kind enough to reply.

It turns out I'm not the only person who's pointed out the strange similarities between Avatar and Thomas' published works. He referred me to a blogpost he'd written months earlier addressing his concerns with the then impending movie. Then and now, he appears to remain guardedly willing to accept that the resemblances between his stories and Avatar are result of coincidence rather than copying. ((I gathered, however, he has yet to see the movie for himself - he's currently visiting Vietnam - and I imagine he reserves the right to render final judgment.))

In reading his posted concerns it seems his book may contain even more similarities between the flora and fauna of his world Sinan and the world of Pandora than were evident in the short story. While I remain unconvinced there's been any sort of deliberate plagiarism, I haven't yet read the book, so maybe I should reserve the right to render judgments too.

Regardless, I can't help but feel a bit upset on Mr. Thomas's behalf. Avatar is currently a full-blown international media event, complete with action figures, video games and happy-meal toys. Whether you see the movie or not, you can't escape hearing about it. And it saddens me to think that somewhere out there are sci-fi fans who won't want to give Thomas' stories a chance because they'll interpret certain descriptive details as attempts to copy Avatar, never realizing that not only did Thomas do it first - he's telling us a different story.