Purloined

You know that “alternate universe” in Fringe? Totally my idea. The writers stole it from me. Somehow, the manuscript I sent out to a plethora of agents two years ago wound up in the hands of Fringe producer Akiva Goldsman and company, and they plagiarized the whole thing. I don’t know what to do, where to turn. Seriously, what are my rights?

Okay, maybe I wasn’t the first writer in the history of the world to come up with the idea of a parallel universe where our doppelgangers live and breathe in a world similar to our own, only different in significant ways. (For example, JFK was never assassinated, MLK Jr.’s countenance is on U.S. currency, and the Twin Towers are still standing in Fringe’s alternate world.) Stephen King employed the concept of a multi-verse (instead of a uni-verse) in the Dark Tower, where supernatural doors open to realities both known and unknown.

Come to think of it, Akiva Goldsman is headlining the daunting task of bringing the 7-volume Dark Tower series to the big and small screens—with a dual-format technique that’s never been tried before: movie #1, then a TV series, followed by movie #2, another TV series, and ending with movie #3. So maybe Goldsman really plagiarized King! Scandalous – yet the project sounds freakin' AWESOME.

Back to me. What do you think? Do I have a case? Besides the whole alternate universe idea, I guess nothing else in Fringe is similar—except for those cool pulse rounds the “observers” fire from their hand guns. Yep. Also my idea.

If only I’d come up with a story about a wizard and a train back in the day; then I could try suing J. K. Rowling for all she’s got.

How about you? Got any trunk stories worth a lawsuit?