Chris Elliot's new novel, The Shadow of the Thwacker, a spoof of books such as Caleb Carr's Alienist in which a serial killer terrorizes New York in the 1800s, features fictional characters mixed with historical figures. One of those "real" characters, however--a Victorian robot named Boilerplate--has turned out to be an internet hoax.

. . .in fact, Boilerplate never was. It is the creation of Paul Guinan, an illustrator and graphic novelist in Portland, Ore., who with his wife, Anina Bennett, is the author of "Heartbreakers Meet Boilerplate," published in July by IDW Publishing.

The Boilerplate website, http://bigredhair.com/boilerplate/index.html has already fooled more than a few people with its digitally altered 19th Century pictures of the steam-powered robot. Mr Elliott, to his credit, knew that the robot was probably a hoax, just one that began in the 19th century.

"I knew something like that could not exist," he said. "It was an innocent mistake, and I felt like such an idiot. It made me feel like less of an idiot that the background information he gives on his Web site is fairly convincing."

Mr. Elliott said he did find a bit of humor in the episode: "I think it's really kind of funny. The whole thing about this book is that I did almost no research for it, and the one little bit of research I did I got wrong."

In addition, both writers were able to avoid using lawyers to settle the copyright infringement. Elliott will pay Guinan a portion of the profits as well as crediting him in all future editions.

alpha_hazard

Fort Collins, CO

April 2004

NOV 04, 2005 10:00 AM

That's pretty funny and cool. I think I'll have to get myself some of those internet hoax profits!

AndersWolleck

Astoria, NY

February 2003

NOV 04, 2005 04:56 PM

Its called SHROUD OF THE THWACKER

_Elichrusos

Australia

November 2004

NOV 06, 2005 08:50 PM

I love boilerplate.

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NEWS: Chris Elliott, Spoofer, Spoofed by Internet Hoax

PointBlank

New York, NY

November 2004

NOV 04, 2005 08:52 AM

alpha_hazard

Fort Collins, CO

April 2004

NOV 04, 2005 10:00 AM

AndersWolleck

Astoria, NY

February 2003

NOV 04, 2005 04:56 PM

_Elichrusos

Australia

November 2004

NOV 06, 2005 08:50 PM