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Russet Noon is a Twilight fanfiction novel written by LadySybilla. It has caused a great deal of controversy in fandom and the publishing world, as the author claims the right to publish it professionally. LadySybilla believes that fans who support any given universe should have a share in the profits that this universe generates: "Every universe or, to put it in more commercial terms, franchise, feeds off our fantasies, dreams and hard earned dollars. When we give life to a universe, when we become its fans and financial supporters, we become the human batteries that keep its matrix alive."[5]

Sybilla opposes certain aspects of copyright laws, namely those dealing with the private ownership of characters: "Characters don't belong to authors. Authors don't create characters. They merely channel them. Characters are recurring universal archetypes."[6]. Yet, even though she opposes these laws, she still acknowledges Stephenie Meyer's right to claim copyright ownership over the characters in the original Twilight series. This is the reason she has repeatedly announced that Russet Noon will be released for free to anyone interested in reading it: "Well, I had already bought an ISBN number for it and everything but I withdrew it, because I realized I’d never get away with selling it, so I gave refunds to all the Ebay buyers, and now I’m waiting a while to see how things turn out. But probably the release will still be September, in chapters online." [7]

According to the article deleted by Wikipedia, Russet Noon will still be published as a paperback novel, but will be donated to public libraries instead of being sold at bookstores. [8]

Story summary

Original cover of Russet Noon, using copyrighted artwork from 2004, by Charli Siebert, without permission.[1],[2]. Lady Sybilla claimed she did not know the image was under copyright as she had: "purchased a CD collection of allegedly "royalty-free" images. This is where I got the bloody rose from. I myself got ripped off."[3]. The image has been blurred.

According to a post on ohnotheydidnt, "Written by Gothic webmistress and author LadySybilla, Russet Noon is an unofficial continuation to the last book in the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn. Russet Noon is told from Jacob Black's perspective and it explores the questions left unanswered at the end of the last installment in the Twilight Saga." [9]

History

Early March, 2009: Initial promotions and ebay pre-sales

Screencapture of a Russet Noon listing on ebay, dated as beginning on March 3, 2009.

Screencapture of another Russet Noon listing on ebay, dated March 10, 2009, including preview text from the book.

Screencapture of a posting at mymodeltalk.com, advertising for a model for a Russet Noon photoshoot.

Screencapture of a posting at iamanartist.com, advertising for a model for a Russet Noon photoshoot.

In early March, 2009 (the earliest listing still viewable[10] dated March 3) LadySybilla attempted to begin preselling copies of Russet Noon on ebay. Minimum bid was 0.99 with a Buy It Now price of 9.99. The listing for the book read in part:

"Russet Moon is the Unauthorized Sequel to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga. You can visit the official website at www.russet-noon.com.

According to author Stephenie Meyer, the happily ever after for Bella is to live forever with Edward as a vampire. Their daugher, Renesmee, is a half vampire and half human, not quite as strong as her parents.

But what if being a vampire forever is not the paradise Bella thought it would be? What if there were other things she wasn't willing to give up? What if there was a different way?

Russet Noon is the continuation of Bella's story, told by gothic romance author and webmistress Lady Sybilla. If google or youtube Lady Sybilla, you will find out that she has maintained a gothic anime website since 1998 and has recently launched the paranormal investigation website AV Paranormal. She is the mistress of all things gothic, vampiric, supernatural and demonic.

Russet Noon is on presale now at $9.99 straight from the publisher, no middle men, no distribution fees or extra taxes. It has a release date of June 2009. Once it's out on print, the price goes up."

These listings were in fact in violation of ebay's pre-sale listing policies[11], which state that "The seller must guarantee that the item will be available for shipping within 30 days from the date of purchase (i.e., the day the listing ends or the date the item is purchased from a store front listing)."

Nevertheless, a first press release advertising the book, Russet Noon: a New Tribute Sequel to the Twilight Saga, was also released around this same time, and the author posted the book's preface on YouTube.[12],[13] Calls for models and/or actors were also being posted to casting sites by March 7,[14],[15] with "director" Glorianna Arias (aka LadySybilla) looking for "a male actor or model (20-28 years old) to play the main character in a gothic graphic novel. The actor must be at least 6 ft tall, athletic and muscular and MUST be or at least LOOK Native American...Auditions will take place in May 2009 or earlier, depending on publication date of the novel." This would be for a "one-day photo shoot for a promotional website".

Mid-March, 2009: Public reaction begins

Around March 20, discussion about the book was beginning to appear on sites such as the Twilight Lexicon.[16] On March 23, LadySybilla responded to the comments being made about the book in regarding to its violations of copyright,[17] stating in part:

"So the massive amount of non-transformative Twilight fanfics out there are also in violation of copyright laws, according to (Twilight Lexicon's owners) accusation, especially considering that webmasters are making money off the ads.

And what about all the unofficial Twilight merchandise being auctioned on eBay right now?

I think we’re not the ones who need to acquaint ourselves with copyright laws here."

On March 23, 2009, ebay presales of Russet Noon were discontinued. A statement posted in the seller's blog[18] read:

"Dear eBay Buyers,

We regret to inform you that pre-order auctions for Russet Noon will be discontinued until August 2009. We only have a limited amount of copies available at a discount price, so this promotional offer has come to an end for the time being. However, you may request to be put on our waiting list if you'd like to be notified when the next promotional offer begins in August. Please use the "contact seller" link to sign up or find out more info."

On March 24, 2009, AV Paranormal issued a new press release, Russet Noon: The Controversy Continues, defending the publication of the book in the face of brewing uproar over it. The press release read in part:

"When fictional characters become such an intricate part of the popular psyche, as is the case with the Twilight Saga, legal boundaries become blurred, and copyright laws become increasingly difficult to define. This is especially the case when actual cities like Forks and Volterra are used as the novel's settings. Such settings are not copyrightable, as they are considered public domain. Similarly, the Quileute Nation is also not copyrightable, and neither are vampire or werewolf legends. Copyright laws protect writers from unauthorized reproductions of their work, but such reproductions only include verbatim copying. Characters are only copyrightable if their creator draws them or hires an artist to draw them. Stephenie Meyer herself borrowed a great deal from previous works dealing with these mythologies."

As word spread about Russet Noon, some Twilight fans were excited by it, as they wanted to see things fixed that they considered broken in the last book in the series, or simply would read anything new published in the Twilight universe--official or not. The more common reaction, however, was of disbelief that someone would attempt to flaunt copyright violation so publicly and attempt to profit off of one of the most popular book series of recent years. Many were worried, too, how this might affect Twilight fan-fiction as a whole, if Stephenie Meyer were to disallow all fan-fiction to be published of her work, whether for profit or not. LiveJournal, the blogosphere, fandom wank and various Twilight-related messageboards erupted with discussion of the book beginning in earnest on March 24. See extensive Discussion links below for sources, and detailed reactions.

In response, AV Paranormal published a new press release on March 26, 2009, Should AV Paranormal Pull the Plug on Lady Sybilla's Russet Noon? which referred to these complaints as a "hate campaign". They were considering whether to cancel publication of the book entirely, or offer it in weekly installments on their website. A FanPop quiz was posted as well, asking "Should Lady Sybilla pull the plug on Russet Noon?"[19] The YouTube videos promoting the book were "removed by user"[20] and the ebay blog entry about the book listings was changed to:

"Dear eBay Buyers,

We regret to inform you that pre-order auctions for Russet Noon have been discontinued permanently. Everyone who purchased a copy of the novel will be issued a full refund within the next few days. There is a possibility that the novel might still be published online for free.

However, the amount of threats and slander that some Twilight fans have spread on the web about Russet Noon might just be reason enough for the publishing team to pull the plug on this project altogether.

You're always welcome to visit our website: www.russet-noon.com to vote yes or no on this issue. You're also welcome to email us at info@russet-noon.com if you have any questions or concerns."

On March 26, 2009, the word had spread to various fan sites, with many Twilight fans enraged by Lady Sybilla's plan. At Our Twilight Chronicles blog, Russet Noon was compared to a "rip-off" and said that Lady Sybilla was "unfair to reap benefits from something you didn't create yourself." [21] It was also noted that: ""The US branch of Hachette Book Group are well aware of it and their legal team will be taking the necessary steps." ^{[citation needed]}

By March 28, 2009, there were further updates to her ebay blog and website.[22] The new ebay blog read:

"Russet Noon Will Stand Strong and Fearless

Dear eBay Buyers,

It appears we're receiving a massive amount of free publicity, so we can finally put all our energy into polishing Russet Noon for final publication. As long as there are people who want to read Russet Noon, we shall prevail.

Don't worry, loyal readers, we won't let you down. Thanks very much!"

And added to the russet-noon.com website:

"After the twilight, a new moon is obscured by an eclipse. Then a breaking dawn threatens to end it all. But, after the sun leaves the dawn behind to rise to its zenith, a russet noon begins with a new adventure. The preface to Russet Noon is exploding on YouTube, and to think all we had to do was delete our related videos. Where are the C&D's and the lawyers?

We are delighted to see how well established the promotion machine is by now. We don't have to move a finger, and the mob of "ravenous vampires" is really lining up to suck our blood. Does life imitate art or what? Fortunately, though, we send love to all the civilized people out there who know better than to judge a book by its cover . . . oops . . . author."

An anonymous comment posted the same day to Twilight Treasury claimed that LadySybilla was now directly spamming Twilight fans, telling them they could "privately" buy Russet Noon from her.[23] This comment, however, failed to substantiate the claim with any verifiable evidence. And, up to now, there haven't been any Twilight fans who have actually showed evidence of spam emails originating from either russet-noon.com or avparanormal.com. The only information available in regards to this issue so far is an email Sybilla sent to Journalfen's Caito. In the "Truce" email, Sybilla addressed this issue directly as follows: "Why are you accusing me of spamming people via email to sell the book? That's an entirely false accusation for which you have no evidence."

Caito responded to this on April 9, 2009, in the fandom wank posting including her emails with LadySybilla.[24] In the comment, Caito stated:

"1. When I posted about the spam thing, I made a point of saying it was a rumor, and asking whether or not anyone could verify it (no one has). Rumors are not the same as accusations, and I didn't post that rumor originally anyway. Your beef is with the anon on that Twiblog, not me.
2. Why do we assume Lady Sybilla stole the cover art? Um, because the evidence points to that conclusion. There's no proof that Sybilla was duped, except for her saying she was. Also, I couldn't have known that when I posted the original wank report anyway; I can only work with what I have, and it's not my fault if my sources make you look bad."

The ebay blog on March 31, 2009, was now showing an updated message: "Russet Noon continues moving forward despite the massive hate campaign. Jacob's story will be told. Jacob Black is not a dog--he's a shapeshifter. He can transform into anything he wants. He's a hero with his own myth. His love for Bella is stronger than Edward's. This is a Team Jacob novel. Don't say we didn't warn you."[25]

Early April 2009: "Banned" websites and more press releases

By April 2, 2009, a message on the russet-noon.com website now claimed that the site had been "banned".[26] On April 3, it appeared that her eBay and youtube accounts had been deleted.[27] Soon after, the avparanormal.com, her Flickr page, and her blogspot blog were reported as having been deleted.[28]

On April 3, 2009, LadySybilla emailed Caito and asked her to stop her "online stalking activities." In this email, Sybilla warned, "If you don't, I will notify as many administrators as I have to until they take action."[29] Sybilla then contacted the Journalfen technical support team to ask how she could contact an administrator in order to report libelous accusations posted by some of their users. Support tickets are visible for all to see, including in this instance the response by fiercy [30] which was a pointer to the relevant section of the Journalfen F.A.Q.[31]

On April 8, 2009, AV Paranormal issued yet another press release, Russet Noon: The Foforks Interview. In this piece, LadySybilla talked more about what would be in the book, and defended her actions in writing and planning to still publish, only this time, for free.

On April 15, 2009, another AV Paranormal press release hit Google News: Russet Noon: The Apple of Knowledge or the Forbidden Fruit? once again defending the publication of Russet Noon. It claimed in part that:

"For as long as our minds are enslaved by the belief that the archetypal world can be commercialized, we are the victims of a lie, a smokescreen, an ideology, a matrix. We must free our minds from this lie. Characters don't belong to authors. Authors don't create characters. They merely channel them. Characters are recurring universal archetypes. The only thing that changes is their names and identities, but their essence is always the same."

LadySybilla continues to respond publicly to her critics, although she insists she has given up any plans to make money off of her "tribute novel". In a response she posted on April 16 at Twilight Lexicon, she stated:[32]

"Many of my attackers do download mp3s illegally, decorate their websites with pictures they have no direct authorization from the copyright owner to use, and upload videos to YouTube for which they don’t own the copyright, etc.

And yet they still throw stones as if they’re free of sin. You might already know this, but just in case you didn’t, I have issued refunds to the few buyers that pre-ordered a copy of Russet Noon on eBay. I have also publicly apologized for having attempted to make money off of Stephenie Meyer’s characters. Additionally, I have announced my decision to still publish the novel and make it available for free to anyone who would like to read it.

I don’t know what else to do. No matter how hard I try to apologize and admit that I was wrong, I am still being demonized and made out to be a thief.

The Twilight Lexicon webmasters, as well as many others who think of themselves as SM’s loyal vigilantes, attack me regardless of what I do.

So, once again, I reiterate that I don’t think you’re trying to defend me, but I do appreciate that you point out the obvious irony of this movement to crucify Lady Sybilla.

I know that my post will either get deleted altogether, or the site owners will once again attack me and accuse me of whatever crimes they decide I’ve committed.

But the bottom line is that I have tried my best to make ammends. If I wanted to, I could still be selling pre-order copies of Russet Noon via less well-known distributors. Whether anyone believes me or not, I’m telling the truth. I have altogether given up on trying to make money off of Russet Noon, but no one pays attention to that.

Instead, they’d rather dwell on my past mistakes and keep scapegoating me as if there were no hope of redemption for me.

The last thing I’d like to state is that my conscience is clear. I have every constitutional right to submit press releases to promote my tribute novel and I’m never going to apologize for that.

The fact that Google News publishes every press release I write doesn’t mean that I’m “bombarding” Twilight sites with PRs. It just means that my PRs get enough hits from people in general who are interested in reading about Russet Noon.

Whether it is to hate on it or simply to learn more about it, people all over the net are curious about Russet Noon.

So, I’d like to conclude by posing a couple questions both to the TL owners, as well as the self-righteous bashers who love to condemn others for the very transgressions they themselves commit.

Am I the only human who makes mistakes? Can you honestly say that you’ve never needed a chance for redemption in your entire life? If Stephenie Meyer herself has never judged me and neither have her reps, then who are you to accuse me of something I never even followed through with?"

Mid-April, 2009: The Wikipedia Wars

Screencap of Wikipedia article before it was deleted.

Screencap of talk page history for Russet Noon on Wikipedia.

Screencap of the block log for Ladysybilla on Wikipedia.

An article about Russet Noon was created on Wikipedia at least twice. It was deleted both times. According to Wikipedia, the following were the reasons and times:

13:33, 19 April 2009 Tone (talk | contribs) deleted "Russet Noon" ‎ (Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Russet Noon)
07:02, 18 April 2009 David Eppstein (talk | contribs) deleted "Russet Noon" ‎ (G11: Unambiguous advertising or promotion: The Russet Doom Saga, Part ???+1)

LadySybilla, the author of the book, was the one who created the page. She was active on the talk page to keep the article in the second round of deletion. [33]

Number of Unique Editors per 12 hour segments over last 28 days

The article's edit history was as follows:

Date	Editor	Comment
Apr 19, 12:30	194.80.32.9	(→Plot summary)
Apr 19, 05:48	Ricky81682	(→Controversy: rm personal commentary)
Apr 18, 23:11	86.141.174.200	(→Controversy: ditto)
Apr 18, 23:10	86.141.174.200	(→Controversy: deleted redundent "of")
Apr 18, 19:01	99.224.181.211
Apr 18, 18:21	24.18.249.128
Apr 18, 18:17	24.18.249.128	(Added more information about interview articles written for Russet Noon publication in Portugal)
Apr 18, 18:17	Recognizance	(Reverted edits by 24.18.249.128 to last revision by 89.246.207.190 (HG))
Apr 18, 17:27	Frogwidget	(→Controversy)
Apr 18, 17:25	Frogwidget	(→Controversy)

A copy of the article can be found at Russet Noon/Wikipedia article. This is based on a version from Russet Noon: The Apple of Knowledge or the Forbidden Fruit.

Accusations have been made that Lady Sybilla was banned from Wikipedia as a result of her actions in regards to the article about her. The public record of bans and blocks shows that she was indeed blocked on April 18, 2009, and that the block was lifted the next day. The rationale given for the unblocking was "Demonstrated a convincing awareness of policy". [34]

Mid-April 2009: Continuing controversy and the FanHistory "Wars"

Several fansites, including Twilight Lexicon, refused to cover the topic of Russet Noon any further as they did not wish to give any additional attention to Lady Sybilla.[35] Meanwhile, Lady Sybilla continued to battle with Caito through the middle of April 2009. During this time, Caito posted a video on youtube mocking Lady Sybilla on April 19, 2009.[36]

The controversy over Russet Noon then extended to include Sidewinder, the Fan History administrator who had been actively editing the pages at Fan History related to the book. Lady Sybilla believed Sidewinder was too strongly biased in her edits toward's Caito's position, to the extent of accusing the admin of perhaps being a sock puppet of Caito.[37] This situation played out in three places: Lady Sybilla's talk page on Fan History (after Lady Sybilla had been placed on temporary editing ban for violating wiki editing rules), on russet-noon.com and on fandom_wank.[38] Most of the direct engagement between Lady Sybilla and the Fan History administrators took place on Fan History itself. Both fandom wank and russet-noon.com responded to the Fan History events on their own sites and in support of their own positions.

On April 21, 2009, Lady Sybilla created a MySpace page for both herself and Russet Noon.[39] This activity took place while Lady Sybilla was presenting her viewpoint to Fan History and updating russet-noon.com to include Caito's personal contact information and her accusations that Caito and Sidewinder were the same person. After further discussion with the Fan History administrators and their attempts to make the articles more balanced while presenting evidence refuting the sock puppet claim, Lady Sybilla declared on April 22, 2009, at russet-noon.com that "The Wars Have Ceased" and removed all accusations against Caito and Sidewinder.

TV Tropes entry on Lady Sybilla and Russet Noon under "Small Name Big Ego"

On April 24, 2009, Lady Sybilla was added to the TV Tropes wiki under the heading of "Small Name Big Ego".

Aaaaaand we now have the QUEEN of this trope for Twilight fandom: Lady Sybilla, whom no one had apparently ever even heard of before in the fandom before she became the writer (and attempted publisher) of "tribute sequel" Russet Noon, and convinced the entire internet is made up of one person with a grudge against her after the fandom at large and fandom_wank told her that her understanding of copyright was... flawed at best... [40]

Peter David and "Potato Moon"

Screencap of Peter David's blog, showing the cover art for his satire, "Potato Moon".

On April 20, 2009, writer Peter David announced he was writing a satirical, round-robin sequel to the Twilight series entitled Potato Moon. The idea was inspired by and is "a long, sustained campaign of mockery"[41] of Lady Sybilla's endeavor. His choice of title was a play on Russet Noon, about which he said, "...when I hear russet I tend to think of spuds rather than the color".[42] Glenn Hauman announced on April 22, that he had created the cover for the book which was to start online publication on Friday, April 24, 2009.[43]

AV Paranormal responded on April 23, 2009 with a press release.[44] In it, they compared Lady Sybilla to "the Dragon Mother of ancient myths, the one who rises from the depths of the Earth to wipe out an entire civilization. She is Nemesis and Binah, the terrible mother, the bringer of death and destruction" while characterizing Peter David as "a right-wing conservative, a President-Bush type of guy who just doesn't wanna let go of the old ways". They describe Potato Moon as "the self-proclaimed leader of a new movement. More of an Inquisition, really. A glorious mob aching to bully a lone ranger, indie self-publisher, into exhile(sic)." Their conclusion was: "If the fans thought the courtroom drama would be the fun part, they ain't seen nothing yet."

As a footnote, AV Paranormal noted that they were looking to replace the central image on the Russet Noon cover. They said they were willing to purchase a license for the artwork, and required proof of copyright ownership from any prospective artists.

Wikipedia page for Potato Moon, complete with deletion notice.

On April 26, 2009, Lady Sybilla created a Wikipedia page for Potato Moon, including links. She described the project as "a satire to ridicule a fanfic novel called Russet Noon". Though she was the one to create the page, she asked for another editor to edit it for her. It was quickly slated for deletion, however, the proposed deletion was contested on April 28 by removal of the PROD tag.[45]

She also asked Nightscream, a frequent editor on Peter David's Wikipedia page, to add the information on Potato Moon to the article. [46] He agreed to do so, but wanted more explanation about the press releases she had provided.[47] In the end, though Nightscream used blog entries as sources showing Peter David's opinions on copyright infringement, he politely concluded of Lady Sybilla's links "...in investigating them, it does not appear that there are any sources to support those things that would be considered reliable by WP.".[48]

Lady Sybilla's talk page, with comments by Nightscream.

During her Wikipedia discussions with Nightscream over Peter David and Potato Moon, she expressed confidence that she would not be prosecuted for her actions:

...As for the copyright issue, Stephenie Meyer does allow her fans to write fanfics, so if I get sued for giving away a fanfic novel, all the other Twilight fans that publish their fanfics online would also get sued for violation of copyright laws. All in all, I believe that, as long as I don't make money off it, SM and her people won't have a problem with it.[49]

See Potato Moon for additional information.

May 2009

In May 2009, LadySybilla indicated that she was in the process of getting permission from the artist whose work appeared on her original cover to do a piece of artwork specifically for the book. This was alleged to have been conditional LadySybilla removing all existing promotional material that included the image.

Some materials that LadySybilla had published, including a press release, were deleted from the web in early May 2009. [50][51]

On May 9, 2009, AV Paranormal issued a press release on PRLog, quoting Lady Sybilla's letter of apology to Stephanie Meyer - a letter they claim was sent on April 30, 2009. In the letter, Sybilla apologizes for "creating such an uproar" and asks for permission to publish fifty copies of Russet Noon to give away for free. She also tells Meyer that she would shut down the project if Meyer insisted. A note after the end of the letter states: "So far, neither Stephenie Meyer nor her publisher has responded to the letter, so AV Paranormal is still moving forward with publication." [52]

The next day, an updated post about Russet Noon was made on fandom wank by caito. [53] It looked at LadySybilla's comments to User:Tikatu, an update on Potato Moon and Peter David, LadySybilla's apology to Stephenie Meyer, and the ongoing Wikipedia drama. [54]

This section contains the perspective of a participant or observer. It is intentionally not neutral in order to provide multiple perspectives on an event. Information in this section may need to be integrated into the article to ensure that the overall article is neutral.

Lady Sybilla

Russet Nooners image found at the AbsoluteWrite.com forums

Screencap of Frank N. Stein's Twitter

Darth Vader image found at the ohnotheydidnt discussion of the press release "Lady Sybilla: The Darth Vader of Fandom" Note: Darth Vader is not choking a henchman, as Lady Sybilla has stated.[4]

May 11, 2009

Sure, there's a lot of people mocking Russet Noon, but this only means that all of them will be reading the novel for sure. They're creating so much hype for it, it's unbelievable. They love the drama. They're hopelessly addicted to the "Russet Doom Saga," as they call it.

If they ever get their hands on the book, they won't be able to resist the temptation to tear apart every sentence and make a joke out of it. I'm honestly looking forward to it. Their reactions are hilarious. It's harmless humor, that's the way I look at it. I have a sense of humor and I can take the jokes. I'm a tough girl. I don't underestimate the power of the Dark Side. I welcome antagonism, because I learn from it. What doesn't kill me makes me stronger, and that settles it for me.

Same goes for the reactions of the ohnotheydidnt crowd. I've seen some images on those comments that have made me double up with laughter. The Russet Nooners image is the one winning first prize so far.

Second one is Darth Vader strangling his henchman, saying "Lord Vader demands that this faggotry end."

I just found the most hilarious profile on twitter.

Artistic revolution 03:12, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

June 2009

Image:Lady Sybilla on Fan History owning her trolling.png

On June 13, 2009, Lady Sybilla trolled several sites, including AbsoluteWrite.com. [55] She was banned from AbsoluteWrite.com for trolling[56]

On June 14, 2009, Lady Sybilla attempted to delete both this article and the Lady Sybilla article[57][58], claiming that "Recreating this article is in violation of my constitutional and human rights". This led to her user account being permanent banned[59], a situation she attempted to get around by using different IP addresses[60]. Both articles were eventually protected.

Screencap of RussetNoon.com's homepage, announcing the deletion of Lady Sybilla's Twitter account, and advertising her FanPop article.

On June 23, 2009, Lady Sybilla deleted her Twitter account saying, "Twitter had the potential of helping my book grow in popularity, but there were bugs I couldn't handle. The fake tweets that appeared on my updates with spam links to deceive my followers was my main reason to close the account."[61]

On June 24, 2009, an updated post about Russet Noon was made on fandom wank by caito.[62] The discussion included posts made by Lady Sybilla on AbsoluteWrite.com [63][64], and mentioned her banning[65] there. The post discussed Lady Sybilla's attempt to delete her articles at Fan History , and her resultant permanent ban[66]. It also included Lady Sybilla's tweets about Fan History [67], about User:Tikatu [68], and User:Laura [69][70] in particular, her comments to caito on caito's YouTube account[71] (outing a sockpuppet of hers at the same time). The post also discussed the deletion of Lady Sybilla's Twitter account, a press release about the artwork for Russet Noon[72], and Lady Sybilla's intentions of writing a book about her "internet adventures".[73]

September 2009

On September 7, 2009, Lee Goldberg mentions in his blog that Lady Sybilla has started a blog of her own, and was "sharing chapters from her upcoming, craptastic opus..." He also mentions her intention of writing a "tell-all" book detailng the controversy surrounding her attempts to publish Russet Noon. [74]

October 2009

As of October 26, 2009, visits to the site returned a "Page Not found" error. DomainTools.com marks the domain as "Registered And No Website" under its Server Stats tab.[75] It is unclear why the site was deleted. The corresponding MySpace page is gone, with the note from MySpace confirming that either the account was either cancelled by the owner or deleted by MySpace.[76]

November 2009

On November 18, 2009, Russet Noon was mentioned in a review of The Harvard Lampoon's parody of Twilight, entitled Nightlight. [77]

December 2009

On December 30, 2009, a press release was issued by AV Paranormal, declaring that chapter four of the saga was posted and that the website had returned. [78]

Controversies over coverart

Fan-created cover art for Midnight Sun as posted on russet-noon.com

Screencap of Charli Siebert's most recent email to Sybilla.

On or about April 21, 2009, Lady Sybilla wrote to artist Charli Siebert, asking her if she were the artist of the "Blood Roses" image that Lady Sybilla had chosen for her cover art, as well as looking for permission to use it for the book.Email to FH support re:Charli Seibert On May 3, Charli Siebert replied, telling Lady Sybilla that she was indeed the artist, that she knew her artwork was being exploited in many different venues, and that Lady Sybilla did not have her permission to use it for the cover of Russet Noon. The artist asked that all promotional images of the cover containing her artwork be removed. She also suggested that perhaps she and Lady Sybilla could come to terms on a piece of art commissioned specifically for the book.

Lady Sybilla wrote an apology to artist Charli Siebert and placed it on the homepage of Russet Noon on May 10, 2009. It still sported the Blood Rose artwork by Charli Siebert, but also debuted the "temporary model of the new Russet Noon cover image" along with this statement:

"The copyright information for the artist of this talisman is currently unknown. Hopefully the efficient fandomwankers will help us track down the artist who originally created this talisman so we can give them credit."[79]

On May 10, 2009, various fandom wank members confirmed that the new artwork was "stolen" and that LadySybilla had not received permission to use it.[80] Russet-noon.com had been updated with a comment that largely acknowledged this truth and encouraged followers of fandom wank to ascertain authorship as LadySybilla did not know who made it. [81]

Also, on the home page of russet-noon.com, a piece of cover art purporting to be that of Stephenie Meyer's yet-unfinished novel, Midnight Sun, was featured prominently. Posters at fandom wank were unsure as to its provenance and wondered if it, too, contained stolen artwork. [82] On May 11, 2009, one of the fandom wank regulars found the artwork on DeviantArt. [83] It is by artist inundefined.[84]

On June 20, 2009, more than a month after the talisman artwork appeared as the interim cover art for Russet Noon, AV Paranormal issued a press release claiming that the artist, Stephanie Lostimolo, had given permission for use of the art to Lady Sybilla in exchange for a credit line in the book.[85]

This section contains the perspective of a participant or observer. It is intentionally not neutral in order to provide multiple perspectives on an event. Information in this section may need to be integrated into the article to ensure that the overall article is neutral.

Lady Sybilla

Model of the new Russet Noon cover, artist unknown.

May 11, 2009

I truly appreciate this opportunity that FH is giving me to tell my side of the story. First and foremost, I'd like to discuss the new Russet Noon cover. There's something called "fair use" when it comes to copyright laws, especially online. It is not a crime to use an image as a source of inspiration.

I have every intention of giving credit to the copyright owner of the talisman. I made a reasonable attempt to track down the artist by writing an email to Michael Delahunt, the webmaster of Artlex.com, but I never got a reply to my email. On his website, Delahunt refers to this image as a "talisman of unidentified origin and meaning," so obviously he doesn't know who the copyright owner is.

I am therefore entitled to refer to this image as a source of inspiration for the cover of Russet Noon. I have made it very clear that I'm not intending to use that specific talisman image for the cover, although I'd love to get permission from the artist in case things don't work out with Charli. I am simply using it as a model for the time being. I stand to profit in no way by its usage.

Regarding my negotiations with Charli, I am not yet sure if she will be the artist meant for the job. I really hope she is. I love her art and have total trust that she would do a magnificent job, but I fear she might buckle under the pressure.

May 29, 2009: Update About Cover Art

After having received several bids on the cover art project for Russet Noon, I have determined that Charli Siebert is not the artist meant for the project. The reason for my decision is that other companies are offering me significantly lower prices than the estimate Charli gave me. I would have really liked to work with her, but Russet Noon is a not-for-profit venture, so any expenses involved in its publication will be covered by my publishing company, AV Paranormal. I have yet to award the project to one of the bidders, since I am still comparing portfolios and estimates, but I will announce it on the Russet Noon website as soon as I've reached my final decision.

Future of the book

Lady Sybilla will still release the novel in paperback form in September of 2009. According to the updated information on russet-noon.com on April 22, 2009, "Russet Noon will be released as a free paperback novel this September 2009. Only a few copies will be available and most will be donated to public libraries so all readers may have free access to the book."

On May 9, 2009, Lady Sybilla reported that she had asked Stephenie Meyer, through her publishers, whether or not she should continue with Russet Noon, and, if so, under what circumstances.

So far, neither Stephenie Meyer nor her publisher has responded to the letter, so AV Paranormal is still moving forward with publication.[86]

This section contains the perspective of a participant or observer. It is intentionally not neutral in order to provide multiple perspectives on an event. Information in this section may need to be integrated into the article to ensure that the overall article is neutral.

Lady Sybilla

May 11, 2009

I'd like to share that today I leaked the opening scene of Russet Noon to my dear friend Grace from Foforks. It's the opening scene of Chapter 1, which is entitled "Fireworks in La Push." I dedicate this scene first and foremost to my dear friends in Brazil who have supported me from the start. Their hopes and dreams drive me forward every step of the way. Grace is not authorized to leak the English version, only the one in Portuguese, which she will be translating out of the kindness of her heart. I am honored to let the opening scene of Russet Noon premiere in Brazil exclusively.

I will release the English version exclusively on my website this June 1, 2009.

Artistic revolution 03:12, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Russet-Noon.Com

See main article russet-noon.com for more information.

russet-noon.com after the so-called "Wikipedia Wars".

The domain russet-noon.com was registered on March 2, 2009.[87], right before the ebay listings for the book began. The website has gone through numerous changes in content throughout the kerfluffles regarding Russet Noon, from promoting the book to supposedly being "banned" to then focusing on the "The Wikipedia Wars" regarding the book's listing on the site.

After the wikipedia battle, the new front page read, in part:

Well, it's official: Wikipedia editors worked around the clock to get the Russet Noon article deleted. Good job, guys! Your militant dedication will inspire many other Wikipedians in the years to come. Keep up the good work. Let's see what happens when the novel is released.

In the mean time, if anyone is curious about reading the original article, you may do so here. Unfortunately, this is the original version submitted to Wikipedia. It doesn't contain the edits (see screencap) that Frogwidget (one of Sybilla's most loyal and devoted sockpuppets) added so candidly. [88]

The public whois information that people can see lists the owners as:

Registrant:

Russet Noon

666 Satan Dr

Lucifer, CA 66666

US

Domain name: RUSSET-NOON.COM

Administrative Contact:

Publishing, AV Paranormal

666 Satan Dr

Lucifer, CA 66666

US