I so want to steal a story.

When Linda and I owned the Bookmark, we'd get in some weird tomes, some of which I took home. One was entitled: "The Real Bohemia: A Sociological and Psychological Study of the 'Beats.'"
It was written in 1961 and it's unintentionally hilarious. It treats the "Beats" as if they are from outer space, a completely alien culture. It was written in the narrow window of time between the Beats and the arrival of the Beatles and the complete transformation of our culture. It's the equivalent of reading "The Forest People," by Colin Turnbull, or Margaret Mead's "Coming of Age in Samoa.

It's a book version of "Reefer Madness," a couple of square scientists trying to figure out what this strange new species of humans are about and coming to extreme conclusions.

I kept the book as a curiosity.

But I recently had an idea for a book about gnomes--only my gnomes aren't cute and quaint, but dirty, nasty, and anti-social. They've recently come out of hiding and are all around us, though making no attempt to integrate with human culture.

They are basically an analog for the homeless--dumpster diving, begging on street corners, yelling curse words at passersby.

 I pulled out "The Real Bohemia" and started typing it, substituting "Gnomes" every time the authors used "Beats" and it's hilarious. (Actually, it might make an even funnier book if I substituted "Hipster" for "Beatnik."

Entitled: "The Unknown Gnome: A Sociological and Psychological Study of the Fairda."

I mean, it really, really works as a satire. But damned if I can figure out a way to do it without plagerism. I mean, I could start from scratch and try to imitate it, but it works so much better with their dry, unintentionally square commentary.

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure I can't use it. Dammit.

I looked up copyright, and open domain isn't as far away as I thought: 70 years, which means I'd have to wait 11 more years. By which time, if I'm still around, I'll probably have forgotten all about it.  Heh.

At worse, I can try to imitate the tone for the chapter headings. In fact, that's probably what I'll do.  I still like the basic idea of the book.