Well, then.

Apparently "sorry" isn't good enough for Random House. If the extent of the borrowing/stealing/unintentional similarities between Opal Mehta and Sloppy Firsts is as great as they report, they've made the right move. I do still wonder what will become of the wunderkind: perhaps a year's sabbatical is in order?

PW follows up its article with what may be the dumbest question I have ever read:

"Does plagiarism hurt an authors career--or should it?"

Um, YES. Rule of law, people: you breach, you suffer the consequences.