I don’t think these pirates look much like Captain Jack Sparrow, though it might be more entertaining if they did.

Nah, it wouldn’t.

I was blown away by a recent notice from Simon & Schuster, publisher of my three books to date, reporting the number of pirated e-copies of my books that they have bullied off the Internet.

What’s your guess?

If you guessed eleven, you win.

Ten times, someone has posted free access to the text of Impeached, and once someone has posted the same for American Emperor.  Each time, according to Simon & Schuster, the hateful, disgusting thieves were threatened into taking down the books.  Two websites posted one of my books on four separate occasions apiece.  That doesn’t sound inadvertent, does it?

I am grateful to Simon & Schuster (how many times do writers say that about their publishers?) for taking piracy seriously and following up on these episodes.  But I can’t help but wonder how many Simon & Schuster has missed?

I know Polonius said that whoever steals my purse steals but trash, but I still mind this.  A lot.  If you are offered such “free” items — movies, e-books, music, whatever — please don’t take them.  You are stealing from someone.  Maybe even me.