A number of websites are posting the controversial news that James Cameron's Avatar isn't as original a story as we've been told. The source of the accusation is genre website io9 (found via Slashfilm) who, after a tip off from one of their readers, point to a novel titled Call Me Joe written in 1957 by science fiction writer Poul Anderson.

The similarities upon which James Cameron has been called into question, as identified by io9, are:

• main character, Ed Anglesey, is a paraplegic
• Anglesey telepathically connects with an artificially created life form in order to explore a harsh planet (in this case, Jupiter).
• Anglesey, like Avatar's Jake Sully, revels in the freedom and strength of his artificial created body
• the artificial body is blue
• he battles predators on the surface of Jupiter
• he goes native as he spends more time connected to his artificial body.

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Tags: Avatar, Call Me Joe