ChaosLife: a semi-autobiographical comic about a queer relationship and that delves into politics, GSM issues, mental health, pop culture, cats and other randomness.
Today’s Links:
Ellora’s Cave Sues Dear Author Book Blog for Defamation – If you’re not on Twitter, you might have missed this little gem.
Here’s something crazy.
Romance publisher Ellora’s Cave has been having financial issues for the past year or so, but rather than sit down and fix them this publisher has decided that the best solution was a public and messy defamation lawsuit.
Court documents filed today in Ohio have revealed that Ellora’s Cave has filed suit against the author and blogger known as Jane Litte, the proprietor of one of the best romance book blogs.
Chilling Effects – Sunita takes a guess at why Ellora’s Cave would sue Jane as well as the blog LLC and it’s as menacing as it is pathetically desperate.
In romance, and especially in erotic or “edgy” romance, authors tend to use pen names, as do bloggers. It’s perfectly acceptable to do business under a pseudonym; the government not only doesn’t have a problem with it, it has guidelines on how to do it. But pseudonymous writing is always at risk for being connected to the real name of the writer. We regularly see cases of authors and bloggers who are punished for what they do, and most online and romance-writing folk know it. So the threat of a public reveal is powerful.
EC picked the wrong person to sue, no question. But by filing at all, they’re also reminding their authors and editors that they have no compunction about publicizing the personal information of anyone they see as an adversary. It’s not necessary to sue an individual person in this case; suing Dear Author LLC would have taken care of their needs. But it wouldn’t have sent the same “we know who you are” message. EC has already stipulated in internal communications that authors “include both legal name and pen name when communicating with Ellora’s Cave.” This just ups the ante.
On Autism: Books That Empower And Celebrate – Book Riot has a list of positive, uplifting books about autism, including books that explain autism to children in a welcoming way.
Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are something that has been a part of my family life for many years. Diagnoses have been had, courses have been studied, books and movies have been collected.
But whilst ASD has held a largely positive place in my family, in the day-to-day, autistic spectrum disorders are not always easy. And whilst books are not going to solve every problem encountered, they can be wonderful. Books that can be empowering and inspiring are particularly important, as everyone, including autistic and otherwise neuroatypical people, deserves to have books to which they can relate positively.
Of the books mentioned here, some were written by autistic people, men and women, about their experiences. Others aim to explain autism, and encourage understanding and acceptance, to children and adults who either have an autistic spectrum disorder, or are close to someone who does.
Just want to say this to have said it – In the wake of the latest round of misogynist abuse doled out by Ed Champion, Emily Gould, whom he targeted a few months ago, speaks about the lingering effect his attack had on her.
I have a hard time even talking about how terrible the week that he published that rant was for me. A lot of people have tried to tell me that the net effect was positive for my book, but it put me in a position of talking about that rant instead of talking about the book. I hate that. I hate that that happened. I’ll never get that week or month or set of opportunities back; he poisoned them all. The worst part is that as cartoonishly evil and misogynistic and mentally ill as he is, there are still people who are like “well, it was a book review.” “Critics are allowed to call someone a bad writer.” Or worse, that it was a “subtweet war” or a “literary feud.” It was none of those things. It was an attack on women, meant to make us feel threatened and fundamentally unsafe in the online and physical spaces we inhabit. It is so bonkers that we even have to point that out or defend that point of view still, now, in 2014.
The Feminist Death Match Between Emma Watson And Beyoncé Is Some Anti-Feminist Sh@t – If thinkpieces about how Beyoncé isn’t a feminist/is a bad feminist make you want to tear your hair out, this post should interest you.
When you criticize Beyoncé’s feminism based on the clothes she wears, her level of education, the dances she does; when you say she cannot be a feminist or is less of a feminist than a woman who wears clothes differently, has been educated differently, dances differently, you are erasing her nuance and you are erasing the part of her feminism that is interlocked with her humanity. Because in case you didn’t know, fellow white feminists, the white experience of womanhood is different than the black experience of womanhood. The expectations, perceptions, context, and history of black women are not the same as the expectations, perceptions, context, and history of you as a white woman. Intersectional feminism means that women of color experience womanhood at a place where race and gender intersect. It means that the way they experience life as a woman is influenced by their race, and vise versa.
‘It was a crank call': family seeks action against 911 caller in Walmart shooting – I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, the caller pretty blatantly lied about a situation to create a threat to public safety, and that shouldn’t go unpunished. On the other hand, if punishing Ritchie takes public pressure off the police for murdering Crawford, that hardly feels like justice done.
The family of a young black man who was killed by police in an Ohio Walmart while holding an unloaded BB rifle and speaking on his cellphone have called for action to be taken against a 911 caller who claimed he was pointing the gun at people.
John Crawford III was shot dead last month by an officer responding to an emergency call made by Ronald Ritchie, a shopper standing 100ft away, who repeatedly stated to the dispatcher that Crawford was pointing the air rifle at customers.
Surveillance footage and audio recordings released after a grand jury declined to indict the officer who shot Crawford showed that Crawford was holding the rifle at his side and pointing it to the floor at the time when Ritchie alleged that “he just pointed it at, like, two children”.
Crawford’s father and the family’s attorney said that Ritchie, 24, should be questioned by police over the discrepancy between the footage and his allegation, which he made about 80 seconds before Crawford was shot, and confirmed when asked soon after. Knowingly “making false alarms” is a crime under Ohio law punishable by a fine or jail sentence.