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Day: March 12, 2015

Let’s Clear Up Some Misconceptions

Posted in Uncategorized

Hey there, internet land. There are rumors going around, so I’m gonna address some of them. Let me establish some things that need to be established:

  • My words are my words. Nobody else is responsible for them.
  • I work with a few different companies. They do not endorse my statements.
  • I work with a few different industry professionals. They do not endorse my statements.
  • Anything I say is just me saying it. I am not a representative of anyone else.
  • I am not going to start trouble or be controversial at anyone’s event. I am a pleasant, easy to get-along with person. When I come to an event, I am there to meet people who want to meet me and hang out with them. I am not there for drama or to ruin anyone’s convention.

I also want to further my apparently controversial position on books/movies/tv pirating. I don’t care. I legitimately do not care if anyone does it. The only time I have ever reported someone for pirating a book of mine is when it’s a book published by a publisher, within two years of publication. Why? Because that publisher invested in me and it would be pretty shitty of me to see something like that and not give them a heads up.

There are some of you out there saying, “How would you feel if someone encouraged piracy of one of your books?” or “I hope your books get pirated.” There are readers who could verify that they’ve posted on their twitter or their tumblr that they’re looking for illegal downloads of my self-published books and I’ve provided them with those links. I pirate my own books. You can’t wish this ill upon me. I’m already doing it myself.

Also, please don’t approach me on Facebook about any of this. I barely ever use Facebook. If you have a concern about my statements or statements others have made about me, contact me via email, my twitter, or the comments section here. Otherwise, I probably won’t see them.

Jenny Trout is being illegal.

Posted in Uncategorized

CONTENT WARNING: MORE DISCUSSION OF THOMAS JEFFERSON/SALLY HEMINGS

Yesterday evening, I started receiving messages on Facebook and Twitter telling me, “Um, here’s a link to Jaid Black’s facebook, and you might want to check it out.” I’m not really the person who handles all the Ellora’s Cave nonsense, though I support authors who have had issues there and believe that Black’s repeated public meltdowns are harming her company, but I thought, whatever, I’ll take a look.

GOD ALMIGHTY.

kevintantrum1 kevintantrum2

 

As you can see, Kevin is angry that I encouraged consumer action with regards to a Sally Hemings/Thomas Jefferson BDSM novel. How could I? How could I possibly get offended–without even reading it!–over something that depicts the repeated rapes of a real-life woman as a consensual relationship with the man who owned her as property, in order to sell shitty novelty BDSM? What kind of monster am I?

Well, not the kind of monster who describes a slave as her owner’s “mistress” and insists that Jefferson and Hemings were in a consensual relationship. As for Sally Hemings’s diary, I’m a little confused. Because, you know, Thomas Jefferson wrote tons of letters in his lifetime to all of his friends and family, and if he was in such a consensual, loving relationship with Hemings, he surely would have written them to her, as well, right? Oh, my mistake. See, it’s generally understood that, as a slave, Sally Hemings would have been illiterate. Therefore, she could not have kept this magical diary that only Kevin knows about it. A quick google search for “Sally Hemings diary” turns up a lot about an opera with those words in the title, while a good search for “Was Sally Hemings illiterate” turns up, you know. People talking about how she was illiterate. How did Kevin miss that in his research?

One of the things I love about Kevin’s screed is the adjectives he uses. “Vengeful.” “DESPICABLE.”

“Big shot.”

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Kevin seems to think my objection is to BDSM books in general. You’d think the guy whose research uncovered the existence of a never-before discovered Sally Hemings diary would have at least done a little digging–I mean, he was right here on my blog, for Christ’s sake–to figure out what I write.

Other highlights from this screencap:

  • Attorney Kevin Weinberg offers his expert legal advice.
  • I have ergot poisoning (it’s what motivated the Salem witch trials, which Jaid feels is the same force motivating me).
  • You’re all brainwashed and acting according to my orders.

Look, guys. If I’ve effectively brainwashed you, please let me know. I have a lot of shit that needs getting done, and I could really use a mindless army of babbling sycophants to do it for me.

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Okay, I finally understand why Jaid Black wrote that I “attacked” her. She claims that I accused her of lying about Ellora’s Cave not paying some of their authors, cover artists, etc. The thing is, in order to not accuse Black of lying, I would have to accuse, oh, dozens of authors, some of whom I know personally, of lying. And since I’m not new to the book biz, I know that if a lot of authors and editors and other professionals are saying, “I’m not being paid what I’m owed,” that’s smoke indicating a huge fire. Dorchester, anyone? So no, I’m not going to pledge my undying loyalty to a company or its owner when there are clear indications that something isn’t quite right behind the scenes.

Other highlights:

  • Not liking milk is exactly the same thing as not liking blatant racism.
  • Writing a book about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings in a consensual relationship isn’t racist.
  • “the more…militant of communities” read: people whose daily lives are affected by the lingering stain of black slavery in America, aka, black people, for some reason don’t want to accept that Jefferson and Hemings were deeply in love.

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“It’s all still on her blog. She has no shame” Well, no, Kevin. I have no shame. Because I’m not ashamed to say, “Hey, this shit is fucked up and gigantic retailers who sometimes don’t know what’s being given the green light through their independent publishing platform have a right to know what they’re selling.” I’m not ashamed to dispute the expertise of “historians” who romanticize literally everything Thomas Jefferson ever did.

Because I took so many screencaps Kevin and Jaid’s fuckwittery last night, I have this one here that’s out of context with the rest of the thread, but that’s okay, because the points addressed are standalone:

Kevin knows feminism Keving grew up in Brooklyn

I want to make it clear that I do not believe I am a “protector” of women of color. I think white people have a social responsibility to call out racism, because we’re the ones who created it. We’re the ones who kidnapped and sold other human beings. We’re the ones who continued to hold those human beings down out of resentment that we couldn’t continue to abuse, rape, and enslave them. That’s our mess, and it’s absolutely our job to clean it up. And a part of that? Really is protecting women of color from this type of casual violence that my racial group has caused and continues to cause. Does that mean I think I’m Batman? Absolutely not. Does it mean that I think people of color can’t protect or stand up for themselves? Not at all.

Kevin believes that I don’t know the difference between slavery in BDSM and slavery in history. Which is laughable, considering how much time Kevin has spent brutally confusing the two in his defense of the book. Kevin also believes that I don’t realize that women of color read erotica. This is another interesting thing I didn’t know about myself, since I assumed that the women of color who write and enjoy reading BDSM erotica, some of whom have voiced the same objections over this book, were a part of that demographic he just described.

One thing Kevin is right about is that women are smart enough to not buy something they find offensive. They’re even smart enough to take action and complain to an online merchant when they feel that thing is so offensive, it shouldn’t be sold. And that’s what happened, Kevin. Women are smart. They’re just not smart in a way you agree with. That’s your own problem.

Jaid Black wants it to be known that “black women aren’t children, ffs. They need allies, not protectors.” This conversation on Facebook was going on while Black spouted transphobic bullshit on Twitter. Later, she became hostile while engaging with women of color on the subject of Sally Hemings/Thomas Jefferson. I’m not sure Jaid Black knows the definition of “ally,” but in a lot of social justice circles, it’s not unusual for self-professed allies to behave exactly the way Black did yesterday. Her Twitter account has since been deleted, which is probably a good move on her part.

Other features of interest in this screenshot:

  • Kevin has decided that the term “people of color” is eye-roll worthy because he’s never heard it used.
  • I’m a white matron (“matronize” is the rarely used feminine form of “patronize,” so guess who got herself a word-of-the-day calendar!)
  • Kevin has thoughts about feminism that weren’t worth expanding his comment to read.
  • Kevin grew up in Brooklyn.

I’m not a big fan of limp-dick wannabes running around trying to get attention by crying “bully” all the time, and that’s what Kevin here seems to be. Several people contacted me last night to inform me that Kevin here has been all up in Anne Rice’s now-deleted Amazon forum thread, kissing her ass and begging for attention. Apparently, screaming and crying about bullies is also his pastime, as well. He’s so fucking obnoxious, even Stop The GoodReads Bullies fucking hate him.