Jim Hines Summarizes "Wicked Pretty Things" Controversy and Offers Alternative Venue For Stories
If you’re not familiar with the controversy surrounding the (now canceled) Wicked Pretty Things anthology, check out Jim’s post linked above, as well as this early recap from unfunnybusiness. It’s a whirling clusterfuck of homophobia and misguided foolishness (at best).
However, I wanted t point out this aspect of the post:
Pulling a story from an anthology is scary. You risk alienating editor and publisher both, not to mention turning down a paycheck. You worry about appearing unprofessional. And you wonder if you’ll find another home for the story you worked so hard on…
I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I’d like to extend an offer to any author who pulled his or her story from one of Telep’s projects as a result of this incident.
- If you have not already found a home for your withdrawn story, I would be happy to read it.
- If I like the story (and knowing most of the authors involved, I suspect I will), I’ll offer $100 up front to publish it here on my blog.
- Each story will include a donations link. Once the initial $100 has been covered, further donations will be split 50/50. Half will be paid to the author, and the other half will be donated to a LGBTQ-friendly cause.
- If I publish multiple stories, I will look into putting together an e-book collection of those stories, with profits again being split between the authors and a LGBTQ-friendly cause.
The many authors who pulled out of the antho didn’t do so to gain cookies, and I hope that their stance is remembered by those who care about erasing prejudice in culture (which includes fiction). I’m glad that Jim is offering his space as a venue for these stories, and that profits will go to both the authors and an LGBTQ cause.
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It’s really nice to see it when the good guys get what’s coming to them :-). Too often, doing the right thing is perceived to be thankless, but people like Jim ensure that the world begins to understand that doing the right thing not only has intrinsic rewards, but can have external rewards, as well.