Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) - Nerds protecting nonces

[World Famous Quasi Payer]

Now I have a source telling me something major is happening within the book industry (collapse level) but can't tell me what for fear of outing themselves.

They're just yanking your chain. Everyone knows romantasy smut will always print money.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

Could have something to do with Diamond shitting itself.

 

[ChampFantana]

I love the Monster Hunter International series, but I don't think I've ever seen a bigger phony Internet Tough Guy™

He may be a Phony Tough Guy, but the man knows his shit when it comes to firearms and shooting. (I follow him on FB and occasionally add my $.02 to his comment sections.)

Between the gun expertise, the BJJ training , and the independent wealth, he's basically who Fatrick imagines himself to be.

I don't have a dog in any fight between right wing authors, but I do hope the slap fights get resolved if for no other reason than it takes time away from talented guys who could be writing more fun, entertaining books.

 

[Fandom Pulse]

Could have something to do with Diamond shitting itself.

Yeah what's the scoop on this? I heard he's been sperging out and blocking his own people but I don't have the deets.

 

[Boston Brand]

Ethan encouraged his followers to mass report me. As much as they were campaigning for "Free speech" and crying they were "canceled" they sure love doing it to others.

Way I see it is I was gaining a lot of traction on the platform so they didn't want me getting bigger than them. I'll just have to do it on the non-preferred platform which makes it a little harder but it's just going to slow things down a little, not end it like they think. It's beyond tired watching how this Gen X group: canceled by SJWs, really just wanted to BE the mainstream industry, become gateekepers of their own little ponds instead that don't matter and act worse than the SJWs. But this is why you can't have a nebulous movement that doesn't have explicit right wing values or it turns to shit.

Now I have a source telling me something major is happening within the book industry (collapse level) but can't tell me what for fear of outing themselves. Anyone @Boston Brand might know anything?

You will have to be a lot more specific. Lot of ongoing five alarm fires in publishing, not all of them new.

Something to do with paperbacks?

Yeah, talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Getting rid of the cheap, low cost option for books in a shaky economy, and the preferred option of a number of demos publishing DESPERATELY needs to win back.

I don't think enough TikTokers are going to pay $50 for a trade paperback with sprayed edged to make up for the loss of the much larger markets of casual readers and people who don't want to pay big bucks for a new book.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

Yeah what's the scoop on this? I heard he's been sperging out and blocking his own people but I don't have the deets.

All I know is that Diamond Distributors went bankrupt again. And I only learned about it by happenstance as Roll For Combat did a video bitching about it.

 

[AnOminous]

I don't think enough TikTokers are going to pay $50 for a trade paperback with sprayed edged to make up for the loss of the much larger markets of casual readers and people who don't want to pay big bucks for a new book.

What even was the reasoning in almost getting rid of mass market paperbacks? They used to be pretty much everywhere, not even just in bookstores, every store including grocery stores would have a spinner rack or two of those.

 

[Mellorine]

The outlier successful self-publishers seem to do pretty well with digital only releases (sometimes supplemented with a low quality overpriced print-on-demand paperback) that then jump straight to hardcover collector's editions, and I can see that being a very tempting model for traditional publishers looking to avoid investing a dime more than absolutely necessary into their mid-list print runs. But that misses a huge chunk of potential buyers who prefer to read actual books and caters more to the extremely online readers who want trope lists and trigger warnings immediately following the title page.

 

[teriyakiburns]

What even was the reasoning in almost getting rid of mass market paperbacks? They used to be pretty much everywhere, not even just in bookstores, every store including grocery stores would have a spinner rack or two of those.

At a guess, they're trying to dump high volume, low margin sales in order to chase what they think will be low-mid volume but high margin markets. It wouldn't surprise me if a raft of bright young things has entered the C-suite to push this. Happens every twenty years or so in one industry or another.

 

[AnOminous]

At a guess, they're trying to dump high volume, low margin sales in order to chase what they think will be low-mid volume but high margin markets. It wouldn't surprise me if a raft of bright young things has entered the C-suite to push this. Happens every twenty years or so in one industry or another.

It's like the publishing industry itself is trying to kill books. Even the modern equivalent of the penny dreadfuls of the 19th Century would be better than the current nonsense of turning just the act of reading at all into some kind of elite high-priced activity.

It's just fucking bullshit.

 

[McMitch]

What even was the reasoning in almost getting rid of mass market paperbacks? They used to be pretty much everywhere, not even just in bookstores, every store including grocery stores would have a spinner rack or two of those.

The simple answer is that market just no longer exists. The average person’s time is dominated by tv, video games, and most notoriously phones; the average person does not read anymore. This combined with the natural degradation* of any long-running organization are why the industry is in the state it finds itself today. This means the industry needs to cater to ever-narrower niches to the exclusion of the rest of the market (on top of the concerted exclusion of white men despite that demographic having historically been the most consistent English readers/writers).

*When a leader of an organization needs to select his replacement, he will usually select someone slightly less capable than himself to avoid a premature transition of power. This compounds over time until it reaches a critical point wherein the replacement is so incapable he holds an outright contempt towards the very service the organization exists to provide, only maintaining his involvement in a bid for power.

 

[Windows 10 Upgrade]

What even was the reasoning in almost getting rid of mass market paperbacks? They used to be pretty much everywhere, not even just in bookstores, every store including grocery stores would have a spinner rack or two of those.

Possibly related to the observation that mid-tier hospitality (restaurants, food) is struggling. Nobody has the money to go out once a week to a nice place any more - either its a luxury establishment every few months for birthdays or it's Doordash Soylent Green.

Books are now considered luxury items - both to own and sadly, to set aside time to read. So publishers are pivoting hard into this idea of luxury and exclusivity - pushing one big author with flanking special editions of the same book, rather than a dozen different authors. The Brando Sando Kickstarter showed them where the money was I fear.

 

[World Famous Quasi Payer]

So publishers are pivoting hard into this idea of luxury and exclusivity - pushing one big author with flanking special editions of the same book, rather than a dozen different authors. The Brando Sando Kickstarter showed them where the money was I fear.

Using one anomaly author as the bases for an industry wide shift is bad. Brandon writes like most of us breathe. Christopher Ruocchio sounds like the future of the industry under this proposed model, and as he himself said, he makes most of his money on special projects independent of DAW. So what exactly keeps said author in house, and not cutting out the middle man? Not like publishers do marketing anymore. Not like they won't screw over, or try to screw over an up and coming author for some vague backroom politics. This all sounds like suicide-by-cop type deal.

 

[Commissar Fuklaw]

Christopher Ruocchio sounds like the future of the industry under this proposed model

What's he done so far to diversify?

 

[World Famous Quasi Payer]

What's he done so far to diversify?

He's done special additions of works with Anderida books over in the UK. Namely his short story collections, and The Murdered Sun, which is the version of Empire of Silence he sold to DAW before revisions. He also has Highmatter Books, which is his own personal publishing company. Which is supposed to be doing special versions of the main series. I think a combination of money, and whatever caused DAW to screw him over, has pushed him to branch out on his own. He has two children to feed now, so I don't blame him.

 

[Commissar Fuklaw]

You really have to be a business now don't you, you can't just sell books.

 

[Zyklon C]

I was just wondering what opinions are about Roger Zelazny. Admittedly he's more fantasy than sci-fi. I had read his Chronicles of Amber series (the Corwin cycle) back when I was a teen in the 1980s and found the books recently when I was culling my library.

I'm tempted to re-read them as I remember enjoying them quite a bit, but I'm afraid they won't hold up.

 

[AprilRains]

I think Zelazny was great. I reread "The Graveyard Heart" at intervals.

 

[There She Glows]

Disclaimer: I'm not sure if this is the correct thread for these screenshots. I've been sitting on these for a while for lack of a good place to post them. This seems to be the closest thing we have to a "Sci-fi and Fantasy Lolcows General" thread but if there is a better one please let me know, I will delete and repost.

Jim Butcher, author of the Dresden Files - a much beloved urban fantasy series. He is generally fairly private about his life which makes him not a lolcow by definition and not really threadworthy. There is one exception to this, and that is the period between 2020-2021 during which he dealt with the implosion of his second marriage by getting into a polycule with an insane aged porn star named Justine Joli ("Seana"). In honor of Mr. Butcher's upcoming release of his highly anticipated 18th Dresden Files novel Twelve Months I am dropping the receipts from this period before they are lost to the sands of time. What follows is all that remains of Justine's 2021-22 BPD meltdown following their breakup. Presented in chronological order.

Spoiler

Jim,

You contributed to my mental decline. And not taking that responsibility for your actions in this is absolutely WRONG of you.

You promised me a safe space. You cannot provide such a place because your mood swings are too violent and unpredictable for me. And they are triggering. Examples: what I see because I’m observant is this: Anger, frustration, snapping. All over little things that shouldn’t be a big deal.

1) you avoid situations. Convincing yourself you need to be fearful. This is probably my biggest problem with the majority of your behaviors. And it makes me a hostage to you and your feelings. I cannot move forward when you avoid me. This is a really big problem for your employees as well. Making Kavi and Em deal with your divorce because you didn’t want to was detrimental for you. You almost lost Kavi. I prevented that by telling you the truth, truth you were angry to hear. I love you enough to tell you when your behavior is affecting your employees. They feel like hostages to your mood swings too. FYI. I am a hostage to Angie’s schedule for getting my things back. Point here Jim is yesterday was three days. You didn’t contact me. What that behavior says to me is I have to wait on you. Something im not good at. Waiting for others to get their shit together. And you’re treating me like a dangerous animal. Something I don’t want or need from you.

2) BLAME: man this one is literally too much for me to bare. You blame me for your feelings and expect me just to fucking take it. This is something that not only I cannot take but isn’t ok from a friend let alone a lover. I WILL NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR FEELINGS. THEY ARE YOURS AND HOW YOU EXPRESS THEM IS DAMAGING.

I have felt like an outsider in this relationship, especially since you and Angie just fell into a pattern and I was just supposed to go along with it. There was no real discussion, it was just you saying this works don’t fuck with it. I’m a guest. I can’t say it’s not working for me, because any time I bring up future plans you, snap at me, get frustrated with me and generally just fucking angry. You treat angie and I differently. You will talk to her. Me you snap, yell, get frustrated. Those actions have consequences, Jim. Just driving me further and further away. And i feel like you cannot be communicated with when you do those things. So when were you going to try to make me feel safe by discussing next steps for me? Anytime I brought it up I felt nothing but anger from you.You and Angie believe that there is a proper way to behave: rather than the mess that life is. I feel like anytime I didn’t comport to what YOU thought was right the two of you ganged up on me. My part in this was being very intimidated by the fact that both of you went to college. And that I just wasn’t smart enough. You and Angie are just now begging your journey to proper communication, something i have had to learn for the last 20 years. You two are too far behind me to make this work. I had the same problems in my marriage and obviously it makes me triggered when you treat me that way.

In this same vain on the shit show relationship we did have because of the lack of communication: I don’t feel like you really know anything about me. For if you did you’d understand that I won’t take communication from you through a third party because it’s such an issue for you to confront things. That I’m not as dangerous as your making me out to be. I’m in a home rn with a Marine who has guns and sharp knives and isn’t treating me like you are treating me. And yes he is aware that I tried to commit suicide. His wife slapped me and it felt like love. If I ever meant anything to you other than an avatar of sexuality then some kind of understanding and kindness was needed when you showed up to take me to the crisis center. But again all I faced was your anger. Seeing a pattern here yet, Jim, anger. It’s a theme with you. And it’s just not ok man.

Oh and the pregnancy scare: here is another situation where I felt alone. You were ANGRY!?!! Like what the actual fuck man?!? You cry and cry and cry over not being able to have children again. Here I think I may be pregnant and what a wonderful gift that would be for you, and for 10seconds before you became in raged I thought wow this might actually be fun with Jim. Then you dashed any sort of communication because you were angry and shut down. I had to suggest a pregnancy test. I had to go get it myself in the middle of the night. Like where were you in this situation? No where to be found. I had to handle it. Not the two of us.. just fucking me man. I found out I wasn’t. You asked me once how are you? Im not even sure you actually heard what I said about that situation then never checked in with me again on how I felt. I was devastated. Hurt. Angry. Sad. And above all things ALONE. Because my feelings didn’t really matter to you. Just how you felt. Jim, you asked me to go back to coming up just on weekends. Do you not remember that? You said that to me Monday night. That’s tantamount to saying to me: I love the sex but I hate everything else about you because I have shitty communication skills. You broke up with me when you asked things to go back to weekends and blamed me for not being able to move through your own feelings and get work done. I have told you over and over and over again BLAMING me was the wrong course of action. But it’s what you do. I have to learn to accept that. Because I see no progress to changing these behaviors. Sure you’re not crying over Ashley all the time. But you are angry and emotionally unstable. I see now what everyone went through before I started taking medication. I was exactly like you, frustrated and angry 75% of the time. That doesn’t happen to me as much unless I’m triggered or feel like I’m not being communicated with.

I refuse to be held hostage by your schedule or feelings. And you’re holding me hostage by not dealing with a situation you helped create with your anger and lack of communication. Please stop avoiding me.

I was FAWNING out. I made you more important than my feelings or wants or needs. That’s why I stepped up and broke up with you. Because you blamed me for not being able to work (cardinal sin in my opinion) and for the fact that you have a hard time processing feelings. You blamed me for that. That was absolutely WRONG of you. You have no compassion for me. And that’s something I desperately need rn.

I now have to set boundaries with you. Because I don’t see any other options for myself.

1) I don’t need you treating me like a dangerous animal.

2) your mood swings are dangerous for me. Especially when you lack communication skills that could work these things out.

3) I came out here for YOU. I left everything and anything that I have ever known to be here. And while I was in severe pain I pushed you away. I’m not asking for you to completely support me but I do need help until I get onto my feet. A plan from you on how you intend to complete this task is required.

4)I don’t like you telling my story for me. You leave out important information because you’re a writer. I’d like therapy sessions with Sabrina remotely.

5) once you have given me a plan, I will need it by end of business today. I will be blocking you. We can maybe try this friendship shit in 6 months. But until then I need space from your craziness. Until you have made some serious progress on communication it’s not healthy for me to be around you.

6) being among humans who can communicate has made me realize I’m not as crazy as your making me out to be.

The lawyer cost 447.00 not even $500 for me to get divorced.

I cannot get an apartment when you aren’t communicating with me. You said you’d help. But here is another situation where you are avoiding me and keeping me hostage to you.

Things need to be worked out. And I absolutely hate that you’re treating me like I’m a dangerous animal that wishes to hurt you. I don’t want to live in Aurora. In fact I don’t want to leave Ft. Collins. You’d know where I was if you checked my location. That I have never stopped sharing with you. Don’t know how to work it Angie does and she can show you.

Point here Jim is you made promises and your avoiding them.

Keeping me bound to you. Just step the fuck up so we can deal with this and be done with one another.

Hand delivered by Cornish pixies

Seana,

You aren’t going to like this. But I’m going to talk about what I can do to help you and what I can’t.

First, what I can’t.

I can’t do this. I can’t be Harry Dresden. I can’t be any kind of emotional or personal support for you. I can’t financially support you. It would take me about three years of steady work to earn an extra 200k, and I cannot invest that kind of money.

I do not want to continue in any kind of relationship with you. I want to close things between us. After we settle this, by email only, I do not want any kind of further contact.

Now, what I can do.

I’ve consulted Pam and scraped up about 8k I can send to you on Zelle. Between that and the 2k I’ve already sent and the 2k you will get back from the attorney, that should secure you a safe place for long enough to let you figure out your next steps.

Denver county has more resources to help you out with housing and job placement than the entire state of Florida. Rudy helped one of his patients into the programs this morning and they have room. The money should help you secure a similar counselor who can similarly assist you. Or, if that does not suit you, you will have the ready cash to service your car and travel elsewhere.

There is nothing to negotiate here. I’m not angry with you. I’m not going to hold a grudge or run you down. But I’m also not going to argue or change my mind. This is what I can do for you. This is where we part ways.

I missed a deadline today that will effect a dozen other people, and will be working tonight to minimize the damage. I will check my email again in the morning.

Jim

Jim,

you are not who you say you are. You have been unable to provide anything you said you would. So you ending things isn’t surprising. And I haven’t liked my situation since I arrived. So what more can you to do me really?

Thank you.

But your math is off. $1600.00 when to the pod. Then I had to pay for storage as well because you avoided the situation. I have $-12 left of the 2k you gave me. What I’m saying here is that there will be more costs associated with my pod. Wouldn’t have had to be had you not avoided the situation.

My Medicare isn’t approved and my meds just cost me the last $100 I had.

I don’t like you telling Sabrina my story on how you treated me. I’d like the opportunity to tell my side. So I’m asking for three sessions so that she can maybe help YOU understand me and what you brought down onto me. Makes me feel insane when only one person gets to tell a therapist their views.

You also promised to bring my dogs back. Is that going to happen?

You promised to buy me a phone case. And now my phone is so damaged it barely works. How can this be resolved?

That budget for the cannabis business was overblown. If I can keep it under $100k are you willing to reconsider investing?

There is also the issue of my mail. I refuse to speak to your brainwashed toadie Angie. I cannot have it sent back to California at this time. I will request that you and I meet at a restaurant during lunch time so there’s no chance of a volatile encounter.

1)Why did you treat me differently than you did Angie?

2)Why wouldn’t you discuss future plans with me?

3)Why did you treat me like you did with the pregnancy scare?

4)why did you ask to go back to weekends?

5)why didn’t to talk to me about your feelings when I broke up with you?

6)why did you show up angry to take me to a crisis center? I needed love and compassion and ANGER is what I faced from you.

this isn’t arguing this is what closure looks like to me. An honest conversation of emotional feelings. I deserve at least this much from you Jim. An explanation.

I also don’t appreciate you blaming me AGAIN for a deadline YOU missed. I’m not privy to your schedule, or even your life at this point. I Don’t know when you have deadlines. (Again making me responsible for your own actions. Not something I’m willing to take responsibility for. So stop Throwing shit like that in my face. Get a handle on your own emotional state.) Jim The world doesn’t revolve around you. Even tho you have made it that way. And we can play tit for tat for the next hundred years on who’s time is more important than another’s, I just simply don’t want to play this game anymore. It’s not fun. And it’s destructive. Examples: you telling me I make you miss deadlines. Blaming me for how you feel. Me telling you how much trying to move on is difficult because you don’t like confrontation of any kind. Games in other words and I’m not having any more of your games.

You are Dresden. And much more. I’m pouring my heart out to you and not only will you not hear me on this. You seem to assume I believe you’re actually Dresden. I don’t believe you’re Dresden. I believe the parts of your personality that shone thru your story telling are what made you attractive to me. I’m also telling you that because it’s difficult for me to have relationships period So loving anyone in the future will be hard.

You have left a right mess here. And you’re still not taking responsibility for your actions in this situation. You have managed to deal me more damage than my x husband did in a total of 13 years. I have been here less than two months, and in that time you have wrecked my emotional state. My heart. My living situation. I’m fucking homeless, BECAUSE OF YOU. I love how you’re like call Rudy he helped his clients. I can’t afford therapy let alone Rudy. Like where is your head at Jim?!? And I hate that you’re throwing money at me to go away. I’ll take it mind. And will go away. But man. This too is a pattern of yours. That is massively destructive. Because you’re not taking responsibility for your actions and behaviors blaming everyone but yourself.

And unlike you, I am brutally honest with my therapist. She’s aware I made a suicide attempt (really a cry for help), I told her how angry you were and how Angie took your side. From a clinical standpoint the both of you were wrong, in your handling of that situation. Talk about not behaving properly; something the two of you are obsessed with.

I told my therapist what Angie said to me “ how could you not expect him to be angry.?” She was sooo shocked it took her a moment to recover because honestly wrong answer man. Another way I’m being blamed by the both of you. And another way to shame me for my attempt. How magnanimous of you to tell me you’re not angry. Not the behaviors you showed me so it’s hard to believe that statement. And you continue to blame me for not getting work done. You say one thing and behave another way entirely. Thankfully I’m not there to witness it. I am livid with you. That’s not likely to change for me either. Especially since you refuse to take any responsibility for your actions here. I wonder how your spinning this story to your family and friends? Am I like Ashley, did I destroy you? What from of monster are you assigning to me? Please tell your brainwashed GF I don’t want that scarf. I want no reminders of either of you. Or to be friends with either one of you. You are a destructive human, Jim. And I can’t have you in my life. Angie is destructive as well. I cannot have her in my life either. Because there isn’t “proper behavior”, Jim. Just messy as fuck life. Something you’re incapable of handling well.

I really really do wish you were the “normal” human you pretended to be. You aren’t. You are volatile, angry, and have an enormous amount of lack of communication skills.

Hand delivered by Cornish pixies

Two days before my 41s birthday fyi y’all

Sources

https://x.com/justinejoli/

https://justinejoli.tumblr.com/

https://archive.ph/d9nKA

 

[OutInTheRain]

Jim Butcher, author of the Dresden Files - a much beloved urban fantasy series. He is generally fairly private about his life which makes him not a lolcow by definition and not really threadworthy. There is one exception to this, and that is the period between 2020-2021 during which he dealt with the implosion of his second marriage by getting into a polycule with an insane aged porn star named Justine Joli ("Seana"). In honor of Mr. Butcher's upcoming release of his highly anticipated 18th Dresden Files novel Twelve Months I am dropping the receipts from this period before they are lost to the sands of time. What follows is all that remains of Justine's 2021-22 BPD meltdown following their breakup. Presented in chronological order.

Fuck yeah, new Dresden Files. I didn't realize it was coming out.

As for this, I knew he blew up his life for a bit getting involved with a pornstar. This is the thing with nerds, they all get porn brained and fuck up every relationship with their weird shit. Men and women both do this, so both sexes are guilty. I can 100% believe that she's nuts and he's an idiot who has no idea how to deal with her. I can also believe that he suddenly got tons of female attention thrown at him and lacked the self control to deal with it.

At least he didn't become a tranny.