Back to your regularly scheduled program of skating and publishing...
So... an author friend of mine is being cyber-stalked. She wrote a really kick ass suspense novel where one of the bad guys is the Mormon church—which covers up a heinous crime. She's an ex-Mormon and so apparently she both knows whence she speaks AND she knows the difference between truth and fiction.
This novel of hers, Wives and Sisters has drawn a lot of criticism from the Mormon community, most of whom haven't read it. It's been widely and well reviewed... except by the Salt Lake Tribune, which isn't quite—but might as well be—an official organ of the church. They hated it.
Now this weird guy is stalking her. He's signing up for all kind of Mormon and Ex-Mormon forums pretending to be her, and saying all kinds of nasty stuff. He's leaving 15 evil, abusive blog comments a day on her blog. He doesn't even appear to be a Mormon himself—anymore. Rather, he's an ex-Mormon. Color me clueless, I don't get what this guy's problem is or why he has latched on to my friend to persecute.
Anyway, the point I'm coming to is, when On the Edge does finally get published—and I'm coming to believe that it will—who's it going to offend?
I mean, OTE the Serial offended lots of people. It offended people who didn’t think OTE was all that good or deserved all that much attention. It offended people who didn't like what Trev had to say about being sexually abused. It offended people who didn't like how OTE vilified Russians or suggested that domestic abusers could actually change.
OTE the Serial actually got me cyber-stalked by some nutcase woman who was jealous of anyone who remotely appeared to be a bigger Ilia Kulik fan than she was. This woman followed me around, posted nasty responses to my posts, canceled newsgroup posts, drove me off RSSIF... scared me a little. After all, at that point, I was a housewife with a really amateurish web site. Why was this woman obscessed with me? There really was no answer... she was a nutcase.
So anyway, back to who I'm going to offend. I'll probably offend half the parents in the country. OTE the Serial was pretty graphic as far as sex and it's been a hard choice whether to "tone it down" for the YA market. I haven't yet decided if I really will or not. but it makes me wonder if I'm going to be the subject of book burnings and bannings. Well, bring those on, you can't BUY press like that. I hope The Onion writes a satirical piece about how OTE promotes profligate sexuality among today's youth. J.K. Rowling will be eating my dust.
Excuse me, I was dreaming there...
Anyway, like I told my friend Natalie, when you write something controversial you shouldn't be surprised when you get people stirred up. But the nutcases... I am not looking forward to the nutcases. Skating is just full of 'em.
3 comments:
Well, some YA gets racy. As long as it isnt graphic just to be graphic for its on sake (like erotica or something like that) it should be okay.
The salt lake tribune would not have published or liked something about polygomy or related items because that kind of action is against the church. Also you would have to make sure that you have all the information such as is it The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or is it the smaller group of people who say they are mormon but are not recognized by the mormon church. To group all people who say they are mormon is like saying all orthodox and unorthodox versions of the cathlic church are all just catholics and just lump them all together. Alot of people would get upset and alot of others won't know the difference either because they are lied to or just misinformed and don't realize.
Perhaps you should read Wives and Sisters and read the review(reprint), before you say what the SLT would or would not do. Until then, please take your own advice regarding making judgments without full information. Regardless, I'm amazed that cyber-stalking, harassment, threats and identity theft would be condoned by the LDS church canon for any reason.
Also, please don't use the word "orthodox" with the word Catholic if you don't know what it means. Orthodox refers to autonomous branches of the Catholic Church in Eastern Europe, Russia and Greece (among other countries). It does not refer to the Roman Catholic Church or to liberal or conservative constituencies within the Roman Catholic Church. "Unorthodox" is not used to refer to splinter cults--often ultra-conservative--that call themselves Catholic but which have cut themselves off from the Roman Catholic Church. Roman Catholics do have a descriptive word for these groups: cults.
Post a Comment