Author stalked blogger who gave bad review on Goodreads

[Andrew Gilfellon]

Apparently the author was a rape victim which is why she probably had a mental breakdown over the rape comments made by the blogger.

Still, way to ruin your credibility with book bloggers. They'll all be afraid to give it a bad review in case she turns up outside their door.

[Darth Richard II]

Apparently the author was a rape victim which is why she probably had a mental breakdown over the rape comments made by the blogger.

Still, way to ruin your credibility with book bloggers. They'll all be afraid to give it a bad review in case she turns up outside their door.

There was one "rape" comment, and it was about statutory rape.

[Frank Fitzpatrick]

My initial thought was: If she's an author with what is a pretty damn interesting story, why did she not make it into a novel? Seems like she's missed a trick there.

Either way, it seems that both people did something stupid at one point, and neither can really justify their actions. It also left me feeling a little confused and questioning who was the actual victim in the end. (Seriously, why didn't she make it a novel!)

[Darth Richard II]

The fact that people are defending the author here at all makes me physically ill

[Andrew Gilfellon]

I agree Darth. I was just repeating what I read on a blog. I do not condone her reaction to the blogger whatsoever. I mean seriously, it's messed up. And the Guardian article is her basically going 'gee aren't I quirky by stalking someone'

[Darth Richard II]

I agree Darth. I was just repeating what I read on a blog. I do not condone her reaction to the blogger whatsoever. I mean seriously, it's messed up. And the Guardian article is her basically going 'gee aren't I quirky by stalking someone'

Oh youre good, I was referring to other posts.

Looks like this is starting to get some serious attention in the media, although I havnt seen it pop up on cnns front pade yet.

[Andrew Gilfellon]

Also. This is the second person Kathleen has stalked. Search Kathleen Hale my thought catalogue.

I can't post links here.

Also, her mother thanked her for stalking the person.

[Eponine]

Also. This is the second person Kathleen has stalked. Search Kathleen Hale my thought catalogue.

I can't post links here.

Theda linked it, and it's seriously messed up. I feel pity without sympathy. I don't like internet diagnosing people, but I hope she's going to get help. The fact that she had friends to tell her that what she was doing was wrong in the blogger thing is good. The fact that she wrote this article in such a tone-deaf, unapologetic, self-aggrandizing manner is troubling.

[lady narcissa]

Who knew being a book blogger could be so dangerous?

Dear Author has a Letter of Opinion today which talks about the actions in general and their affect on the book blogging community. They also include some updates and some links to some other incidents that have happened to other book bloggers including one when a person was physically assaulted by an author after writing a negative review. WTF?!?!

http://dearauthor.com/features/letters-of-opinion/poisoning-the-well/

What the Dear Author opinion piece doesn't mention but I feel fits in with what they are talking about in the piece linked above is the lawsuit it is being subjected to by a book publisher. (They can't talk about it right now because of the lawsuit.) But Dear Author had a post about the publisher last month that was based on facts obtained from public information. It didnt' reflect well on the book publisher and they subsequently sued Dear Author and its owner for defamation. It isn't quite stalking but it really takes the form of harassment. If you haven't heard anything about the lawsuit, a good place to start is here:

http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/blog/elloras-cave-sues-dear-author-more-streisand-effect

[Isis]

I almost linked to this story earlier on about a UK blogger being physically attacked by an author* they gave a negative review to but I hadn't/haven't had any chance to do any further research into it or look for any other sources on it. If it is true, it is a terrible, terrible thing.

*just spotted this is linked in the first link from lady narcissa's post above mine.

[Darth Richard II]

I will comment more when I have a keyboard, but holy fuck.

[Myshkin]

One wonders if The Guardian would have published this piece if Hale had stalked Harold Bloom or Michiko Kakutani. Actually there's no need to wonder, the answer is pretty clear; had she done that The Guardian would never have published her piece, and Hale's career as a writer would be over. Luckily for her she only stalked some internet nobody, so it's alright.

I completely understand. the other day I followed myshkin home because he wrote a lewd limerick that oppressed me.

Fucking proletarians, always crying about being "oppressed".

[Darth Richard II]

Some people do take things a bit too far. Long before the internet came along, Harlan Ellison, infamous bad boy writer that he was, mailed a dead rat to one critic, mailed copies of every writing award he ever received to his high school English teacher who had told him he would never be a writer, and even took on Frank Sinatra after Sinatra badmouthed a movie for which he had written a screenplay. Gay Talese wrote about the incident in his piece "Frank Sinatra has a cold."

Yeah, and I refuse to read anything by him or touch anything with that assholes name on it.

Edit: reading more of the links. The one where the girl(I think it was a girl) was physcially assualted is just, what the holy shit megafuck mcgee jesus chirst shit holy fuckballs. I hope he gets the max possible sentence.

[Theda Baratheon]

The fact that people are defending the author here at all makes me physically ill

same. It's so fucking gullible and just...ugh i don't even know, mind-boggling.

[Callan S.]

If the one star had to be delivered in person, with like the author at a desk you had to place the one star on, would it be mind boggling if, when you present the one star, the author dares to actually speak and say "Why did you give me one star?"

Not that any social commitments matter at this point - when people want X, they'll ignore all their other social commitments towards getting X.

The argument back will be along the lines of it not being like having to drop something on someones desk in person. Not because the internet is really any different from a desk, but more along the lines that the things you deal with through the internet aren't human.

Till maybe you get famous and some famous critic who panned your stuff has been invited to the same party. Then it's personal.

[Altherion]

same. It's so fucking gullible and just...ugh i don't even know, mind-boggling.

I don't think gullibility is the issue -- we just have different values. I don't see going to someone's house to discuss something they said about one's work as something terrible. Sure, it's slightly weird with the weirdness proportional to distance traveled (i.e. talking to someone who lives down the street is not worth a mention while flying to another continent is very weird), but it's harmless. As I said, actually attacking or threatening someone is a completely different story, but simply showing up at the house of a stranger is not wrong in and of itself.

[Larry of the Lawn]

I don't think gullibility is the issue -- we just have different values. I don't see going to someone's house to discuss something they said about one's work as something terrible. Sure, it's slightly weird with the weirdness proportional to distance traveled (i.e. talking to someone who lives down the street is not worth a mention while flying to another continent is very weird), but it's harmless. As I said, actually attacking or threatening someone is a completely different story, but simply showing up at the house of a stranger is not wrong in and of itself.

No, going to a strangers house isn't wrong in and of itself, else delivering the mail would be screwes up. but when taken in the context of the situation, it is very wrong indeed.

[Darth Richard II]

So, this was linked someone whre in here I think but a self published author tracked down someone who gave his book a one star review on goodreads(a logical one to, details everything she thought was wrong with the book etc, nothing that crazy) and HIT HER OVER THE HEAD WITH A WINE BOTTLE. SHE IS IN THE FUCKING HOSPITAL. WHAT THE FUCK Did the world go crazy while I was at class? IS there something in the water? I don't have the words to describe the intensity of my anger at this moment, other than maybe pasting WHAT THE FUCK for 50 pages or so, but I'll spare you that. She's pressing charges, obviously. Don't know UK law, but if it turns out he got her address through goodreads somehow this is going to be a serious shit storm.

Edit: Isis's link has the full story. She has commented about it on the actual review, so I assume his name has been published somewhere, but for legality sake I won't link it. You can find it if you follow the links on the dear author article.

Edit 2: Going to a strangers house to confront them about anything is never fucking ok. You can thin kit is if you want, and at the risk of being modded, fuck you, thats fucked up, get some goddamn therapy. The mailman doesn't knock on my door and question the things I'm getting in the goddamn mail.

[Myshkin]

I don't think gullibility is the issue -- we just have different values. I don't see going to someone's house to discuss something they said about one's work as something terrible. Sure, it's slightly weird with the weirdness proportional to distance traveled (i.e. talking to someone who lives down the street is not worth a mention while flying to another continent is very weird), but it's harmless. As I said, actually attacking or threatening someone is a completely different story, but simply showing up at the house of a stranger is not wrong in and of itself.

If you were to show up at my house to discuss something I said on this board I'd find it absolutely inappropriate, and fucking scary. This is because you are a stranger to me, as Hale is a stranger to this blogger, and I have no idea what you are capable of. No that's not true, I'd know that you were capable of tracking down a stranger from the internet and showing up at their house to confront because you didn't like something they said on a message board (or in a book review). That in and of itself is enough to make me think you're unhinged, and capable of god knows what.

[Shryke]

Man, hitting someone with a wine bottle is a dirty trick.

You are like "Hey random person, this is creepy as fuck but you brought booze so I'm inclined to like you and /thunk OMG I'M BLEEDING FROM THE HEAD WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU!!"