As the title of this post suggests, I’ve had a new inner mantra these days.
“Jeebus…why is that even a thing?”
I find myself constantly amazed, annoyed, disgusted… in Gordon Ramsay’s words, Gobsmacked, by the world around me. Things keep happening on all fronts, and I can’t seem to wrap my head around these goings-on and still function properly.
[Warning: angry speech and profanity ahead. Continue at your own risk.]
I’ve been pretty silent lately (okay, completely silent), but as I’ve said in the past, my mother always taught me to keep my trap shut if I couldn’t be nice. Seeing as how she’s been living with me these last few months while we were having the work finished on her new house, I’d probably do well to abide by her suggestions since she can do things to me in my sleep now.
[When she reads this, she’s going to laugh and yell at me for it, but that’s okay.]
This post will probably offend everyone at one time because, well, that’s just how I roll lately. Most of these things probably shouldn’t be a thing, but they are, and they annoy me. And this is my blog. And before we get started, watch this. It’s kinda true:
[Disclaimer: I’m not actually a mean person. I am, however, VERY pregnant and highly annoyed. I’m tired of everyone feeling so entitled to change everyone else’s worlds just because something hurts their feelings, like it’s going to make a bit of freaking difference in the long run. Everyone has a right to be offended, but the people doing the offending also have a right to their opinions. So everyone really just needs to suck it up and sit the hell down. And for the love of Pete, get over it already!]
So now that everyone is properly pissed off, let’s begin, shall we?
5 THINGS THAT SHOULDN’T BE THINGS
1. The Confederate Flag Debate: Seriously. I’m glad people finally had the good sense to take the flag down. I hate that 9 good people had to lose their lives senselessly for it to happen though. This should have happened 60 years ago. Contrary to the redneck mentality (and yes I can say that because I am the daughter of a card-carrying redneck southern boy, God rest his poor soul), it is an offensive and highly inappropriate symbol of a horrible time in this country’s bloody history. Do I think all Confederate monuments, graves, and paraphernalia should be wiped clean from the books? Hell no. By trying to erase the past, future generations won’t learn from it. Put the damned flag in a museum and shut up about it already.
Side Rant: You see, Charleston is my home. In my previous life as an employee of the Diocese of Charleston and a student at the College of Charleston, I had the pleasure of meeting the Reverend-Senator more than once. He was a good man and neither he nor his congregation deserved the things that happened to them. The dumbass who did it shouldn’t be hailed as a hero or a martyr or a poster-child for any racist faction. He’s a dumb kid who was taught to hate people for no reason. He’s a criminal and should be treated as such. End. of. Discussion. No, he doesn’t need to be lynched in the street. No, he doesn’t need to be set on fire. He needs to pass through the system just as every other criminal should, be tried, convicted, and sentenced. Reverend Pinckney would likely have been appalled by the threats of vigilante violence against the kid. If memory serves, he was one who campaigned against violence in the first place.
2. Kindle Unlimited: Okay, so Amazon sucks giant, hairy donkey balls. We know this. We have known it for awhile. Amazon is almost single-handledly responsible for the destruction of the literary market because their platform allows anyone to publish anything at any time for any reason without guidelines or regulations in place to keep the work at a minimum standard. I’m a writer; I’ve studied this market. And yeah, it sucks. So, in a maneuver to combat the shitstorm they started, Amazon is looking for new and improved ways to boost their sales while simultaneously trying to bork the authors out of their royalties. WE SAW THIS COMING, PEOPLE. So now that a bunch of people bought into Amazon’s hype and allowed the consumerist hydra to grow yet another head, we all want to be hurt, horrified, and offended by their dickheadedness. Correct me if I’m wrong, but hasn’t the literary market always been about the publisher making the money while stealing shamelessly from the artist? You want to stop the insanity? Opt out of KU and move on with your life. Createspace ain’t the only print-publishing platform out there.
HOWEVER, let me play Devil’s Advocate here: I’ve talked to several authors who are in the KU program. The deal here is KU pays the author based on number of pages read. So yeah, if you’re churning out crap for the sake of doing it thinking you’re gonna make a buck, then no you probably won’t make money. If people go into the book, read two pages, and walk away because they’re bored or irritate or, heaven forbid, the writing is so atrocious they can’t read it, then you get paid for two pages read, not the other fifty. Though if you take your time and write something good, chances are the readers will be hooked and your whole book will be read. This is happening to quite a few people I know, and the preliminary research shows the KU rates for a completed book are actually better than standard KDP rates.
3. Rape Culture: Yep, I’m going there. RAPE CULTURE IS NOT A THING, PEOPLE. It’s a tag placed on a horrible reality by a bunch of entitled assholes who don’t want to admit that the things they’re doing are wrong. Rape is not a culture. It’s a crime. And I’m so terribly effing sorry, but looking at women and saying “Oh, well just don’t get raped” ain’t gonna fix the problem. Yer gonna have to teach the people doing the raping that why yes, it is actually A BAD THING. There shouldn’t be questions of consent. There shouldn’t be blurred lines. Victims shouldn’t be villainized. Rape is rape is rape is rape is rape. It’s illegal. It’s bad. It’s traumatic. It’s horrible. And rapists deserve all the punishment this world has yet to conceive of. I don’t give a flying f*** how much money you have, who you are, or how pretty you might be. You take away another person’s right to choose to have sex with you, then you’re a rapist. End of story. You have no goddamned argument anymore, so STFU and go to freaking jail, you prick.
I’m just gonna put this out there: Bill Cosby, funny as his comedy may be, is a rapist. Was I sorry to see the truth come out? A little, because I grew up watching The Cosby Show and a tiny part of my childhood died that day. But the fact remains, he drugged women, thereby removing their ability to consent to sex, which means *gasp* HE’S A GODDAMNED RAPIST. Don’t sugar-coat that shit just because he’s famous or old. Apples are still apples, no matter how you paint them, folks.
4. Race & Gender as Factors in Writing Ability: So this one really tweaks my ass. Hard. And let me be perfectly clear up 
front – this has NOTHING to do with racial or gender bias. I’m a woman, damn it. I know what discrimination is because I do write in the speculative fiction realm. Yes, I go play in the boys’ sandbox, and you know what? I’m pretty damned good at it. I know I am. I don’t need validation or vindication. But what I do need is for all the trolls out there to sit down and shut the hell up because ninety-five percent of them don’t have a freaking clue what the hell they’re talking about. It pisses me off that this has to be a thing because it shouldn’t. Who or what someone may be should have absolutely no bearing on his or her ability to do anything. Everyone talks about how this country has swung so far into PC-land that everyone is afraid to talk about certain things.
That’s sooooooo not true.
It appears race and gender are the two things everyone is hellbent on screaming the loudest about, and both topics, to be perfectly honest, should be non-issues.
So here’s my actual gripe: It doesn’t matter what gender or race you are…unless you’re an A-list author with a rabid following writing for a large press and have been doing so for years, you are not making money as a speculative fiction author. The market sucks. It does. It just really and truly sucks for all of us. We’re all struggling. People just don’t read anymore unless it’s some half-assed young adult romance or badly written pseudo-mainstream BDSM. I think Stephen King might actually be the only non-romance genre writer still making money today.
Am I a woman? Yes.
Am I ashamed of that? No.
Do I advertise it widely? Not really.
Why? Because it isn’t necessary.
A good book is a good book, and I personally don’t care what the author looks like. Coincidentally, one of the best genre writers I know is an African-American woman. She’s a beautiful person inside and out with talent coming out of her ears. When she’s finally “discovered”, this world will never be the same. [But don’t take my word for it…go see for yourself.]
Lexxx and I had this conversation the other day because we have so many friends caught in this trap. It really upsets me to think these people who are so talented aren’t allowed to believe in themselves due to this stupid social bias. I get angry every time I think about it.
For what it’s worth, here’s my advice to every non-white-male speculative fiction author: Presenting your specific race or gender as a marketing tool shouldn’t be necessary. Promote your work as your work and let it shine. Don’t pigeonhole yourself to prove a point that most of the population is going to just ignore anyway. Oh, and one more thing… if you’re concerned about a person buying a book based on your photo, chances are that’s not the type of reader you want in the first place.
5. Gay Marriage: LAST BUT NOT LEAST…
Before you come after me with the torches and pitchforks, shut up and listen for a minute. This is probably the thing that should be the least of a thing there is right now. Why? Because we’re talking about BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS. The ability of two people, regardless of who or what they are, to engage in a civil union, shouldn’t even be open for discussion. The supreme court said it’s a constitutional right, so LET IT GO ALREADY. And all the religious nutbags out there screaming that their constitutional rights are at stake (1) clearly don’t understand those rights and (2) are dumb as hell. Just because the supreme court ruled that gay couples can’t be denied a marriage license doesn’t mean they’re forcing the clergy to perform those ceremonies. Besides, the officiant is more scenery than substance at a wedding anyway. As soon as you have the marriage license in hand, you’re married. You don’t need a preacher. You just need a notary public. That’s just how it is. All they’re saying is that the government can’t discriminate when it comes to the issuance of a marriage license. Because let’s face it, it may not involve skin color, but it’s still effing discrimination. Might I remind everyone that Separation of Church and State was implemented in the founding of this country FOR A REASON? Seriously. Feds don’t control churches. Likewise, churches can’t control the feds. Nor should they think they’re important enough to try (Yes, I’m looking at you, Texas.).
Oh, and if you can’t tell, I completely support gay marriage. Some of my best friends and favorite colleagues are of “alternate lifestyles” and I love them all like family. If they want to get married and be as miserable as the rest of us married schmucks, more power to them. Oh, and once my Notary application is finished processing and my license is issued, yes, I’ll be more than happy to officiate.
So there you have it. None of these things should be things, but they are because common sense seems to be lost among the trolls. And now that everyone is sufficiently offended, I’m going to go do something constructive.