Wicked Pretty Update

[cleolinda]

Quick recap: Jessica Verday dropped out of the "Melissa Marr-ish" Wicked Pretty Things YA anthology after being asked to change a "G-rated" male/male romance to male/female. The editor, Trisha Telep, made a bizarrely cheerful non-apology; Running Press claimed to both support LGBTQ writing and stand behind the editor 100%. Out of thirteen stories

Comments

[bienegold]

I can certainly think of various reasons why they can't let her go, but their use of the word support kind of boggles me.

[cleolinda]

Yeahhhh... she's done so many books with them that I suspect there's some personal attachment there. I mean, if a good friend of mine had gotten caught up in this, I would have to sit down and think very carefully about how to say what needed to be said next.

I'm not sure "We stand behind her 100%" would have been it, though.

[crantz]

"I'll have a word" tends to be what I say.

This is very ineffectual as a PR statement, however.

[xturtle]

I am put in mind of a West Wing episode, the one where the Surgeon General claims pot isn't all the harmful. CJ is told to show support for her to the press and asks Josh, "while I'm showing her support, what will you be showing her?" He replies: "The door."

This is just to say, it is the weekend, and the publisher may very well be waiting until they can get all information from all sources during working hours (I'd guess lawyers cost more if you need them on a weekend) before making any public decisions.

[darth_snarky]

Yeah, ITA with your second paragraph. Lawyers do not move on Internet Time. The lawyers I've known who've worked weekends are either fairly new associates desperately trying to make more billable hours to please the partners, or ones who have a really huge, urgent case (I don't this would qualify, upsetting as it may be).

[xturtle]

Totally. And contracts are not always easily interpreted, and you don't want to have shown public non-support for someone you end up being contractually obliged to employ.

[moiread]

They may also yet be unaware of the authors who have dropped. And even if they are aware, my guess is they'd wait to see how it settles out before making a move. As crappy as "straightwashing" (thanks, foresthouse!) is, the editor has sort of dithered out a lazy (and freaky-weird) semi-apology, and has clearly done a lot of work for them. In those cases it usually takes a more significant critical mass than what we've seen to get someone fired over an issue of discrimination/"political correctness". This situation may never reach that critical mass. Or it might. And whether it does or not, I'm not convinced she should be fired. Lynching somebody over one fuckup (that we know of) doesn't feel right to me. I'd much rather see her make a better apology and have everybody try to do better. Change, just in general, is a lot more likely to happen that way. I'm not saying people shouldn't stand up for the things they believe in -- these authors are standing up for me and mine, in fact -- but rather that once you've done that, you still have to talk to

[silamai]

I'm really anxious to see what the final outcome is. Will they get stories from a bunch of writers who don't know/care about the issue and put out the book, do you think? Or maybe just can the whole thing? I dunno, I don't think I've ever seen something like this happen in terms of literature, at least in my recent memory.

[sadlikeknives]

Considering the book's cover touts "13 Dark Faerie Romances" (and how many ways are there to spell 'fairy,' seriously? But I digress) they're already basically down to half. They might have to scrap it. And it might be for the best, since it's pretty much cursed at this point.

[cleolinda]

It may have happened behind the scenes before--writers pulling out over a matter of principle--but I don't know that the general public has ever seen it play out. I haven't, at least.

I am seriously expecting RP to either announce tomorrow that 1) the anthology is dead or 2) they've replaced Trisha Telep with someone else, because there's no way they can get replacements. The YA community (well, most genre communities, actually--sci-fi, horror, romance, etc) is too close-knit. Everyone'll have heard about it (or will be told about it once they announce they're in it), and no one will want to be the strikebreaker, as it were.

[bubosquared]

You know, the main thing I'm taking away from this whole kerfuffle is that the YA writers community is tight-knit in support of queer issues. Which, as someone who grew up with barely half a dozen queer-themed YA books (and all of those were Issue Books, too, not romance stories that happened to be queer, like the story in question), fills me with a lot of hope for the next generation, let me tell you.

[therikkubop]

Any word on Francesca Lia Block? I kind of expect her too, she wrote Weetzie Bat, for chrissakes.

[cleolinda]

People have pointed out that she hasn't been on Twitter or her blog for a few days, so she may be out of the office entirely, as it were. I'll be interested to hear what she says.

[jenrevenant]

I find it odd that all this comes right on the heels of the YA mafia's non-existence posts. Or is that just me?

[cleolinda]

Heh, I was laughing about that with someone. This is why I kept saying on the Made of Fail podcast, "I don't think it's a mafia, I don't think it has any power, but yes, there is a closely-knit community." When that can be used for good, it's great.

[jenrevenant]

I'd consider it power if Telep's career is over due to this... especially without a chance at redemption. I'll continue to watch this unfold now that the weekend's almost over.

[cleolinda]

Yeah--in context I was trying to reassure people that there was no Mean Girls Club that had the power to deny you blurbs and therefore doom your career. But you're right, solidarity is definitely power.