Okay. Let's not pretend I'm free of bias, shall we?

[seanan_mcguire]

I just received an email from an anonymous source using the option that Livejournal affords that says "you can send me email if you want to" (and I will be turning that option off now; if you want to reach me, you can use the website contact form and go through my PA, like everyone else). The author didn't sign their name (hence the "anonymous"),

Comments

[batwrangler]

It makes me so incredibly angry that someone feels entitled to write you that email but doesn't have the integrity to own it with a real address. I'm glad you're taking that criticism for what it's worth: absolutely nothing.

[seanan_mcguire]

It did still feel like something that should be addressed, because damn.

[dr_zrfq]

And you addressed it well, and with style, and I laughed through most of it thanks to things you wrote, while still facepalming in disbelief that anyone who took the trouble to write you should have been so stupid not to do elementary legwork first and actually, you know, COUNT.

[mariadkins]

hear hear

[reedrover]

Thank you for doing way more than you had to in answering anonymous complaint. I especially appreciate your acceptance of bias as a human condition as much as breathing, because everyone except maybe Michael Valentine is biased. I also appreciate the stance that bisexuality is not deviant, it's life on the sexuality bell curve. The statistical breakdown of your books vs. life is interesting and shows how far "reality" fiction has to go to really reflect life.

So... Thanks.

[seanan_mcguire]

Very welcome.

[archangelbeth]

Auto-erotica... I diez and is ded, giggling and cheering.

I would have some other things to say, but because of other people's privacy, can't say them as me. But I'm not going to stop buying your books.

[seanan_mcguire]

Thank you.

[beccastareyes]

Apparently having multiple openly QUILTBAG side/ensemble characters in your story means teh gayz are taking over. Never mind that in a series like Newsflesh or October Daye, there are scads and scads of characters, many of whom are shown in relationships or talking about relationships or sex. It just goes to show that straight and 'unknown'* characters are invisible so people like this don't notice what the actual ratio of straight to queer characters are.

* I don't remember if, say, Steve ever mentioned a love interest or a porn collection or something on camera. Because most of the time we see Steve, he's on duty, so it doesn't come up.

[dewline]

*mutters about how they're not 'taking over', but just taking their proper places alongside the rest of us in the human race...*

[beccastareyes]

Exactly. We've always been here, albeit by different names and ways of defining ourselves.

[seanan_mcguire]

I found the criticism that I don't give that much time to straight characters fascinating, both a) because of the number of hetero relationships-how much time does Toby spend talking about Sylvester and Luna's "perfect marriage"?-and b) because of that "if no sexual orientation is given, they're straight" assumption.

[priscellie]

What an ignorant, cowardly email. I applaud your response. I'm so glad there are awesome creators like you, writing against the status quo and making the fictional worlds we inhabit as gloriously diverse as the one we live in. If you keep writing, so will I!

[seanan_mcguire]

It's a deal.