Revealing the Agenda of a Scammer

Okay, so based on my title, I’m going to say this goes farther than my normal “your writing journey” type posts. After reading through some of the things that have appeared out on the web in recent days, however, I needed to post some form of commentary on the immature, low-handed douche-baggery that some idiots are peddling.

Please don’t let my fire for the topic scare you away. I’m going to attempt to keep my fingers civil.

First, for my readers that haven’t heard yet:
http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2011/10/agenda-of-write-agenda.html

This link takes you to a blog post from Writer Beware, an author advocacy group and the visible branch of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. This small group of writers volunteer their valuable writing time to research scams and other issues that effect the honest, hard-working writer.

I’m posting this link because a new “advocacy group” has surfaced calling themselves “The Write Agenda.” They claim to do the same work as Writer Beware. Looking at their website (which Writer Beware provided links to, so I won’t), they are a group of whiny people, a group with an agenda. Yes, their agenda is to attack Writer Beware, Preditors and Editors (another independent author protection website) and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. It even narrows the attack to Victoria Strauss and Ann Crispin.

I wondered if these people ever left middle school as I read their pages.

They have created a “banned book” list of those who speak out against their organization. This list contains a who’s who of the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre.

They also want to hold a “book burning!”  Suddenly, I find myself staring at a modern day Hitler. Book Burning!

To quote the movie “The Patriot:”
To Arms! To Arms!

Such immature and idiotic rhetoric as they spout on their page can be ignored. When you go to destroying things as the Nazi’s, you’re threatening to remove freedom. THAT I can not abide.

Throughout the writer blogosphere, you’ll find commentary on this from the likes of James MacDonald, John Scalzi, Rita Webb, and Jim C Hines to name a few.

While not a member yet, I do hope to become a member in good standing with the SFWA. I support the work they do to help newer authors, such as myself. I’ve met Ann Crispin and know that she is an honest and caring person, one who gives selflessly to the writing community. If you read this and hope to publish, I’ll say that Writer Beware and Preditors and Editors are two of the best sites to check for avoiding scams.

And if any of the TWA decides to come after me, I’ll offer another quote, this one from the movie “The Replacements:”

Come on, Bring it! Ya big fatty!