On Facebook, I said I was going to go more into politics on the blog. My politics have consisted of ... talking about Brian Niemeier's shadowban on Twitter. That's it. This is me being highly political.
If you look at the title, you might expect that I'm going to go into full-bore politics this time. Maybe I'll go full Rabid.
Well...Yes, no, and sorta.
You see, I can't really speak to any of Vox Day's political points. I've only read one work by him, called The Irrational Atheist. It's basically treating anti-theist schmucks like Richard Dawkins in a manner to which they treat believers.
In short: "We're going to beat the crap out of the sophists, and we'll do it on their own terms."
And, frankly, I think Vox did a great job of it.
In my brief interaction with Vox on the radio show (yes, he was on The Catholic Geek), he struck me as eloquent, well educated, and probably smarter than I am on the whole -- the one thing EVERYONE agrees on is that Vox isn't stupid. Nowhere near.
But, frankly, if you want me to speak to any of his thoughts on race, or sociology, or culture .... I can't. Because I don't have the brain power or the time to dig through everything he's ever written on the subject. Feel free to do your own research, but be sure to start from the top and work your way down. I think you're going to need it. I have a problem believing accusations of him being "racist," mainly because that does not sound like the guy who wrote The Irrational Atheist. Though I'm told by others that he's the devil incarnate.
My opinion is: I neither know, nor do I care. Not only can't I see into a man's heart, I cannot read his mind. 100% of my personal interaction with Vox is in public, on my radio show.
There, is, however, something I have picked up from Vox: Puppy Kickers, and people like them, are cowards.
I mentioned a while back that, in the event that I get rejected by Castalia House, I'm going to publish Sad Puppies Bite Back for release.
This is just a really long way of me announcing that I'm going to publish it for release now.
Yes, you've read that right, by the end of today, September 27th, Sad Puppies Bite Back will be released in Kindle and in Paperback.
Now, Sad Puppies Bite Back will be on Kindle for $4.99, and paperback for $9.99. Why so expensive? Or why so cheap?
The Kindle edition price isn't my idea. Amazon has something called KDP Pricing Support. It's in Beta right now, but it tells me that satire and parody is apparently more expensive than other genre.
Yeah, I don't get it either..
Anyway, I've had more requests for SPBB than for almost anything I've ever written. So, again, odd, but I'll take it.
I'm just going to emphasize something, that this has all new material, including a SWATting of Brian Niemeier, and a special epilogue, given the David Truesdale incident. In retrospect, I think it has a strangely bittersweet ending, since one of the Puppy Kickers who I thought was vile may just be sort of sad, at the end of the day. That could just be me.
Of course, there are new introductions, some new SWATting, fully edited, especially for accuracy.
I know what you're thinking. The legal people out there are thinking, "It's a parody. It's covered under the first amendment, as in Hustler Magazine v. Falwell as satire of public figures and their public statements."
The really legal minded of you are thinking, "Yeah, so what? That doesn't stop anyone from suing in the first place. That just acts as a legal defense after you've been sued. Anyone can sue anybody for anything for any reason at almost any time."
A legal defense would probably not help my finances.
So ... why go through with it?
On the one hand, I don't think any of them really would come for me. Let's face it, if John Scalzi wasn't going to come after Vox Day when Vox used the title John Scalzi is a Rapist, you think some of these people are going to bother coming after a little nobody for writing a parody where Scalzi merely comes off as either a snooty academic or the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail?
On the other hand, because I know that if the Puppy Kickers dare come for me, I'm just going to start forwarding all communications to Breitbart. And I'm going to send Tom Doherty and the Macmillan board of directors a copy of SPBB, along with a statement that says "Hi, X people who work for you are trying to sue me over this. Do you really want to be connected to them?" At which point, most of the Puppy Kickers will probably have to slink back under the rock from which they came unless they want some professional backlash. Let's face it, if you're Macmillan, you own Tor books, do you really want to be associated with people who are trying to bully a small, indie author over a stupid parody?
Not to mention, there are screen captures all over the place. The internet really is forever.
We'll see.
If you look at the title, you might expect that I'm going to go into full-bore politics this time. Maybe I'll go full Rabid.
Well...Yes, no, and sorta.
You see, I can't really speak to any of Vox Day's political points. I've only read one work by him, called The Irrational Atheist. It's basically treating anti-theist schmucks like Richard Dawkins in a manner to which they treat believers.
In short: "We're going to beat the crap out of the sophists, and we'll do it on their own terms."
And, frankly, I think Vox did a great job of it.
In my brief interaction with Vox on the radio show (yes, he was on The Catholic Geek), he struck me as eloquent, well educated, and probably smarter than I am on the whole -- the one thing EVERYONE agrees on is that Vox isn't stupid. Nowhere near.
But, frankly, if you want me to speak to any of his thoughts on race, or sociology, or culture .... I can't. Because I don't have the brain power or the time to dig through everything he's ever written on the subject. Feel free to do your own research, but be sure to start from the top and work your way down. I think you're going to need it. I have a problem believing accusations of him being "racist," mainly because that does not sound like the guy who wrote The Irrational Atheist. Though I'm told by others that he's the devil incarnate.
My opinion is: I neither know, nor do I care. Not only can't I see into a man's heart, I cannot read his mind. 100% of my personal interaction with Vox is in public, on my radio show.
There, is, however, something I have picked up from Vox: Puppy Kickers, and people like them, are cowards.
I mentioned a while back that, in the event that I get rejected by Castalia House, I'm going to publish Sad Puppies Bite Back for release.
This is just a really long way of me announcing that I'm going to publish it for release now.
Yes, you've read that right, by the end of today, September 27th, Sad Puppies Bite Back will be released in Kindle and in Paperback.
Now, Sad Puppies Bite Back will be on Kindle for $4.99, and paperback for $9.99. Why so expensive? Or why so cheap?
The Kindle edition price isn't my idea. Amazon has something called KDP Pricing Support. It's in Beta right now, but it tells me that satire and parody is apparently more expensive than other genre.
Yeah, I don't get it either..
Anyway, I've had more requests for SPBB than for almost anything I've ever written. So, again, odd, but I'll take it.
I'm just going to emphasize something, that this has all new material, including a SWATting of Brian Niemeier, and a special epilogue, given the David Truesdale incident. In retrospect, I think it has a strangely bittersweet ending, since one of the Puppy Kickers who I thought was vile may just be sort of sad, at the end of the day. That could just be me.
Of course, there are new introductions, some new SWATting, fully edited, especially for accuracy.
I know what you're thinking. The legal people out there are thinking, "It's a parody. It's covered under the first amendment, as in Hustler Magazine v. Falwell as satire of public figures and their public statements."
The really legal minded of you are thinking, "Yeah, so what? That doesn't stop anyone from suing in the first place. That just acts as a legal defense after you've been sued. Anyone can sue anybody for anything for any reason at almost any time."
A legal defense would probably not help my finances.
So ... why go through with it?
On the one hand, I don't think any of them really would come for me. Let's face it, if John Scalzi wasn't going to come after Vox Day when Vox used the title John Scalzi is a Rapist, you think some of these people are going to bother coming after a little nobody for writing a parody where Scalzi merely comes off as either a snooty academic or the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail?
On the other hand, because I know that if the Puppy Kickers dare come for me, I'm just going to start forwarding all communications to Breitbart. And I'm going to send Tom Doherty and the Macmillan board of directors a copy of SPBB, along with a statement that says "Hi, X people who work for you are trying to sue me over this. Do you really want to be connected to them?" At which point, most of the Puppy Kickers will probably have to slink back under the rock from which they came unless they want some professional backlash. Let's face it, if you're Macmillan, you own Tor books, do you really want to be associated with people who are trying to bully a small, indie author over a stupid parody?
Not to mention, there are screen captures all over the place. The internet really is forever.
We'll see.
Uh, but Vox Day wasn't the one who wrote the parody book "John Scalzi Is A Rapist" that was someone else. And Scalzi did complain to Amazon until they pulled the book. Ah, well, maybe if he does find SPBB and complain to Amazon again, you can play off the Streisand Effect to sell more books.
ReplyDeleteVox did publish the book, which is what I meant. My bad. I thought I corrected it before I published it. I guess not.
DeleteAlso, remember, Vox reissued the book with a different title.
The Streisand Effect .... I should whine and complain alot?
Vox didn't publish the book either, if I recall. Just mentioned it on his blog.
DeleteAre you sure? I remember it differently.
DeleteThen again, lately I feel lucky that I even remember my own name, so it wouldn't surprise me too badly to be wrong.