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seanan_mcguireEvery time I confirm a publication date, I write it in my dayplanner. This is both because my planner is my secondary brain (I would be lost without it, and probably homicidal), and because that way, I never forget to post when something new hits shelves. I don't like going "buy buy buy" all the time, but a certain amount of promotion comes with the job, and I like letting people know when things are available.
When I opened my planner to today, I found a note from myself, written months upon months ago, letting me know that today was the release date for Wicked Pretty Things.
Well, damn.
For those of you who may have missed the whole sordid mess, Wicked Pretty Things was a YA paranormal romance anthology in which I was supposed to have a story. I withdrew my story, as did many other authors. You can see my original post on the situation here, which includes links to various other posts on the topic. As you can probably guess (if you don't already know), it was a big mess. Eventually, so many people pulled out of the book that it was canceled. It's not coming out today; it's not coming out ever.
I hate that this book had to die. I hate that withdrawing my story was necessary. I am so very proud of our community of authors and readers and bloggers for standing up and saying "no, this is not okay; no, this is not that time; no, this is not that place; no, we will not say that we're against bullying and discrimination, and then sit passively by while we bully through exclusion, while we discriminate against teens who need literary escape as much, if not more, than anyone." We said no. We said no, and because of that, things changed, even if it was only a very little bit.
I'm sorry that I'm not celebrating this book's release day today. I'm sorry that I'm not running a contest and babbling about how wonderful it all is. But I am very, very proud of everyone who was involved with this project and stood up for what they thought and knew and believed was right. Things are getting better.
We're making them a little bit better every single day.
When I opened my planner to today, I found a note from myself, written months upon months ago, letting me know that today was the release date for Wicked Pretty Things.
Well, damn.
For those of you who may have missed the whole sordid mess, Wicked Pretty Things was a YA paranormal romance anthology in which I was supposed to have a story. I withdrew my story, as did many other authors. You can see my original post on the situation here, which includes links to various other posts on the topic. As you can probably guess (if you don't already know), it was a big mess. Eventually, so many people pulled out of the book that it was canceled. It's not coming out today; it's not coming out ever.
I hate that this book had to die. I hate that withdrawing my story was necessary. I am so very proud of our community of authors and readers and bloggers for standing up and saying "no, this is not okay; no, this is not that time; no, this is not that place; no, we will not say that we're against bullying and discrimination, and then sit passively by while we bully through exclusion, while we discriminate against teens who need literary escape as much, if not more, than anyone." We said no. We said no, and because of that, things changed, even if it was only a very little bit.
I'm sorry that I'm not celebrating this book's release day today. I'm sorry that I'm not running a contest and babbling about how wonderful it all is. But I am very, very proud of everyone who was involved with this project and stood up for what they thought and knew and believed was right. Things are getting better.
We're making them a little bit better every single day.
