A break in 50 Shades recapping to clarify some points.

Thanks to the miracle of GoodReads.com, I realize I have to clarify that I have read the entire book. My recaps give the impression that I started out reading the book with the intent to criticize it, a chapter at a time. That makes me seem like a bullheaded weirdo who sets out to dislike something. When I started the recaps, of course I knew I had read the whole thing and was presenting it as a read-a-long for comedic effect, but I failed to realize that you didn't know that. So, yes, I have read the entire book. I found it a surprisingly fast and easy read, so it has that going for it.

Furthermore, another author, Jennifer L. Armentrout, is experiencing some backlash because people are confusing the two of us. So, people who are angry at me are, for some inexplicable reason, deleting her books from their GoodReads.com libraries. Don't do that. She's not me. She's not my pen name, as some have theorized. Come on, guys. If I was going to go deep stealth, do you think I would do it by changing one of the eighteen letters of my name and figure the other seventeen were good to go?

Also, what the hell. Don't use GoodReads.com as a weapon, especially if you don't know if you're directing it towards the right person.

I feel like at this point, I need to take a few days off from recapping. I don't want to destroy anyone's reputation (except for my own... I am the sole architect of my own destruction). And I need to think seriously about whether or not I should continue. If it were just a few people grumbling about me being mean and they're never going to read my books because I'm so mean, I would keep going just to spite them. Because fuck 'em, I'm not on this planet to make everyone like me, and I really resent the implication that I should need or want everyone to like me. But some nimrods are actively attacking a writer who isn't even me. It's not fair if she gets caught in the crossfire.

This puts me in a really weird place. If I stop, I'm rewarding the bad behavior of a few people and telling them that they are entitled to dictate author behavior with their system of star giving. That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm not considering giving up the recaps because I'm afraid of down votes or bad reviews or hate mail. I can handle all those things. What I'm saying is, I don't want to harm an innocent bystander with my actions. It also reinforces the notion that female writers are unwillingly drafted into the Sunshine Sisterhood of Always Being Nice, and if you speak up about someone's at least partially plagiarized book, you're not living up to reader expectations of said niceness. Never, in my entire career, have I ever been asked by a publisher to sign a niceness clause, so I really don't get where that expectation comes from. 

Now, I'm not a fan of "freedom of speech... without consequences." If you don't like what I have to say, by all means, let me know. Let everyone know. Don't buy my book. Actively discourage others from buying my books. That's your right to react to my opinion, and I would never dream of controlling your reaction to my opinion. But do it with honesty, and for fuck's sake, be sure you're saying it about the right author.

I'll be back Wednesday with a decision, either way. If I choose to continue the recaps, I'll continue the recaps. If I don't, I'll just post something else, probably as acidic and misanthropic as everything else that I post, but hopefully unlikely to fuck with the career of someone who just has a similar name as mine.

Which probably means I owe her an apology for all the times I've talked about weed on Twitter.