Shame on Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA)

Beware those who do evil in the name of good, those who build bully pulpits so they can target and victimize. I wish I was talking about some totalitarian regime or corrupt corporation, instead I’m talking about Absolute Write run by Victoria Strauss and others. Absolute Write is a platform for hate and abuse created by those claiming to do good for the writing community. A platform for hate and abuse that claims affiliation with Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) to extend the reach of its harm, victimization and abuse.

For a number of years Absolute Write members and leaders indiscriminately targeted self-publishers as frauds, while membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America looked on and nodded their heads in agreement.

For a number of years Absolute Write members and leaders indiscriminately targeted those who used print on demand as frauds, while membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America looked on and nodded their heads in agreement.

For a number of years Absolute Write members and leaders indiscriminately targeted kindle authors as frauds, while membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America looked on and nodded their heads in agreement.

The list goes on and on and on… of alleged frauds, supposed wrongdoers, ne’er-do-wells. And so it has gone on for decades, with anyone who did anything this group from their holier-than-though bully pulpit disagreed with being targeted as frauds, while membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America has looked on and allowed continued widespread victimization and abuse.

Beware those who do evil in the name of good, those who build bully pulpits to target and victimize. Absolute Write and those who hide behind its claims of helping the writing community have done evil in the name of good for decades. Hate speech they’ve inspired is all over the internet. The animosity they’ve created runs deep. The hundreds of victims they’ve targeted have little recourse against the lynch mobs they’ve created, complete with public hangings and brandings all done in the name of doing good while doing evil.

In truth, the crimes of these hundreds of victims largely come down to simply having crossed paths with this group of writers who use their public forum to target, harass and harangue anyone for anything. Intolerance, cruelty, xenophobia, more, all run rampant in themes and subthemes, in private chats between members, all while the Science Fiction Writers of America looks on.

I was first targeted by Absolute Write members (Victoria Strauss, David Langford and others) in 2002. At the time, Victoria Strauss was an aspiring young adult writer with no status except for the platform of hate and intolerance she and others were building. My young adult book, Keeper Martin’s Tale, was a self-published, upstart success that was immediately targeted by this group and their ilk.

I’ve written much about this. You’ll find articles at Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamstanek/), in my personal blogs (http://robertstanek.blogspot.com/ and http://williamstanek.blogspot.com), at Go Indie (http://readindies.blogspot.com/) and on my websites (http://www.williamrstanek.com and http://www.robert-stanek.com/). You’ll find posts about related problems going back to 2003 here @ http://www.robertstanek.com/rsblog.htm. I do of course write as William Stanek, Robert Stanek, William R. Stanek and William Robert Stanek. I am of course the author of over 200 full-length works of fiction and nonfiction, having been a successful published author since 1995.

In these posts and articles, you’ll learn about the third review ever for the Young Adult book that competed with Victoria Strauss’s desires to be a writer, Keeper Martin’s Tale. The reader, using a fake account and fake name, said they had been duped/had by all the glowing reviews. Meanwhile, Keeper Matin’s Tale had exactly TWO previous reviews over a period of several months while it topped the Top 50 Scifi & Fantasy Bestseller list at Amazon.com and after selling thousands upon thousands of copies.

The second ever review for another of my books, Elf Queen’s Quest, was much the same, about how the reader was duped/had by all the glowing reviews—of which there was exactly ONE previous review. This reader also used a fake account and fake name.

This continued. All orchestrated by persons associated with Langford, Strauss and Absolute Write.

Odd articles appeared in Langford’s Ancible about how I was a supposed fraud, about how all the reviews were fake. This being 2002, my fiction works had sold thousands upon thousands of copies, and the total number of reviews was a mere handful—single digits on average across all my fiction titles. That didn’t stop the fake outrage reviews from flowing from associates of these persons, who liberally dumped 1 and 2 star reviews using fake accounts and fake names.

Langford, Strauss and Absolute Write next began targeting Reagent Press (2002/2003) claiming it was a fraudulent publisher. The earliest claim being because Reagent Press paid its writers using Paypal. Persons associated with Absolute Write then began targeting Reagent Press as well as myself.

And guess what? While these persons were decrying Reagent Press as a fraud for paying writers via Paypal, Strauss and associates were praising a newly forming company called Smashwords, which guess what? Planned to, and eventually did, pay its writers via Paypal.

That’s kind of a running theme of how all this works with these persons. Something that competes or perhaps has an original idea or theme that others want to use for their own is a fraud. Themes, characters, plots and more were in fact liberally plagiarized from my fiction books while these persons were indiscriminately targeting me, Reagent Press and my works of fictions.

Beware those who do evil in the name of good, those who build bully pulpits to target and victimize. Absolute Write have not only used their bully pulpit to harass and abuse, they’ve used it to suppress and censor, to ensure when they’ve stolen intellectual property or done incredible harm the victims of their crimes and misdeeds are instead victimized, harassed and maligned.

In 2002 when all this started, it’s important to note that I was a highly successful best-selling author with millions of readers for the dozens of professionally published books I’d written. I’d been a successful author since my breakout first book in 1995. The individuals involved absolutely knew this and yet they have continued to malign, defame, harass and attack me publicly for nearly 2 decades. They do this because they are insulated by dozens, if not hundreds, of like-mind persons who use the platform for hate they’ve created to take down anyone who gets in their way for any reason. Continued claims of affiliation with Science Fiction Writers of America also lends credibility to the victimization of their targets.

Over the past 2 decades, these persons have proven they’ll do whatever it takes to cause harm, to abuse and victimize, regardless of who else gets caught in their cross hairs. Some years ago, they published my home address “so that [me] personally and [my] family are physically targeted”. Apparently it wasn’t enough to smear, defame, and harass online, they also need the fight to become physical. This resulted in my daughters, ~10 and ~11 at the time, being physically accosted. Stop and think about that for a moment. They knew I had children. I have pictures of them in my accounts. And they wanted people to target them physically.

When I wrote about my children being accosted because of what they’d done, the response and comments? Strauss and others thought it was absolutely hilarious, stating that “my daughters deserved [to have been attacked] because their dad was a fraudulent self-publisher.” My crime: Yep, self-publishing novels of YA and children’s fiction.

I’ve written about all this before, I’ve named those involved, and yet the nonsense continues, nearly 2 decades on. More examples: When these persons learned I wrote a book about my military service. What did they do? They spread falsities that I wasn’t a combat veteran and that my claim to have been awarded the distinguished flying cross was stolen valor.

These persons urged others to spread this. Some asked others to “ensure [I] received threats so [I] would learn [my] lesson”. Others asked “circulate [his] address again, make sure he gets a personal visit [at my home]”. “Stomp some sense into him,” said another. Stop and think about that for a moment. These people were asking others to assault me at my home for the alleged crime of stolen valor that they knew was false because they’d made it up. These are the lengths these persons will go to abuse and victimize anyone who gets in their way for any reason.

Thanks for reading.