I’m glad you resisted the “hidden identity “ crap. Nothing is more depressing to a reader to have some woke stuff inserted out of the blue.
This happened to me recently reading Sealed with a Hiss by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown. I’ve read her stuff for years only missing one or two because boring. But I’m reading this one and when the main character is talking with another all of a sudden she drops in so and so is trans. Well it had absolutely nothing to do with the story, it was gratuitous. So I closed the book then And there and will never be her reader again.
Sara Paretsky included a gratuitous screed against Trump in a book during his first term. I actually emailed her saying why would you do that and alienate half your readership? Be a Michael Jordan who states everyone buys tennis shoes not just one persuasion. And she actually wrote me back and thanked me acknowledging it was silly to do that
It was like she hadn't even read the synopsis, and I do think I am better out. Many of the phrases she used were ones which brought back memories of the psychopathic editor I had for a short period of time. Not every editor works for every author.
Publishing can be v woke and authors thought they could be social justice warriors without considering their core consumers.
Re Trump in his first term -- I am sure it is why the WW2 resistance novel was suddenly fashionable back then. <eyeroll>
At some point publishers are going to have consider their core customers and that they can't just ram progressive ideology down their throats.
Lots of options and I am enjoying writing the story my way.
I get the good read email and always look at the mystery and thriller compendium. All the covers look the same. Very unappealing so I generally skip them all
I'll take the bait. I say when appropriate (kinda at least) that I worked under the lash of a professional editor for some years. You have a different situation; an Editor. Not sure how long I would have lasted had technical content not been king. Totally admire your decision. And not surprised at the saccharine weaselhood -- suggests that you were going over the side one way or the other. All the best.
I wasn't surprised either, but part of the exercise was to get certain undertakings in writing so that I could take all my writing elsewhere. I am well aware what Harlequin did to certain other authors.
It is thanks to Nora Roberts and her taking them to court that Harlequin authors can use their real names. And then Harlequin decided that they could take their pen names to other publishers, although they really discourage it. When they controlled the pen names, the authors had very little way of letting their public know they were writing elsewhere. It is why Penny Jordan who was huge had to take the pen name of Annie Groves for her sagas.
I get a list from BookBub every day of currently free/cheap e-books, and WWII resistance features prominently among these books. Everyone wanted to fantasize about fighting the Nazis.
My wife and I were Stephen King fans for years. No more. Much as you described, he is full on TDS and all in on any woke crap that comes along. Oh well, we still have the old, sane books to read. In business I was taught know your audience. Your Michael Jordan analogy is spot on.
Best wishes Michelle on this new chapter of your writing career! Pun intended 😀
It started in earnest in about 2017 in the romance genre -- this arrogance that authors and publishers can get ahead of the curve and start preaching social justice activism. Now there were problems (partly caused by progressives who thought there was only one type of Black Novel and who ignored the rise of the black middle class) but I am not certain they were solved...
Publishing in general has drunk deep and it will be interesting to see when the penny will start to drop.
Ultimately people want a story well told and to escape when they are reading commercial fiction.
I refuse to read any more contemporary horror by T. Kingfisher. She is a very good fantasy author, and her fantasy novels are less 'Woke' than much of what is published these days. But when she writes a story set in the real world, she can't seem to resist exhibiting maximal Wokeness. It's downright weird, to be honest. When I read _A House with Good Bones_ I found myself actively rooting for the main character to die (of course she didn't, alas).
Both nations are essentially centrist, where the majority believe in responsibility, hard work and fair play. It has been the Left that has lost its sanity and moral moorings; leading to the backlash. If the US Democrat Party had not lost its mind, Trump would still be putting up apartments In NYC.
Remember how Bob Kerrey described Slick? They are uncommonly good liars and most people are just too busy with their lives to work to uncover their calumnies.
And the UK government have decided to act -- Palestinian Action is to be proscribed (ie banned like Hamas), with the counter terrorism police investigating. I hope serious porridge results for those idiots who did this. FAFO https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn81g4e0nlyo
Hello Northumberland! Good to see You again. Another fine roundup.
That's a crying shame about the attack on Brize Norton. And also about the attempted cover-up of Andrew Norfolk's article. I hope the national inquiry puts and end to all this.
I was glad to see the Supreme Courts verdict on the trans issue. I'll hafta read the NYT article. But it sure is a shame about Jenny Lindsay being banned from the book festival.
It is nice to see the guidance from the Office of Students. About time. Nice law You have there.
That's an interesting find at the Denmark Viking's gravesite.
I've very sorry to hear about Your editor. That's too bad. Wishing You best o' luck. Looking forward to the new book.
Paddy looks good. We're expecting a heat wave here next week. Glad to hear about the bees.
I have just come back from doing the bees -- no swarms today and they are laying down the honey nicely.
Thank you for the kind thoughts. It is one of those things. And either you crumple and die or you pivot. I believe in the potential of this particular story. It is good to think I can do what I want.
It’s telling that the NYT dropped the paywall for not just the article but the comments. They & similar newspapers (Atlantic WaPo Vogue on the _~dr_Jill article with her militant, “We decide
Sorry about your situation with your publisher! Even when there's a hidden silver lining (maybe self-publishing, since you have a following?), the loss of normal patterns tends to be quite distressing. I feel for you.
Yes I suspect I will be doing some self -publishing and possibly exploring digital first as well.
I am lucky that I know lots of people in the business, including a few good free lance editors.
It is something which was going to happen at some point. I have been very lucky with having two very good editors in recent years (possibly the reason why I stayed as long as I did), but I know what it is like to have an editor I didn't get on with.
It will take a little time but things always work out for the best.
I do believe in the power of the editor. A good editor is worth her weight in gold. A bad editor is just soul destroying and not every editor works for every author.
I’m glad the government did something rather than nothing but …
“…. hides and excuses in the name of ‘community relations’. “
Oh how I deplore this & this kind of thing (hiding & excuses always for some “reason) has slowly become the norm but I pray that it is slowly reversing itself. But over here all these protests remind me of the old time strikes — the union bosses, etc… They do seem here to be in lockstep.
The grooming et al, is so ahh no words. I can’t fit my head around it- I just can’t.
The cloaked groups flying in blogs all over the world are so organized— again no infighting & politics for them AGAINST all things Trump. && they were *not* happy with decisions wrt USAID. I saw reputable sources saying that it was full of corruption.
Scott Alexander pseudo name who, like Bari’s FP) was created , & given mucho bucks for their substack, He’s a Dr psychiatrist in San Francisco; he’s brilliant & a v gifted writer of both fiction & non fiction & has a cult following. He recently had posts on why covid was real & deadly ++
You should peek at the Astracodex’s substack (& the myriad of recommended sites & sub_sites).
Their open threads are quite interesting interesting about the issues of the day. & they’re in bed with global academia & pretty much believe that they have all the answers. They are latched in with the far left Democrats & seem to have their hand in every pie: AI & every entity, predictions about EVERYTHING.
It’s not just the Astracodex bunch — they are merely facilitating & for years reimagining the global climate & working with the Effective Altruists, NGOs & plenty of willing politicians— especially the coasts but the Amazon “cloud” will suddenly become the Amazon “we came, we’re conquering & have lots to do… like use money for our parallel “system”
Michelle— you are such a gifted author & issues with anyone you work with will win the day & I’m confident you will always figured things out but that doesn’t make it easy.
Yes the grooming gang thing is really hard for everyone to get their head around.
The Times has done a stellar interview with the Rotherham MP Sarah Champion who has been a real star in this saga. She has spent over a decade campaigning for these women and girls. I had not realised that some of the behaviour started in the 1960s and was simply brushed under the carpet. She has also been attacked from both the far right and the far left for her stance. She has either done too much or not enough. “People in the UK are very tolerant, but at our core we want to see fairness. If something is seen as unfair, we start kicking off so the fact that the law wasn’t applied here without fear or favour is a big issue; the fact that people paid to do a job failed to do it, and worse covered up abuse, that’s a big issue.” https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/sarah-champion-im-seen-by-many-as-a-racist-im-the-opposite-9kdtktw73 or https://archive.ph/RJ94R
Originally she was Kate. Then I guess she became so mentally ill she thought she was a man and became Chase complete with a beard. She’s married to or maybe just living with a “black queer woman “ so basically she’s a lesbian with a beard and now a sad one.
The movement appears to have decided that the blame for the failure will pinned on Chase/Kate rather than accepting that it is deeply unpopular and flawed.
There is only one The Times -- aka the first one, sometimes called The Times of London. They can be venal and perfidious as described in an 1813 almanac but on this issue, they did allow Norfolk to do his job. It is such a shame that Andrew Norfolk died earlier this year and thus did not see Starmer's u-turn.
I’m glad you resisted the “hidden identity “ crap. Nothing is more depressing to a reader to have some woke stuff inserted out of the blue.
This happened to me recently reading Sealed with a Hiss by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown. I’ve read her stuff for years only missing one or two because boring. But I’m reading this one and when the main character is talking with another all of a sudden she drops in so and so is trans. Well it had absolutely nothing to do with the story, it was gratuitous. So I closed the book then And there and will never be her reader again.
Sara Paretsky included a gratuitous screed against Trump in a book during his first term. I actually emailed her saying why would you do that and alienate half your readership? Be a Michael Jordan who states everyone buys tennis shoes not just one persuasion. And she actually wrote me back and thanked me acknowledging it was silly to do that
I’m sure things will work out for you.
It was like she hadn't even read the synopsis, and I do think I am better out. Many of the phrases she used were ones which brought back memories of the psychopathic editor I had for a short period of time. Not every editor works for every author.
Publishing can be v woke and authors thought they could be social justice warriors without considering their core consumers.
Re Trump in his first term -- I am sure it is why the WW2 resistance novel was suddenly fashionable back then. <eyeroll>
At some point publishers are going to have consider their core customers and that they can't just ram progressive ideology down their throats.
Lots of options and I am enjoying writing the story my way.
I get the good read email and always look at the mystery and thriller compendium. All the covers look the same. Very unappealing so I generally skip them all
I'll take the bait. I say when appropriate (kinda at least) that I worked under the lash of a professional editor for some years. You have a different situation; an Editor. Not sure how long I would have lasted had technical content not been king. Totally admire your decision. And not surprised at the saccharine weaselhood -- suggests that you were going over the side one way or the other. All the best.
Thank you.
I wasn't surprised either, but part of the exercise was to get certain undertakings in writing so that I could take all my writing elsewhere. I am well aware what Harlequin did to certain other authors.
It is thanks to Nora Roberts and her taking them to court that Harlequin authors can use their real names. And then Harlequin decided that they could take their pen names to other publishers, although they really discourage it. When they controlled the pen names, the authors had very little way of letting their public know they were writing elsewhere. It is why Penny Jordan who was huge had to take the pen name of Annie Groves for her sagas.
I get a list from BookBub every day of currently free/cheap e-books, and WWII resistance features prominently among these books. Everyone wanted to fantasize about fighting the Nazis.
Yes it was all about 'resistance'. A very specific sort of book.
My wife and I were Stephen King fans for years. No more. Much as you described, he is full on TDS and all in on any woke crap that comes along. Oh well, we still have the old, sane books to read. In business I was taught know your audience. Your Michael Jordan analogy is spot on.
Best wishes Michelle on this new chapter of your writing career! Pun intended 😀
Thank you. I appreciated the pun.
It started in earnest in about 2017 in the romance genre -- this arrogance that authors and publishers can get ahead of the curve and start preaching social justice activism. Now there were problems (partly caused by progressives who thought there was only one type of Black Novel and who ignored the rise of the black middle class) but I am not certain they were solved...
Publishing in general has drunk deep and it will be interesting to see when the penny will start to drop.
Ultimately people want a story well told and to escape when they are reading commercial fiction.
I refuse to read any more contemporary horror by T. Kingfisher. She is a very good fantasy author, and her fantasy novels are less 'Woke' than much of what is published these days. But when she writes a story set in the real world, she can't seem to resist exhibiting maximal Wokeness. It's downright weird, to be honest. When I read _A House with Good Bones_ I found myself actively rooting for the main character to die (of course she didn't, alas).
I see this too often in novels, where a woke rid bit is shoe horned in where it does nothing for the story.
Michelle, I’m sorry you had a parting of ways but I hope it’s a beginning of something better. You deserve the best.
Thank you. I think it was for the best and now it is up to me to make things work.
Michelle, thank you for the update. It seems that UK and US continue the return to normalcy. Yeay!
I can only hope so. I think the vast majority of people want to see normalcy restored.
That's kinda what makes it "normal," isn't it? Question remains: How did Our Leaders get so far Out There?
Both nations are essentially centrist, where the majority believe in responsibility, hard work and fair play. It has been the Left that has lost its sanity and moral moorings; leading to the backlash. If the US Democrat Party had not lost its mind, Trump would still be putting up apartments In NYC.
Ok, so how did/does the Left keep getting elected?
Remember how Bob Kerrey described Slick? They are uncommonly good liars and most people are just too busy with their lives to work to uncover their calumnies.
And the UK government have decided to act -- Palestinian Action is to be proscribed (ie banned like Hamas), with the counter terrorism police investigating. I hope serious porridge results for those idiots who did this. FAFO https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn81g4e0nlyo
Hello Northumberland! Good to see You again. Another fine roundup.
That's a crying shame about the attack on Brize Norton. And also about the attempted cover-up of Andrew Norfolk's article. I hope the national inquiry puts and end to all this.
I was glad to see the Supreme Courts verdict on the trans issue. I'll hafta read the NYT article. But it sure is a shame about Jenny Lindsay being banned from the book festival.
It is nice to see the guidance from the Office of Students. About time. Nice law You have there.
That's an interesting find at the Denmark Viking's gravesite.
I've very sorry to hear about Your editor. That's too bad. Wishing You best o' luck. Looking forward to the new book.
Paddy looks good. We're expecting a heat wave here next week. Glad to hear about the bees.
TY, as always, Michelle. Appreciate You.
So good to hear from you JT.
I have just come back from doing the bees -- no swarms today and they are laying down the honey nicely.
Thank you for the kind thoughts. It is one of those things. And either you crumple and die or you pivot. I believe in the potential of this particular story. It is good to think I can do what I want.
I was astonished about the attack on Brize Norton. Jake Wallis Simons has done a good op ed on it: asking how much people must hate Britain (where they live) to assist Britain's foes in this manner. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/20/the-pro-palestine-movement-anti-britsh-hate-israel-iran/ or https://archive.ph/rWbnh
Great op ed. TY Michelle. And the NYT article was great. TY again.
The NYT piece that you cite. First NYT piece I'd opened in months. And it was borderline sane. Busted clock moment? Probably.
Yes sometimes they can still get it right. I thought the mechanics of the activism was very interesting and what the ultimate goal was.
That was a large part of my reaction: That the body parts of a Real Newspaper are still there. Sad.
It’s telling that the NYT dropped the paywall for not just the article but the comments. They & similar newspapers (Atlantic WaPo Vogue on the _~dr_Jill article with her militant, “We decide
the future.”
Sorry about your situation with your publisher! Even when there's a hidden silver lining (maybe self-publishing, since you have a following?), the loss of normal patterns tends to be quite distressing. I feel for you.
Yes I suspect I will be doing some self -publishing and possibly exploring digital first as well.
I am lucky that I know lots of people in the business, including a few good free lance editors.
It is something which was going to happen at some point. I have been very lucky with having two very good editors in recent years (possibly the reason why I stayed as long as I did), but I know what it is like to have an editor I didn't get on with.
It will take a little time but things always work out for the best.
Excellent! Still no great writers without (small e!) editors. But they gotta be on the same page (dope slap self administered).
I do believe in the power of the editor. A good editor is worth her weight in gold. A bad editor is just soul destroying and not every editor works for every author.
Michelle,
Another stellar round up !
I’m glad the government did something rather than nothing but …
“…. hides and excuses in the name of ‘community relations’. “
Oh how I deplore this & this kind of thing (hiding & excuses always for some “reason) has slowly become the norm but I pray that it is slowly reversing itself. But over here all these protests remind me of the old time strikes — the union bosses, etc… They do seem here to be in lockstep.
The grooming et al, is so ahh no words. I can’t fit my head around it- I just can’t.
The cloaked groups flying in blogs all over the world are so organized— again no infighting & politics for them AGAINST all things Trump. && they were *not* happy with decisions wrt USAID. I saw reputable sources saying that it was full of corruption.
Scott Alexander pseudo name who, like Bari’s FP) was created , & given mucho bucks for their substack, He’s a Dr psychiatrist in San Francisco; he’s brilliant & a v gifted writer of both fiction & non fiction & has a cult following. He recently had posts on why covid was real & deadly ++
You should peek at the Astracodex’s substack (& the myriad of recommended sites & sub_sites).
Their open threads are quite interesting interesting about the issues of the day. & they’re in bed with global academia & pretty much believe that they have all the answers. They are latched in with the far left Democrats & seem to have their hand in every pie: AI & every entity, predictions about EVERYTHING.
It’s not just the Astracodex bunch — they are merely facilitating & for years reimagining the global climate & working with the Effective Altruists, NGOs & plenty of willing politicians— especially the coasts but the Amazon “cloud” will suddenly become the Amazon “we came, we’re conquering & have lots to do… like use money for our parallel “system”
Michelle— you are such a gifted author & issues with anyone you work with will win the day & I’m confident you will always figured things out but that doesn’t make it easy.
Glad Paddie & the bees 🐝 are doing well.
Thank you.
Yes the grooming gang thing is really hard for everyone to get their head around.
The Times has done a stellar interview with the Rotherham MP Sarah Champion who has been a real star in this saga. She has spent over a decade campaigning for these women and girls. I had not realised that some of the behaviour started in the 1960s and was simply brushed under the carpet. She has also been attacked from both the far right and the far left for her stance. She has either done too much or not enough. “People in the UK are very tolerant, but at our core we want to see fairness. If something is seen as unfair, we start kicking off so the fact that the law wasn’t applied here without fear or favour is a big issue; the fact that people paid to do a job failed to do it, and worse covered up abuse, that’s a big issue.” https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/sarah-champion-im-seen-by-many-as-a-racist-im-the-opposite-9kdtktw73 or https://archive.ph/RJ94R
You wrote “The lead lawyer admitted they are a constitutional lawyer”. That should be the lead lawyer admitted SHE is …”
No reason for the world to buy into another’s delusions.
I have no idea if she legally changed her certificated sex or not so I opted for the side of caution.
I will agree about the delusions of the lawyer.
Originally she was Kate. Then I guess she became so mentally ill she thought she was a man and became Chase complete with a beard. She’s married to or maybe just living with a “black queer woman “ so basically she’s a lesbian with a beard and now a sad one.
And looks like one.
The movement appears to have decided that the blame for the failure will pinned on Chase/Kate rather than accepting that it is deeply unpopular and flawed.
Yup. One (baby) step at a time!
Maybe not a bad idea to shun the very "news" sources that participated in covering up the Islamist rape gang scandal in the first place?
Talk about editors who ruin things. Emma Tucker has turned the Wall Street Journal into a laughingstock.
Jake Sternberg's column in the WSJ is about the scandal this week. I thought it very good.
Kath Viner has caused problems at the Guardian without a doubt.
The Times have been fearless on the subject and really backed Andrew Norfolk.
Which "Times?" The one in Noo Yawk has never been "fearless" - having lied for the left since the Days of Duranty.
There is only one The Times -- aka the first one, sometimes called The Times of London. They can be venal and perfidious as described in an 1813 almanac but on this issue, they did allow Norfolk to do his job. It is such a shame that Andrew Norfolk died earlier this year and thus did not see Starmer's u-turn.
Aw, c'mon!
Duranty? Blair? Miller? The moveon ads? The Noo Yawk Toimes is a joke. No serious person cites or believes them.
Who suggested otherwise? And why would a reference in This is Northumberland possibly be to a Times not that of London?