Riptide Books and Sarah Lyons - racism, abuse and harassment thread
I'm setting this up to host a discussion about the behaviour of Riptide Publishing and Sarah Lyons.
Sarah Lyons, who was Santino Hassell's editor and defender (summary here https://thesaltminers.tumblr.com/ ), has resigned after details of her abusive behaviour and racism towards a queer author of colour became public:
http://blackmagicblues.com/on-sarah-l...
http://riptidepublishing.com/SL-state...
This comes on the heels of Sakura making accusations of abuse here:
https://www.goodreads.com/user_status...
And Matthew J Metzger is one of those glad to see Lyons gone because of what happened to him personally
https://twitter.com/MatthewJMetzger/s...
This is at least the third time Riptide has been accused of racism or racial insensitivity:
https://twitter.com/courtneymilan/sta...
And their track record in racial diversity is uninspiring, to say the least
http://www.therippedbodicela.com/site...
(Discussions of Santino Hassell's behaviour are still going on here
https://www.goodreads.com/user_status...
)
I am not personally involved in any of this. I am giving my little used blog space to you to use to vent and discuss as you wish.
Alisha Rai is discussing this on twitter if you prefer that venue:
https://twitter.com/AlishaRai/status/...
For a little light relief, this comment is relevant
Sarah Lyons, who was Santino Hassell's editor and defender (summary here https://thesaltminers.tumblr.com/ ), has resigned after details of her abusive behaviour and racism towards a queer author of colour became public:
http://blackmagicblues.com/on-sarah-l...
http://riptidepublishing.com/SL-state...
This comes on the heels of Sakura making accusations of abuse here:
https://www.goodreads.com/user_status...
And Matthew J Metzger is one of those glad to see Lyons gone because of what happened to him personally
https://twitter.com/MatthewJMetzger/s...
This is at least the third time Riptide has been accused of racism or racial insensitivity:
https://twitter.com/courtneymilan/sta...
And their track record in racial diversity is uninspiring, to say the least
http://www.therippedbodicela.com/site...
(Discussions of Santino Hassell's behaviour are still going on here
https://www.goodreads.com/user_status...
)
I am not personally involved in any of this. I am giving my little used blog space to you to use to vent and discuss as you wish.
Alisha Rai is discussing this on twitter if you prefer that venue:
https://twitter.com/AlishaRai/status/...
For a little light relief, this comment is relevant
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Well, while I wish I could say I was surprised, I've seen enough people speak up about abuse and harassment to know that there are those out there who will defend abuse and harassment by any means necessary, so it is with sadness but not surprise that I report that Xen x Cole McCadeis getting death threats and people are telling him to commit suicide:https://twitter.com/thisblackmagic/st...
Lordy, people really do suck. How can anyone think that shit is the thing to do? And for what? Daring to speak up? If this is the type of people that follow Sarah Lyons around, I don't want anything to do with anything she has a part of.
Hey, does anyone know if the writers still with them are getting their works' rights back? Hate to see them hold their authors' livelihoods on the line for their soul-searching.
Napoleon wrote: "Hey, does anyone know if the writers still with them are getting their works' rights back? Hate to see them hold their authors' livelihoods on the line for their soul-searching."It is my understanding, both from reading author Tweets and a statement from Riptide (https://twitter.com/RiptideBooks/stat...) that Riptide is allowing authors to take the rights back to their works if they want them.
Lyra wrote: "Napoleon wrote: "Hey, does anyone know if the writers still with them are getting their works' rights back? Hate to see them hold their authors' livelihoods on the line for their soul-searching."I..."
I am aware of that. That does, however, put the onus on struggling authors to potentially blacklist themselves with Riptide rather than Riptide taking initiative to do the right thing.
Furthermore, they retain rights if you co-authored with someone who's not taking that initiative, a la the Voinov-Witt-Lane fiasco:
https://twitter.com/AleksandrVoinov/s...
I want to believe they are moving forward. Doing less than bare minimum asked does not look like moving forward: it looks like being dragged -kicking and screaming- forward.
This is really, really big. And right now, there's not an anonymous venue to discuss it. Goodreads doesn't permit one, and others are disabled or non-functional. That's not to provide a venue for trashing victims. Quite the opposite. It makes it hard for people to discuss wider issues without ramifications. I've been told things nobody will say publicly without certainty of anonymity. There are reasons for people to leave, for people to fear, and for people to stay, and they're complex. I'm not sure what the solution is, but just want to put that out there. Voices are stilled because they can't speak without fear of retaliation. Even after all this.
Jeanne wrote: "there's not an anonymous venue to discuss it. Goodreads doesn't permit one, and others are disabled or non-functional."Jeanne, I've just set up this blog
https://riptideissues.blogspot.com/
using Blogger because it doesn't track IP addresses.
I've confirmed I can set it to allow anonymous comments, so I've done that. I've set up a discussion post, and if anyone feels like commenting on that instead, they can go for it.
*~*~*Kael*~*~* wrote: "Amelia Faulkner has started something pretty damn wonderful!!I thought I'd post this here for reference if anyone can use the services and help this group of superstars are offering!!
https://ww..."
I read through that thread with tears... no matter what shitty stuff happens, there are SO many wonderful people in this community... this helped to reinforce that :-)
Lyra wrote: "Well, while I wish I could say I was surprised, I've seen enough people speak up about abuse and harassment to know that there are those out there who will defend abuse and harassment by any means ..."The nastiness of some people just astounds me, honestly...🙁
Mercedes wrote: "Riptide showed its true colors with the "Chocolate Monkey of Love" incident. Yet authors continued working with them because their own experiences were "positive." If that's not a prime example of ..."I agree....loudly.
Ann wrote: "Jeanne wrote: "there's not an anonymous venue to discuss it. Goodreads doesn't permit one, and others are disabled or non-functional."Jeanne, I've just set up this blog
https://riptideissues.blo..."
Thank you for doing this. I'm sorry I had to close the anonymous venue on my blog, but the harassment was getting to be too much--and just setting comments on moderation didn't help, as I still had to read them to approve or deny, plus the follow-up berating and insults when i didn't approve the trolling. I really appreciate you taking this up, and hope people treat you more kindly than they did me.
<3,
-X
Big hugs Cole, I think you've been through enough tbh.
Best of luck for the future with all that you do Cole.
Good to see you here, Cole. Take care of you. Wishing you nothing but the best! <3
Cole wrote: "hope people treat you more kindly than they did me."Dear Cole, I am so sorry you were treated so atrociously. You deserve so much better. I bought "From the Ashes" and I hope your books do well and that this awful situation can be put behind you eventually.
Cole,Thank you for bringing this all to light. You've shed light on some extremely disturbing practices that we as a community need to hold as unacceptable.
I have a first draft and several in-progress novels that were planned to be submitted to there upon finalizing. I am saddened but glad now to have a better idea what I was bound to face - issues I had quietly wondered about as I browsed the vast swaths of white, cishet women listed and wondered if/where I fit in there.
I wish the only time I got to hear in depth about gay, bi, and trans men of color wasn't when something horrible went down.
People are going to tell you that you're overreacting. You're not. Just because they're uncomfortable hearing it and don't want to believe it doesn't make it any less true.
Take care, and I hope your life sees some peace and quiet soon.
So, this happened... The Guardian posted an article about Riptide.https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
Laura wrote: "So, this happened... The Guardian posted an article about Riptide.https://www.theguardian.com/books/201..."
Thanks for posting that. The article is very misleading though. Makes it sound like Sarah's resignation and Riptide's comments about her unacceptable behavior was entirely due to her comment about POC on bookcovers.
Either the person who wrote the article didn't really do their homework, or they had this particular topic they wanted to cover (which is fine) and didn't mind giving the inaccurate impression that Riptide's comments were entirely due to this issue (which is not fine).
Reporting fail, IMO. Given that, I wouldn't trust anything else stated in the article is completely accurate.
Alexandra,While I agree this reporter over-simplified some major facts re: Sarah Lyons' dismissal, I also notice that you seem hyper-targeted on anything that can be stretched to discredit complaints against catfishers and PoC who have been targeted... even in threads that are meant to support people who have already been vetted and put through more than enough.
What is your dog in this fight?
Napoleon wrote: "While I agree this reporter over-simplified some major facts re: Sarah Lyons' dismissal," The reporter didn't simply "over-simplify" the facts, the reporter reported a fact and failed to mention it wasn't the only issue pertinent or being referred to in what occurred and in statements made.
"I also notice that you seem hyper-targeted on anything that can be stretched to discredit complaints against catfishers and PoC who have been targeted..."
If you've "noticed" that, then your imagination is working overtime, because I have done nothing of the sort. I am in complete support of the victims of SH, Sarah, and those who harassed others on their behalf. Additionally, I support their customers and their readers against such actions and behaviors.
And if you've read the threads in which I have commented, then you'd already know the answer to your question, because I have stated it clearly numerous times.
Alexandra wrote: "Napoleon wrote: "While I agree this reporter over-simplified some major facts re: Sarah Lyons' dismissal," The reporter didn't simply "over-simplify" the facts, the reporter reported a fact and f..."
Point 1: agree.
Point 2: disagree.
Question remains imaginatively dodged.
Guys. Please stop. The constant tearing at each other isn't helping anything.Also?
That is a damningly bad article.
It cherry-picks facts to explicitly minimize the issues the journalist is writing about, contrary to what the purpose of the article seems to be. It does the topic a disservice by being reductive and rolling multiple serious issues into single-line soundbytes that make it hard to get the full picture. I don't think that was the journalist's intention, but that's what happened.
And I'm a bit pissed at having my name attached to it when the journalist never even contacted me to tell me she was writing about me, let alone to discuss facts of the situation with me. I've had several people email me upset about it only to find out I had nothing to do with it. I'm just lucky it's the US Guardian; no one reads that. If it was the UK Guardian my Twitter mentions would be full of trolls, since she essentially painted a target on my back without my consent.
The article isn't doing anyone any favors, and it's actually letting Riptide and the industry in general off the hook for what looks like minor infractions the way it's presented.
I'm not a fan of soft-pedaling.
At all.
-X
Cole wrote: "Guys. Please stop. The constant tearing at each other isn't helping anything.Also?
That is a damningly bad article.
It cherry-picks facts to explicitly minimize the issues the journalist is wri..."
I appreciate hearing your point of view, Cole. Thank you for posting. I'm very sorry for all you've gone through, and are going through, due to all this.
Cole wrote: "Guys. Please stop. The constant tearing at each other isn't helping anything.Also?
That is a damningly bad article.
It cherry-picks facts to explicitly minimize the issues the journalist is wri..."
Oof, that's not good journalism, not good journalism at all. *sigh*
It's been years since this post - but this is the latest update I can find. Are you still writing? I would be so happy to find another story like "I was an alien cat toy" with lovely felines 😭😭
I thought I'd post this here for reference if anyone can use the services and help this group of superstars are offering!!
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...
The document is titled "Authors Helping Authors Sign-Up" and from the looks of it, it's a network/source of help for authors who are leaving and pulling their books from Riptide!!