Another little ray of SUNSHINE!!
Uh, not really.
The other day I emailed Reviews by Jessewave to offer a copy of Flawless for giveaway. At first they said, "Oh, thanks! We'll get it listed next week."
Tonight I got an email from Aunt Lynn saying: "...Wave reminded me of our policy to only include m/m books, and this does not include on-screen het smexxin and/or trans* characters..."
By which they apparently mean, trans* men don't qualify as real men.
What the fucking FUCK???
I sat staring at that email for something like five minutes. Did it really say what I thought it said? After re-reading it half a dozen times, I can't interpret it any other way.
Wow. Talk about a hundred shades of offensive.
At the end of the day, it's Wave's site, and she can impose any rules she likes. But I will never again offer another book of mine there for giveaway or review.
I will never comment there again. In fact, I will never visit the site again.
Readers, reviewers, fellow authors - if you're as outraged by this bigoted policy as I am, I urge you all to do the same.
Edited to add: If you'd like to read Flawless, you can find it here:
Amazon, Nook, Kobo, All Romance ebooks or directly from Riptide Publishing.
The other day I emailed Reviews by Jessewave to offer a copy of Flawless for giveaway. At first they said, "Oh, thanks! We'll get it listed next week."
Tonight I got an email from Aunt Lynn saying: "...Wave reminded me of our policy to only include m/m books, and this does not include on-screen het smexxin and/or trans* characters..."
By which they apparently mean, trans* men don't qualify as real men.
What the fucking FUCK???
I sat staring at that email for something like five minutes. Did it really say what I thought it said? After re-reading it half a dozen times, I can't interpret it any other way.
Wow. Talk about a hundred shades of offensive.
At the end of the day, it's Wave's site, and she can impose any rules she likes. But I will never again offer another book of mine there for giveaway or review.
I will never comment there again. In fact, I will never visit the site again.
Readers, reviewers, fellow authors - if you're as outraged by this bigoted policy as I am, I urge you all to do the same.
Edited to add: If you'd like to read Flawless, you can find it here:
Amazon, Nook, Kobo, All Romance ebooks or directly from Riptide Publishing.
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message 1:
by
Emma Sea
(new)
May 14, 2013 10:24PM
Wow, I'm really, really shocked and disappointed by this.
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This isn't the first time this has come up on that site.
Wave, or at least her site, is both a great friend to the genre and more than a little rigid. I don't see this kind of issue raise its ugly head on, say, Elisa's review site. It must be difficult to be a reviewer because one no doubt receives undeserved flack regularly. This flack, though, seems rather more deserved.
Jen wrote: "She's certainly a friend to the publishers that give her free books and whose giveaways provide her with site traffic, but a review policy that's admittedly biased (she doesn't allow negative revie..."I dunno about the not allowing negative reviews thing - I've seen a lot of low-rated reviews on her site lately. And she just published an article about how far the quality of m/m fiction has dropped in the past year or so.
But yeah, I know what you mean about her fans and their so-called "activism." They sound like a bunch of angry grad students whining about how fucking oppressed they are. *eye roll*
Gina wrote: "Wave, or at least her site, is both a great friend to the genre and more than a little rigid. I don't see this kind of issue raise its ugly head on, say, Elisa's review site. It must be difficult t..."You'd think a site dedicated to m/m fiction would be open to embracing all shades of the rainbow, but apparently not.
Jen wrote: "Cat wrote: "Jen wrote: "She's certainly a friend to the publishers that give her free books and whose giveaways provide her with site traffic, but a review policy that's admittedly biased (she does..."Except all her current reviewers are snarky fangirls. She's gotten rid of everyone (or maybe they just got disgusted and left - who knows?) who used to review with any kind of insight and/or critical thinking. Now it's no better than the ignorant tripe you get on the reader "reviews" here.
Cat, you're more than welcome to come on my blog and promote your book or work. There are readers out there that would love to know about books that feature trans characters.
Katie(babs) wrote: "Cat, you're more than welcome to come on my blog and promote your book or work. There are readers out there that would love to know about books that feature trans characters."Thanks, Katie! I'll email you. :)
Cat wrote: "Katie(babs) wrote: "Cat, you're more than welcome to come on my blog and promote your book or work. There are readers out there that would love to know about books that feature trans characters."..."
Please do! :)
Jen wrote: "Cat wrote: "Jen wrote: "Cat wrote: "Jen wrote: "She's certainly a friend to the publishers that give her free books and whose giveaways provide her with site traffic, but a review policy that's adm..."And she's got a new post up trying to attract more new reviewers. Geez, she goes through 'em like Kleenex!
I'm a little confused. Suppose they meant to do only M/M as in GAY fiction. In which case the issue isn't one of masculinity per say. Trans people are not the same as gay/homosexual and some take real offence. They are distinct and have a gender discordance whereby they are not comfortable due to dissonance between their gender (psychological and role) versus biological sex (physical).I personally do not find stories about trans appealing from an erotic standpoint just as I wouldn't find stories about women. And that is not because I don't see them as MASCULINE. Rather masculinities come in a wide range, it is NOT one category and the trans masculinity doesn't appeal to me, just as femininities do not. Maybe Jesse Wave caters only to gay masculinities. In which case I think it is unfair to label the site as transphobic.
Authors often don't follow the common sense dictum: write only what you KNOW/HAVE LEARNED ABOUT. Reviewers need to do the same - and additionally need to factor in personal tastes as well. How can people who don't even find the Trans sexualities appealing to them write a fair review? Just because someone does't find something appealing doesn't mean they hate those who do. My friends like women. I don't. Do I hate them? They read Playboy. I don't. Do I hate them? In this case having Jesse Wave and Co. NOT review your work is a good thing. You may not like to read their reviews IF they don't find Trans appealing. And let's face it. These works have lots of erotic material in them, it's not as if it's an educational book meant to educate the ignorant about Trans.
I think far too many of us in these genres don't take the time to analyse the issues before passing judgement. If anyone wants to jump on my case too feel free but I stand by my opinion.
