I’m going to say something controversial to the publishing community, paraphrased from an essay I read recently after Becky Albertalli was relentlessly attacked and outed. Here it is: AUTHORS MUST BE TRUSTED AS GOOD-FAITH ACTORS WHEN WRITING IDENTITY. (1/) That’s just all there is to it. Because the alternative is systematic abuse and degradation of real-life human beings with real feelings and real careers and real bills to pay, and we’re literally dragging them through the streets and demanding proof of their identities. (2/)

Okay. We gotta talk about astrology. I try very hard to just let people have their fun things, and even weird stuff they believe in that has absolutely ZERO basis in science or fact, and mostly just keep my nose down. BUT. An author I admire and follow is literally (Cont) receiving death threats from some obsessive “fans” of a book she wrote a decade ago because the author does not know/remember the birthday of one of the characters in the books. These fans want to know that info so they can figure out the character’s charts and (Cont)