Tag Archives: bizarrocon

*RTS: BizarroCon Special Report*

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The thing about social justice warriors is, they ALWAYS double down. So when you catch them lying, even when you provide irrefutable facts, they continue to lie and make themselves look ever more foolish and irrational.

And so, Kevin and Jeremy bring to you this BizarroCon Special Report. It’s only just been made clear to us that the actual private messages between the male and female authors from the BizarroCon 2016 controversy have been made public by the male author accused of the harassment and stalking of the female author. Since he chose to make the conversation public, we feel comfortable sharing it here, with his and the female author’s identities hidden as per the RTS policy.

Below, we have provided screenshots of those conversations, plus famous author Brian Keene’s public assertions that he witnessed the alleged harassment of the female author at the convention.

This special edition of the READING TO STRANGERS podcast goes into further detail about the controversy and our guesses as to why the SJWs in the Bizarro community would call on Brian Keene to misinterpret the incident. And further, why he would choose to go along with the lie.

The screenshots:

Bizarrocon 2016 was held from November 17th-20th 2016.

As you can see from the screenshot below of the private conversation between the male and the female authors at the center of the controversy, they were STILL on pleasant speaking terms on November 24th, FOUR DAYS after the convention ended. The female author even agreed to meet the male author again at a future public event. There was no stalking nor any harassment at the convention. This is painfully clear.

And yet here, Brian Keene maintains that he witnessed harassment at the BizarroCon event held from 11/17/16-11/20/16, which clearly had yet to occur as the entirety of the female author’s complaints come AFTER 11/24/2016 once the male author began to post public blogs confessing his crush on her and the interactions they’d had at the convention.

The controversy erupted after the male author first refused to remove the blogs, then eventually did so and apologized for any embarrassment caused. As with all instances of social justice witch hunting, this apology did NOT remove his ban from the convention, nor did it stop accusations of harassment and stalking.

With the proof and facts clear as day, the only remaining question is, why is Brian Keene lying?

RTS Bonus Ep: Banned From The Horror Show With Brian Keene

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Well, gang. This one was hard to record. But it had to be done. In this awkward “special” episode of READING TO STRANGERS I respond to the news that I’ve been publicly banned from THE HORROR SHOW WITH BRIAN KEENE podcast (which I predicted would happen, here.)

Apparently the correct way to prove that censorship and witch hunting isn’t present in your literary community is to witch hunt and censor any voice of dissent.

If you know me at all, then you know I can’t just let something like that hang in the air.

So, reluctantly, I recorded a podcast as my end of what should have been a phone conversation between Brian and I to discuss our differing points of view on publicly calling out authors accused of crimes before they’ve had a chance to go before our justice system (or more often without any attempt to have them arrested at all.)

But instead of calling me on the phone like an adult, Brian chose to do this. So yeah. Here’s my response. Enjoy, I guess.

What Happens To Kevin Strange Now?

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whatsnext

So what happens now?

I’ve been on a month-long assault on political correctness and public shaming inside the horror and bizarro fiction genres. For my troubles, I’m being publicly shamed across social media and small press publisher blogs. Close friends are asking me, “are you ok? What happens now?”

I’m 100% fine. I anticipated everything that’s happening to me publicly because it’s happened dozens of times before. There would have been no need for Kevin Strange to speak out if there wasn’t a dire problem within the internet writing communities. Everything that’s happening to me on social media right now proves that I’m right.

What happens next?

What happens next is I finish writing all the books for 2017. I’m anticipating a banner year for new releases. Six brand new horror and bizarro books is my goal. We’ll see if I get there. I’ll be doing conventions again, as well. My first show is Horror Hound Cincinnati in March 2017 with many more dates to follow.

What won’t happen in 2017? If I’m right about the self-censorship running rampant through genre fiction, then my newest bizarro fiction short story collection ALL THE TOXIC WASTE FROM MY HEART won’t appear on the preliminary ballot for the Wonderland award for excellence in bizarro fiction next June or July when the ballot becomes public even though I’ve had books listed on the ballot as far back as 2012. Even though I’m the only author to ever be nominated twice in the same category in the same year.

I won’t be on the ballot not because I’ve done anything WRONG but because I’ve been critical of the genre, which is the first rule you do not break in internet writing groups. You do not bite the hand that feeds, even when your criticisms hope to IMPROVE the artistic freedoms of the authors writing in the genre in question.

If I do make it onto the ballot, I’ll be surprised. Many other authors who have spoken out against the practices of the genre fiction police have been blacklisted for far less than my month-long diatribe against the self-appointed gate keepers of our beloved bizarro fiction.

If I do make it onto the ballot, I suspect that it will be precisely BECAUSE of this public prediction that I’ll be silenced and censored for trying to save the genre from social justice and cultural Marxism.

I doubt I’ll be asked back onto the popular bizarro podcasts to discuss my point of view and the points of view of MANY authors too scared to speak out about the problems facing our community even though I’ve been a guest on these programs multiple times in the past. Once you’re marked as a bad apple, you’re a bad apple for life.

What I’d LIKE to happen now? I’d like to be invited to Bizarrocon 2017 to talk about the danger of genre censorship, of letting so-called gate keeper editors at influential small press publishing houses bully and harass authors online for expressing political and social opinions that differ from the powers that be.

I’d like an hour on the podcasts to state my case and show other writers that they have nothing to fear from being black listed by internet writing communities. They can still write books. The self-publishing world is thriving and many authors have cut ties with not only legacy publishers but the small press as well. There is life (and much more likelihood of success) outside of facebook writer groups.

I’d like to have a sit down with the BWA and discuss measures that can be taken when an author or publisher becomes the victim of public shaming and witch hunting inside of our community. After all, what exactly is the point of having these associations if not to help our authors find success and protect them from harassment from within the community?

We dive on our women like live grenades at the slightest hint of a SINGLE WHITE MALE approaching them for conversation. Can we not provide the same type of help when we see an author witch hunted online?

In other words, I’d like my voice, or the voice of someone like me, to be heard and understood by those who have the real power to create REAL change, positive change within our community so that all voices are free to express themselves without fear of prejudice or harassment for not bending to the social will of the few very vocal social justice warriors at the top of the bizarro food chain.

But that probably won’t happen. I’ll probably just be silenced like everyone else before me.