These last two weeks have been hellish to say the least. I haven’t talked about a lot of stuff on the personal front, but if you’re following along on social media, you’ve seen some folk absolutely lose their minds at your favorite humble Hispanic author (me). My understanding is that my leaving twitter has only escalated the situations to where they’re not even coherent anymore.
Despite that, I was able to get all of my books out and shipped for my first wildly successful IndieGoGo campaign, and reviews from real readers are all exceedingly positive. A smattering of messages I’ve received + reviews posted:
“Final Score: 3.2 (Above Industry Standard)”
“just wanted you to know I loved flying sparks”
“I’m loving it so far. Read the first two chapters last night.”
“Chloe (Meta Girl) is a simply wonderful character. She has the right mix of confidence and insecurity to make you root for her from the first page. There are background story arcs, but each chapter also has a solid story of its own that is fun and action-packed. Even the side characters are interesting and well-developed. There is none of the angst or darkness that infects modern comics: these are characters who act, not whine, and it’s absolutely refreshing. Here’s hoping we see more of Chloe and Johnny!”
Great stuff!
But you came for the clickbait headline here, and I have to say with all honesty, I prefer the File 770 folk to this current crop of trolls for a couple of reasons.
One, the Filers insults aren’t typically full time. There’s a couple who just are obnoxious, but for the most part they’re very tame compared to the stuff I’ve been getting lately — and moreover, almost all of them voiced concerns over my family’s health and wished good health in recent posts. I actually really appreciate that and was pretty touched they remembered and cared.
Two, they’re more intelligent. The trolls I’m facing on twitter are much like the group I saw from Bleeding Cool last year. They just repeat the same thing over and over and escalate and escalate and never let up… and while I get a bit of that from a couple members of the File 770 crew, there’s at least some dialogue there. I feel like I could actually hold a conversation with some of these folk if it weren’t an “internet grandstand” situation and they were just across a table from me. Of course, the science fiction establishment knows this which is why they work so hard to keep me away from conventions and the like because my general niceness would shatter their narrative. And periodically I do have decent conversations via email with Mike Glyer. Not so much with the comic troll crowd.
Never thought I’d be saying something like that in my life, but hey, the times they are a changin’.
It’s probably in part due to the shake up I’ve caused in the industry to Make Science Fiction Fun Again. My new short story collection is available for pre-order here. It’s very fun. Also: trigger warning.
Good to see more people are leaving the Toxic Femininity of Twitter behind.
I just got my copy of Flying Sparks a couple of days ago. Great job! I wish that certain other creators were as prompt and organized.
Thanks Vaughn! 🙂
That’s a big statement! But a fair one indeed. There’s nothing worse than a low IQ troll – at least if they’ve got half a brain it’s a worthy battle that both participants might learn something from. Sycophantic trolls with low IQ’s are worse. I saw a tweet in reference to you today (not sure how old it actually was) ‘The guy who hates women and minorities’ with out of context screenshots flying around from CG’ers, and rolled my eyes so hard from the irony of it, they almost popped out of their sockets. They hate Sjw’s, yet weild their tactics like experts.. Hmmm…. It’s almost like they’re actually..
CG was lost as soon as they chose EVS over Cap’n Cummings, but now it deserves to be burnt off to cleanse the space, and let creators do their stuff to heal it. It might not be good stuff, and it might be stuff that many disagree with- but at least it’ll go back to comics, and not who screeches the loudest on Twitter/ YT. No one is saving LCS’s, or the quality of mainstream comics at this point, they just like the sound of their own voices.
Things like #pulprev came out of the shushing in SciFi/Fantasy – time to let it happen in comics. A creator can’t spend 24 hours a day bashing the industry on YT and think they’re going to create anything that’ll help the industry. They’ve just got to knuckle it, make something great, prove it can be done.
If you’ve not seen a Jason Brubaker video, check him out – a comic creator that left a lucrative career in Hollywood because it was cashing with his Christian beliefs. His attitude is amazing, as is his work. Need more of that stuff!
I’m actually kind of glad you’ve left – it means there’s a better likelihood you’ll stick about in the long run!
Make Comics Great Again: By Actually Making Comics!
Just finished reading Fying Sparks. One of the best comics I’ve read in decades. You and Jethro and the rest of your team should be VERY proud of yourseves. I can’t wait for more!
Wow thank you! 🙂
It’s true. Also, quitting Twitter is the best thing. Trust me: you won’t miss it.
Re: the clickbait headline,
I agree, there are more, bigger and dumber assholes in the world than those at Vile666.
This is what we call damning with faint praise. ~:D
Well, the love feast sure didn’t last very long! 😉