Joyously Prolific

I'm going to rant. And yes, I'm going to rant about the whole Sheila/Bryn thing.

I wasn't going to make any more comments on the review. Bryn says she didn't write it. It does, I admit, read like Bryn's writing -- but then there are a whole lot of young women in that same age/education/lifestyle who write like her, so it may well not be Bryn. Her statement that the real author wrote her and said she doesn't use her name for personal reasons... well, anyone who is savvy enough to post on Amazon.com would be smart enough to create an alternate name/email address, wouldn't you think?

Or maybe not. From all I could tell, the post was made for only one reason -- to make sure that people knew she couldn't see why Holly was getting all those five stars. So maybe this person isn't that smart.

The review was not all that bad. I didn't like it, but that's life. I've had far worse reviews of my work, and sometimes even for good reason. I don't think Sheila should have asked for its removal, but then I've said that before. I think, in fact, that we all should have followed Holly's reaction -- been annoyed first and then shrugged and said 'oh well' afterwards.

Here's the thing, people -- just in case you all missed it in your leaping up and down over poor Bryn. Sheila will defend Holly, even to extremes. Sheila is a person of passion and unshakeable convictions. She felt the review was an attack on Holly. She moved to have it taken down. Failing that, she's cut her ties with Amazon.com. We're not all going to agree with Sheila's convictions, and few of us are going to stand up to ours with the same fervor that Sheila does. But let me ask you this -- is your coming to the defense of Bryn that much different than Sheila defending Holly?

And are you going to sit there and say that Bryn has not attacked Sheila in her blog?

Never mind if she wrote the damned review. Sheila stated things about the SF community and about NASA that Bryn took up as a counter rant. Fine. I notice that she never mentions anything Sheila says about the romance community, and I've seen a few rant bits about it too. Bryn chose to make the statements she did just as Sheila chose to make hers. If Bryn thought that Sheila was going to ignore it... well, she's just not been paying much attention then, has she?

Look at Bryn's Blog about Sheila and SF. Maybe someone should ask Bryn why she bothers to write fantasy if she hates it so much. I mean she argued about one part of it in Forward Motion, didn't she? So she must HATE it all. Oh, she doesn't? Does that mean that someone can dislike a lot of things about a subject, and still have stories to tell? My, what a surprise.

Are the rest of you going to tell me that Bryn is so stupid she never knew she was making snide little remarks about Sheila and SF in her blog? No, she isn't that stupid, is she? So neither she, nor the rest of you, should pretend that she is. She made her stand. She disagreed with Sheila over a few things. That's her right. But she (and the rest of you) ought to at least have the decency to say Sheila has the same right in her blog.

Oh, and on the comments thing... The comments area is still Sheila's area, and she can delete any part of it she likes. Those are the rules. Stop being so shocked and angry that Sheila deletes your comments, even when they do not seem to be an attack. You expected it, didn't you?

By the way, did I miss where Sheila came out and said it was Bryn? She said she knew who it was. She said she knew it was someone who had left Forward Motion. Later she did give a rather telling clue (Harvard), but for the most part I don’t think even most of the people in Forward Motion would have known. After all, other people have left Forward Motion for various reasons -- most of them having to do with the fact that they can't stand someone to have opinions of their own, especially if that person happens to be a professional. Apparently neither Sheila nor Holly is allowed to disagree on anything because ... well, because they're professionals.

Sheila never named Bryn in her posts, although Bryn mentions Sheila. Bryn came and posted to Sheila's comments. Most everyone there wouldn't know Bryn from a hole in the ground, if Bryn hadn't decided to leap into it.

And it's not the first time Bryn has leapt up and down about things Sheila said. As far as I can tell, Bryn just doesn't like the attitudes that Sheila holds. Well big DAMN DEAL. I don't agree with the attitudes Sheila holds on many things, including NASA and the SF community or a number of other things. But Sheila has a right to her beliefs. If Bryn had, without mentioning Sheila's Blog, stated her own beliefs, it would be a different matter. But Bryn specifically pointed her rants at Sheila. So don't be so damned surprised that Sheila takes them up.

Bryn ranting in her Blog was no different than Sheila ranting in hers... ah, but as soon as Sheila said something about the poor Bryn -- without naming her -- people come unglued. How could Sheila do such a thing? How could she attack Bryn?

Get a clue, people. It's a disagreement between two people -- not between the unpublished and a professional. Not between the poor, little Bryn and powerful Sheila.

But the more I look at it, the more I'm convinced that there are elements here that would just like nothing better than to see a massive break in Forward Motion, so that they can sit back and show how smug and superior they are. And that, finally, is what is annoying the hell out of me. Go ahead and tell me that this isn't affecting attitudes within the community -- not because Bryn and Sheila are disagreeing, but because others are determined to make the most of it. People I thought better of, in fact.

Probably more rant later. I've already typed more on this than I have on anything else in the last few days.