Fascinating. Adam felt compelled to put up a new blog entry, here. Janrae specifically got a mention.
It’s a pity we had to make a point of this on our blog, but since others have been attacking our writers, our company and, indirectly, myself (I am gay, after all, and I guess the assumption the story was ‘gay’ is because of that), we decided it was best to address the issue.
He really thinks his loyal readers read The Rusty Nail? When he links here, he refers to vitriol. I don’t think so. The entry about which he originally took issue had more to do with Philbin or Dagstine than it did him. Philbin had announced a hiatus for ChimeraWorld 5, then came back with the, er, brilliant idea of making it a worst-of-the-worst issue. I was curious to see who would take the bait.
Luckily, I know our loyal Dog Horn readers won’t be phased by these events.
But, would they be fazed?
He also failed to realize that by clicking on the commenter’s name, he would find his way to their blogs and websites.
He caught some shrapnel, but the grenade was aimed at Dagstine and Philbin.
I’ve had a good look through the old comments and these.
First, no one sneered at the gayness of the company. Janrae’s barb was aimed at P&D, as were virtually everything else in that segment. Anything else went to Nicky. No one really noticed or cared about anything else.
Second, Adam claims not to say Janrae was straight. Very true. He accused her of crypto-homophobic bollocks.
Whatever the fuck that means!
Our point wasn’t so much that Janrae was herself a big bi diva, but that she knows all about that lifestyle and has known and does know many from various walks of life.
Even if she was straight, she knows all about the ‘other side!’
This reminds me of Tallman complaining about the attacks on her, when she was barely on the radar. Same bullshit, only he gets to wave the gay card about, because anyone who makes a jibe at a gay person must hate all gay people.
An attack on his company and the writers? No, yet another in a long list of jeers and jollies on the Usual Nitwits. Same old names we mention. Often the same jokes too.
Very good points, CritGit. There are straights out there who know every bit as much about the community as its members do.
However, the community continues to deride those straights who are aware of and friendly toward the community as fag-hags. So it’s a no win situation at times.
That always bothers me.
Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a Nitwit.
I think that it is a possibility, but I got an email from him and I want to share it and get folks reactions. I have already replied, but I’m still thinking about it.
Hi Janrae,
I would like to extend my apologies if I offended you on The Rusty Nail. I guess I jumped the gun a little. What I saw was a bunch of attacks on two authors by a group of individuals, which then began to include my publishing company. Whether people like or dislike Philbin and Dagstine is irrelevant to me, but from what I’ve seen of the posts regarding them, there does appear to be an unfair level of abuse and ridicule aimed at them. If people don’t like them, can’t they be adults about them?
Anyway, it was not my intention to start a flame war or anything of the kind.
Well, he starts right off with on apology and attempts to explain himself. I say we put the application for Nitwittery on hold and see what happens.
I agree, Mike. I made two angry posts on my cuss wp blog over the implications that I was a homophobe, but I will not say anything further unless the situation changes.
Well that sounds good, but if he is so sincere then why is that blog still up, complaining away. Adding more to it would look good. Not an apology, just ‘this isn’t an issue anymore’.
Especially as a comment there states ‘Janrae Frank is fucking crackers’. Also bitches at this blog, but if not attacking authors is the thing, what about that?
I have no problem with being a homophobe. In fact, every time i look in the mirror I tell myself, “fuck off, you stupid fag.” *joke*
I think that a correction ought to be issued by Adam.
I think that I need to make a post about how much people are led to misconceptions based upon an unconscious subtext that the reader themselves supply.
I dealt with the subject of gay marriage in several novels and now gay men adopting children in my work in progress, Sins of Innocence. But it’s subtext more than direct addressing.
On a personal level, it shouldn’t matter, but it can affect his business if he really believes their writing brilliant, and keeps publishing their work. The company you keep, and all that.
I’m not offended by the comment saying that I’m “crackers.”
However, it does show that the Legion will continue to try and question my sanity.
Hi folks,
I have removed the blog in question. I placed it online last night (GMT-time) during the midst of this. When I apologised to Janrae, I was using my PDA, so didn’t have access to the blog to delete it.
I understand the force of the attack was against Philbin and Dagstine, and I admit I jumped the gun. Yesterday was not a good day for me in general, but I’ve stated my feelings to Janrae and hopefully all is fine again.
The stories in question, by Philbin and Dagstine, were thematically appropriate and well written. I can’t make that same statement about all their work, because I haven’t read it all. What they submitted worked, and so we accepted it. We did make editorial changes, too. I don’t know if that counts for anything, but the stories weren’t bad.
Editorial changes count. A good editor is a wonderful thing.
But boy, I bet whoever made the changes had their work cut out for ‘em.
LOL that would be myself and my acquisitions editor, John. I think John handled those stories more than I did.
From what I have read of Larry’s (10 or so stories), he often has a good concept that fails in execution. It’s conceivable that with a LOT of editing, the flaws can be made to mostly disappear. But, it’s not the editor’s job to do the research, and that’s one of Larry’s biggest failures.
If one in 20 of Larry’s stories is fairly decent, then it’s possible that Adam accepted one of the 5%.
You know what, your comments mirror John’s exactly. He said he really enjoyed it but the ending was a bit . . . cliche. He’s in the middle of editing it now, I think. (Philbin’s is already done and dusted.)
Editing shows you absorb, consider and react to, which is a good thing. Others seem to just let it roll in, warts and all.
I have to say Beyonce Holes is a pretty cool drag name Adam.
And not to sound like a broken record, but again you might want to inquire to those two (Philbin and Dagstine) why they are friends with someone who is the epitome of homophobia. The past week along Nicky has been telling people to wrap themselves in a Rainbow Flag (as he also calls it a “Sin Flag”) and set themselves on fire.
Yeah, Adam, kudos to you for taking the time to edit. It’s frustrating to pick up a book or mag and it looks like a bunch of rough drafts.
Thanks AlKilyu
It was a nickname a friend of mine came up with, and it kinda stuck!
Yeah, JerrodBalzer, I know what you mean. I try to get everything edited as much as possible. We have a team of proofreaders too. Typos are the bane of the small press.
If you want to see what I might look like in drag (everyone thinks I should do it) have a look at the mock-up my friend made on PhotoShop:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=882682&op=1&view=all&subj=503783304&id=506032702
That picture isn’t showing up for me Adam I guess I need a facebook.
You can see my friends performances on my youtube page here http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=AlKilyu
Pacione just scares me, and to people who are associated with him in any way (AKA Philbin and Dagstine,) it just makes me wonder what they’re after. I mean, how can someone support/like someone like Pacione, who is the epitome of narcissistic bigotry.
I guess (and just guess, mind you,) that a lot of his posts are done when he’s not on his meds? Is he schitzophrenic, or just REALLY paranoid? Sometimes I think the world’s out to get me too, but that usually fades fairly quickly…
Anyway (directed at Adam,) I’d just watch who you publish. I’ve personally warned a few different markets away from him, mostly because people who associate themselves with him end up falling VERY drastically. I can’t remember what market it was that Rusty posted about, but Pacione touched it and it, literally, died.
Oh, and also; drag queens rock. If I didn’t live in such a religious town (and was older, LOL!) I’d more than likely resort to drag for money. I can’t seem to get a job. I mean, gosh. I have long hair, wear lots of black, cannot be distinguished between male and female at times, and I’m not religious! There’s not one thing wrong with me…
I lie. I am epic. BWAHAHAAHAHAH!
(This is me when I’m distracting myself from writing; feel free to ignore me.)
LOL, Kody! When you come out to NYC I’ll make sure to introduce you to my Keiko and his friends. You’ve seen a pic or two, those guys do drag like nobody’s business! Keiko really looks like a very hot woman when he’s dolled up and throw in his mad costuming skillz, you’ve got WIN!!!
Some of the prettiest ‘ladies’ I have ever known were drag queens.
@Kody: I don’t think Nicky’s schizophrenic; I think he’s bipolar. He’s claimed this elsewhere, and I think it fits.
I’ve worked with someone who was bipolar, and on the rare occasion he forgot to take his morning meds, I could tell because he would greatly overreact to a stressor. Something that might irritate me would make him “full of rage” (his words). Fortunately, he also recognized when his emotional response didn’t seem appropriate and would go find his pills.
I see the same overreactions in Nicky — and the tendency to go from manic and posting every day to falling off the map for weeks. Classic bipolar.
Just my two cents. YMMV.
If he is bipolar, then he probably needs our understanding and not our disdain. From what I’ve heard, his comments seem very out of line, but if he is bipolar he should probably just be ignored.
I haven’t published Pacione and I probably wouldn’t now, but I would also hope the industry’s not so shallow it would make such a big deal out of one guy. If his writing’s good, it doesn’t matter whether he’s a pig. (I haven’t read any of his stuff, so I wouldn’t know.) I think it’s probably true that many great writers (and even more mediocre ones) were stark raving mad. Sometimes I wonder if it’s mandatory.
AlKilyu, try this link direct to the .jpeg
http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v258/37/99/506032702/n506032702_882682_987.jpg
I hope you like it! I personally think it looks great.
His writing is among the worst you’ve ever seen. It’s incoherent, riddled with misspellings, typos, grammatical errors, and seldom has anything resembling a plot.
He’s pissed off a number of pros over the years — people who actually make a living writing full-time. Many people new to the phenomenon that is Pacione think he can be ignored, and he’ll go away. He won’t.
He may turn his attention to harassing someone else, but then the cycle repeats, as if he pulls out his little black book, thumbs through it, picks a name at random, and begins harassing that person again. He decided to send Ray Garton a bunch of hate email after leaving the man alone for a good five years. Do a search on Rusty Nail entries for Garton. Good stuff.
Adam, very Beyonce-ish! Great pic!
On the Pacione thing, I still kinda ride the fence regarding how Nickolaus should be treated. I believed the same as you when you say he probably should just be ignored because he has a mental disorder and we should try to understand him….except, the difference between someone overreacting to a stressor and the stuff Pacione does is HUGE. He has called people in the middle of the night to threaten them, and he harrasses writers out of the blue without provocation. He even attempted to post someone’s private phone number here in a comment just recently, and the thing about that is it wasn’t even the object of his ire’s number but some random person with the same name. Imagine that person recieving threatening phone calls in the night, some innocent victim of Pacione’s shit!
If I am remembering it correctly, he even threatened Kody for pulling out of his last anthology with the excuse of he would need to reformat the whole thing, and that he was going to bill Kody some random amount to cover his losses. Pacione stole Kody’s story, there never was a contract, and besides, Kody is a minor! You can’t enter into a contract with a minor! Add on top of that threatening a minor…
As far as NP’s writing goes and getting published, hey good luck to him. As far as the rest of it goes, the threats, the harrassment, he only gets what he dishes out.
aw geez. Don’t get me started again…. but
My troubles with Pacione are very well documented online. The archives on my cussedness.journalscape from June to December of 2004 contain all that went one and a recap of the period from September 03 to June 17, 2004 when I was forced to make it a war with him after he went after my then teenage daughter in order to punish me.
He posted my address and phone number several places on the net, having gotten them from the HWA directory. He, his mother, his cousin, and his grandmother made harassing calls to my home.
He got my LJ temporarily suspended. His mother tried to shut down my website when I refused to give her names and numbers for Pacione’s “enemies.”
“the difference between someone overreacting to a stressor and the stuff Pacione does is HUGE”
I agree. The bipolar person I know is dealing with his illness responsibly, and he functions pretty well socially for the most part. Nicky doesn’t — either deal or function.
I do sometimes feel sorry for Nicky because he clearly doesn’t have anyone in his life who he trusts and who can say, “Wait a minute. Calm down. You’re overreacting”. He doesn’t have a balance. OTOH he has done and said some reprehensible things, and I don’t think he cares that his illness is causing him to be hurtful to others.
Yeah, my best friend is bipolar, and the meds make such a huge difference. He used to be randomly abusive to people in the street and legendarily threw a book at me new year’s eve 2006 because I wasn’t partying hard enough. With the medication, he’s so much better.
I guess the difference is, my friend is getting treatment. If Pacione isn’t, then our sympathies can only go so far.
(BTW, it sounds like his whole family are nuts if they’re ringing people in the middle of the night!)
Actually, Diva, I double-checked. Pacione even sent me a PDF to prove that he removed it. Even if he didn’t, it’s technically with the ANTHRO webzine now. It’s a completely reedited version of the story, so it’s different from the one Pacione originally picked up.
And YES, Adam. VERY Beyonce-ish! I love it. <3 And yes Diva, let me meet your drag queen friends.
I had a friend who was bipolar, but lost contact with him after he was held back for, like, five points on his overall GPA. I remember one incident where he was REALLY hyper and bouncy, but that probably contributed to the fact that the bread you make weiner wraps out of exploded out of its canister and almost hit him in the head, lol. He wasn’t violent bipolar, just REAAALLLLY bouncy and off the wall.
As to Nickolaus’ medical issues, there’s no excuse for him to be letting them go. Medical issues are BAD, with a capital B-A-D. Plus, if you’re so nuts without medicine that you threaten people, you’re trouble. I have a friend who’s being harassed by him right now, and if all goes through, the Canadian police will be putting him in a straight jacket here shortly. ^^
There is also the bigotry and hypocrisy. Plus the fact he has been behaving this way for years.
He knows he has problems and doesn’t seem bothered about dealing with them or even acting for the sake of others.
Seems to me he prefers to live in anger and delusion. Many do.
The last straw at HWA (and this happened while the president was building up a case) was to go off on Ellen Datlow who tried to derail one of his misplaced episodes of abuse. Instead of taking a gentle hint, he ripped into her. that earned him a second comment from Datlow, to which Pacione replied, “Sorry, but that’s just how I am.”
I blame his blame for enabling these patterns for so many years that they have become second nature.