Censorship sucks.Bullying sucks.

I will have neither.

On 10/30, my Wrong Place,Write Crime (Ep #179) interview of Alec Cizak dropped. Later that day, Ireceived an email that was, I’m sure, meant to be intimidating. It camefrom finneganbrogue44@gmail.com andread:

“Ye gothell of a nerve ta feature a wank named Cizak. Not on yer goddam life dinna kenthe man. Shameful it is sucking his doozy cock like that laddie. Ye in yers abe blackballed soon enuf comin up wi ta wank's book - plenty ye peers see tait.   Were a young laddie or lass ta ask me should they pub yeor ta dam Down & Out I'd tell em bout ye brown nosin a wank long sideBeau's story an say not on yer goddam life. Shameful the lot ye are.”

Ignoring the pidgin broguefor a second, this is clearly a threat. (It’s an ignorant one, too, threateningto make sure no one publishes me. As an indie author, there’s not a lot ofteeth there). Confused, I reached out to Alec for any insight. He explainedthat this form of harassment surrounding him has been happening for a whilenow.

This is wrong. Threateningme for interviewing a crime fiction author – something I’ve done over 178previous episodes, talking to authors of various backgrounds—is wrong. It’salso anonymous, which is cowardly.

I chose to give the emailthe attention it deserved – I ignored it. I’d already posted Ep #178 to socialmedia and the RSS feed had done its job to the platforms, so that was that.WPWC is pretty low key. I don’t run ads or re-post constantly. The episode wasfinished and I was already preparing for my next episode with Gabriel Valjan.

Then, today, I got anotheremail, this one from finneganbrogue@yahoo.com (note a differentaddy):

“Tá béalciúin séimh. Feicim nach bhfuil tú ag cur chun cinn an fhóid sin Cizak.Buachaill maith atá tú. B'fhéidir go gcoinneoidh tú do ghairm bheathascríbhneoireachta agus nach ndéanfaimid an liathróid dhubh ort tar éis antsaoil. Beidh mé ag faire ort Ladie.”

According to the gmailtranslation, it says:

“Thereis a quiet mouth. I see you are not promoting that Cizak. You are a good boy.Maybe you'll keep your writing career and we won't blackball you after all. Iwill be watching you Ladie.”

Seriously? If the idiothad left me alone after the first weird email, I’d have done the same. But theymistook my silence for being bullied and that got my ire up. They don’t get tohave that satisfaction. Moreover, if I say nothing, that only reinforces theirdelusion and encourages the behavior. Who do they try to bully and censor next?

This is truly astonishingbehavior. Forget whether or not you like Alec Cizak. You don’t get to tell meor anyone else who to interview for a podcast. If you don’t like the guest,here’s an idea: don’t listen to episode! Or here’s another thought: if you feelstrongly enough about the guest to try to bully and censor the host, how aboutengage in open discussion about why. You know, stand behind your thoughts,words, and ideas, in public, instead of trying to be some kind of crime fictiongangster.

I don’t know who“Finnegan” is. I don’t know why s/he doesn’t like Alec. Maybe it’s an excellentreason. Maybe it’s a ridiculous reason. The reason I don’t know is that,instead of speaking publicly (or even directly to me in a reasonable manner),s/he has chosen to threaten from the shadows.

I have two final things tosay about this.

The first is directly toFinnegan, whoever he/she/they may be:  go to hell. 

I didn’t change a singleaction in my life because of your threats, and I won’t. You want to “blackball”me with your little private mafia, give it your best go. I’ve been in the crimefiction writing community since 2004. That’s a long history of people knowingme and who I am as a person. I sincerely doubt many, if any, of them wouldlisten to the drivel you spew, but go for it. Anyone who would listen didn’tknow me anyway or isn’t someone I’d want in my life. So have at it.

The second is for the restof us. We live in a world that, ideally, embraces the concept of freeexpression. And we are all part of a community that has shown to be, throughoutmy career, a supportive one. That’s the very reason I launched the podcast anddid all those interviews—to support other authors and their work.

I know we are going todisagree on various topics—that is human nature. But I always thought we wereall grown-ups, who could disagree openly and discuss it with reasoned, or evenheated, debate. Actually, I still think this is the case. Finnegan, whether itis one misguided troll, or a pseudonym for some kind of cowardly cabal, doesn’trepresent the crime fiction writing community I know.

That’s why I’ve sharedthis experience. Because it’s an anomaly. Because sunlight is the bestdisinfectant.

Because censorship sucks,and so does bullying.

And, as I said, I willhave neither.

(Here are the receipts).