Every now and again, I get hatemail. Sometimes it's people who are mad that I reviewed negatively a book they loved, or an author they love, and sometimes it's people who take exception to the site, or something we've done in the past. It happens, and it's rare enough that I delete it and move on.
Today I got an email that was rather fantastic in the vitriol, and called to mind the authors who have reported angry letters about the sexual content or the number of curse words in their books. This person, it seems, takes great exception to the books we/I've written, the fact that I'm a female, and given the closing, possibly also the fact that I'm Jewish. Have a look at the screedy hateration:
To: Sarah, Candy
From: R.K.
Subject: Nein
Your books are the most corruptable form of literature ever written. The iniquity
of your books are unfathomable and it is vile and diabolical garbage. Women are genetically and hereditarily
dysfunctional degenerate sexual creatures, who have fallen from God's grace and only redeemable by man. You are doing the Devil's work. You don't know anything, you disregard Darwinism and evolution. You are contemptuous towards God and I will sue you for all you are worth. Your writing is poison, and Shakespeare would
mock and laugh at your elementary writing style. I will make sure all these books are burned and disregarded as degenerate art. It will be my political role, I will make it my life's work.
WOW, huh? That is some grade-A asshattery right there.
First: that last part is German for “Children, Kitchen, Church,” the alleged proper domains for women. The phase is associated with the Third Reich, though the Wikipedia article doesn't indicate that the Nazis used the phrase in any propaganda. That said, way to send some Nazi references to the Jewish lady! Happy new year to you, sir!
What I don't quite get is how exactly my books are doing the “Devil's work” because women are “genetically and hereditarily dysfunctional degerenate sexual creatures” who are “only redeemable by man.” Does this dude think I write romance? I am also at a loss as to how on earth this person gets any dates (let alone sex) while carrying around such a low opinion of women.
But hey, if he's burning my books, as Lillie pointed out on Twitter, he has to buy them first, so yay royalties!
The email was sent from an address with a name attached, which I promptly Googled. Unless the person who sent it is using someone else's email account to send out their happy dispatches, it appears this person is a law student at Rutgers-Newark. Get ready, attorneys of the future. Given that the Google-trail is pretty limited for this person's name, I'm not 100% sure I've identified the correct person, but some of his philosophical quotes on LinkedIn seem to indicate I have the right dude. I'm not going to publish his name (because it would suck royally if I'm wrong) but I have all the links saved.
Clearly this person is level-11!11!ty enraged about something, and if it's his life's role to make sure my books are burned and regarded as “degenerate art,” that can only help sales. Awesome. Thanks, dude!
I'm going to go do more Devil's work now, by which I mean, reading romances and enjoying them. Hope you're doing the Devil's work – or at the very least writing some poison!
