The Whisper Campaign Against SFF Author Jon Del Arroz
Jon Del Arroz, a leading Dragon Award nominated science fiction and fantasy author, is facing a whisper campaign of blackballing, harassment, threats and ostracism. His crime: exposing the institutional sexism of the SFF short fiction field.
On 8 September, Del Arroz published a blog post highlighting the rampant misandry within the premier SFF magazines. He discovered that nearly every magazine was biased against men. 2.8% of female submissions were published -- but only 0.8% of male submissions were given the nod.
Cat Rambo, the President of the Science Fiction Writers of America, decried the report as 'alt numbers' and turned on him. Previously, she was on cordial terms with Del Arroz, but after he published the article, she immediately turned hostile. In a clear violation of SFWA rules, she used SFWA's Twitter account to tag Jon to discredit the post.
"I of course messaged SFWA and they did not care," Del Arroz said in an online interview.
A week later, Jon offered to host her on a YouTube show to patch things up. Instead, Rambo threatened to sue him for 'harassment' if he ever contacted her again.
To Del Arroz, it was the last straw.
"That being a war declared, I started memeing about her / mean girls," Del Arroz said. "She started Facebook messaging calling me a harasser -- as if I attacked her -- and stirring up industry professionals against me."
Messages started pouring in across social media, calling him a "harasser", with some originating from "people who get published in the big mags like Analog". These are the same magazines whose sexist practices he exposed. A former editor of Clarkesworld took things one step further, calling Del Arroz on Facetime to berate him and his writing.
"Very bizarre," Del Arroz remarked. "I don't know him."
The harassment campaign continued to escalate. A troll posted on his website with information about his children, while others did the same on Twitter.
"[Rambo] never disavowed that," Del Arroz said.
Del Arroz has since deleted the offending comment, and Twitter has suspended the doxxers.
Throughout this ordeal, Del Arroz has received messages demanding he should make a public apology. As the whisper campaign continued, former friends distanced themselves from Del Arroz, unfriending and blocking him on Facebook. Among them are industry professionals and editors, including those who work at Baen -- previously the only major SFF publishing house that strives to remain apolitical in its publication decisions.
Del Arroz believes Social Justice Warriors applied pressure on them to isolate him.
"A person who has worked for Baen told me he received messages warning him about being my friend," Del Arroz said.
A whisper campaign of this magnitude is deliberately designed to isolate and pressure the target into admitting defeat, and threaten everyone who supports him. For an independent author like Jon Del Arroz, who depends heavily on social media to sell and market his books, this campaign is a threat to his writing career.
Jon Del Arroz is not a troll. While his communication style is upfront and direct, he has always comported himself in a sincere and friendly manner. Whenever he comes into conflict with someone, his first reaction is to attempt to bury the hatchet. In addition to his offer to Rambo, Del Arroz also entered into a spat with SFF author John Scalzi. Del Arroz publicly offered to have dinner with Scalzi, and later to watch a baseball game together, in an attempt to reconcile their differences. Scalzi ignored both offers.
The SFF community was once a big tent where people of all backgrounds could come together to celebrate a shared love for wonder and adventure. Now, a den of vipers has infested the tent, driving out everyone who disagrees with them. Jon Del Arroz is merely their latest target. The moment you question the narrative, they will turn on you and everyone you know. These harpies and backbiters will stop at nothing to destroy your reputation, your friendships and you.
Cat Rambo's silence is deafening. The behaviour of the SJWs driving this mob is damning. By word and deed, by silence and treachery, they have shown that they are not interested in civilised conduct. All they want is to hang on to their crumbling empire as the seas of change relentlessly batter their strongholds, and to drive off everyone who isn't one of them. The response to such behaviour is simple.
We will replace them.
If you want to support Jon Del Arroz through this trying time, you can pick up a copy of his Amazon Top 10 bestselling novel Star Realms: Rescue Run, his Dragon Award nominated novel For Steam and Country, and new novella Gravity of the Game.
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Baseball theme! Very Very cool!
It is. I've never seen a story quite like this before.
I'm boggled by how much politics is involved in SF publishing these days. Was it always this way?
It's been like this for the past 50 years or so. Left-wingers steadily infiltrated the sci fi industry and shut out everyone who didn't toe their party line. It came to a head in the late 80s / early 90s, in which the main industry awards went only to writers and stories that celebrated the progressive causes of the day, and everyone who was openly on the right was shut out of almost all the major publishing houses.
What happened to Jon Del Arroz is simply the latest in a long history of politicking.