Today I was forced to write the following e-mail to Fur Planet…
Gentlemen—
Recent editorial decisions made by Fur Planet leave me with no ethical choice but to terminate my business and creative relationships with you. I most deeply regret this, as you’ve always been personally friendly, paid royalties on time, and in the early days went well out of your way to, in general, do right by me. In no way does this action constitute a personal rejection. And yet…
I can’t in good conscience continue to do business with you. Therefore… In the book contracts I signed with you, I asked for and you granted a clause entitling me to terminate my publishing rights with you upon six months notice. Please consider this notice served. I’m not certain if I interjected such clauses into my short story/novella contracts or not— if so please consider them exercised as well, and if not please consider this an official request to remove my works from these volumes as well.
I most sincerely regret that it’s come to this.
I wish to make it clear here that I have no beef with Dwale’s review of “Red Engines”; there are as many valid viewpoints regarding a work of art as there are viewers/readers/whatever, and all are equally entitled to express them. My problem is that, instead of trying to work out a mutually satisfactory and respectful resolution to the situation, Fur Planet (possibly without even realizing the import of what they were doing) simply threw the writer under the bus instead. Many of my own works are highly controversial, and I’m therefore forced to ask myself if this same approach might be taken after public comment on my own fiction. Especially if I do nothing now.
My hope remains that this can yet be resolved in a satisfactory manner, for the good of the principals, the fandom, and even, in a very small way, society as a whole. Until that time, I anticipate that I’ll have nothing further to say in this forum on the matter.