A number of GalleyCat readers disagreed with one writer’s description of an Amazon controversy in our author interview, “Christopher Smith Fights Homophobic Campaign.”
In the interest of fairness, we have included excerpts from the comments in this post. Follow the links below to read the complete comments. UPDATE: Hundreds of readers have continued to debate this interview on the Kindle Community boards. Follow this link to read that commentary.
William Maxwell wrote: “Certainly in that thread, there were hints of homophobia, which is sadly inevitable on any public, unmodded forum. But there was certainly no ‘homophobic campaign.’ That thread was mostly an energetic debate about whether books with sexual and violent content should or should not be labeled with a warning. At this point, the rankings for the book actually went UP (I know because I was watching with some amusement at the effect ‘controversy’ had), and many posters were still enthusiastically lauding Smith’s work.”
ZeroGrizz wrote: “I’m gay. If I thought the original post or the resulting conversation was homophobic I’d certainly speak up and say so. Having been the brunt of homophobia many times in my life (to the extent of losing two jobs because of it) I know what’s what … I have participated in several threads on the Amazon Kindle forum talking about LGBTQ books. There are several regular forum members who are gay and lesbian. Occasionally a fundie will make a negative comment, but that’s very rare.”
MadChatterly wrote: “Though the community is not perfect, it is full of book fanatics, but they don’t all share the same taste. A few readers gently broached the subject that perhaps Smith might want to think about creatively wording the description to warn potential readers there were explicit/graphic sex scenes. There was never a lynch mob mentality and certainly no homophobic accusations.”
Finally, Christopher Smith emailed us this statement: “I stand by everything I said in the interview. This continues to be elevated into a smear campaign, and their reactions only prove my point that one is happening. They’re twisting this again while I’m staying right on target with what I experienced. I did defend myself in that forum and then I got out because it was serving no point because anything I said was turned against me. It was, in fact, them against me. That’s why I reached to the press to express what I experienced because what they were doing was wrong. Period. And now they want their scapegoat for putting myself on the line and telling the truth.”