Xalir: Blog

Sorry today's chapter is a little late. I've had a bit going on today and somehow thought I'd posted it earlier in the day. In any case, it's submitted now and covers all day Thursday until the drive home from practise.

As always, thanks for all the messages. I really appreciate the feedback.

I just put up Chapter 22 for posting. It covers Matt's Wednesday, including his follow-up meeting at school and his session with Dr. Spencer. There's not really a lot of surprise in this one, but anyone that's had to drag themselves through the day after news like that will be able to understand some of the reactions.

Again, thanks to everyone who writes to me. I appreciate all the support and feedback.

I posted a bonus chapter today in honor of Book 1 getting to 200,000 downloads. It's a big milestone for me.

Chapter 21 is one of the few chapters that even after 20 or 30 reads to proof-read, still makes me break down. It was hard to write, it's hard for me to read and I apologize to any of you that have been through something like this and feel that pain deeply.

Thanks to everyone who's reached out to find out if I'm okay this week. No injuries here, but some property damage. Large parts of my book collection are unsavable. Our washing machines and some other things are in the same boat. They're all replaceable with some time and expense. The people that are important to me are the things that are unreplaceable and they're all fine. That's the important thing.

I put Chapter 19 in the pipeline to be posted. It covers the next day and has several interesting conversations.

Thanks to everyone who sent their support for yesterday's blog post about hate mail. To clarify, I have no intention of stopping, slowing down or changing what I'm writing for the sake of a self-important asshole who spews hate and tries to draw me into his fantasies about sex with dead animals. Also, that's a fetish I will NOT be supporting. I apologize for those of you who might have leanings in this direction. I can write about many fetishes I don't particularly love, but that's a bridge too far, as the saying goes.

So I've just been reading through the emails I've missed since I lost power this week and came across this:

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WOW

WOW

Ok so I have read through to chapter 16 of book 2,
and I won't be going any further.

I find your premise used to finish book 1 and
where I finished in book 2 to be so juvenile that
it beggars belief.

You Yanks are so screwed up over self
righteousness, it becomes farcical.

I have been a member of SOL for many years, and
despite many disappointments this is the first
time I have been moved to make contact and provide
feedback.

So here it is.

YOU SUCK!!!!

What began as a pleasant light read became
obnoxious with its (authors) pretensions.

I envisage you as either a naive 14 YO or a fat
fucker 50 YO blinkered by years of oppressed
desire and guilt.

Whatever, you truly have a seriously fucked
perspective of people and values.

Go suck a dead dogs dick. It would be more
worthwhile than continuing to write this dribble.


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Now I've never been one to shy away from a good temper-tantrum and this issue is one that's seen a lot of attention from Jay Cantrell's blog post and all the support for it. I want to reassure everyone, whether you love the story or just don't want to see another new author chased off by the power of flames. So, for those of you that wish I'd posted his email so you could say some harsh things to him, I give you my response.

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Meh. I'm usually supportive of people that find the story is not for them, but your comments weren't meant to be supportive, they're just offensive. You say, you've been an SOL member for years? Big fucking deal. So have I. I made a conscious decision to give back. What have you done? Fuck all. Do the world a favor. Drink bleach.

As for me being a "yank" I'm not an American, don't reside in America and have very rarely even set foot on American soil. Keep your poorly informed assumptions to yourself. You could have just shrugged and called the story a lost cause, emailed me with a message that said the story had turned in a direction that you didn't appreciate and that you wouldn't keep reading, but you chose to turn it into an attack. This is exactly the kind of bullshit Jay Cantrell talked about in his blog last week. If you're not satisfied with the quality of work on this FREE website, then man-up and go buy your fucking books instead of turd-hurdling like a self-important, over-entitled asshole.

Also feel free to kill yourself over your profound disappointment with the SOL offerings.

Sincerely

Someone who hopes you die in a grease fire