Can’t argue with that, his behavior is alien to me, I always knew there was something off about the guy. He’s out to make a buck and that’s about it.

Knowing “all about” a work isn’t the same as actually knowing the work itself. Cursory and second-hand knowledge don’t enable someone to have a strong understanding of the work. Might be able to write a better bio book by actually making an effort to appreciate the art rather than simulate the Matrix and take a knowledge dump of the facts.

What this guy mostly does is just compile articles from different sources, he doesn’t necessarily know much about what he’s writing about. He’s been trying to brand himself as a pop culture expert for decades, but one of my more amusing letters from him is how he’d never even read Chronicles of Narnia until about 2 weeks before his all-about-Narnia book was due at the publisher. I later found out that, though he’d brag to everyone in sight (me included) that he knew all about my work, he’d never read my work, either. He just sort of cozies up to people and fandoms, gets a bunch of articles together, crash courses himself on the material, and BAM! Instant expert.

Most of his career consists of writing unauthorized bios and companion books about an author he’s never even spoken to. And who, for the most part, holds him in contempt. He does know a lot about a handful of writers, but mostly he’s just throwing edited compilations at the wall to see what sticks.

I doubt I’ll be having problems with him in future, but for awhile he went around telling everybody he ran my entire life and career, I never made a move without him, he was really my agent and manager, and I had the hots for him on top of all that.

None of the above was true, and I was enraged when I found out what he was telling people. Haven’t had anything to do with him since. Been well over ten years now.

Some don’t get it when topics are kept at an impersonal level because they can’t be trusted. If you blab about others to me, why should I think you’ll protect my privacy? I tend to compartmentalize aspects of my life yet some feel like I am obligated to share every little thing. Why talk about the art I bought so you can mock me later? Some people just aren’t worth it.

I try not to confuse friends with professional acquaintances, but obviously, I’ve been burned a few times.

I think the hardest was when a male non-fiction writer who writes unauthorized bios for a living was found to be writing – you guessed it – an unauthorized bio of me. I thought we were friends and I must have dozens of letters where he swore up and down he was a human vault, he respected my privacy. Which he totally didn’t.

Someone else beat him to the punch by publishing another unauthorized bio of me. It’s pretty terrible.

I still find it hilarious ANYONE would publish a bio of me. For crying out loud.

He used to read my blog neurotically, searching for info about himself, terrified I would out him for what he did. It’s been well over a decade, and he was on the blog two days ago. Maybe he’s still working on that bio. Asshole.

Breaking trusts is abhorrent. Shouldn’t have to tell supposed friends “off the record” when having a discussion. Pathetic that some only view people as page views to their blogs.

It’s not like we can stop them, we certainly can’t bother to sue these people, it’s not like they have any money. And frankly, I have no doubt some of them actually believe what they are saying. It’s easy to misread something or paraphrase it and change the meaning.

But people who are not favorably disposed toward you will routinely put the most negative spin on whatever you say. And then you get to deal with it.

What’s worse is the number of people who would repeat gossip without checking, especially if they don’t even know much about you.

And yes, please don’t speculate, not necessary. Without regard to whether I like them or not, I have pretty much blocked the industry bloggers from my computer. There are other things to do with my life than read those things. I go for weeks at a time without seeing a single industry blog. And when I do, there is a five minute timer. The entire industry is blocked after five minutes of read per day.

I do not miss the drama.