ffs, amanda craig novellist dropped from mslexia

Thanks - I hadn't heard of Amanda Craig, but just dropped an email to my local bookseller to ask whether I can order a couple of books from her.

I also bought the first Strike book a while back, really need to start reading again, so that I can work my way up to Troubled Blood.

@OllyBJolly Thank you for reminding me! When I saw the thread about Gillian Philip being cancelled, I wanted to have a look at her books and didn't get round to it. I will do it today!

Hang on - HIGNFY on now - did I see JKR now on the titles???

I take great pleasure in watching the many thousands of people signing up to the 'solidarity with JKR petition. One by one, short but passionate comments. 16,255 to date.
These are who represent the best of society.

ArabellaScott brilliant post. Could be printed as a column.

@TheElementsOfMedical Try Gillian Philip

www.heraldscotland.com/news/18564550.scots-author-gillian-philip-dumped-backing-jk-rowling-transgender-row/

Got some of her books in support when this happened, and really enjoyed them. Very good YA stuff. (I'm not a Y Adult!)

Magdalen though. What a woman she was.

Yes. I find it interesting to see what the other side considers measured arguments.

This is supposed to be a "balanced" article to explain the whole thing to newcomers

Their definition of ‘balanced’ is somewhat idiosyncratic, isn’t it?

Not reading that - seriously a ‘content warning’ for a Magdalen Burns quote? Will tissues and sweet milky tea be provided?

Now there are rumours spreading about the timeline of how things happened, making out that Jane Harris doxed the judge. Huge discussions among writers on FB with people splitting into two camps and a couple sitting on the fence and saying "there are arguments on both sides".

This is supposed to be a "balanced" article to explain the whole thing to newcomers:

medium.com/@briehanrahan/a-reasonable-persons-guide-to-the-j-k-rowling-essay-6bd9e2d638ad

This is terrifying. Basic debate is being stifled; holding an opinion is now enough to have people removed from their roles. I'm going off now to order some Amanda Craig. I am a long-time reader rather than contributor to Mumsnet - this has prompted me to post here for the first time.

The problem with such lists (the Kiran Millwood Hargrave one) is it must be really difficult to be starting out in publishing and not sign that kind of letter - there must be a sense that in not doing you would worry about your career and being guilty of wrong think. I bet there are people who have signed that letter as an act of conformity without thinking it through.

@notyourhandmaid

That's a brilliant list, thank you! I'll get some of those ordered - with lockdown and homeschooling, DDs have been devouring books at an enormous rate.

@TheElementsOfMedical really struggling to find recent books that are by authors not on that list. (I wouldn't dub them all as uncritically-woke, though, and many of them do have books that are feminist and decent. But it really is an area where very few people are deviating from the scripture.) Here's what I've come up with though:

Sarah Crossan - Apple and Rain, Toffee, The Weight of Water
Jacqueline Wilson - Clover Moon, Rose Rivers, Opal Plumstead
Meg Rosoff - How I Live Now
Frances Hardinge - anything
Sophie Kinsella - Finding Audrey
Susin Nielsen - anything
Sarah Moore Fitzgerald - anything
Jess Vallance - Gracie Dart books
Elizabeth Wein - Code Name Verity and other historical books

great post.

One thing I find extra, extra horrifying is that what JK has done is just to have an opinion and defend rights that exist right now in law, and biology that is agreed upon right now in science. She's not a murderer or terrorist. It still wouldn't be OK to abuse and threaten her if she was IMO, but it would be more conceivable to me that people might do it.

But seemingly normal, sensible people are now on board with abuse and threats because someone had an opinion and agreed with the law. And I think the reason for that is the terror so many young and woke people have, of not being pure and virtuous and right-on, and being cancelled and bullied. That comes before actual thought.

The Mslexia situation has highlighted the whole situation well though I think. When a supposedly feminist magazine for women writers can't bring themselves to defend a feminist woman writer against horrific abuse, the whole thing is well and truly revealed as a shitshow.

"And when you look at the people who signed –Graham Linehan, Lionel Shriver–it's clear there is alignment with transphobia."

To be unable to imagine that people might disagree on one thing and agree on another, that when speaking up on an issue people might come from different ideological positions - that is very worrying for a writer of fiction.

We're not talking about people who've murdered anyone. FFS.

No one is threatening trans people's right to exist and the fact that their advocacy groups keep telling children and teenagers this is vile.

There is no great murder conspiracy. The statistics support this.

(Although there does seem to be a great desire to sterilise trans children and teenagers. But that's OK, apparently. Desirable, even.)

Yes, there is transphobia in the world. There's name-calling and prejudice and discrimination. But that seems to be ignored by trans rights activists in favour of insisting that women talking about their own health and safety concerns is 'transphobic'. And then pretending 'women' are a privileged group that it's OK to abuse.

I'm so, so disheartened by seeing smart women who count themselves as feminists buying this shit, and being prepared to end friendships over it because they can't associate with anyone who might be a ['it's just a descriptive acronym and not a justification for dehumanising threats'].