Guest post at The Spectator

Here's a link to a guest post I was kindly invited to write by the The Spectator's book blog editor David Blackburn, on the publishing history of my novel The Birth Machine and the way it illustrates the extent to which factors other than literary merit can make or break books and writers.

Amazon Censorship

On Thursday last week the ranking disappeared from my Amazon page for my story collection, Balancing on the Edge of the World. Well, no one can call me paranoid: I just decided that they must have removed the ranking facility altogether (and I was busy so I didn't bother to check anyone else's). Then on Saturday it appeared again and I decided it had just been a glitch.

But what do I discover today but that Amazon have apparently removed the ranking facility from all books with 'adult' content. Seems that in response to a massive protest Amazon are now saying that it was just a glitch but here's the reply which Mark Probst received from Amazon when he inquired:

In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude “adult” material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature. 

Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.
Best regards,
Ashlyn D
Member Services 
Amazon.com Advantage (Quoted from Mark Probst’s Blog)

The most outrageous aspect of this is that by 'adult' Amazon seems to mean 'gay and lesbian', so that classic gay and lesbian books without the inclusion of explicit sex have had their ranking removed while books including explicit hetereosexual sex have been left alone. (God knows what happened with mine: did they take another look at the one erotic story in my book and decide that because it was heterosexual sex it was OK after all?)

It is of course a matter of extreme concern that an organization with the power of Amazon could practise such censorship, and I urge you to sign the petition set up to protest.

Here's a post by Anne Brooke on the Vulpes Libris blog, which supplies more details.

Big Brother in Hackney

I feel duty-bound to draw attention to this article by Iain Sinclair in today's Guardian, describing Orwellian censorship by Hackney local authority and its library so-called service.

The Freedom to Be Offended

Anthony Andrews agrees with me, kind of:

Knighthoods are for snobs and faceless civil servants, not dissident artists. But if it means that The Satanic Verses, in spite of the book chains, finds a new readership, then arise Sir Salman, we salute you.

Of those, including writers, who once condemned Rushdie for 'his participation in his own downfall' he points out rightly:

Few appeared to realise that a massive symbolic attack had been launched against the most vital freedom, not only in art but in society, the freedom of expression. Still less that our rather timid and repentant response would encourage religious extremists and censors.

Freedom of speech threatened by a newly emerged respect for the 'right not to be offended'. What a joke. As if that's a right: not to be offended.

Once I went to Methodist Sunday School, and my ex-Catholic Irish father sneered. I was offended. But guess what, it taught me to stand up for what I believed in. Guess what, it made me stronger in my faith (until, all of my own accord, I lost it). One thing that scares me in life is politeness, because you don't know what people are really thinking, you don't know where you stand, and you don't know what stratagems they could be using against you while they smile and smile and smile...

Never trust those who are too scared to offend you. Trust those who have the courage to tell you what they think. For the sake of everyone's gods, let's embrace the freedom to be offended.