Stacey who? Sorry, maybe this is my Brit-ness coming out. But, who? I mean, funky-sounding monicker that could have been built for headlines, but all the same … who?

Well, maybe that’s part of the problem. Adweek, and after them, Publishing Talk Daily, apparently thought there was mileage enough in Stacey Dash’s latest news to run an item on her book deal with “conservative” publisher Regnery Publishing, for her memoir There Goes My Social Life, about her “coming out” as a conservative. As it happens, the Regnery website doesn’t throw up any answer currently to a search for Stacey, or Dash. But I guess The Truth Is Out There somewhere in concocted-conspiracy-cloud-cuckoo-land.

Yes, Stacey Dash was the subject of some pretty nasty – and essentially, racist – abuse when she Tweeted in support of Mitt Romney in 2012, but is that enough in itself to create a succès de scandale? Has that really added her to conservative martyrology? And fine, she hasn’t exactly been distinguishing herself since for remarks that a publisher – or a woman – would be proud of, but still, will there be enough of a sympathy vote out there to wring from conservatives – who after all, are not unknown for some fairly odiously racist opinions in their own right? Let alone enough real substance to this story to justify a piece in Adweek

Oh, and that “conservative” tag? Small “c” eh? I guess this means culture wars-style American conservative, right? So, not an intimate of David Cameron or Boris Johnson – who after all are part of the current UK governing Conservative Party. No cucumber sandwiches or tea with the Dear Old Queen for Ms. Dash, eh? Oh, to be in England, now that spring is here …

1 COMMENT

  1. Please, Teleread, if I wanted this sort of story, I’d pick up a tabloid at the supermarket. As the header at the top of this page describes, Teleread is about:

    “News and views e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics.”

    Gossip, mostly negative, about Patterson, Dash or whoever, doesn’t belong here. There must be author gossip websites. Let those stories go there. Keep the focus on digital publishing and distribution, including libraries.

    In addition, anger, envy, resentment, or whatever of authors simply because they’re richer or more well-known isn’t healthy. It distracts Teleread authors from their need to focus on their writing and publishing.

    It happens I’m finishing up a book based on a terrible clash between nurses and a hospital administration that I experienced first hand when I worked at one of the country’s top-ten children’s hospitals. It was terrible. I saw one child almost die from a morphine overdose because a nurse was so addled by that conflict.

    I don’t want to see a similar hypercritical ‘put someone else down to raise yourself up’ culture develop among writers. We should be glad when other authors do well. Our real issues center on the difficulties that authors face in the marketplace and the distractions that keep many people from reading as much as they ought.

The TeleRead community values your civil and thoughtful comments. We use a cache, so expect a delay. Problems? E-mail newteleread@gmail.com.