Anne Rice Versus The Bullies?

So someone sends me a link to an interesting thread on Amazon Forum Boards recently. A thread started by world famous author, Anne Rice.

My attention quickly drifts to the "Warning to authors" near the bottom. 

I quickly get the sense that Ms. Rice is aware of something concerning the struggle of indie authors versus the bullies of Amazon, GR, BL and LM. Now I am interested in trolling this thread.

It didn't take long for the first Goodreads bully to make an appearance. (Book World)

I just love how in the beginning, the bullies come off as sweet little angels, don't you?

Soon, other bullies from the Amazon Boards and Goodreads start invading the thread. Then again, that's their job. Bullies like, John Green (of Genxpose fame), Anna Karenina (the famous bully teacher), and Rick Guilateri - just to name a few. 

As I strolled through the many pages (over 170 last time I checked) I couldn't help but notice how pleasant they were coming off as. Of course, this was to be expected. But what I also saw was how at first, the bullies were not staying on topic. (No surprise there, right?) And it didn't take too long before they started in on another author who showed up, Rick Carufel. 

I considered to sign in and start commenting, but ever since I realized that Amazon Forum Threads are nothing but breeding grounds for bullies, I stopped participating. As much as I admire Ms. Rice's work, I wasn't about to break a promise to myself just because of her. Although I did struggle in my resistance. My thought was, I could post a few questions regarding the topic and then let her see how the bullies would quickly attack me. Most in part because I could tell she was taking a stand of sorts against author bullying through fake ratings and reviews. However, that example, while it would have been beneficial, was already being demonstrated in the bullies for quickly going after Mr. Carufel. 

But there also appeared to be signs that Ms. Rice was already aware of these people I mentioned earlier. Going through the thread, they made themselves obvious. They did for Ms. Rice what they did for Nathan Bransford, they couldn't refrain from showing their true colors. Oh sure, the bullies are great in the beginning of trying to stress their points about author attacks in book reviews, but eventually, when the person they are trying to convince doesn't completely buy into what the bullies are selling, the bullies start to turn. The biggest habit they have is what eventually does them in, and that habit is to "talk down" to the people they are otherwise trying to convince that bully reviews do not exist. 

Ms. Rice saw straight through them. 

In fact, she quickly picked up on that, and made a mention of it. The nastiest of the bullies was the teacher herself, Anna Karenina. Go figure. 

And as I read through the thread, I could once again see that the bullies were trying their "smoke and mirrors" routine on Ms. Rice. This routine consists of trying to explain to Ms. Rice that this so called war of indie authors versus the GR bullies was all about us authors complaining about legitimate ratings and reviews. But we all know that is not the case. 

I've stated this before and I will state it yet again, no author has a problem with real readers, or legitimate ratings or reviews by these real readers. Our problem resides in the fact that these bullies (and their supporters) are not real readers of the authors they attack through ratings and reviews. We have a problem with fake ratings given by the bullies on books (by authors) they attack by not having read our books. And with book reviews that personally attack authors. Not to mention, book shelves that are designed to humiliate authors. No real reader does this. 

Near the end of this thread (approx. page 170 - 175), started by Ms. Rice, I saw Angela Longstaffe post. Angela Longstaffe was recently banned by Goodreads for her constant carpet bombing, as reported by STGRB. They also captured this screenshot of Angela boasting about it too on her "Bullylikes" account. 

  

But the more I read through this thread, the more I began to wonder. The bullies are still trying to make the argument that they are "real readers" of books by authors they attack. And that what us authors are doing by standing up to them are trying to silence their right to rate books they read one star and or write personal attacks in their book reviews. Although, the bullies claim that this isn't going on when in fact, STGRB, Rick Carufel, and myself have presented plenty of evidence showing that the bullies do indeed attack authors through book reviews and nasty book shelves designed to humiliate authors. Then it occurred to me, maybe the bullies actually believe that attacking authors on a personal level through book reviews and harsh book shelves is them being "real readers". 

Maybe they do actually believe that carpet bombing is a "real reader" thing to do. 

They probably seriously do not see that carpet bombing is also bullying. I mean it, I don't think they really believe that these things are harmful to real people on many levels. This is what makes them the bullies that they are. First they deny this is going on, then they try and defend it when evidence is shown that it is going on. 

It boggles the mind. 

Anyhow, like I said, Ms. Rice sees through this, and on the thread, I could tell she was aware of who the bullies are. This made me stop and think, has she educated herself about the bullies? And if so, where did she learn of them? How does she recognize them? Other than eventually, their arrogance eventually shows in their posts, but still, I can only wonder, has she been to STGRB to learn about them? Has she visited Mr. Carufel's blog and learn of them? Has she come here to The Glass and learn of them? 

One can only wonder. 

Regardless, it was more than apparent on the thread that she knew who the bullies were, and she didn't bite one bit on their feeble attempts to disguise themselves, or their agenda. Try as they might, she still saw through them. 

Now, I wanted to post a lot of screenshots from this thread, but the truth is, I don't want to impose on any of Mr. Carufel's screenshots that he plans to post on his blog in the near future regarding this thread. There are also indications on the thread that Mr. Carufel and Ms. Rice may be emailing with each other regarding the bully situation on Amazon / Goodreads. As I mentioned earlier, Ms. Rice seems to be taking a stance against bullying authors on book sites through fake ratings, personal attacks in book reviews, carpet bombing, and nasty book shelves designed to humiliate, and belittle, authors. 

For this, I applaud her. In fact, I give a standing ovation.

Then it hits me, imagine if indeed, Ms. Rice does take an active approach to this matter. Imagine if Anne Rice gets involved enough to bring some national attention to this issue. I can only smile at the mere thought. With her name and presence added to the mix, there leaves no doubt the many possibilities that could lead to a resolution on author bullying on these book sites and forums. This could be just the thing that could bring huge amounts of pressure to Amazon / Goodreads to finally take a more serious course of action to rid their sites of this author harassment that is taking place, and has been taking place for so long now. 

Think about it, can Amazon / Goodreads risk the great Anne Rice going on national television and maybe advising authors to stay away from Amazon / Goodreads due to the abuse towards authors that is taking place? That could pretty much hurt those sites in a major way. Also imagine, if you will, if Ms. Rice was also to connect with some of her famous author friends and recruited them into the fight to stop author bashing through fake ratings, reviews, book shelves, and carpet bombing. The impact could be devastating for Amazon / Goodreads, and all other book sites that allow this bully practice. Especially "Booklikes" and "Leafmarks". 

I get all giggity just thinking about it. 

And from reading through the thread, that's exactly what appears to be going on. One post by Ms. Rice hinted at possibly writing a piece about it. This intrigues me. 

I highly recommend that everyone read Mr. Carufel's post(s) regarding this thread started by Ms. Rice when he finally gets around to putting it all together. (You can go to his blog by clicking on it in my side bar to the right on my blog, if you need to.) I'm sure it's going to be some good reading. 

There are also indications in the thread that he and Ms. Rice are emailing one another. 

With all of this having been said, I will post some screenshots for you to get you prepared on what you might see on Mr. Carufel's upcoming post(s) about the thread. I want to begin with a screenshot of Anna Karenina herself. 

  

Well, Anna, Ms. Rice is right, no one is disputing anyone's right to give an opinion about something they paid for. The problem is, the bullies are not buying the books and reading the work of the authors you and your friends attack. There lies the problem. The point is, how can you have an opinion on a book you never read? The carpet bombing example of Angela Longstaffe, of which she proudly boasts about in the screenshot above, and was banned from Goodreads for doing, is what this fight is all about. Well, one of them anyway. The other point is, real readers and lovers of books don't do that sort of thing. Ever notice that the only people who are complaining about the "new GR policy" are the same people who practice this abuse? You don't see any "real readers" complaining about it. It's only the those who are bullies (or bully supporters) who are complaining about it. 

So yes, I think Ms. Rice has made her position perfectly clear. Honest reviews by honest readers are welcomed and encouraged, even if they are one star reviews, but fake ratings and reviews (and nasty book shelves meant to belittle and humiliate authors) are not welcomed anymore. And again, I can't stress this enough, fake ratings and reviews are not "legitimate". Hence the term, fake. Real readers give real and honest ratings and reviews. There is no author I know who has a problem with that. 

Here is a comment from Mr. Carufel. 

This is so true, Rick, Ms. Rice's involvement with this struggle is in the worst interest to the bullies. It would be devastating to their agenda. Her involvement would validate you, me and STGRB on a much more national level. This would indeed piss the bullies off to no end. 

The truth is, there are more people out there who would stand against the bullies actions than support them. The bullies know this. They can speak otherwise, but they know. And let's say Ms. Rice does indeed get more seriously involved, and or brings in other high profile authors into the mix, how many of the bullies do you think will try and "jump" ship? But unfortunately (for them), me, you, and STGRB have already documented their activities. They won't be able to "jump" for long. The truth has already been posted as to who these bullies are. They will never be able to escape that. I think that reality is finally beginning to sink in to some. Perhaps they are now fearing the public backlash that could result from Ms. Rice getting involved and bringing many more eyes to the problem. The risk for the bullies is, they could be scorned by the mass population on their blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and anywhere else they may be where social media is concerned. And this is the biggest fear now by the bullies where Ms. Rice's involvement is concerned. 

And why am I a little optimistic about her involvement? This next screenshot from Ms. Rice will answer that. 

Now you can understand why I believe she and Mr. Carufel might be emailing each other. And why I also believe that Ms. Rice understands fully the situation at hand. Notice those last two sentences. "Not even here. The harassment is continuing". 

Even on her thread of which she started, the bullies have revealed themselves despite their best efforts to disguise themselves. She clearly sees through them. More telling is, they are harassing people on Ms. Rice's thread!

This next screenshot I like on a personal level. Ms. Rice gives Anna Karenina a dose of reality. Check it out. 

I told you Ms. Rice can see who the bullies are.

In this next shot, Ms. Rice has to post this reminder to everyone. 

This is what happens every time the bullies show up on a thread.

Rick Carufel brings another matter to everyone's attention. Take a look. 

One of the bullies, "Book World" has something to say to Ms. Rice regarding Mr. Carufel.

Yes, "Book World" Ms. Rice sees people for who they really are. More importantly, she sees you and your bully friends for who you really are. Deal!

Carla chimes in. 

See how Carla tries to belittle, and humiliate Ms. Rice? That's the bully way, and one of the many things that Ms. Rice notices about these bullies. I told you, they can't help themselves. They can only be nice and respectable for only so long, and when their "subject" doesn't come around to their way of thinking, they do what they do best, they insult, disrespect, belittle and humiliate them. Thank you, Carla, your point is well taken. Uncalled for, but well taken none the less. I guess the best way to get a famous author to agree with you is to attack them too? Nice game plan there. That will win her over for sure.

Here is Ms. Rice talking about someone who rattled her with a comment. 

Here is Mr. Carufel again. 

Here is Pete Moron, I mean, Morin, taking a shot at Mr. Carufel.

The thing I notice most about this exchange is that Mr. Carufel not only addresses his comment to Ms. Rice, but he never mentions any names, or singles anybody out. However, Pete Moron, I mean, Morin, addresses his response directly at Mr. Carufel. Now, Mr. Carufel doesn't respond to Pete Moron, I mean, Morin, but I will take the liberty to do so. Yes, Petey, he probably does have to use the word "sociopath" in every single comment. If the shoe fits .... But it appears to me you have a problem with the truth. You and your bully friends are sociopaths. 

Ms. Rice tends to agree with Mr. Carufel. 

One of the big things with the bullies is attacking indie authors for their "type-o's" in their books. (That many of the bullies don't even read beyond the free sample first chapter allowed by Amazon.) But Ms. Rice has something to say about that too. 

But we all already know that the only reason the bullies mention those things a lot is to humiliate indie authors they have judged "badly behaving" in an attempt to fulfill their agenda, which is to hurt their book sales. But as Ms. Rice says, nobody is perfect, or immune from type-o's. Okay, maybe not in those exact words, but that's what she is alluding to. 

Oh, Mr. Carufel hits the nail on the head in this comment. 

Ms. Rice agrees. 

Next, I will leave you with why I think Ms. Rice has something up her sleeve when it comes to her involvement with this issue. And why I get really excited just thinking about it. Remember when I said that I think Ms. Rice could bring national attention to this issue? Well, here is why I believe that something big lurks on the horizon. (And why Bully Nation on Amazon / Goodreads and all other book sites should be taking note.)

One thing is for sure, if Ms. Rice can't bring national attention to this issue, then nobody can. Bullies, you are on notice. Your days are numbered. A movement that was started by STGRB has now worked its way slightly into the mainstream, and with Ms. Rice behind this cause, could now explode nationally, and validate everything STGRB, Rick Carufel, and myself, as well as others who dared to take a stand against the bullies, has been saying along for the past couple of years. With just one post at a time, finally, people are starting to wake up to the nonsense going on by the bullies. 

This is not an effort to take away a real readers rights to rate and review a book they have purchased, and read, but to combat the bullies, the fakers out there who rate and review books poorly due to author behavior, and not the book itself. It is a fight to combat those who create hostile and humiliating book shelves all for the sole purpose to degrade authors. This is a battle to stop bullies from attacking authors through book reviews, and the comments attached to book reviews. This is an effort to hold accountable, those who lie about reading books they rate and review, and those who practice the demeaning art of "carpet bombing". (Like Angela Longstaffe is so proud of doing.)

Real readers, legitimate readers, they don't practice this sort of behavior. Only bullies do. And that is who we are fighting here. And this apparently, is also who Ms. Anne Rice wants to take on as well. Like I said, I don't just applaud her, I give her a standing ovation. 

And guess what? You should too.

I'm Carroll Bryant .... and this is The Looking Glass. 

The Looking Glass: Carroll Bryant's Story

When I was attacked that fateful day in July of 2012, my mind was caught in whirlwind. Confusion was an understatement. It was a low point of my life. I couldn't understand how so many people could have so much hate in their hearts, and stupidity. It reminded me of the old west, when mobs of angry people would gather in town ready for a lynching.

It didn't matter if the person they were lynching was guilty or innocent, only that somebody paid for a crime that was never even committed.

Yes, that was the day I discovered how horrible people can be. And how arrogant. 

A relationship with a girl who suffers from a lack of mental stability took her hurtful feelings towards me, and had thrust them upon so many of her friends, worked them into a psychopathic frenzy to the point where I was viciously attacked online on a website known as Goodreads dot com. The last place in the world one would think such evil people would reside. 

People who don't even know me came out from under their rocks to call me such vile names and accuse me of such horrific crimes, one would have thought I was the anti-Christ. That was a day where Adolf Hitler himself could have been nominated Humanitarian Of The Year. 

It took a while for me to figure out what had happened that day, meanwhile, I found a friend in the form of a website called STGRB. 

Through them, I would learn who this angry mob was, and why they did what they did. As it turns out, it wasn't an isolated incident, as I initially believed that it was. 

Through them, I learned that it wasn't just a case of an unstable girl exacting vengeance upon me for simply blocking her from emailing me, oh no, it went deeper than that. It was the act of a girl who is friends online with so many severely disturbed individuals who I have now come to understand, have no life outside of the internet. 

Through STGRB, I would learn that these people, the ones who attacked me, were an organized group of people who have anointed themselves "author behavior police" and had a history of attacking unsuspecting authors like myself. I had no idea that this girl, whom I once cared so much about, was a part of this hostile gang of internet bullies. 

It's no secret now who this girl is. Jude Henderson. (Real name: Elsa Judith Sanchez Hernandez) And it's no secret now how she stalked me for months after I blocked her from emailing me. How she manipulated my friend, and then blog partner, to sneak onto our shared blog as an administrator under the guise of helping my friend with her blog design just so she (Jude) could demonstrate to me that she could still get to me anytime she wanted. 

Through STGRB, I would learn that I was not the only one who suffered through one of these organized attacks. And thanks to STGRB, I no longer felt alone. 

Since then, I would slowly - but surely - learn more about these people who attacked me, and their agenda. The attack was just the tip of an otherwise hateful iceberg. For the six months that followed, these vile and hateful people would write untold blog posts about me filled with inaccuracies and plain outright lies. These people who attacked me came off as if they somehow knew me when in fact, they don't, and never did, and still don't to this day.

These bullies would say things without ever showing one shred of proof to support their claims. I have documented this very well right here on this blog. A blog that I was inspired, if not pushed, to create. I created it when I realized I was being stalked and harassed for the last six months of 2012 by a woman and her husband, Amanda and Jon Welling. That situation is well documented here on this blog also. 

I was also stalked, and harassed by another unknown individual during that time as well. This person would coward under the name of General Xavier. This GenX would create a hate blog in January of 2013 for the sole purpose of stalking, harassing, and attacking myself, and STGRB. 

In response to this, I then created The Looking Glass Of Carroll Bryant. 

My initial purpose for this blog was to use it as my place to address, and defend the libelous claims of these vile people who had taken it upon themselves to say things that were untrue. In response to my defense blog, the bullies then honored me with two hate blogs with my name. Showing more their evil attitudes and heart filled hate. 

I think ultimately, it was the strength and hope that STGRB gave to me that allowed me to stand up for myself against these cyber bullies. That and the way I was raised, which was to stand and fight back. But I was lucky in so that I didn't have to worry about my book sales because my financial situation was already such that I didn't have to worry about that. Not many authors are so lucky. This would explain why so many of them were afraid to defend themselves and fight back against these monsters. 

At first, I felt sorry for them. So eventually, I turned The Looking Glass into another direction, to also try and fight for them too. I didn't want them to feel like I felt that day I was attacked. I was using STGRB as a blue print of sorts, to help me better help those like me. I thought together, we could make a positive change on Goodreads and perhaps other places online for authors by addressing these problems. One of those other places was Amazon Forum Boards. But I then quickly began to notice that Goodreads and Amazon, in general, don't give a shit about the horrible people on their sites. In fact, I quickly discovered that they condoned and perhaps encouraged these hate filled people to thrive on their sites. But as long as STGRB felt there was hope, so I did fill myself with the same kind of hope that positive change for authors could prevail. 

I was led to believe that together, and with the help of other brave authors out there, we could rid the book world of these bullies, these monstrosities of human nature. 

Part of what these evil people do is rate books one star that they never even read. Attack authors they deem "badly behaving" through book reviews. Their goal is to publicly demean, belittle, humiliate and otherwise attack authors relentlessly using this book review option, and sites like Amazon and Goodreads allowed it to happen. They also create these vile book shelves to further accomplish their evil agenda. 

And while this tactic worked for the most part, many authors buckled under fear of being the next target of these creatures. 

Perhaps in the beginning, these people, these bullies, may have thought they had good reason to do what they were doing. It is their belief that authors are to be read and not heard. They don't care for authors who interacted with their readers, and fans. Especially if an author disagreed with those readers or fans about something in their own book. It is because of this that these people decided to "put authors" in their place, and so, this new form of online bullying was started. And who knows, maybe these bullies had some kind of meaningful message in the beginning. But like everything else, that message got lost and it quickly turned into nothing more than stalking authors, harassing them, and a quest to kill careers for them. 

It turned into bullying. 

Most in part because in the beginning, the bullies thought that authors were trying to intimidate them into rating books they read higher than what the reader wanted to rate them. Maybe in the beginning this was true, but it has now turned into a situation where these bullies are now rating and reviewing books they don't even read to try and get their point across. (That authors whine too much about ratings and reviews by readers)

But here's the thing, you can't make your point by lying. You can't claim that authors whine too much about one star ratings and bad reviews if the ratings and reviews you are giving is false. In all honesty, by giving fake ratings (or carpet bombing) to books you never read, and or reviewing books you never read, you actually give the author whines credibility. But the bullies do not see this. Perhaps they have become what they first despised? 

But now, authors who are aware of these bullies are scared to death to encounter them. They're afraid of participating with their readers and fans because of this. Because now, the bullies no longer wait for to fight for their cause, but rather, now they go out in search of authors to make an example of. Now all an author has to do is ask the wrong question and they will get attacked. Now, the bullies go out and carpet bomb books they never read in hopes that some new and unsuspecting author will somehow respond so that the bullies can jump on that as a reason for their bullying towards that author. Their message, or initial purpose has gotten lost to the point now where what they do is actually bullying. 

Thanks to STGRB, I was able to gain some courage to try and help address this problem. My hope was that I would inspire others to do the same. At first, around mid 2013, it appeared as if that was the case. Some authors did start to take a more public stance against these bullies. But just it appeared this was the case, and Goodreads started to come around to finally address the problem and finally start enforcing their ToS, I started to realize that some authors, even after being targeted and attacked, didn't want to fight back. 

More and more, I had worked on stories that would have shown even more so how vile and vicious these bullies were only to have those stories be requested not to be posted. Requests for evidence not to be shown. This started making me scratch my head. Why wouldn't someone want me to post evidence that would help the cause of fighting back against bullying?  

I suppose this constant fear by many authors of going public with their stories has finally taken its toll on me. This coming after a period where authors started turning against each other because of it. It would seem that there are still many authors out there who are afraid of these bullies, never realizing that only by standing up to them will you ever have a chance to silence them. Because they will never stop otherwise. 

I think a lot of progress has been made in the struggle against these bullies, but I wasn't looking for progress, I was looking for victory. A victory that will never be due to the fact that there are still so many authors out there who are afraid to stand up to these evil people. 

My sympathy has run dry. 

All my life I was the one in school who defended the weak against the bullies. I was the one who always seemed to put the school bullies in their place. The teachers at that time sure as hell wasn't doing anything, so I did. Maybe that's why I decided to start using the Looking Glass to help those weaker authors. Those authors who are most afraid. But those authors, it would seem now, don't want my help. They appear more than satisfied to continue living their life afraid of the bullies. 

So be it. 

Maybe they are afraid that their career will be ruined if they stand up against these bullies. What they don't realize is that their careers are already ruined once they get targeted and attack by the bullies. Not because the bullies themselves ruin their careers, but the lack of courage by the attacked author costs them their careers. I know this for a fact. I know this because I was attacked. I stood up to them. I fought back. They said my career was ruined. They were wrong. I just got rewarded recently for my courage. I got approached to write someone's biography. I was approached because of my courage against the bullies. Karma has won. The universe rewarded me. My salary for writing this biography will equal the same amount of money as if I would have sold 20,000 books. And let's face it, even if the bullies never would have targeted me and attacked me, I doubt very seriously if I would have sold 20,000 books. (E-Books, that is) But because I did stand up to the bullies, I got popular. That popularity earned me this biography project. This biography project will get me new publicity through newspapers, television and radio exposure. On top of this, I will still collect royalties from the book when it is released. Not just through E-Books either, but paperback. 

I was still willing to continue to help spread the word about the bullies here on The Looking Glass. I was still intent on helping other authors, but now it appears that these authors would rather prefer to hide in the shadows. It now appears that these authors, victims of the bullies, would rather let the bullies win. 

So be it. 

I have now decided to only fight for the strong, and the brave. For myself. Not to keep fighting the bullies themselves, but to set the record straight when they lie about me, and about other authors who are willing to stand up against these people. I have no more sympathy for those authors out there who get attacked, and choose to hide behind their fear. Who choose to feel self pity for their plight. If you are not willing to stand up for yourself, then don't come crawling to me for help. And don't expect me to just jump in and help. I only help those who wish to help themselves now. And if that means no more posts on The Looking Glass, then so be it. 

I already won. I already beat the bullies. I took their negativity, and after three and a half years of fighting back, turned it into a positive as the universe has already awarded me for my efforts. Why should I care anymore? I now realize that ultimate victory against these bullies is success. But success will not just happen along to your front door, you have to earn it. You have to be deserving of it. You're not deserving if you're not willing to stand up for what is right and true. You're not deserving of success if you're not willing to stand up for yourself and fight for it. This is what I have now learned. 

So, to all you authors out there, and other non-authors who are too scared of defending your own honor against these vile bullies, I leave you in peace. Good luck with that. I wish you the best. No need to wish me luck, I make my own. Homey got paid. You didn't. And you won't. So suck on that. Maybe next time when life gives you the chance to do the right thing, you will do it. Then again, maybe you won't. I don't know. And I don't care anymore. I am through fighting for those who are too damn scared to fight for themselves. From now on, I only fight for myself. A winner who knows how to win. And for others who want to win too. No more Iraq wars for me. I am now a mercenary for the strong. 

Success is the only way to ultimately beat the bullies, but success will not just jump into your pocket, you have to get up off your ass and earn success. I hope you learn this lesson. I hope you learn it for the sake of your dreams. To give in to the bullies is to give in to your dreams. And for that I say, shame on you. Shame on you all. Your dreams deserve better than that. Your dreams deserve better than you if all you are going to do is lay down and let the bullies use you like some cheap two dollar whore. In fact, if you don't stand up for yourself, then you don't deserve your dreams to come true. 

Dreams are meant to be fought for. You have to be willing to sacrifice for them to come true. If you're not willing to do that, then you don't deserve to have any dreams. And I'm no longer going to keep fighting for your dreams if you're sure as hell not going to join in with the effort. Your dreams are not my responsibility, they're yours. Why do you think the bullies don't have any dreams? Because they are not willing to fight for them. They are not willing to earn it. So they instead decide to destory other people's dreams because it's a lot easier for them to do. That has become the dreams of the bullies, to destroy other people's dreams. And now I can see why they do it, because so many of those who have dreams are not willing to fight for them just like the bullies. You all deserve each other, the bullies who dream of destroying other people's dreams, and those people who are unwilling to stand up and fight for their dreams against the bullies. A match surely made in heaven. I'm now turning my energy and efforts to those who are strong enough, brave enough, to stand up and fight for their dreams. 

So the future of The Glass is this: I will continue to fight for my dreams. I will continue to defend myself here. I will continue to fight for those who want me to fight for them, but you'll have to contact me for me to do so and you'll have to be willing to lay it on the line. Outside of that, there will be no more posts here on The Glass. As I mentioned earlier, I got mine. If you want yours, let me know, otherwise, here's a blanket for that dark corner you're hiding in. When you're ready to stand up and succeed, I'll be right here. I'll be waiting in that greener grass, in the yard next door, swimming in my success, that could be yours too with just a little bit of courage, and willingness to stand up for yourself. 

I'm Carroll Bryant .... and success never tasted so good. 

Things We Learned Today:


* There's too many "willing" victims, and not enough "brave" hero's

* Rewards are earned - not given

* Success will ultimately defeat the bullies

* Success eludes cowards

* Carroll is not a coward

* Carroll wins!

Side Note: I have pulled myself from ALL groups who are fighting for those authors, against the bullies, who refuse to fight for themselves. Please do not take it personally if I left your group. I just simply refuse to help those who will not help themselves. The pity party is over for me. I have no pity anymore for those authors who refuse to stand and fight. Cry yourself a river. Batman is on vacation. Gotham will just have to make do without him. Just know that we had the bullies on the ropes. We were winning. Now the bullies will start to thrive again, I am sure. When they do, blame yourselves. 

"It's not the bad people who win, but the good people who refuse to stand up to them that will lose."

You can quote me on that.

The Lucy Flood Attack

Another author, another attack. Just another day in Bully Nation. I would have thought that the holidays would have kept these viral diseased infested haters busy enough, but then I remember how pathetic their lives are, and how lonely they are because they don't have any real life friends. Come to think about it, they don't even have a real life. 

Anyhow, their new target is author Lucy Flood. So you may be asking, why did the bullies go after her? Well, for the same reason they go after everyone else, because they can. And because Lucy asked a question. 

In my last post, "Christina Baker Kline: Orphan Train", I showed you how the bullies like to bait their targets. (STGRB has many examples of this on their site as well) But they (the bullies) have many different tactics to which to bait unsuspecting and new authors like Lucy Flood. You see, there are still many, many authors out there who live and write unaware of these people, which is why we all need to get the word out about them. Lucy had no idea who these bullies were until it was too late. 

While the bullies use multiple schemes to bait with, Lucy got baited by the "carpet bombing" tactic. A tactic that Lucy admits she herself never even knew about because she never even knew the phrase "carpet bombing" to begin with, or what it meant. But Lucy's story can be best told by Lucy herself through an email she sent to STGRB. (A website she discovered after she was attacked.)  

*** EDIT ***

I had posted an email from Lucy Flood to STGRB 

I was requested by Lucy to remove it

I have honored her request

In short, Lucy asked a question in regards to "carpet bombing" in an author feedback forum on GR

This is what led to her and her book being attacked




*** Edit Two ***

There are some who have suggested that I haven't owned up to my mistake in regards to posting Lucy Flood's email to STGRB. The fact is, I posted it without her consent. But in my defense, I didn't think I needed consent to try and help others where the issue of fighting the bullies is concerned. The gratitude I have received for trying to help has been non-existent. However, I do apologize publicly to Lucy Flood for using it without her consent. This is me owning it. Take a snapshot, it'll last longer. Now all of you (and you know who you are) can return to your support groups on Facebook, and continue with your whine, and licking your wounds, while waiting for others to fight your battles for you. Thank you. (Now the only question is, when will you people - and you know who you are - own up to the fact that you're too afraid to stand up for yourselves? My guess is, you never will.)

I sought to inspire but failed. Or maybe those I sought to inspire failed me?

Now back to the rest of this post.

*******

The first thing that pops out is the fact that it's always the same people doing this kind of thing. Many familiar names. The second the thing is, they always seem to attack in a close time frame. usually a bulk of it comes the same day, but then for the next week to ten days, the others pop in to carpet bomb the authors book. You will be able to verify this in the upcoming screenshots. The date in which the attack occurred is to the right in every screenshot. You can't miss it. 

Another common theme in these attacks is the fact that the bullies post fake ratings, having never even read the book. I think we also touched base on that in my "Christina Baker Kline" post. Many times, the book shelves created by the bullies tell the tale so you will also want to take a good look at that also in the upcoming screenshots. 

Lucy Flood has thus far published only one book. For the most part, the ratings and reviews she has received for it are overwhelmingly favorable and positive. That's the good news. But you also have to understand that there are several different ways that these hateful people, I call bullies, operate and bait their authors. In this case, "Deanna0975" used the old carpet bomb method. Deanna carpet bombed nearly a hundred books in one single day! just waiting for one of the authors to respond. When Lucy went to an authors forum to ask the question of why Deanna may have done this to her and so many other authors because it was something that confused her and she didn't understand what was going on, the bullies were waiting in that forum to pounce. This is their standard operation procedure. And as you can see, it worked. They got to pounce on poor Lucy Flood. 

This confirms my words that the bullies actually go out and bait authors with their bully tricks. It has nothing at all to do with their BS claims of "free speech". It also shows that these people do not read the books of the authors they attack. And I will continue to show you all this evidence for as long as these bullies continue to do what they do. 

It is my hope that Goodreads will come around a little more quicker in response to these vile people and get them off their site. It needs to be addressed and it needs to be stopped. The actions that GR has taken to this point continues to come up short in truly addressing the situation. They need to use their commonsense and see the harm they are doing to so many. 

Goodreads is still not a place I would ever recommend to any author joining. I will be stating this emphatically in my upcoming interviews this year on television and newspapers. This is also something that I intend to stress in my upcoming book, "Stalked" in 2014. Authors need to be made aware of the dangers of joining Goodreads and the Amazon Forum Boards. They also need to be made aware of The Looking Glass, and STGRB so they can learn about these bullies and how to best avoid them. I also need YOU to help me, STGRB, Jack Eason, Rick Carufel and everyone else who is involved with combating this epidemic on Goodreads. 

The following screenshots are from Lucy Flood's book, "Hidden". 

I will show you a shot of some of the good reviews by actual readers. 

There are many more legitimate reviews on her book, but now I will show you some of the bully carpet bombs and fake ratings / reviews. Again, notice the comments, book shelves, and the dates they attacked on the right hand side of the screenshots. 

To Linda Hilton I say, no you didn't Linda, you didn't try at all. You never read the book. You are a liar. Also notice the familiar name of "TinaNicole". Here are some more. 

In the last two screenshots, we see more familiar names, "Karma Bites" and "Shelby". You may remember "Shelby" from the Tucker Reed attack. "Shelby" is the one who picked the fight with Tucker and led the attack on her and her book(s). And now finally, the carpet bomb attack of "Deanna0975" in which baited poor Lucy Flood to respond and set this attack against her and her book into motion. 

I hope it's not asking too much for every good person who is reading this that are a member of Goodreads to contact GR and demand that they do something about this nonsense. Demand that ALL of these participants be banned from their website. They are easy to spot. The bullies do not blend in well at all. They do stand out, and Goodreads knows exactly who these people are. Your help in helping me and other authors who are fighting to end this nonsense is very much needed and appreciated. So please, don't keep standing on the sidelines quietly, help to take a stand against this kind of behavior, and demand that GR do their part to end it. Thank you.  

I'm Carroll Bryant .... and this is The Looking Glass.

Get involved to help stomp out cyber bullying. 

  And remember, these bullies don't just attack authors, they also will attack readers. They will also attack YOU! if given the opportunity. Don't give them that opportunity. Beat them to the punch. Get involved!