Stunning...

Okay...I have a blog on Tumblr. Very MM oriented, where I also advertise my books and share images of guys that I like. So...Tumblr started offering this thing where you can Blaze a post you make, and I thought it would be fun to try it. Cost is $10 for 2000 clicks or something and goes for 24 hours.

I tried one for The Alice '65...and the book got ridiculed. People asked me why I'd written it. That it looked stupid and I should not have Blazed it. And on and on. Which was unsettling, but I figured since it's Tumblr it was just too nice an item for them.

Well, yesterday evening, at 7pm, I did a Blaze for How to Rape a Straight Guy...and got seven likes. But a lot of other people went ballistic. How could I shove this on them without warning? I'm making light of rape. I should kill myself. On and on, as if I advocated torturing kittens. At first it was jolting. I slipped into a deep funk.

Now understand, I don't choose who gets to look at this campaign. And the title of the book is pretty intense, but to me, Tumblr is a site that's cool with adult content. Which people ought to know. I mean, I've happened onto some pretty hardcore stuff, on there. Even the Anime can get intense. But I just back away and let it be. 

Well...today, the comments grew to be ludicrous. Accusing me of all sorts of nonsense. From people who haven't even researched the book on Smashwords, let alone read it. And even though the campaign finished hours ago, posters are still telling me to die. Over a book that does not glorify rape but presents it as something horrifying, and that severely punishes those who commit it.

I will say...one person was obviously having deeper issues and I did provide her with the number for Rape Crisis. Haven't heard another word from her. You would think Tumblr'd have a better filter than they obviously do. Just submit and they say, Yeah, sure, fine, we'll take your money.

Maybe I should have done more research before getting into this, but what little I was able to find online told me it's just a tool to get your work out there. No restrictions. We're not dealing with the puritans of Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, here, let alone Snapchat and whatever the latest thing is. It's not all kittens and landscapes.

In fact, on Twitter I'm following the collapse of the Russian army in the face of Ukraine's counterattacks, and sometimes the videos are pretty bloody and horrific. (#SlavaUkraini) So even there, you can find un-nice things.

But you wanna know the worst part? After all this...not one fucking sale. That's why I'm not doing it, again.