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Dirty Laundry: A One-Sided Literary Feud by Stephen Trombley, author of All That Summer She Was Mad

Afarin Majidi’s memoir Writing and Madness in a Time of Terror is a history of hurt. It is also a remarkable testament to overcoming.

In 1979, upper middle-class Iranian women like Afarin Majidi wore French fashions and perfume, smoked in public and generally enjoyed the same social freedoms as western women. Iran was then a kingdom, ruled by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi – the Shah of Iran.

Why Is Everyone Pretending that Lana del Rey and Harvey Weinstein Didn’t Have an Affair?

Why Is Everyone Pretending that Lana del Rey and Harvey Weinstein Didn’t Have an Affair?

I got sweet taste for men who're older.
It's always been so it's no surprise.

Harvey's in the sky with diamonds
And it's making me crazy.
All he wants to do is party with his pretty baby.

Come on baby, let's ride.
We can escape to the great sunshine.
I know your wife and she wouldn't mind.
We made it out to the other side.

-Lana del Rey, “Cola”

Writing and Madness in a Time of Terror: A Memoir By Afarin Majidi

Writing and Madness in a Time of Terror: A Memoir By Afarin Majidi

It was October 2012 when the Homeland Security agent showed up on my porch with a team of policemen. The agent was gentle as he came closer, wearing a hesitant smile and holding out an official badge, but my heart immediately began racing.

Thanksgiving 2017: Surviving the Publishing Industry, Which Rivals Hollywood as a Rape Den

Thanksgiving 2017: Surviving the Publishing Industry, Which Rivals Hollywood as a Rape Den

Misogynist female book reviewers prefer self-loathing discussions on James Lasdun’s very important fiction about peeping on black women over my story of being raped. They want to shower him with accolades as a “writer’s writer” for using salmon as symbolism for a dead Asian woman’s vagina. Oh, and don’t forget his description of lady bits as smelling “pungent” (Maybe yours, ladies, but not mine.).

I’m Not Pretty When I Cry: Rants from a Failed Victim

I’m Not Pretty When I Cry: Rants from a Failed Victim

I am ugly when I am furious, and I never shed a tear, not even after my boyfriend dislocated my shoulder. In fact, I put my shoulder back in place myself and later took a hammer to the diamond ring he’d handmade for me because the pain was intolerable.

On Being Stalked: What it’s Really Like to Be Terrorized

On Being Stalked: What it’s Really Like to Be Terrorized

Stalking is often linked to rape and domestic violence. Hear my story of being stalked by my rapist. Also, hear how James Lasdun unfairly accused me of stalking him.

Discrimination in the Publishing Industry

Photo-+David+Mazer.jpg

August 30, 2017

I finished my book a few months ago and have gotten a stream of responses from editors and agents with grand editing ideas. The problem is that each one has their own idea of what my work should be. It's all so arbitrary and frustrating that I've decided I'm most likely going to be self-publishing. The earnings are certainly more fair.  Self-publishing is the new wave, because the publishing houses are behind when it comes to inter-sectional feminism. I personally don't read books from the major publishers, not even the smaller imprints. The systemic censorship in American literature is upheld by these conglomerates, who require the approval of less-than-perfect agents who really don't want to shock, surprise or upset the status quo. And when they say they want diverse voices (Muslim ones), they mean happy well-integrated ones.  In short, the muzzle doesn't fit.

I reported my editor to the BBB because she stopped editing my work or doing anything other than simply saying "streamline" after I wrote about a Jewish ex's family hatred towards me. She admitted she didn't copyedit my work but lied and said the work was not in the contract. "Polishing" no longer means copyediting or spellchecking, people. She said she felt that writing about Jewish racism was "anti-Semitic" and doesn't think I deserve a refund. Bullshit. She also called me crazy and cited all the bestsellers she's worked on, most of which are war propaganda novels. Let's hope that justice prevails.

The irony of all this is that I believe anti-Semitism exists and I speak to it in my book. I also admit to having had anti-Semitic feelings in the past, not an easy thing to do. Peace