Frank Arcilesi, author of the recently featured book Science Fiction Stories: 8 Supernatural Stories, messaged the LousyBookCovers page on Facebook to opine:

The Science Fiction Stories cover is a draft you imbeciles. It’s not up as a cover for that book. You should be sued for defamation.

You think you are critics, but you are imbeciles.

(Yes, he sent those as two separate messages, five minutes apart. Usually, that indicates a “What I SHOULD have said” moment, but I don’t see that the second message was a particular improvement in wit and snark.)

My response was:

Aw, did we hurt your feelings? It was on a book being offered for sale; that ain’t a “draft.” But hey, you spelled “imbeciles” right both times — good work!

I am proud of my forbearance, in that I did not tear apart his ludicrous misunderstanding of what “defamation” is.

EDIT: It gets better! He responded with a much longer paragraph:

That’s a childish response that was expected from the creators of such a site. Actually, it is a draft. It’s not up on any site for that book. That’s a fact. You should be more careful about what you are critical about lest someone sue you. People who operate professional sites should operate in a professional manner. I respect people who try to create something. People who try to create something whether it is a vaccine to cure a disease or something else to help mankind are those to be respected and they help move our society forward. Those who sit back, cannot create anything, and can only be critical to in order to feel important, are not respected and contribute nothing to society. I hate to hurt your feelings but you website is not considered professional or respected. It has no value.

I think we’re gonna have to fisk this completely:

That’s a childish response that was expected from the creators of such a site.

This, coming from a guy who thinks that calling people “imbeciles” up front is mature.

Actually, it is a draft. It’s not up on any site for that book. That’s a fact.

Sort of.  Frank has changed the cover since I posted this.  Here’s the current cover:

Yup, still lousy.

But the fact remains that the cover I posted initially WAS offered for sale on Smashwords — not a pre-order, not a “draft,” an actual for-sale book.  So unless we say that EVERYTHING is a “draft” because you could potentially change it sometime in the future, this contention is simply false.

You should be more careful about what you are critical about lest someone sue you.

Yeah, I’ve been operating this site for almost a decade, gotten national press, and nobody’s sued me yet. Maybe because they have more than a piss-poor understanding of what “defamation” means.

But secondly… is he really saying that being “critical” is legitimate grounds for a lawsuit? The fact that someone who styles himself as a professional author has so little understanding of or respect for the First Amendment is appalling.

I respect people who try to create something. People who try to create something whether it is a vaccine to cure a disease or something else to help mankind are those to be respected and they help move our society forward. Those who sit back, cannot create anything, and can only be critical to in order to feel important, are not respected and contribute nothing to society.

Should I refer him to my books, to my art, to my webcomic, to the things I accomplish in addition to make fun of putzes like him? Or would that irreparably damage his self-esteem that hinges him self-identifying as A Creator?  Ain’t looking for your respect, Frank.

I hate to hurt your feelings but

Trust me, Frank, having a thin-skinned know-nothing like you not like me isn’t even close to enough to hurt my feelings. I’m just laughing at you.

you website is not considered professional or respected. It has no value.

Ooh, that passive voice means it’s a fact, right?  Again, I’m not going to take seriously a lecture on professionalism from this guy:

Sorry to all you surfers and commenters who are wasting your time on a website with “no value,” though.  Don’t try to dispute it; Frank has spoken.

Happy birthday to the greatest nation ever.

I was contacted through Facebook by one Robert Dulworth, publisher of this rather unusual channeled “Bible.” (It was only some detective work on my part that related his complaint below to that specific cover, but I doubt that he’d object to his name being mentioned here, as he’s fiercely proud of having published said work — also, as of this writing, of contributing the only “customer review” on Amazon, in which he misspelled the psychic channeler’s name.. but I digress.)  For your reading pleasure:

At which point the conversation ceased, alas.

(BTW, it’s only “free” if you’re on Kindle Unlimited. Otherwise, it’ll set you back $9.99.)