I’m going to be moving from shared hosting to a virtual private server over the next few days — I don’t know exactly how long it will take, so I’m suspending posting until we come out the other side so nothing gets lost.
Category - Admin Stuff
Welcome back to another travesty of democracy!
Here’s how it works:
On each of the next twelve days, I’ll post a ballot of one month’s worth of posted covers. You may pick UP TO THREE as the worst on each month for qualifying status. (As with last year, I’ve only included the covers that got at least one comment when originally posted.) All ballots will remain open until January 15th.
On January 16th, I’ll post Round Two, bringing those covers from each ballot together in one final ballot.
And on January 31st, I’ll post the ten worst covers posted in 2021!
Happy birthday to the greatest nation in the history of the world.
I’ve seen this guy’s books promoted all over the place, but it wasn’t until reader Ever pointed it out to me that I saw this “open letter” in his Amazon “about” page:
An open letter to my fellow scifi/fantasy writers.
Dear, dear friends:
You are awful. All of you. (Yes, ALL OF YOU!)
Please do not take it personally. But someone has to tell you this, and it might as well be me.
You suffer from three key deficits: LACK OF IMAGINATION, LACK OF EMPATHY, and LACK OF SELF-AWARENESS.
First, your lack of IMAGINATION.
99% of scifi/fantasy novels can be categorized as follows:
a) “Hip”, “Modern Day” Fantasy: “diverse” teenagers with magical powers fighting vampires in urban settings.
b) Teenagers suffering deprivation in a post-nuclear wasteland;
c) The so-called “epic” fantasy novel, with “world building” expecting you to learn the history of hundreds of characters, castles, cities and taverns like a History of Art exam.
d) Everyone fighting World War II again, in outer space; and
e) “Hard” scifi, with 500 pages of hand wringing and mental _asturbation about a transmission from an alien sphere (or… if you’re feeling imaginative… an alien cube!).
Not only are these topics very, very trite, but your rendition of them is even worse. You’re like a bad photocopy machine making worse and worse copies which themselves are bad copies of other copies.
…
Go ahead and read the rest of it. (It continues for another thousand words.)
This, I should point out, is a writer whose illustrious books look like this:
So, you know, “consider the source” and all that.
Just a note: I know the site has been getting slower. It’s a combination of having an image-heavy site that’s now much larger than WordPress was originally designed to handle well, plus cheap hosting. In the effort to streamline things, I’ve disabled several plugins that only need to be turned on when specifically used, I’ve used a few tools to streamline JavaScript and CSS, and — most visibly — I’ve turned off the ads. They were the biggest single barrier to page speed, and they weren’t especially lucrative for all that.
However, that means that the only funds that this website brings in are through the Amazon Associate links (not that it’s ever been envisioned as a money-making proposition, but still). So your use of LCS’s Amazon affiliate links — such as the one in the sidebar — are greatly appreciated.
Just to update all on recent happenings: No, the just-ended 48-hour suspension of all my sites was not a consequence of a second attempt at a DMCA takedown by our recent favorite author; instead, it was a consequence of the FIRST DMCA takedown, compounded by the fact that HostGator is incompetent — labeling tickets as closed when they’re open, claiming to have sent me messages that are not received, imposing extra requirements after having approved previous actions, and not positioning their first-level tech support to actually be able to see what the problem is, and instead tell customers just to wait until “the admins” get around to it (which, experience has shown, never happens unless there is further badgering).
As far as I know, we are back to normal. As a consequence, the auto-posting schedule here at LBC has continued even during the suspension (indeed, because I had no access to the backend, there was no way to shut the auto-posting off), so enjoy a few days’ of posts to catch up.
If you want to catch up:
To continue the story:
So Lasher tracked down my real host, and sent them a DMCA takedown notice. I was sent a notification, but since it went to an email address that I only check occasionally, I didn’t see it before the deadline, and my host blocked my WHOLE hosting package. I temporarily disabled the disputed content, as DMCA requires, and notified my host; after about 24 hours, they finally got my sites up. (That was the sudden disappearance of LBC, CoverCritics, etc. earlier this week.)
As the DMCA outlines, I also sent a counter-notice. If the originating party (Lasher) does not follow it up with legal paperwork, I am legally entitled to restore the disputed content.
Ah, but then: I get a message on Thursday from his secretary, or possibly one of his sock-puppets:
NOTICE TO CEASE HARASSMENT PURSUANT TO CRS 18-9-111
Mr. Shumate:
We did furnish a Mesa County Sheriff’s deputy with printouts of the posts on your malicious website that Mr. Lasher referenced.
“ADMIN: Oh, it’s on. – Lousy Book Covers and Admin Stuff – Lousy Book Covers”
You are advised to cease all harassment of Mr. Lasher. If your online harassment continues, we will take further action.Sincerely,
[redacted]
Wait — I’m harassing him?
My response:
Dear William, “Susan,” “Lulu,” and however many sock-puppets you own:
I think you’re a little confused. YOU harassed ME. You sent me insulting, threatening, and false unsolicited messages. Allow me to quote from your messages (all within the frame of an hour):
Hello: This has to be the most lame website I’ve ever seen and I can’t believe anyone is stupid enough to waste their time creating it.
Whoever you are, you’re a complete turkey and you can go fuck yourself with your trolling of the original Lorenzo Sperlonga artwork on my cyberpunk book,Unlawful Presence.FYI: Lorenzo did more covers for Heavy Metal magazine than any other artist in history.You’re a real bottom feeding asshole and you can eat shit with your asinine website.***You really are a fucking lowlife scumbag. Where do you live, anyway? Under a bridge in New Jersey?***Send me your name and address so I can sue you for defamation you fucking scum bubble.***I spent $2,000.00 hiring a world famous artist. Who in the fuck do you think you are with this pigeon-shit website shitlips?***You should reply to me, asshole. Your website is internet garbage and I would like to find out more about you.***You think insulting a world famous artist with your little commenter clones makes you cool or something? It makes you look like the lowlife fuck that you are. Why don’t you send me a reply, asshole.***You’re a bug splat on the internet windshield, asshole.Your website is a bad joke. Go ahead and send me a reply, you lowlife coward.***I got it, you’re a butt ugly green haired dyke with a snot covered nose ring. You get a thrill by degrading a world famous artist who has more money in his change jar than you’ve ever made in your pathetic life. Go ahead and send me a reply fuck face.***Comment: Go ahead and write back fuckface. My dog’s morning crap has more intelligence.***Sex sells on the internet, faggot. Snarky trolling is the Texas sized pile of garbage in the middle of the Pacific. You’ll never get anywhere in life and blaming successful people for your ineptitude won’t make it better.Go fuck yourself, moron.***
I had had no communication with you prior to this; furthermore, despite your accusations above, I had said absolutely nothing about you as a person or writer in my original post. (That changed, of course, once you had contacted me — then I had a very clear and very defensible opinion of your character.)So who, exactly, is harassing whom? Do you honestly think that, when comparing your messages to my response, YOU’LL be the injured party in the eyes of any judge or jury?
You can send anything you want to any sheriff you want. I’ve responded to your DMCA takedown notice with a counter-notice. If you want to file a lawsuit against me within the prescribed two-week time limit, go for it; the next communication I get should be from your attorney. Otherwise, take the L and pipe down.
Nathan Shumate
And how has Lasher responded?
With emails — again, all from different email addresses — showing my home contact info. And Google Street Views of my house. (All with abusive comments, of course.)
And I’ve gotten about two dozen calls from a “private number” this morning to my cellphone, all simply playing Sirius XM classical music. I stopped answering them and blocked unknown numbers, but they still go to my voicemail, filling it up with two minutes of classical music each time. I can’t prove that the calls are from William Lasher, of course, but I certainly question the timing.
This is not how rational adults behave. This has gotten into for-real harassment and cyberstalking.
All because I thought his book cover was silly a year ago.
So. Anyone know a good attorney who deals with online harassment?
Regarding William Allen Lasher and his novel Unlawful Presence: A Killer Robot Thriller
Just when you think that William Allen Lasher cannot prove himself to be any more of an ass…
I received a copy of this DMCA Takedown Notice through Cloudflare (not my actual webhost, but my Automatic Platform Optimization (APO) provider, who would forward it to my actual hosting provider as well as send me a copy):
Dear Cloudflare:
I’m a construction contractor and writer. I hired Lorenzo Sperlonga to create original artwork for my novel “Unlawful Presence: A Killer Robot Thriller.” You can find it on Amazon.
Lorenzo is a world-famous artist who’s done covers for Playboy, Penthouse, and Heavy Metal magazines. He created the cover for my novel on canvas and sold me the rights to use the image online for a considerable sum of money. Lorenzo still owns the original painting.
I came across a malicious website in my novel’s search results called lousybookcovers.com. The website not only stole the image but they also are libeling the artwork, the book, and me in a malicious manner.
The “lousy book covers” page in question needs to come down immediately. It is a blatant violation of the DMCA and is not “fair use” as the website owner claims. If it is not removed, I will notify Mr. Sperlonga and his attorney, and together, we will take civil action against the website owner and hosting company. The malicious nature of said website makes this an extremely serious issue. Damages claimed could be in the millions.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours Truly,
William A. Lasher
William, you are an ass. You are an ass from top to bottom, left to right, inside and outside.
You claim to be a writer, but here’s a word you use without understanding: “Libel.”
Nothing I posted was malicious or libelous. I said nothing untrue about the cover (which is pretty much THE DEFINITION of “libel”), and I said nothing at all about you or the novel itself. I simply didn’t think the cover was good. THE END.
Of course now, having had personal interaction with your fetid self, I can say from actual experience that you are a festering boil on the anus of humanity, without the sense that God granted an inbred paramecium. You went on a frothing tirade, claiming all sorts of “clever” things about my background, talents, sexuality, etc., and then you had the temerity to claim that MY post was malicious? If you ever become cognizant of the ludicrous irony here, the weight of it will probably crush your (It’s okay, you can go and look up the big words. I’ll still be here when you get back.)
How is it not “fair use,” Billy-the-Shithead? Because you WAAAAAAAH don’t like it? Aw, gee, wipe your sniffles and pull up your big-girl panties.
But hey, if it makes you feel all manly like you have half a functioning gonad, go ahead and threaten attorneys. I HAVE ONE. Pull me to court, and I will make sure that your your flabby ass is paddled for all the world to see.
Bring it, Loser Boy.