Monica Jackson's Take

Boy, word spreads fast when it strikes a cord.

Over on Monica Jackson's blog, she weighs in and makes an excellent point. Tess Gerritsen isn't black. She's Asian. She has it a little better than we do, believe it or not. How many black authors are as successful as Tess Gerritsen? Did they give her grief about writing for a wider audience? For her main characters not being Asian? Did they tell her that only Asians would be interested in reading Harvest? Or all the romance novels she'd written prior to that? Probably not.

So, when does it end? When does the racist suppression end? Last time I checked, there were laws that made racial discrimination unconstitutional. Yet it continues in publishing......What, are they special in this industry? The laws of the land don't apply to them? They get to handle black authors one way (despite the content of their work) and whites another, affording them much greater potential?

One of these days, a publisher may end up getting sued. Maybe that's what it'll take to change things. Win or lose, at least it'd get their attention.