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In late 2023, aspiring fantasy author Cait Corrain created multiple fake accounts on Goodreads to review bomb other authors. Del Rey Books and agent Rebecca Podos canceled their contracts with Corrain.
On December 5, 2023, author Xiran Jay Zhao posted on Twitter, "If you as a debut author are going to make a bunch of fake Goodreads accounts one-star-bombing fellow debuts you're threatened by can you at least not make it so obvious". [1] After Internet speculation on the author's identity, Zhao named the author as Cait Corrain and shared a Google Doc showing screenshots of low ratings from accounts allegedly owned by Corrain. [2]
Corrain issued an apology, saying that they had recently "suffered a complete psychological breakdown" after "fighting a losing battle against depression, alcoholism and substance abuse". [3] They entered an "intensive psychiatric care" facility on December 12, 2023. [4]
The fantasy novel Crown of Starlight was scheduled to be Cait Corrain's debut title, published in 2024 through Del Rey, a science fiction and fantasy imprint of Penguin Random House. [5] As of December 12, Corrain was no longer represented by agent Rebecca Podos. Del Rey and UK publisher Daphne Press also cancelled their contracts with Corrain. [5]
While Corrain initially described the negative reviews as left by a friend and provided screenshots of a conversation between herself and the friend, they later said that the friend had been "non-existent". [6] [7] Internet users also commented that the list of targeted authors included people of color. [8] [6]
The controversy was cited by industry professionals as an example of abuse issues on Goodreads. [9]
Naomi Novik is an American author of speculative fiction. She is known for the Temeraire series (2006–2016), an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars involving dragons, and her Scholomance fantasy series (2020–2022). Her standalone fantasy novels Uprooted (2015) and Spinning Silver (2018) were inspired by Polish folklore and the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale respectively. Novik has won many awards for her work, including the Alex, Audie, British Fantasy, Locus, Mythopoeic and Nebula Awards.
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Michael J. Sullivan is a New York Times, USA Today, and Washington Post bestselling American writer of epic fantasy and science fiction, best known for his debut series The Riyria Revelations, which has been translated into fourteen languages. In 2012 io9 named him one of the "Most Successful Self-Published Sci-Fi and Fantasy Authors". His books have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Czech, Dutch, Polish, Hungarian, Japanese, Georgian, Bulgarian, Russian, Portuguese, Italian and Turkish.
Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, glamour, and melancholia, with frequent references to contemporary pop culture and 1950s–70s Americana. Her vintage Hollywood glamour aesthetic is presented not only in her music, but also in her music videos. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an MTV Video Music Award, three MTV Europe Music Awards, two Brit Awards, two Billboard Women in Music, and a Satellite Award, in addition to nominations for eleven Grammy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Variety honored her at their Hitmakers Awards for being "one of the most influential singer-songwriters of the 21st century". Rolling Stone placed Del Rey on their list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time (2023), and Rolling Stone UK named her The Greatest American Songwriter of the 21st century (2023).
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Sarah Janet Maas is an American fantasy author known for her fantasy series Throne of Glass,A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Crescent City. As of 2022, she has sold over twelve million copies of her books and her work has been translated into 37 languages.
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