As I was sipping my cup of brew this morning it was brought to my attention that a certain individual had launched an attack on the company I work for via Yahoo’s Associated Content service. This individual, Mr. Nickolaus Pacione, is a well known trouble-maker on the web however he has levelled some pretty serious accusations at Daverana Enterprises within this* article and as acting Editor in Chief I would like to take a moment to set the record straight.
Mr. Pacione’s opening line is sheer fantasy. Since I took over Daverana’s small editorial department in early 2010 we have had little to no interaction with GUD magazine. This isn’t because we don’t like Kaolin’s work or feel that GUD is a bad publication on the contrary, GUD has beaten the odds as a small operator and I have to take my hat off to them. I honestly wish that Flashing Swords Magazine had weathered the economic crunch as well as Kaolin’s ‘zine has. We aren’t associated with GUD at the moment due to the fact that we have been busy revamping our website as well as preparing new titles for release in various formats. That is not to say we haven’t associated with GUD in the past. My boss and the owner of Daverana Enterprises, Janrae Frank, has sold Kaolin a piece of flash fiction called The Tale That Launched a Thousand Ships and did participate in a banner exchange with GUD on it’s previous website. I fail to see how any of this can be construed in such a way as to link either venture in such a ridiculous conspiracy.
Mr. Pacione's second accusation, that Daverana ‘rips people off’ is also load of bull. We have always taken great pains to make sure authors are appropriately compensated and to our knowledge, there are no payments outstanding for either the press itself or Flashing Swords at this time. He also seems convinced that Davarana has never actually published a ‘print title’. A quick product search over on Lulu seems to tell a very different story as we have plenty of titles available in several formats at the moment and our brand new website will certainly be showcasing these along with our upcoming releases.
I am aware that a couple of Daverana’s authors have reviewed Mr. Pacione’s writing in the past. However none of them have actively plagiarized his work and openly asserting that our authors and limited staff would waste their very valuable time vandalizing his listings or websites smacks of pure childishness. To put it simply we are a very small company and as such are just too busy trying to get books out the door on time to invest that much time in harassing this guy.
In the end, I can only speak for myself. As Editor in Chief of Daverana Enterprises, I have never, ever ‘leaked’ a submission to another publication or editor. I have never withheld payment from any author associated with Daverana projects. I have never plagiarized Mr. Pacione.
A quick Google search was extremely educational and it seems that this is pretty much par for the course with Mr. Pacione. Normally I would ignore such ludicrous accusations but it is clear to me that once Mr. Pacione become fixated on an idea he worries at it endlessly, building even more elaborate fantasies about people he believes have slighted him in some fashion. I feel passionately enough about the company I work for that I cannot sit by silently when someone has the gall to insinuate that I am helping to run a less than professional operation based on pure conjecture rather than solid facts.
*Update 11/4/2011 20:40 GMT Associated Content have removed the offensive article and apparently terminated Mr. Pacione's account.
Very well put. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I can only speak for myself, I have found the folks at Daverana to be the utmost professionals.
ReplyDeleteDuring my short term with Flashing Swords, I encountered an already purchased article that had lifted a major portion of its material from a website. Janrae wasted no time in dropping the article and the writer. Hard. As in Wile E. Coyote with an Acme Anvil hard.
There's no doubt in my mind that any allegations made by a barely literate basement dwelling troll in Morris, Illinois holds any water at all.
Although it's a moot point since the article has been pulled, I really appreciate you stopping by Mike. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteIt has been my experience so far that Jan responds with quite a bit of integrity when people have approached her with problems in a respectful and professional manner. It is distinctly unfortunate that Mr. Pacione seems to have an almost pathological fixation with her as well as several other authors which obviously compromises him as someone to be taken seriously in any arena.