You Want Me To Do WHAT?

******WARNING:  Rant ahead***********

Last night, I received the following email:

The editorial committee has reviewed the stories for the (name of the group and title withheld) Anthology and feels your in its current form is not a good fit for the anthology.

Say what?  It went onto say a beta reader had this criticism: "It (the story) isn’t about healing. It’s about how it destroyed them (the characters).  And murdering the person who did it.  It’s not a story that represents victims and could actually lead to other victims getting dark ideas.  Normally, I would be glad if it actually promoted healing, but it doesn’t, and instead promotes hiding and covering up…. The story makes me highly uncomfortable as a sexual abuse survivor and actually was a trigger for emotions.”

Okay, so in other words, you feel as if readers need a security blanket before reading it?  Sigh....this is what I get when 'snowflakes' decide to rule the world and inflict their issues on everyone else.

I don't mean that flippantly; I recognize certain readers would find this story disturbing-hell, I wrote it and even I found it a little disturbing that something so dark came out of my psyche!  But this is what the character revealed, so I wrote it down. 

Here's my beef:  This book is slated to be released in 13 days.  It's been up on a shared Google Docs file for over a year.  And yet you choose NOW to tell me it's not a 'good fit'?

Here's the part that really got me:  "Could actually lead to other victims getting dark ideas."  Um, have you not read any Stephen King?  Seen the TV show, How to Get Away With Murder?  Or even watched CSI or even any Law and Order?  Believe me, there are PLENTY of ways to think, "Oh, I could do that so much better and not get caught!"  

Please.  *eye roll*

I can't change the title; it's out there on ALL of my promo....books I've released, blogs written, even my website.  Yeah, I could go back and change them....and I may still have to, if I can't come up with a decent story to submit.  If I pull out, the antho shrinks even more, and I'd hate to see that happen, since I'm one of biggest names in it.  (Not bragging....just stating a fact.)

I tried seeing if one of my other short stories, one that's more upbeat, would fit, and it might.  On the other hand, as I was off to drown my sorrows at karaoke, another idea came to me, and I wrote 3 pages.  It might be crap; it might be a gem.  At any rate, my heroine finally told me her name this morning, so I'll type it up and see if the creativity takes off.

Can't hurt. 

But again, this just royally pissed me off.  Why the hell did they wait until NOW to tell me?

****Rant over*****