Letter From the Editor: Regarding ChiZine

This is a hard post to write.

Earlier this year, Sandra Kasturi of ChiZine Publications reached out to me with a wicked cool idea: a daily post in October that would feature a horror movie paired with a cocktail. The idea was right up my alley, so she and I began making plans to pull off the ambitious project. I also told her about our guest post opportunities, and she was kind enough to hook me up with a number of ChiZine authors. You’ve seen them write columns for My Favorite Things, You’re My Inspiration, and Blast from the Past. And of course, in October you were treated to The Kasturi/Files, our daily column from both Sandra Kasturi and ChiZine author Gemma Files that discussed horror movies, horror books, and cool cocktails to go with both.

The ambitious project was a huge success for this blog, and I’m proud of all the work that went into it from both Sandra, Gemma, and myself. Sandra and I brainstormed other ideas for future posts, but after The Kasturi/Files wrapped up, I didn’t hear anything. Mind you, this wasn’t a problem: I think we all needed a break after October was over.

Of course, the odds of those brainstormed posts coming to fruition are slim to none at this point. If you haven’t heard, last week the news came out that ChiZine was having trouble paying its authors. And then it came out there was a distinct culture of harassment, gaslighting, racism, sexism, and bullying. And now it’s come out that there has been some question as to how grant money has been utilized by said publisher.

There’s a lot to unpack, and others have been kind enough to do a round-up. You can check out Jason Sanford’s thoughts in a free and public post on his Patreon, and File 770 has also provided a run-down (this is the first of many). Spoiler alert: it isn’t pretty.

At Speculative Chic, a blog completely run on a volunteer-basis, we believe in supporting and promoting authors and their work. Like many of you, we were completely unaware of the whisper network surrounding ChiZine, and now that the allegations have been made public, we are stricken and heartbroken for those who’ve been wronged. We stand with those who’ve been wronged, and we also recognize what an incredibly unfair position ChiZine authors have been put in (wronged or not) based on the actions of their publisher.

To that end, we still have a few guest posts from ChiZine authors in the publication queue. As Editor-in-Chic, I’m working with each of them to make sure they’re comfortable going forward and ensuring we’re formatting the post in a way that celebrates the author and their work. ChiZine may have published their fiction, but the authors are the ones who’ve put the blood, sweat, and tears into the project, and they deserve that credit.

I sincerely hope that ChiZine is able to make all of its authors whole financially. I also sincerely hope that ChiZine is able to make amends to those they’ve wronged. It’s a long road ahead for the publisher, and only time will tell if they can survive it.

But to their authors — past and present — we wish you the very best of success, and please know that Speculative Chic is in your corner.