Cait Corrain, a left-wing novelist, lost her book deal after it was discovered she was sabotaging other authors with a tactic known as “review-bombing” using fake accounts.
Corrain’s debut novel, Crown of Starlight, was scheduled to hit bookshelves in March through a Penguin Random House imprint. This was a big, prestigious deal for Corrain, who described the novel this way:
While it’s absolutely a snarky, sexy, slow-burn, space-opera romp, at its core, this is a story about love, sacrifice, sexual agency, embracing your identity as a form of rebellion against oppression, and the difficult choices we all make between facing our fears, or losing the chance to become who we’re meant to be.
Yeah, this.
But rather than count her blessings and gleefully anticipate becoming a published author, Corrain decided to rig the game.
Using the review site Goodreads, the Caucasian Corrain manufactured accounts and attacked “mostly authors of color,” who had similar-themed books set to be released around the same time, with one-star reviews. One review said, “I can’t believe Del Rey spent half a million dollars on this when they could have spent half a million dollars on anything else. Sorry not sorry.”
Get this: Del Rey is the same Penguin Random House imprint that was set to publish Corrain.
These same fake accounts then turned around and “gave Crown of Starlight positive reviews, adding the book to lists and liking each other [sic] reviews again.” And that is what gave the game away.
After suspicions were raised, Corrain dug in deeper and told a Slack group for debut authors that she had uncovered the dastardly truth: a loyal but misguided friend of hers named “Lily” was the culprit. “I did NOT review bomb anyone. I did not positively review my own book with false accounts,” Corrain protested. Corrain even produced screenshots of chats where “Lily” fessed up to her.
But when people asked to speak to “Lily”…
A little more digging produced this 31-page Google document, and that was that.
Earlier this week, Corrain’s literary agent publicly dumped her on Xwitter. Then Corrain lost her book deal. Then Corrain confessed to it all in — what else — a self-serving statement where she portrays herself as the victim of insecurity, depression, alcoholism, and substance abuse.
Left-wingers are so nasty. When your political beliefs are founded on narcissism, which is true for almost all leftists, moments like this expose who these people truly are. To what noble end was Corrain looking to sabotage her fellow first-time authors, including racial minorities? None. It was pure spite, jealousy, and greed.
We all have that dark part of us that wants to see others fail. That’s human nature. The difference between good and bad people is that bad people indulge it while the rest of us fight against those impulses.
And we not only fight against those impulses because we’re ashamed of them, we do so out of self-preservation. What if I get caught!? Listen, I envy all kinds of people for one reason or another. It’s the jealousy and bitterness you have to control. And I’ll tell you something else…
If you are going to write, comment, or review online, you always use your own name. Always. Especially if you are any kind of public figure. You don’t think I’ve been tempted to manufacture a pseudonym and leave a glowing five-star review on my debut novel (which is getting great reviews and is now available in hardcover)? Of course I have! And it is not my better angels stopping me. It’s the fear of getting caught, the humiliation. But sabotaging others like that…? Where does that motivation come from?
You know what this story reminds me of? It reminds me of that story about Harvey Weinstein masturbating in public into a potted plant. Call me sheltered, but I had no idea people behaved this way.
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