Dorchester is off the main page, upper right hand corner click About Us and on the right hand side on the side bar it says, if you have a question for our Editorial department click here.

Kensington, to find the president’s email go to Kensington Publishing and scroll to the bottom of the page. In the center of that menu across the bottom is Contact Us. Click on that. On the right hand side, in a teal side bar, the second item is Presidents letter. If you click there you will see Mr. Zacharius’ personal email.

I searched and found Romance Writers of America’s site. In the top right hand corner it says About RWA. If you scroll down the left sidebar it says RWA staff. I wrote Allison Kelly, the Executive Director.

I hate bullies. The only way to stop them is to stand firm against this kind of crap. Once Kensington, Dorchester, and the RWA get here, the proof is pretty damming.

And Megan-’Whoa! She's calling a lawyer already? Please don't be worried. There's nothing more she can do to you. She should “come on over” and read the posts here before she calls. Maybe she should respond to us.

LOL! Thanks. But that’s just it…I don’t think she’s reading over here or she’d know better than to say I’m making it up and lying. It’s her own words tightening the noose, not mine.

One of her flying monkey clones just came on that loop she’s fussing at me on and told the moderator I was “spreading trash” and “Can you spell lynch mob?”

Sheesh! I’m waiting for my Inbox to flood with her supporters now because apparently, I am public enemy #1 and the one who needs to be taken down, sued and verbally abused, not their psycho-stalker co-publisher, cover artist extraordinaire. *rolling eyes* Yeah, whatever!

I’m probably going to mess this up but one of my favorite quotes in a book was in THE SECRET by Julie Garwood, where Iain told Judith “One whisper, added to a thousand others, becomes a roar of discontent.”

I’m adding my voice here and hope many others will too.

Authors, especially HP authors: We have lived in the nightmare for so long. It’s a fresh breath of air now that our experiences are out in the open. Bravo to the authors who see the injustice in HP’s and Ms. M’s methods.

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

In the end, all that has been posted here is true. Yes, we get yelled at, yes Ms. MacGillivray has touted herself as co-publisher as long ago as November 2007. Yes, she claims this is all lies, yes; I'm going to get an ass chewing the likes I have never experienced before. But the point is this…I'm tired of sitting back, being scared to say anything. I have moved on, found a publisher I adore and I can only wish the same for my fellow HP authors.

But let me say this. The odd cliché “with the sweet comes the sour” is true here. I have learned some very valuable lessons, I have made some wonderful friends and I have learned I'm tougher then I ever thought I was. I learned that I DO have what it takes to make it in this industry. I have the drive, the motivation, and the belief in myself. I have moved on from this house and I've found publication elsewhere. This experience has been a lessoned learned and I'm only sorry that something that started with so much promise has turned into something I'm not proud to be a part of.

Here is the link to Dorchester Publishing. http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/about.cfm There is a direct link there to their editorial department. I noticed Deborah didn’t mention the editors at Dorchester at all. They might not be aware.

Internet terrorism is beyond reproach. Threatening someone’s family, especially their kids has me so blistering angry I am off to pen my letters.

They will basically read like this.

“Dear Sir,

Your author, Deborah MacGillivray has launched a campaign of bullying and internet terrorism on the web. She is accused of manipulating Amazon, terrifying writers and stalking readers who give her poor reviews. She even threatened one reader, a Reba Belle’s children. The information is being discussed by readers and authors including several NY Times bestsellers. You can start at Dear Author http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2008/04/07/highland-press-warnings/ and then move to the Amazon forums where it is a hot topic the forums. Since this news broke on April 7th, Deborah MacGillivray has tried deleting and manipulating the information, but it is well documented. I hope you will address this problem immediately. Ms. MacGillivray claims your house is fully aware of this matter. I wanted to make certain that was true.”

That is a damn near perfect comparison, IMO.

Is she in violation of any of the standard terms in publishing contracts? I mean, is there a clause to the effect that thou shalt not attack thy readers in a public forum and cause embarrassment and potential loss of revenue to thy publisher?

Man, it's gettin' srsly cold here in Switzerland….

Especially when you’re being snowed (in) . . .

If this is a true representation of the email, the woman so threatened should be calling the FBI.

She did:

In #1 I saw a group talking about author’s posting nasty-graham’s if they didn’t like their books. I chimed in and posted what happened to me (up to this point) with Deb. Mac and “the pack.” I even retyped by review (because it was still down). My reviews are never harsh. I even commented on I liked “A Restless Knight.” But, she found it offensive.

“The Pack” swarmed in on that discussion like flies to honey. It was comical and made my point. Silky, Anne Raven, Leanne Grant showed what they were like in the schoolyard. Pinhead, back-end of a horse, and other trite names were listed for my description.

Leanne Grant later went back to edit her posts in “Read any BAD books lately.” She posted information to let me know they had my real name, looked up my family tree in geneology.com, and looked at my family website.

The majority of the posts from “The Pack” on that discussion board have since been been deleted by Amazon. And Deb. M. deleted one from herself.

Later, I noticed the discussion for “delections of reviews to raise star ratings” and told my story.

This is when the veiled threats to my family began. Caitrina Hunter….And this is when I choose to elevate the problem.

I contacted her publisher at Kensington, the Better Business Bureau (on-line) and filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office in Seattle, Washington (this is the home office for Amazon), my congressman, and a friend with the FBI. I now know more about them than I could ever possibly want.

Reba goes on to say this, which I find interesting:

They DO guard a group of authors. Dawn Thompson, Leanne Burroughs, Barbara Pierce, Emma Holly, etc. It’s a pack, I’ll post good reviews for your book, if you post good reviews for mine and we’ll hound anyone that doesn’t conform.

To which I responded at the computer, “EMMA HOLLY??????” Like does that mean she’s involved or just that they are fans of her books. I mean, how far out does this extend??

2c. Re: vote down this bitch please
Posted by: “DeborahAnne MacGillivray”
writer@DeborahMacGIllivray.co.uk scotladywriter
Date: Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:17 pm ((PDT))
Well, thanks to XXXXXX our PI , we now have her name, her husband's
name, her chidrens' names, her grannies and great grannies name. Her
address phone number and email
lol…quite interesting.~

This is boil-your-bunny crazy. If this is a true representation of the email, the woman so threatened should be calling the FBI.

In terms of the “we’re calling the lawyers” threat, libel is, by definition, only libel if it consists of “false statements,” and there seem to be an awful lot of people with copies of email from Ms. MacGillivray saved on their hard drives to bring to bear as evidence. It is quite easy to prove that certain email came from certain individuals; I have used expert witnesses to do this before in court, tracing the ISPs and computers, so denying that she wrote a particular email will not work if in fact she did.

If I were to hear a hint of someone tracking down my family, I would bring every resource at my disposal to bring the wrath of doom down upon that person’s head. Federal, state, and local authorities. Criminal charges. Lawsuits. Formal complaints to anybody and everybody.

And to even indirectly threaten someone’s children?? Oh, HELL no.

And McGillivray must have some disposable income to be hiring a PI to hunt down a reader over a three star review.

One of my many past careers involved internet searching to find stuff like addresses and family histories of unsuspecting people, so that cerities could put the touch on them. It was fun, in a Sherlock Holmes sort of way, but mostly just creepy.

It does not require hiring a PI to get this stuff. A hobby geneologist, with an unhealthy amount of curiousity can turn up most of this stuff in a couple of hours. Or a librarian. There is a lot of personal info on-line that will not cost a cent.

Generally, you can’t do anything too harmful (like hack a bank account), but you can find enough stuff (like mother’s maiden name and property tax info) to scare the crap out of someone.

I am insulted. I put money into this woman’s pocket and got stalked on amazon.com in the process for not gushing over her work. My review (which was fair and didn’t attack anybody or spoil the book) was deleted by their clicky attacks, and my other written reviews swamped with “no” votes. Immature. Childish. Absurd. And I’m the one with nothing better to do?!

This author will never get another dime from me. She will never get a recommendation from me (and I am a member of book clubs both online and off – and yes my club has discussed this). She forgets herself. She forgets that the reader is not under contract. She can try to bully us, but she is just going to make herself look stupid. She can’t mess with my career and I don’t want to be in her loop. I have nothng to lose by not stroking her ego.

To the disgruntled HP authors…I have had an abusive boss before, so I definitely feel your pain and understand the difficult situation you are in. Best of luck on your end of things. Please keep us updated and don’t give up the fight! You have the support of this reader!

To Deborah McGillivray (and cronies) because I know you are reading this…you can tell yourselves whatever you want about us. We have no life, we are inconsequential to book sales, whatever. Fact of the matter is, you’re a small publishing house and every customer counts (as well as every writer). No matter how lame we may be we are the people who support your business. We could dress up in costume and attend silly conventions and you should still appreciate us. Instead you insult your readers, attack your readers, stalk your readers. There’s no denying it – I have seen enough, experienced enough, and I am convinced you are doing this Deborah, and I am convinced you are WRONG WRONG WRONG. You don’t deserve the business you get and should be thankful for every sale. Keep up the diva BS and it wont last. Get off your high horse and do some writing and maybe one day you’ll be worth that superior attitude because right now it is very premature.

*boggles*

I’ll give Ms. Foster the benefit of the doubt along with Hilary Sares and argue that they must not have read the thread in its entirety because I can’t believe that there are authors and editors who would be supportive of the McGillivray treatment of Reba, either in the response that she posted on Amazon or her “take down” actions.