A white author accused of targeting authors of color in an online review-bombing scandal is facing career-threatening consequences and a serious social media dragging.
Cait Corrain, author of the yet-to-be-released sci-fi fantasy novel “Crown of Starlight,” was dropped by her agent and U.S. publisher for posting fake one-star reviews to the popular book review website Goodreads intended to hurt her competition.
When authors noticed the same accounts leaving one-star reviews on books set for release in the first quarter of 2024, they figured something wasn’t right. As they discovered that many of the books receiving those negative reviews were written by people of color, they had questions.
Discovering that the accounts leaving negative reviews all rated Corrain’s “Crown of Starlight” with five stars was the confirmation the book community needed that something shady was going on. It probably didn’t help Corrain that the fake accounts in question liked the other one-star reviews.
Bethany Baptiste’s “The Poisons We Drink” and Kamilah Cole’s “So Let Them Burn” by were just a couple of the books written by Black authors that were directly targeted.
The whole thing blew up when Canadian author Xiran Jay Zhao called Corrain out on X and shared a 31-page Google doc of screenshots of the fabricated reviews.
After initially blaming the whole thing on a friend, Corrain posted an apology on X, blaming her actions on a battle with depression, alcoholism and substance abuse.
But folks ain’t buying it — particularly the authors whose books were targeted. And they are letting Corrain know online.
“Mental illness doesn’t make you racist. You were already hateful in August 2023, You harassed my book on Goodreads until I deleted it,” Akure Phénix posted, “I am still recovering.
“Wrong time, wrong list. No, we were exactly where we were supposed to be. I have PTSD, depression, & anxiety. I understand the wrong meds or dose can make your mind feel like it’s snapping in half. Meds don’t make you racist. Racism is in you. You hid it by lurking and plotting,” posted author Bethany Baptiste.
In a Dec. 11 post on X, Del Ray Books, owned by Penguin Random House announced its decision not to publish Corrain’s book.
“We are aware of the ongoing discussion around author Cait Corrain. CROWN OF STARLIGHT is no longer on our 2024 publishing schedule,” the company posted.
The same day, Corrain’s agent, Rebecca Podos, confirmed the end of their working relationship in a post on X, .
“Cait and I will not be continuing our partnership moving forward,” she wrote. “I deeply appreciate the patience of those directly impacted by last week’s events as I worked through a difficult situation.”