Someone is Impersonating Me in a Phishing Scam (Boooooo)

Hi alls!

Long time no, uh, anything?

I wish I had better news to report (although I have written and been working on a few different books that I hope to tell you more about one day...), but the immediate situation is that someone is currently impersonating me in emails sent to authors. 

The TLDR of all this: if you've received an email from someone claiming to be me, inviting you to be a part of some kind of showcase, it is a scam, and you should not give that person any of your information.

This is, unfortunately, something that happens a lot these days. The best resource for all of this is probably Writer Beware, which has tons of info, including posts about these "impersonation" scams. So, please, stay safe out there!

Regarding my situation specifically, here are a few more details. A fellow author recently reached out to my agent after receiving an email claiming to be from me. The message invited the recipient to participate in an “international broadcast showcase” organized by the (as far as I can tell, completely made up) "Indie Horizon Media Group." The email was not written by me, and I have no affiliation with that organization.

Whoever is behind the scam has used my name, a real author photo, information about my books, and even created a Gmail account that resembles my identity. The account they used is "christopherhusberg.writer@gmail.com," which is not my email address. I’ve reported the impersonating account to Google, and I'm in the process of filing reports through a number of other outlets including law enforcement.

At the moment, I have no reason to believe that my personal email accounts or website have been compromised (which isn't to say that I'm not taking extra precautions, but still.) This appears to be an impersonation using publicly available information rather than a hack of my accounts.

So, anyway, if you receive an unsolicited email claiming to be from me about media appearances, author showcases, paid opportunities, or similar invitations, please treat it with skepticism. I will never cold-email authors from a Gmail address representing myself as a media executive or ask you to participate in promotional opportunities through an organization you’ve never heard of. Also, honestly, I'm just not really engaged in that side of the business at the moment. I write books, and I attend conventions and conferences myself, but I don't do anything on the invitational side of things.

Thank you to the people who took the time to alert me! I appreciate everyone helping to keep our writing community informed and safe.

So, once again, stay safe!

Chaos Queen NAZANIIN SWORD Incoming

 Ya'll, Kevin Nielsen (@kevinlnielsen.bladesmith) is making a real-life replica of a Nazaniin sword from the Chaos Queen series.

This is not a drill.

Proof:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kevin Nielsen (@kevinlnielsen.bladesmith)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kevin Nielsen (@kevinlnielsen.bladesmith)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kevin Nielsen (@kevinlnielsen.bladesmith)

More proof:

It's looking amazing so far. When it's done, it should look like the weapon so many of your favorite Nazaniin used in the books (Code! Kali! Nash!). I'm personally loving the way it's coming together.

If you haven't followed Kevin on Instagram, you definitely should--especially if you're interested in more amazing blacksmithing projects! @kevinlnielsen.bladesmith :-D 

🗡️👹 I'll keep you posted on the sword's progress, but for now I'll leave you with this video:

QR22 Day 30! Schitt's Creek!

 

Last but far from least, for the final day of my Pride Month Queer Representation challenge: Schitt's Creek.

David Rose might be one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. (For queer purposes, his wine bottle dialog is iconic. As is his entire character.) But then I also love Alexis! And Moira! And Stevie! And Patrick! And Johnny! And so many other things about this show! The cast just nails every moment, the memes are in infinite supply, it makes my cry from laughter and then cry from happiness, and it has Moira's Rose's Garden. I have a running list of top 5 sitcoms that doesn't change often, but Schitt's Creek immediately made the cut. This show is iconic. You should watch it, and you should also watch the special "Best Wishes, Warmest Regards," which is really wonderful and puts a new perspective on the entire show.

Happy Pride Month! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤍💗💙🤎🖤

(Probably next week I'll do some honorable mentions and a reflective post on the list as a whole, so that's coming as well!)

QR22 Day 29 - Dickinson

 

There's no shortage of literary criticism and historical evidence suggesting the poet Emily Dickinson might have been queer. You can read her poetry, biographies, criticism, or whatever you want and decide for yourself, but the case is compelling.

The Apple TV show Dickinson takes that premise and runs with it in tumultuous mash-up of history, humor, poetry, modern slang-injected dialog, and drama. And it's freaking great. It's like A Knight's Tale meets Jane Austen in antebellum America. Hailee Steinfeld shines as Emily Dickinson, and Ella Hunt (from Anna and the Apocalypse!) plays opposite her perfectly as Sue, Emily's best friend and chief love interest. Jane Krakowski is in it. Wiz Khalifa plays Death. Billy Eichner has a cameo as Walt Whitman. Like???

So that's the penultimate day of Queer Representation! One more to go! 🏳️‍🌈

QR22 Day 28: The Unspoken Name

 

Day 28 of Queer Representation (only two more days left after today!) and today I’m talking about the novel The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood. Listen, who doesn’t want to read a book about a young orc girl who was raised for the explicit purpose of being sacrificed to her dark god, only to be given an option to live at the last moment by a powerful wizard, and to then go on to be a badass assassin, and do tons of crazy awesome things, yada yada yada, and there’s tons of queer content, including said main character orc being queer. It’s real good, ya’ll. Peace. 🏳️‍🌈

QR22 DAY 27: Hacks

 

Queer Rep day 27: Hacks is easily one of my favorite new series--maybe one of my favorite series of all time. A washed-up and nearly cancelled comedy writer is enlisted to help write jokes for a once legendary now-on-the-way-out comedian, and hilarity and antics and drama ensue. The acting and writing is top notch, and the show is SO funny and also tuggy on the heartstrings, as it were, and it has some of the best bisexual representation I've seen in...anything, honestly. I can't overstate how great that casting and acting are in Hacks--Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, and Carl Clemons-Hopkins SLAY. It's so good. 🏳️‍🌈

QR22 Day 26 - Crush

Crush is a brand new teen romcom on the scene, and what I'm plugging for day 26 of my Queer Representation challenge! And what Love, Simon is for male/male queer teen romcoms, Crush is for female/female queer teen romcoms. Engaging characters, and a solid, fun story. Rowan Blanchard is perfect in the lead role, and it was awesome to see Auli'i Cravalho (Moana!) do something a bit different. And they both crush it (pun absolutely intended). 🏳️‍🌈