Thomas Parrott leaves Black Library

[grailkeeper]

Thomas Parrott has tweeted

 

"Black Library has decided to terminate their association with me on the grounds that I am a poor representative of their brand.This is obviously devastating for me for a lot of reasons. I don't consider it a fair decision on their part, but fair rarely matters in life.

 

The issue arose a month ago. A member of the Twitter community made a joke about gay space Marines, and got death threats for it. I was furious, and made statements to that effect. These were reported to the company by a "investor and "customer" and I was called to task.

 

The statements included things like there being a fascist element of the fanbase, and that I considered that a serious problem that had to be confronted. I also made lore related statements the mystery individual took issue with, like I considered SM eunuchs.

 

There was also a really transparent attempt to pin the May leaks on me a few days ago, presumably so they'd have a better justification for this. As it is, I can say with absolute certainty I leaked nothing. Their "evidence" was that I... accessed a document.Accessed it, mind you, while editing a novella based on information in that document.

 

I told them a month ago that I would separate my political talk from discussion of the IP. I felt guilty for that much compromise in the face of such toxicity that people get death threats. But I've made every effort to bend and keep my word. Evidently that wasn't enough."

 

I've never read any of his stuff. I think, if true, this is probably GW doing its best to stay out of the culture war stuff going on. A warning would probably have been better as it would have avoided something like this. Then again we probably won't hear GW's side of things as I doubt they will address this publically, or allow their authors to comment on the scenario.

 

[Brother Tyler]

Just to get ahead of things, please keep this discussion civil and within the bounds of the B&C. If things start to get out of hand, we'll have to close the topic.

[mawhis]

Got to think that there's more to this than he's saying. There's always two sides to the story, and it's difficult for me to believe that GW would fire a guy just for this. Perhaps there's more to the leaking issue than he's letting on, or something else going on behind the scenes.

 

It was Kirioth from Youtube that he was sticking up for, and he seems pretty shaken up by the whole thing as well.

[Joe]

It's odd, however I suspect they didn't have issues with him debating with the fan-base until the subject of "a fascist element of the fanbase" cropped up - which is probably the last statement any company is happy with staff / contractors making. Heck, I don't recall any of ADBs arguments going that far - and he was generally rather on-point about certain key issues with regards to representation and so forth.

 

This does seem somewhat suspect, I must admit - as if there's more to the story than is actually being told. Time will tell, I suppose.

[Marshal Rohr]

I found his polls and comments to be pretty engaging, so it'll be a loss that we wont have that anymore. He was pretty open about struggling with money and creative control from on high, which might've contributed. Same thing with Josh Reynolds being kind of open about frustrations as well. 

Edited July 10, 2020 by Marshal Rohr

[Gederas]

It's odd, however I suspect they didn't have issues with him debating with the fan-base until the subject of "a fascist element of the fanbase" cropped up - which is probably the last statement any company is happy with staff / contractors making. Heck, I don't recall any of ADBs arguments going that far - and he was generally rather on-point about certain key issues with regards to representation and so forth.

 

This does seem somewhat suspect, I must admit - as if there's more to the story than is actually being told. Time will tell, I suppose.

I mean... There IS a fascist element of the fanbase though. We all know this.

[cheywood]

I haven’t read much of his work but he’s always seemed to be one of the more openly enthusiastic authors on social media. This is very disappointing as it stands now.

[Marshal Rohr]

 

It's odd, however I suspect they didn't have issues with him debating with the fan-base until the subject of "a fascist element of the fanbase" cropped up - which is probably the last statement any company is happy with staff / contractors making. Heck, I don't recall any of ADBs arguments going that far - and he was generally rather on-point about certain key issues with regards to representation and so forth.

 

This does seem somewhat suspect, I must admit - as if there's more to the story than is actually being told. Time will tell, I suppose.

I mean... There IS a fascist element of the fanbase though. We all know this.

 

 

That's going to be the part of the topic that gets it closed. Can we not go down that path.

[Gederas]

It's odd, however I suspect they didn't have issues with him debating with the fan-base until the subject of "a fascist element of the fanbase" cropped up - which is probably the last statement any company is happy with staff / contractors making. Heck, I don't recall any of ADBs arguments going that far - and he was generally rather on-point about certain key issues with regards to representation and so forth.

 

This does seem somewhat suspect, I must admit - as if there's more to the story than is actually being told. Time will tell, I suppose.

I mean... There IS a fascist element of the fanbase though. We all know this.

That's going to be the part of the topic that gets it closed. Can we not go down that path.

I'm not, just acknowledging that acknowledging a problem exists and we all know it.

 

In all honestly though, I'm sorry for him but.... Uhh.... Who is he again? I've never heard this one's name before now. I see people mentioning Twitter, but I give that cesspit of a website a very wide berth.

Edited July 10, 2020 by Gederas

[grailkeeper]

Looking him up on the BL library he has only written a few short stories, although he was probably working on other stuff that hasn't been released. I haven't read any of his stuff- is it any good.

 

It seems odd that he would go so public so quickly. He does seem a bit more open about personal things on his twitter page than I would be. I guess now there is no chance of him going back. 

[mawhis]

Looking him up on the BL library he has only written a few short stories, although he was probably working on other stuff that hasn't been released. I haven't read any of his stuff- is it any good.

 

It seems odd that he would go so public so quickly. He does seem a bit more open about personal things on his twitter page than I would be. I guess now there is no chance of him going back. 

 

He had an upcoming Raven Guard Novel, according to Amazon

[Brother Lunkhead]

Off the top of your heads, does anyone have a list of Thomas Parrott'a works in BL? What do you think of it?

[Gederas]

Looking him up on the BL library he has only written a few short stories, although he was probably working on other stuff that hasn't been released. I haven't read any of his stuff- is it any good.

 

It seems odd that he would go so public so quickly. He does seem a bit more open about personal things on his twitter page than I would be. I guess now there is no chance of him going back. 

He had an upcoming Raven Guard Novel, according to Amazon

Ah, okay. That's why I haven't heard of him :lol: I tend to not read the short stories unless they're in a collection with other short stories/novels.

[Brother Lunkhead]

Keep in mind that we only have one side of this thus far.

[Marshal Rohr]

Isha's Lament was good

[Roomsky]

Warhammer is for everyone indeed.

 

Apropos of nothing here is their email: contact@blacklibrary.com

 

As always friends, support the artist. They are responsible for the content we love.

[theSpirea]

Not happy to hear as I actually enjoyed his work and he was one of the promising new additions to the BL team. Isha's Lament, Test of Faith, and Loyal to the End were all enjoyable stories.

 

I'm not picking sides as it's always hard to see the whole picture in these situations. Whether he deserved it or not, I have no idea, but I sure will miss his writing.

[cheywood]

Not sure if this is allowed or not but if anyone wants to support Thomas here’s his Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/thomasparrott

[Knockagh]

We know nothing about this at all, this is shameful bashing of GW. This is one author who has been dismissed and is blasting his old employer on the internet. He is now asking for money......GW have gone out of their way to bend over to prove their commitment to progressive politics. They employ authors purely because they promote these politics they release statements. I think GW have proven their commitment to being down with popular politics. Record proven by works.

 

But we know nothing about this guy. At all.

[Marshal Rohr]

I hope he can land on his feet. Looks like he a fellow Georgian, and from Macon and Macon has been a hotspot since the beginning of the pandemic, so jobs probably aren’t plenty out there. He’s an Air Force Vet, so maybe some of the prior service guys on here might know some opportunities down at the base? Regardless of his personal politics, someone could probably lend a hand?

[Amun Ra]

Keep in mind that we only have one side of this thus far.

And that's all we ever will. GW are notoriously tight lipped at the best of times.

 

Have complained for all the good it will do.

[cheywood]

We know nothing about this at all, this is shameful bashing of GW. This is one author who has been dismissed and is blasting his old employer on the internet. He is now asking for money......GW have gone out of their way to bend over to prove their commitment to progressive politics. They employ authors purely because they promote these politics they release statements. I think GW have proven their commitment to being down with popular politics. Record proven by works.

 

But we know nothing about this guy. At all.

You’re entitled to your opinion, but you’ve got some facts wrong. As you yourself pointed out, we don’t really know what happened exactly, only Thomas’ perspective. Therefore it’s especially important we have all our facts straight.

 

Parrot hasn’t actually ‘bashed’ GW. He said he’s devastated about his dismissal and feels it was unfair, but that life is unfair. The closest he gets to bashing GW is saying they incorrectly accused him of being a source of leaks.

 

He hasn’t asked for a cent. He had a Ko-Fi set up months ago to try and raise funds for his cat’s emergency surgery and people who empathize with a guy getting fired during a pandemic/economic crisis are using it to support him.

 

GW’s only public act of progressivism is a statement saying ‘Warhammer is for all’. There’s not a single example of GW employing people solely for their progressive views. That’s an opinion you’ve expressed before without evidence. Obviously that opinion is yours to hold whether true or false, but it’s far from established fact.

[1ncarnadine]

Man, this sucks to hear. I'd followed him on twitter for a while and he's always been an open, engaging part of the community. I'm pretty sure his cat just died. I hope he comes out the other end of this alright.

[Shinros]

Well, his situation reminds me of a discussion I had. Strange to have my point proven. Anyway, I hope he finds some work or that BL changes their mind.

[grailkeeper]

A few, more minor, GW authors have commiserated with him- Mike Brooks, Sarah Cawkwell and Josh Reynolds (who also recently left).

 

A former editor, lottie llewellynwells also said "I am so sorry and so angry this happened to you, although sadly not surprised. You are an amazing writer and an excellent person." I wonder if she will employ him in her new publishers?

 

Between this and Josh Reynolds seems like things might be bad in BL. Up until recently I had thought things were going well and most people were happy to work there.