Stewartry

So I had an email a day or two ago from, apparently, an entity called "Smith Publicity" plugging two books (for what it's worth, The Mortis by Jonathan Miller, and The Confessional by Reiny Pierson). I responded asking that my email address be removed from whatever list it had somehow gotten on, and also asking how they got hold of it in the first place. I would have let it all fade into oblivion if the response had not been: "Your information was obtained by our intern who researched reviewers."

If there's anything worse than spammers, it's spammers who data-mine indiscriminately. I wouldn't have read either of these books before this; now I am actively anti-them.

So here's my PSA for the day: you might want to block the email addresses lncoppotelli@gmail.com and lynn@smithpublicity.com. Since they're acting on the authors' behest and, I assume, on their nickel, I wouldn't trust either of them as far as I could throw 'em either. Miller's a Goodreads author; that worries me a little.

 ETA: I poked the troll by sending a snarky email back to Smith Publicity, and this was such a great response that I have to add it here: "It's not spam just because I sent you an unsolicited email asking you to review a book".

The definition of spam: "Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail." Stupid trolls are so cute.