Alexandra Duncan, noted on her website as a writer of “science fiction, fantasy, feminism,” decided to kill her forthcoming novel Ember Days because a Twitter critic convinced her it was “insensitive toward the Gullah culture.”  She explained the decision in a tweet.

Publishers Weekly now has also yanked its June 26 article reporting the book’s cancellation, evidently because the internet critic – named in the original version of the post – has become the subject of criticism and harassment. See “‘REMOVED: ‘Upcoming YA Novel “Ember Days” Cancelled By Author’” on the Publishers Weekly site.

After review, Publishers Weekly has determined that this story about a book cancellation failed to meet our editorial standards. We have removed the story for two reasons: the failure to meet our standards of reporting, and our unintentional promotion of online abuse directed toward an individual named in the story as a result of our not more thoroughly investigating the events leading to the cancellation of the book. We regret the damage the publication of this story has caused this individual, as well as any other instances of violence enacted upon Black, Indigenous, and other people of color as a result of PW‘s past reporting on similar matters.

The Internet Archive capture of PW’s original article is here.