"A 18-year-old high-school student is facing terrorist threat charges because of a zombie story he wrote for his English class. William Poole, an 18-year-old student at George Rogers Clark High School, was arrested after his grandparents found the tale, in which the undead attack a high school, in his journal and turned it over to police. "I've been working on one of my short stories, [and] the short story they found was about zombies," Poole told Lex 18. "Yes, it did say a high school. It was about a high school overrun by zombies." Despite the obviously fantastical nature of his writing, and the fact that neither his own school nor any real people, school officials or police were mentioned in the story, Poole was taken into custody on a second-degree felony terrorist threatening charge. "Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function, it's a felony in the state of Kentucky," Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill told Lex 18. A judge even raised Poole's bond from $1,000 to $5,000 at the prosecutors' request, due to the "seriousness" of the charges. Poole is currently being held at the Clark County Detention Center."
What the hell are his grandparents doing snooping about in his journal anyway? Privacy is touchy subject for me as my mother took it upon herself to read my diaries for years, and only revealed this to me after I left for university. And why are they reporting him to the police? Is there no family loyalty when it comes to a bit of fiction?
I just finished a story this weekend about an "Old One" hibernating under the graveyard at Whitby and destroying half the cliff when it escapes. Are the Whitby police going to come knocking on my door for suggesting occult activities may be occuring in their town? No. Why? Because I don't live in the kind of society that reviles imagination and embraces hysterical fear.
More worryingly, I also came across an LJ quoted by PZB. A writer has been banned from visiting a school in Virginia because he happens to be gay and has edited and written for some porn anthologies in his long and varied writing career. Apparently there were priests down at the school praying for the gay spirits to leave the bodies of the students involved. WTF? Just what is going on in Virginia? I'll find out next month and report back! Dammit.
While we're on the topic of writing and censorship, Gideon would like me to tell you that he feels he has been misrepresented in my LJ. He was particularly offended by my telling you all that he likes my boobs. Says it makes him look shallow. I say that's how it sounds to me and I will continue to give everyone my "allegedly" warped version of the world according to me until I see fit to chop my hands off, or indulge in any other activity that may hinder my access to the internet and a keyboard. Gideon says he likes all of me, so there.