I wish this site weren’t necessary. I’d rather that everyone reading it were simply able to enjoy some fine stories and poems without the surrounding controversy.

I’ve left my work on Helix because I signed a contract to do so. William Sanders has kept his contract with me, and I will keep mine with him. All the stories reprinted on Transcriptase are allowed per our contracts. Although technically the current stories in Helix are available for us to reprint as well, all of us decided to wait until those stories were archived before reprinting them here, as a courtesy.

I draw a distinction between my professional and personal opinions. I know people that I think are great writers, and people that I consider friends. Of course there’s some overlap, but these two traits are independent. I can respect someone professionally, appreciate them personally, or both or neither.

Some editors have opinions that I find personally distasteful. Often, I choose not to work with such people; in some circumstances, I might. Either way, it requires a careful balancing of professionalism and my own sense of ethics.

When I found out William Sanders held strong opinions about Muslims that offended me, that upset me on a personal level. But what upset me on a professional level was his treatment of the writers who requested that he take their stories down. I’ll let them tell their own experiences. But to me, it’s unacceptable for an editor to publicly insult those writers and devalue their work.

Please enjoy our stories and poems. If you like what you read, drop us a line. If you want to discuss the situation or this website in a civilized manner, please feel free to join the Discussion threads. Thanks for reading.