It’s been a very sad time behind the scenes at Repeater Books for well over a year now. The future of the imprint has been hanging by a thread and myself and many other authors have made peace with what has, for the last few months especially, seemed like an inevitability. I certainly have no intention of publishing there again after all that has transpired, and have spent most of the last year mourning this loss of an intellectual home. But some things are more important than our own platforms. Sometimes, you just have to move on, and many at Repeater already have done.
This situation has been alluded to on this blog occasionally — here and midway through my first post back too — but for the most part, many of us have been forced into silence for fear of reprisals, whether for ourselves or for others still employed at the imprints. This has been deeply ironic, given the accusations of censorious practices thrown around by some of the reactionaries published by Repeater recently, particularly Daniel Tutt and Rhyd Wildermuth.
But the silence has been broken. Sereptie of Acid Horizon has written an excoriating breakdown of what has actually been going on and has demonstrated just how embarrassing the public actions of Tutt and Wildermuth have been. I expect many people will find it astounding. We certainly have, behind closed doors.
If you have been at all curious about Repeater / Zer0’s removal from a Publishers for Palestine solidarity letter in late 2023, or you’re after more general insight into how expressions of solidarity with Palestine have shown some people’s true colours, as well as what a mess some parts of left-wing publishing are in right now, beyond all the culture-war bollocks, I cannot recommend enough that you read this. It is essential.
“Crossing the Line: The Repeater Books Controversy and the Fight for Solidarity” is available to read here via the Split Infinities SubStack.
