Cait Corrain, whose debut sci-fi/fantasy novel “Crown of Starlight” was due to be published in May 2024, had a dream publication path laid out ahead of them. Corrain, a nonbinary author who uses the pronouns she and they, had a deal with Penguin Random House to write two books. “Crown of Starlight” had garnered plenty of positive reviews and had been selected as the May 2024 pick for the book subscription service Illumicrate. That means Corrain was having the kind of year most authors never get surrounding their debuts, or even across their careers.
Corrain was having the kind of year most authors never get surrounding their debuts, or even across their careers.
But instead of enjoying their good fortune, Corrain, by her own admission, made fake Goodreads accounts to review-bomb other authors with books debuting in 2024. Most of the debut authors whose books she trashed on Goodreads were Black, Indigenous or people of color (BIPOC), including fellow Del Rey Books authors Molly X. Chang and Danielle Jensen. Del Rey said Monday on the social media platform X that it was “aware of the ongoing discussion” and that “Crown of Starlight” is no longer on its publishing schedule.
Corrain’s agent also dropped them. “Cait and I will not be continuing our partnership moving forward,” Rebecca Podos wrote on X. “I deeply appreciate the patience of those directly impacted by last week’s events as I worked through a difficult situation.”
Corrain released a statement on the social media platform in which she cited depression, alcoholism and substance abuse: “Let me be extremely clear: while I might not have been sober or of sound mind during this time, I accept responsibility for the pain and suffering I caused,” she wrote, “and my delay in posting this is due to spending the last few days offline while going through withdrawal as I sobered up enough to be brutally honest with you and myself.”
(Because Corrain took the effort and time to trash…
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