Publisher's Weekly Tried To Cancel Baen Books Author Tom Kratman And It Backfired Spectacularly

Tom Kratman's new book Dirty Water is nominated for a Dragon Award.

Woke activists have wanted to destroy Tom Kratman's illustrious career as a science fiction writer for years, but the Colonel has been able to keep going through Baen Books publications. Now, fans have pushed back and nominated it for the Dragon Award after the Publisher's Weekly old publishing marketing firm tried to torch his new novel, Dirty Water, over politics.

Kratman is known for his military science fiction, specifically for hard-hitting action, in-depth strategy, and war philosophies. He uses his military experience to set himself apart from other authors in the field. His most famous work is Desert Called Peace, though he was also nominated for the Hugo Award for his novella Big Boys Don't Cry in 2015.

Much of his work in the early to late 2000s dealt with Islamic extremism in the wake of September 11th. Left-wing activists in science fiction have always wanted Tom Kratman's work canceled. The pushback against his work only strengthened his rabid following, which rallied around the author to support his freedom of expression through fiction.

His new novel, Dirty Water, is a time travel adventure that may be a good alternative for fans looking for something similar to Doctor Who in the wake of the recent woke destruction of the show.

Part of the Amazon description for Dirty Water reads: Off through the gate that grants wishes, off to deal with time travel, off to break and enter, off to endure the pain of seeing afresh loved ones long since departed in their own time. They're off to deal with hardened, murderous criminals and with equally murderous aliens.

Like many traditionally published books, Publisher's Weekly reviewed the book, attempting to signal against Kratman and get leftist book buyers not to purchase the book. The review ends with a dig at Kratman personally, showing the reviewer's inherent bias politically rather than speaking to the quality of the book:

A deeply conservative ideology runs throughout, often given voice through Sean's observations about the differences between past and present: "The Democratic Party of my time," he tells a 1960s Democrat, "is a wholly owned subsidiary of a new class of amazingly rich, denationalized and globalist plutocrats." He follows this up with digs at LGBTQ rights and the sexual revolution (arguing it actually "reduced women's choices"), and Kratman does nothing to differentiate the views of his character from the philosophy of the book itself. While the author's flair for fight scenes is undeniable, there's little else to recommend this.

Though Publisher's Weekly tried to kill the book, the fans loved it. Dirty Water has been nominated for the Dragon Award for Best Alternate History Novel. The Dragon Award is an award that is voted on by any reader who desires to vote, presenting a democracy in voting for the works best loved by readers among thousands of those who follow Dragon*Con.

Tom Kratman spoke about the award in reference to the Publisher's Weekly hit job, saying, "Yeah, so Dirty Water was nominated for a Dragon Award in Alternate History. Yeah, ordinarily I scorn awards.”

He continued, "But in this case there is a certain prominent magazine that published a hit-piece review of Dirty Water, and I'd really like to hammer the award up their collective ass before giving it to Toni Weisskopf to put on the Baen awards shelf. Register to vote here: Dragon Con 2024 - Fan Awards Signup Form."

It seems Publisher's Weekly's attempt to kill the book backfired, as leftist activists' screeching often does. The people have spoken out and love Dirty Water, and with a Dragon Award nomination to give it publicity, it's only going to sell more for the legendary author.

What do you think of Publisher's Weekly doing a hit piece on Tom Kratman's Dirty Water and him getting a Dragon Award nomination in turn? Leave a comment and let us know and restack this post!