Hi Mr. McCurry,
I don't want to email you. As I prefer to write here on my diary.
I never mentioned Alkhatrash, despite the falling out, out of respect to his family. We do fire and fall out with people, but we don't out them. I mention a few, when there are real reasons, such as "Patricia" if there's a threat issued to me. That's fair. The other lady, didn't threaten, but was rude, so I didn't. As I spoke to Indeed, and I saw that she's going through a conflict with "Jesse Plemons like figure", another employer. So I felt sympathy and understood her pain. She was a gentle lady, and I felt my offer of $4,500 as a first pay check, hurt her because of her misgivings with the former employee (over tiny details, she'd read up on, that I don't understand as well as her; a Sacramento judge compelled into arbitration which she'd agreed to in signed documents with her employer). She was hurt over it, which I didn't know then. So I forgave her. Patricia, only issued a threat because of politics, that's also fine. Again, I didn't name the other, just the other party, her employer, and judging by her bad, bitter attitude vs her correct facts on employer contract terms, I think that dispute's up for their superior court to settle.
Over the years, I chose to not out or single out, and attack people, or put people on the spot, unless they're public figures. As I can understand them. I always choose to walk at least 10 minutes in their shoes, before I judge them. That 10 minutes, is enough for me to understand why they did that, how their values shaped, and that's also enough time to cool down.
Mr. Alkhatrash forwarded me the email he sent you. It's full of lies. As he's tried to damage our public name, by reaching out to you, it's fair for me to name him, but not to shame, just for clarity, so I don't have to repeat myself.
For accuracy, AngryPages did publish several of his books and later removed them after ending the relationship. The relationship did not change suddenly or without explanation. During a Zoom call, I warned him twice, at separate points, that the relationship would end if the conflict and contradictions continued. We then confirmed the termination in writing on May 20, May 21, and May 26.
He's lied about being a "young author" to you which he spelt "youg author": he seems to be in his 50s, self-describing as retired on his blog. That's not a big deal until it is. The guy's sent over 80 emails, to me, all of which were in bad faith, and he wasn't just ungrateful, he was resentful when we responded with kindness. He only respected us, when we stopped serving him. He promised not to spam me, in writing, then he kept spamming me, with excuses. That told me he's someone I don't want to tolerate. It also tells me, he's got contempt or malice, perhaps from their aversion towards Jews, towards Israel, or the United States, and Trump in particular, which is my opinion, as that is a clear reason why some people will act in such a hostile way towards us.
What angered me was when he lied about having a laptop, no laptop, then many. He's acting in malice based on my honest reading of his behavior pattern. After multiple requests and notices by us to decline, he's desperate to try to spam, open abusive communication or re enter our lives. We have gotten naturally angered at his provocations.
My language, was just normal, friendly. Trying to be polite. The turning point, however, was gradually worsening, then suddenly decided on July 31 within 3 hours. Because I spoke about him, when I was having tea, saying he's "not all bad" and "deserves a second chance". And so, I tried to push for his case. Because I saw the man's redeeming quality. That's when I offered him the best opportunity I could: the Quran at 3 pm. However, at 4:30 pm, when I was sharing the work, the book cover, Quran by AngryPages®, and what we'd worked hard on, with him, I saw my AI warn against it. I was able to see his account, how when we tried to restore, him, how badly the relationship had soured, and then, I told him, not to work on the Quran (which other Muslims are working on), at 4:30, to instead work on ONE book. I pleaded, send only ONE email. I even told him, if he finishes up his book, he can send to another local publisher to get his work done. Between 4:30 - 4:45 PM: After looking through over 80+ emails with my AI (often by his alias or wife's email), and a report, and a conversation, I saw he's probably going to fight, there's a high confidence score on this likelihood of conflict, and there's an obvious clash of values, temperament and customs. My AI wrote an email, to him, saying it's best to end that. I didn't even write it. My AI understood, that the clash of values, is pretty obvious, as he's also said I'm impolite or unprofessional, and that's not absolute, it's a fair perspective. People in those regions, often see Americans with hostility, and the way of doing business, even between USA and Japan, is strained by cultural quirks. My AI wrote the email, showed it to me, argued that it's the best course of action, then sent it.
What I find to be funny, or amusing, or cool, is not what some communities, in South Asia, find to be as entertaining. For example, Russell Peters' jokes. He was a guest to SL recently. But that form of humor, wasn't respected here. He would be banned from mentioning Sunny █████ in SL for example. In our AngryPages platform, we also Tier 3, that name, because we adjusted or configured our publishing to suit the local culture where they denounce that theme. Building on Louann Brizendine's POV on a book on this touchy culture subject, I recognized this. And that's normal. I like Hollywood, I like California, I think great entertainment is fun. But this is a region closer to Bollywood or local standards, which are different, and we don't need to agree. I haven't seen a Bollywood movie in over 10+ years. Last one I saw, was Three Idiots with my mom in Singapore on my laptop.
We haven't got an India office. But we'd love to. We just want to be cautious, as many services, like BBC got in trouble, so we're configuring our tools, and even Facebook recently got summoned by Modi. We are especially careful with Mainland China, where Valerie and Ryan, will handle it. I am also into world politics, so I don't want any conflict, I put Xi on the protect list (to avoid conflict, as we saw a lot of CCP x-ray attacks, which defame Xi Jinping, or lead to people forming or concluding hostile facts; my uncle Jagath was also on Panama Papers, and he got attacked unfairly, so I put him on my protect list, to avoid unnecessary, awkward situations), but not Modi. For him, we can instead, demand higher levels of proof from the CJP. We want a team who can work within India's culture, before we go into that region. I told them, I don't think India should be 6th member of UN Security Council, because it angers Pakistan. I saw Elbit's Mikey Federmann or his brother David is friendly with them too. I prefer to keep things healthy with them.
I think Alkhatrash, can go on to do well, with his life, he doesn't need AngryPages. There are 100s of publishers. And many of them, will see a rejection by me, and AngryPages, a tiny, small SME, an insignificant publisher, who don't matter, as a good opportunity, to help Alkhatrash bring his dreams alive. We're a small, tiny firm, who don't matter. There are 1000s of publishers, in every single country, and they'd be far better, more suitable picks. In fact, there's Medium or Reddit, or I think there's that Substack. You have so many options. Google Books is a good option. There's so many. We are not a big deal, there's nothing special, important or cool about AngryPages.
We have preserved the complete correspondence. We do not intend to continue the dispute and have no further comment.
We don't wish to comment or reply to this, this statement is enough.
Best,
Lehan
