Back in 2006, I reviewed a documentary called Deliver Us From Evil that changed the way I looked at paedophilia. Anyone with a functioning moral compass understands that it is wrong, but before watching that film I don’t think I quite grasped just how far-reaching the consequences of child sexual assault could be. My review, for a short-lived website, has since been lost to cyberspace, but I remember two things about it. I called it “the most important documentary ever made” and suggested that should I ever cross paths with the serial paedophile upon whom the film focused, Oliver O’Grady, I would need to exercise great restraint not to take to his head with a baseball bat.
I will never forget the moment when it was revealed that O’Grady, a priest, had penetrated a nine-month-old baby. The revulsion and disbelief overwhelmed me; as I sat there in the darkened theatrette I literally felt physically ill. When, in May this year, my own daughter turned nine months old, that moment came back to me and I found it harder still to comprehend. What kind of evil pervert could even contemplate such an act, let alone do it? What sort of genetic aberration could look upon an infant – the embodiment of trust and innocence – and become aroused?
The cold touch of paedophilia is so widespread that even those who have evaded it (and I number among them, thank God) usually know someone who was not so lucky. When I was 10 years old, a school friend of mine told me how his uncle had sexually assaulted him. I was old enough to understand it was wrong, but young enough not to really understand why, and I doubt I offered him any comfort. I recalled his confession 20 years later, after viewing Deliver Us From Evil, and could only sympathise across the years, for all the good it would do – the damage was done, and it was irrevocable.
Paedophilia touched my life again on June 12, 2014. This time, bizarrely, it involved a man on the other side of the world.
On March 1, I submitted a story – which I’ll call ‘A Mother’s Touch’ – to Bloodbond, a bi-annual magazine of vampire fiction produced by Alban Lake Publishing. I knew it would be a hard sell because it contained a scene that would, even in horror circles, be considered ‘extreme’… yet at the same time, it was not extreme at all. The challenge, I thought, would be to find a publisher with the spine to recognise this and print it despite what could be deemed controversial sexual content. The first story I ever sold, ‘The Beauty Without’, contained a similar ‘hot potato’ scene and more than a few editors blanched before the courageous Sarah Dobbs gave it a home in SciFantastic #3.
On June 11, I received an email from a man named Tyree Campbell. He had recently taken over as managing editor of Alban Lake Publishing. The email read:
Dear Ms [sic] Ashton,
Apologies for the delay...had a change of editors...
After some mulling, I've decided to accept "[A Mother’s Touch]" for the November 2014 Bloodbond. It's a bit extreme, but its logic and some very good writing hold the story together. You'll receive a contributor's copy, of course, and payment...but I need to know how to pay you. Paypal is usually best, but I'd need the e-mail addy. Otherwise, I'm open to suggestions.
Also could use a brief bio from you.
Regards,
Tyree Campbell
Managing Editor
Alban Lake Publishing
I was delighted with this acceptance, as any author would be, and immediately responded with my bio and PayPal details. Then, the next day, I was making a short train journey and decided to Google Tyree Campbell’s name to pass the time. Had he not recently taken over Alban Lake Publishing, it might never have occurred to me to do so – but I was curious about his publishing credentials.
I discovered he was a science fiction writer of some repute who had published more than 150 stories and won some prestigious awards.
I also discovered he was a convicted paedophile.
My gut instinct was not to believe – the internet is, after all, full of slander and misinformation. And if I’m honest, I didn’t want to believe; the man was about to pay me for a story. But the hard evidence was there to see at this website. A court document accusing Tyree Campbell of molesting “a child under the age of 15 years”. She was under 15 all right – if the rest of the information on that website is accurate, she was just four years old and the assaults occurred over a period of 18 months.
In one of his books of short stories, the late British author James Herriot wrote a line that I’ve never forgotten: I could forgive anybody for robbing a bank, but never for this. He was referring to an act of animal cruelty, and I feel the same way about paedophilia. I could forgive even murder under the right extenuating circumstances, but never paedophilia.
I emailed Campbell immediately and informed him I was withdrawing my story. As of this writing, I have not received a response#.
That serendipitous Google search might well have saved my reputation as an author (not to mention as a person). That scene in ‘A Mother’s Touch’ could be construed as paedophilic even though it is, in the context of the story, not in the least bit sexual. Quite the opposite, in fact. I am reluctant to be more specific, since it is the ‘high concept’ that makes the story original, but I think any open-minded person would agree.
That Campbell found it worthwhile, however, was enough to make me wonder if my own moral compass had spun off magnetic north. After some consideration, I decided I should not let Campbell’s perversions corrupt what I believe is a tender and memorable moment of fiction. I have since submitted ‘A Mother’s Touch’ to another market, and if it is ever accepted, I will update this post with a fuller explanation.
I was not the first author to make such a gut-roiling discovery about Campbell; Amanda Fitzwater, a New Zealand speculative fiction writer, pulled a story from Aoife’s Kiss in 2012 after learning about Campbell’s past. You can read more about her experience here.
It puzzles me that Campbell has never bothered to start publishing under a pen name, thereby preventing anyone else discovering the abhorrent thing he did to a girl in 1981*. Perhaps he doesn’t want to lose the considerable cachet that exists in his real name, or perhaps he is just too brazen and unrepentant about what he did to care. But the more writers and editors who know what lies beneath the name ‘Tyree Campbell’, the better.
* Something else I realised while writing this blog post – ‘Jane Doe’, Campbell's victim, would be almost exactly my age.
# Update 17/6/14: Shortly after publishing this post, I received the following email from Campbell at 3:01pm:
Dear Ms [sic] Ashton,
Well, sorry to hear that. As you're no doubt aware, everything you read on the Internet is 100% true and accurate. I could point out that in this instance only 1% is accurate, if that, and that the extremely minor misdemeanor offense I committed was 33 years ago, with no subsequent history of anything, but it will be simpler just to let this go and spend no more time on it. So: your story has officially been withdrawn [good luck with it].
Cheers,
~tyree
To clarify, Campbell pleaded out to regular assault (a misdemeanour), but was charged with sexual assualt (a felony). If his response elicits in you any sympathy, I urge you to read this blog post. Once more I can only thank my lucky stars that I decided to Google Campbell's name. Others, like this fellow, might think Campbell has "paid his debt to society". I think Jane Doe would have a different opinion.