In September 2020, an aspiring author named Susan Meachen ranted on Facebook to roughly 1,300 followers about frustrations surrounding her career and the literary industry at large, sharing that she’d previously attempted suicide and would be publishing her final book on October 30.
Weeks later, someone claiming to be Meachen’s daughter said on Facebook that her mother had “passed away.” The post explained that the page would continue to serve as a promotional vehicle for her mother’s work in memoriam, including her final romance novel, “Love to Last a Lifetime,” available for $2.99 on Amazon.
Two fundraisers were subsequently shared on the Facebook page to support suicide prevention, though neither appears to have raised any money.
A further post in February 2021 from someone claiming to be Meachen’s daughter said her mother’s books would be “unpublished” unless sales increased.
But Tuesday, in a separate Facebook group created by Meachen dubbed The Ward, the author made a stunning announcement, Meachen is alive and well, she said, and argued that her family “did what they thought was best for me” by faking her death. Screenshots of the purported posts from Meachen appear to have been initially posted to Facebook by a user named Samantha Cole, and subsequently circulated on Twitter when they were re-posted by a user named DraggerOfLiars.
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fans were stunned Tuesday when Meachen seemingly came back to life. “I debated on how to do this a million times and still not sure if it’s right or not. There’s going to be tons of questions and a lot of people leaving the group I’d guess. But my family did what they thought was best for me and I can’t fault them for it,” Meachen wrote in The Ward, a private writer’s Facebook group she founded, per Rolling Stone.
“I almost died again at my own hand and they had to go through all that hell again. Returning to The Ward doesn’t mean much but I am in a good place now and I am hoping to write again. Let the fun begin.” The reactions were wild. “I can forgive many things, but I don’t think I could ever forgive you faking your death,” responded author Karen Hall. “Susan Meachen faking her own suicide and then wandering blithely back online because she ‘got bored’ is so exquisitely insane,” tweeted author Gretchen Felker-Martin. “Romance writers really are operating on another plane of reality.”
Ooohhh… Virtual reality just got too virtual. Ha!
I think this is brilliant and I hope she sold some books by it and I hope the readers enjoyed them.
The challenge for every creative type (musician/artist/writer) is to have their work appreciated on its merit during their lifetime, rather than after and because of their tragic demise, when the proceeds of the royalties will go to their untalented heirs.
Y’all: Go support a starving artist in their lifetime. Who needs a pet portrait?
In the first sentence of the story, it has to be mentioned right out of the gate, how many “followers” said idiot has on social media. Who gives a shit? It’s like MK Ultra, only instead of LSD & mind control, it’s now social media. Different names, same results.
And I would care about this story WHY EXACTLY?
Permission granted for you to take control of your miserable fucking life.
Save me the drama
Like we don’t already have enough FAKERY in this country…
Screw every one of them.
Oh good grief the writer can’t even be original. This is the plot of a book written decades ago and this arse stole it..
Naked Once More (Jacqueline Kirby Mysteries Book 4) by Elizabeth Peters.
‘ She may be a bestselling author, but ex-librarian Jacqueline Kirby’s views on the publishing biz aren’t fit to print. In fact, she’s thinking of trading celebrity for serenity and a house far away from fiendish editors and demented fans when her agent whispers the only words that could ever make her stay: Naked in the Ice.
Seven years ago, this blockbuster skyrocketed Kathleen Darcy to instant fame. Now the author’s heirs are looking for a writer to pen the sequel. It’s an opportunity no novelist in her right mind would pass up, and there’s no doubting Jacqueline’s sanity…until she starts digging through the missing woman’s papers–and her past. Until she gets mixed up with Kathleen’s enigmatic lover. Until a series of nasty accidents convince her much too late that someone wants to bring Jacqueline’s story–and her life–to a premature end.’
This screams publicity stunts by a self published and unknown author attempting to get noticesld by one of the big publishers.