Sign of the Apocalypse # 2476

Andrew Burt steps down as head of SFWA's ePiracy ePrivateering Copyright Committee, apparently without any violence or threats thereof. The new boss is Russell Davis, who has published two novels this decade. (Admittedly, they're Twilight Zone and Tom Clancy novelizations, but they still count.)

Wonder if his first action as head of that committee will be to ask for suggestions for what size cannon to attack scribd with?

[via John Scalzi]

Update, five minutes later: Now, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but, if I were, I'd point out that the ePiracy committee has just been reconstituted, under the same chairman as before (though under a different title) and the response, so far, seems to be entirely positive. Is SFWA really bad at publicity...or terrifyingly, Machiavellianly good at it? (Pause for laugh.) I thought not.

Yet More Updatery: Davis himself dropped by (see comments) to point out that he's actually sold and written about twenty novels, under various names. Again, having real working writers in positions of importance at SFWA is, I think, very important, so this is good news.