The Lies Evolve – Why the Attacks Persist & What the Truth Really Is
By Robert Stanek | robertstanek.com

The smear campaigns didn’t end. They adapted.

For more than 25 years, I’ve written stories that reached readers around the world. Despite the noise, the truth has never changed: the work is real, the readers are real—and the attacks have always been about control, not credibility.

This new wave of misinformation is just the latest evolution of a very old playbook: recycle debunked lies, add dramatic music, and call it an “investigation.”

Let’s refocus on the facts.

For Background

I stepped away from publishing new creative work for nearly a decade, focusing instead on personal projects and private life. But that changed in March 2025, when I announced the forthcoming release of the 25th Anniversary Edition of The Kingdoms & the Elves of the Reaches. Almost immediately, a familiar pattern re-emerged.

Some of the same voices who had fueled disinformation campaigns in the early 2000s—and others who have maintained a pattern of online harassment since at least 2015—resurfaced. Within days of the announcement, new videos began circulating, rehashing claims that had long since been publicly debunked.

The first video, posted around April 17, revived several known falsehoods. It included personal attacks against my wife, distorted facts about a publicly documented photo from the Distinguished Flying Cross Memorial (which clearly displays my name), and misrepresented my photography collections as “nonexistent” book series—demonstrating either willful misinformation or careless research.

On April 22, a second, more aggressive hour-long video followed—escalating the attacks and forming the basis of the response that follows. To be clear, the video draws extensively on material lifted—nearly word-for-word—from a notorious blog known for recycling long-debunked falsehoods about me dating back to the early 2000s. These claims have been investigated, discredited, and publicly refuted for years.

The “Title Change” Myth

The Lie: “In 2016, Robert renamed his books to mimic George R.R. Martin.”

The Truth: The 10th Anniversary Editions of Ruin Mist began publishing in 2012, not 2016. Titles like Winds of Change and Seeds of Dissent had already existed—and were clearly presented as YA editions from the beginning.

The “named path” and “numbered path” structure wasn’t a copycat gimmick. It was a creative design inspired by my years in Japan and my love for manga, which often uses volume arcs and labeled sagas.

It was about storytelling—not trend-chasing.

YA vs. Adult Editions: A Real Strategy, Not a Scam

The Lie: “Having separate YA and adult editions was deceptive.”

The Truth: This is standard in the industry. Major publishers like Tor, Orbit, and HarperCollins have done the same—often after Ruin Mist pioneered the approach.

My editions were always clearly labeled:

It wasn’t a trick. It was reader-first publishing—before it became the norm. As I’ve written about for years, other publishers even approached me back then to understand how I’d successfully positioned the series for both YA and adult markets. They studied my model. Some even followed it.

The Sci-Fi Cash Grab Claim

The Lie: “Robert pivoted to science fiction in 2014 to chase Hunger Games success.”

The Truth: My roots in science fiction go back decades. After the Machines was the culmination of long-standing work in speculative fiction, blending AI, surveillance, and dystopian themes—subjects I’ve covered as both an author and a technologist.

The Emily Asimov Accusation

The Lie: “Emily Asimov is a pseudonym designed to mislead readers into thinking she’s Isaac Asimov’s granddaughter.”

The Truth: Emily’s bio is transparent and personal. It contains no such claim. The assumption is invented—and the attack is a cruel smear against another writer.

Many authors use pseudonyms. That choice is theirs. It doesn’t invalidate the work.

The Forum Fabrication

The Lie: “Robert impersonated hundreds of fans on his own message board.”

The Truth: The Ruin Mist forums, active from 2003 to 2012, had 700 members, over 10,000 posts, and a peak of 400 users online in a single day. They’re still publicly viewable.

The claim that I ran every post myself is not only false—it’s easily disprovable by the record.

The “Handful of Fans” Myth

The Lie: “Maybe he had a few fans—no more.”

The Truth: My books had real momentum. Thousands of readers across forums, classrooms, libraries, and online communities.

The pattern of coordinated 1-star reviews? That’s not opinion—that’s digital sabotage. And it began as soon as the books gained traction.

The DOJ Revelation: Why Reviews Vanished

The Lie: “Reviews were deleted because they were fake.”

The Truth: Reviews began disappearing only after years of harassment—and around the same time as a $100M fraud ring at Amazon was exposed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Corrupt insiders were removing positive reviews, suspending competitors, and manipulating rankings for bribes. This wasn’t theory—it was fact, detailed in DOJ indictments.

I was one of many targeted.

Read the press release: DOJ: Amazon Bribery & Fraud Case (2020)

What This Is Really About

Not fame. Not ego.

This fight is about who gets to tell stories—and whether those stories must pass through someone else’s gate to be seen as “valid.”

When the trolls couldn’t stop the books, they tried to erase the author. When that didn’t work, they tried to erase the truth.

But the truth didn’t go anywhere.

Winds of Change – 25th Anniversary Legacy Edition

Launches February 10, 2026

Uncut. Restored. Still standing.

Preorder and learn more »

Next Up

1. Truth vs Trolls

3. Numbers, Myths & the Truth About the Work

4. The Noise is the Point

5. The Fake Review Myth

6. Bestseller Truth

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