Incarcerated For Writing Science Fiction

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
The title is misleading. The teacher wasn't incarcerated. He was placed on administrative leave and banned from entering school grounds.

Here is the actual news article:
Cambridge Mace's Lane Middle School Teacher on Administrative Leave

Here's the last line of the article:

McLaw has not been arrested or charged with any crime at this time, according to the Wicomico County State's Attorney's Office.

Though I agree this is blatant overreaction by school officials.

I put the Title that was on the article. I didn't make it up.

Here are the books he wrote that caused the authorities to get their panties in a knot:

First one
The Insurrectionist
It's sequel.
Li lith's Heir

I can't tell you how good the stories are since everyone is giving the books 5 stars because of this controversy. Though with all this press, it is definitely giving him free publicity for his books. He probably won't even need a teaching career anymore.

ETA: It looks like he is an awful writer, I found a review of the first book that wasn't just mindless promoting because of controversy and found the following review:

This is an author whose horrible writing stopped me from reading his book after a few pages. I usually try to get through a chapter before I abandon a book (which is a rare thing in and of itself), but I just couldn't past the first 1%.

Like many reviewers here, I bought this in response to a news story. I'm sorry I did. This author *may* have a good story buried somewhere in this book - but his own words get in the way. I cannot get past his word choice (sounds like he swallowed a thesaurus), his style (he writes in third person present...and odd but valid choice...but he doesn't do it well, in my opinion), or his continued use of overpacked run-on sentences.

Here's an example - the second and third sentences of Ch. 1:
"She attempts to remain psychologically serene as she walks past the copious black body bags strewn throughout the front turf, cognisant of the reality that they enclose the the corpses of teenagers - all of whom were alive just a few short hours ago. Attempting to disregard the cadavers, Zea fixates on the building, which is equally as appalling to observe as the bodies as the occurrence of that afternoon has dispossessed the institution of every respectable attribute it once comprised."

...psychologically serene: she's a federal agent coming onto a crime scene. Putting this right up front makes me question her competence and her job choice. Her inner self can roil all it needs to - she needs to remain outwardly serene.
...bags strewn throughout: I highly doubt that body bags would be "strewn" (they would probably be laid carefully side by side, both because of efficiency and out of respect for the dead) and if they were, they'd be strewn across the turf, not throughout.
...cognisant of the reality: please don't try to impress me with big words and important-sounding phrases. Because if a federal agent isn't cognisant of the reality of the situation, I would not want them at that location.
...corpses and cadavers: cadavers is a medical term, not a "cop" term, and it's more often associated with dissection - does the author want me to think that they're being dissected right there and then?
...fixates on the building: A federal agent arriving at a crime scene would want to scan the entire scene - absorb all the data possible - and would not "fixate" on one thing, narrowing focus and therefore possibly missing evidence.
...as appalling to observe as the bodies: first, I doubt that a building's damage would be as appalling to see as that of a bullet-ridden body. Second, the character didn't observe any bodies - just body bags.
...dispossessed the institution: holy crap, get your words from reality and not from a thesaurus.

It gets worse. As I said, he may have a good book in there somewhere. I'm just not willing to slog through the miasma of his writing to get to it.

originally posted by: CoherentlyConfused
a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

STOP BEING SCARED of things that haven't happened. Maybe in the future something could happen is not a reason to completely bulldoze someone's life.

S&F...This will MAKE him do something and provoke him into being the person they are accusing him to be just out of the fact he is being disenfranchised. Again, this ain't no Turner Diaries.

originally posted by: ArchPlayer

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
The title is misleading. The teacher wasn't incarcerated. He was placed on administrative leave and banned from entering school grounds.

Here is the actual news article:
Cambridge Mace's Lane Middle School Teacher on Administrative Leave

Here's the last line of the article:

McLaw has not been arrested or charged with any crime at this time, according to the Wicomico County State's Attorney's Office.

Though I agree this is blatant overreaction by school officials.

I put the Title that was on the article. I didn't make it up.

I know you didn't. I clicked on the source links from that article (taking me to a forum post. Oh boy...) then the source link from there took me to the local newspaper site. I find it better to post local sources for local issues like this, they tend to have less sensationalized headlines than national news and partisan sites do. They also tend to have more facts as well.

a reply to: ArchPlayer

I hope the "educated " people here, or in this school system, never get exposed to H.P.Lovecraft.

They would have "nightmares on steroids" afterwards. There had to be something wrong with that guy, but I don't remember of him being locked up.

a reply to: ArchPlayer

What is wrong with being young and getting teacher awards?

Nothing wrong with it, but the OP said a bunch of awards and as I thought this was inaccurate. he has not been teaching long. he wrote the books by the way three years ago in college.

nominated for First Class Teacher of the Year and was previously featured in USA Today for helping a 14-year-old student self-publish e-books on Amazon.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t

originally posted by: ArchPlayer

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
The title is misleading. The teacher wasn't incarcerated. He was placed on administrative leave and banned from entering school grounds.

Here is the actual news article:
Cambridge Mace's Lane Middle School Teacher on Administrative Leave

Here's the last line of the article:

McLaw has not been arrested or charged with any crime at this time, according to the Wicomico County State's Attorney's Office.

Though I agree this is blatant overreaction by school officials.

I put the Title that was on the article. I didn't make it up.

I know you didn't. I clicked on the source links from that article (taking me to a forum post. Oh boy...) then the source link from there took me to the local newspaper site. I find it better to post local sources for local issues like this, they tend to have less sensationalized headlines than national news and partisan sites do. They also tend to have more facts as well.

No prob. UPDATE: All I could find was this one - hxxp://www.wboc.com/story/26367051/cambridge-maces-lane-middle-school-teacher-on-administrative-leave

Other than that just blogs and one from a fellow teacher talking about it. Please post it, if you don't mind from a paper.

a reply to: ArchPlayer

I did, it's the link in the post you first quoted.

Here it is again:
hxxp://www.wboc.com/story/26367051/cambridge-maces-lane-middle-school-teacher-on-administrative-leave

The above article is from a local news station in the area.

a reply to: ArchPlayer

Why does he have to be a nut to write about current events in the future? The book wasn't about the terrorists shooting up the place, it was about how the society dealt with it AFTER.

Ok again I didn't say he WAS a nut I said what if he turned out to be, and inaccurate again, his first book is about a bomb creating the biggest school killing ever in the country, the followup book is about the aftermath.

The writing is concerned with antagonists his age killing kids it seems.
From the book

the brat was the perfect diversion and thanks to just about every teacher in the academy he was a lot more gullible than he really should have been. “Ha, they should thank me for getting rid of you demon brat, just be grateful that I’m gonna be sending you back where you belong,” he gloated as he pricked his finger

originally posted by: CoherentlyConfused
a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

STOP BEING SCARED of things that haven't happened. Maybe in the future something could happen is not a reason to completely bulldoze someone's life.

That's what I say about global warming!

Did you even read what I said?
I said it was an overreaction. But he should have been checked out, that's it..
I have car insurance but I'm not afraid of being in a wreck. I have smoke detectors but im not scared of fire. So why not do a background check on the people you trust your children with? That only seems prudent.

Okay, i didn't want to have to do this. The fics feature, uh, underage sex. Its anime characters though,so i don't really know if that make it less weird or more.

Its also horribly written. I've put up with some horrid things before and this is one of them.

a reply to: TsukiLunar

Wait what books/stories are you looking at? The ones I've been looking at are the controversial books that got him in trouble and they appear to be text books. So how would you know they are anime/manga characters?

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71

originally posted by: CoherentlyConfused
a reply to: Hoosierdaddy71

STOP BEING SCARED of things that haven't happened. Maybe in the future something could happen is not a reason to completely bulldoze someone's life.

That's what I say about global warming!

Did you even read what I said?
I said it was an overreaction. But he should have been checked out, that's it..
I have car insurance but I'm not afraid of being in a wreck. I have smoke detectors but im not scared of fire. So why not do a background check on the people you trust your children with? That only seems prudent.

The Check was done when he got the gig. All teachers have to do fingerprints and a mandatory background check. But this:

Phillips said McLaw was taken in for an emergency medical evaluation. The sheriff would not disclose where McLaw is now, but he did say that he is not on the Eastern Shore. The same day that McLaw was taken in for an evaluation, police swept Mace's Lane Middle School for bombs and guns, coming up empty. Dorchester County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Wagner said the Dorchester County Board of Education has taken its own action. "We have advised our community that the gentleman has been placed on administrative leave, and has been prohibited from entering any Dorchester County public school property," Wagner said. The 23-year-old language arts teacher had already taught at the school for a year. With school starting Tuesday, some parents tell WBOC they are concerned about safety, but both Wagner and Phillips said there is nothing to worry about. "There will be a Cambridge Police Department presence at Mace's Lane Middle School for as long as we deem it necessary," Wagner said. "I think that the various police agencies that we have, working in conjunction with the board have a handle on the situation and I think we're going to have a safe and happy opening day of school tomorrow," Phillips said in an interview Monday with WBOC. Phillips said law enforcement across Delmarva have been sent McLaw's photo and information. The sheriff said McLaw is banned from county properties in Dorchester and Wicomico counties, as well as the Delmar School District. McLaw has not been arrested or charged with any crime at this time, according to the Wicomico County State's Attorney's Office.

People are now saying he looks "menacing" from his school pic. All he is trying to do is look serious. Police stalking the students and raiding his house, and the whole bit is not a check to me, sorry.

originally posted by: TsukiLunar
Okay, i didn't want to have to do this. The fics feature, uh, underage sex. Its anime characters though,so i don't really know if that make it less weird or more.

Its also horribly written. I've put up with some horrid things before and this is one of them.

I don't think he wrote about underage sex. There has been no mention of that in his Naruto Fan Fiction.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: TsukiLunar

Wait what books/stories are you looking at? The ones I've been looking at are the controversial books that got him in trouble and they appear to be text books. So how would you know they are anime/manga characters?

He wrote in the Naruto canon; Naruto is a anime/manga character. Tsuki is trying to say the books suck (which they aren't my cup of tea) but they are known to include racy material like underage hedonism. However, in his books he kept it thus far in the Naruto universe.

Chapter 1 peeps:

Chapter 1: Conversion of two pure souls “Snicker Damn that was easy, why the hell couldn’t that have been the original genin exam, I’d have aced it years ago!” Naruto snickered to himself as he landed in the clearing that Mizuki-sensei had told him about earlier that day, Naruto was still high on his victory over the old man Hokage, having knocked him out with one shot using his patented ‘sexy jutsu’, to be honest Naruto was kinda surprised that the old guy had had that much blood in him to spare. ‘Now let’s see here,’ he thought as he opened up the large scroll that he had pilfered by Mizuki-sensei’s orders, only to be shocked and dismayed by the first jutsu on the large list, “What! Not more clones! Aww, that’s my worst ju ... tsuuu,” Naruto trailed off after being hit in the back of the neck and knocked out. “Hehehehe, it’s time I finally got rid of you demon brat,” Mizuki muttered as he stood over Naruto’s unconscious body after he had taken a quick second glance at the scroll that Orochimaru-Sama had given him, Mizuki had been planning to abandon Konoha for a while now, he just needed an appropriate scapegoat to cover for his escape, man was he glad that he had been placed as the sensei of Naruto’s class, the brat was the perfect diversion and thanks to just about every teacher in the academy he was a lot more gullible than he really should have been. “Ha, they should thank me for getting rid of you demon brat, just be grateful that I’m gonna be sending you back where you belong,” he gloated as he pricked his finger before going through a series of nine hand seals then slamming his bloody hand on the ground, “Summoning Jutsu: Rashomon,” he said as the jutsu activated, summoning a ten foot tall solid steel door (Mizuki doesn’t have the reserves to call a hell’s gate at full size), Mizuki went through several more hand seals, stopping on ram, before saying, “Rashomon ... Open,” causing the various locks on the front of the gate to disengage before the large doors swung outward showing Mizuki the hellish nightmare within, unfortunately, though spooked, it didn’t really faze him. Naruto was just starting to come around when he felt someone pick up his limp form by the back of his jacket, though the howling coming from the open gate brought him to full awareness quickly, unfortunately not quickly enough as he came around just in time to see who had thrown him into the depths of hell, his cry of “Why Mizuki-sensei, why,” was ignored by all but one person within earshot, Hinata. “No, Naruto-kun!” She cried out as she broke cover at a full sprint toward the gate, Mizuki saw that she didn’t really notice him at the moment and seeing as her going to hell would really only get rid of a demon-lover he didn’t bother to stop her from throwing herself in after Naruto.

a reply to: ArchPlayer

Dude! I said they over reacted! I agree with you..
But I think when this new info was discovered, someone should have talked to him. I didn't say fire him or arrest him. Get the fact and see if something needs to be done. If he's writing child porn that could be considered a conflict of interest don't you think?

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
a reply to: ArchPlayer

Dude! I said they over reacted! I agree with you..
But I think when this new info was discovered, someone should have talked to him. I didn't say fire him or arrest him. Get the fact and see if something needs to be done. If he's writing child porn that could be considered a conflict of interest don't you think?

Well, contrary to the fact I think Naruto is hiddeous, his take on it is far from child porn. No one is saying he wrote any sexualized material. All focus is on the school shooting part. Again, its Naruto, no Turner Diaries by any means. Stephen King's Rage should have made people go to these lengths and raid his house and the whole bit FAR FAR FAR FAR more than this drivel.

a reply to: ArchPlayer

But those stories aren't what got him in trouble. Everyone and their brother seems to write fanfiction these days. So that's whatever (could have picked a better anime than dragonballz 2.0 though...). We need to look at what got him in trouble, which is the two books I posted earlier in the thread.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

originally posted by: Iamthatbish
This goes beyond over reacting. I live in Maryland, people don't understand how every case either use precedents or makes it.

This case made a complete mess of this mans life! How is he supposed to support children's creativity now?!

We have very little information, are we not jumping the gun assuming there was nothing other than the school bombing in his fiction? Maybe there is information we do not have yet.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: TsukiLunar

Wait what books/stories are you looking at? The ones I've been looking at are the controversial books that got him in trouble and they appear to be text books. So how would you know they are anime/manga characters?

Text books?
From your link

On 18 March 2902, a massacre transpired on the campus of Ocean Park High School, claiming the lives of nine hundred forty-seven individuals--the largest school massacre in the nation's history.

And as Nick, Keith, and Mitchel struggle to survive their slowly deteriorating school, this teenage executioner makes known that he is not like typical school assassins. He is not a copycat killer. He is not a psychologically unstable maniac. He is intelligent and knows how to kill silently and without detection. His victims are not selected at random. He is after someone--and he will stop at nothing until he is face-to-face with the one person to whom he owes much retribution. However, he will not distinguish between those he hunts and those who get in his way.

Maybe this will sell so many of his books he can retire.