Stillman sits near the vandalism on the steps of his apartment.
Credit: Matthew Stillman
Matthew Stillman, author of “Genesis Deflowered,” which is basically the King James version of Genesis with added sex scenes, got quite a message when he left his house early Friday Sept. 27. Without neighbors seeing or hearing anything, someone had vandalized his front steps with the spray painted word “blasphemy.”
“I sort of laughed because it was just so crazy,” Stillman told Metro. “I sort of feel like this actually is a threat to authors, not just me. In theory authors should be able to write a book – certainly in America – and not feel like they are going to be threatened for what they have written.”
The author has received emails and tweets from critics saying things like “you are going to burn in hell” and “you can’t do this to God’s work.”
Now this — but Stillman said he isn’t shaken.
“I don’t feel really scared. I mean, there are a lot of different ways that someone could have reacted. Someone could have thrown a brick through my window with the word blasphemy on it. They could have put my house on fire. They spray painted the word ‘blasphemy’ so I think it’s just one person who got really upset,” he rationalized.
Stillman added that his future plans about writing a second book which he plans to call “Exodus Deflowered” aren’t on hold. He said he found the reaction unfair and argued against the idea that his book has anything to do with blasphemy.
“Blasphemy is speaking out against God and I didn’t speak against God in the book. I’m calling it a new subject and giving it a new name,” Stillman said. “Obviously someone got really, really angry at the idea of this book that I wrote. I doubt they read it, but there has been a little bit of press lately.”
Stillman would like to have an actual dialog with the offender so he explain what he actually wrote in the book and why he wrote it.
“The person that vandalized my house is trying to shame me and I would much rather that this person felt ashamed that they are trying to shoot down an artistic endeavor.”
Stillman reported the incident to the NYPD who called it criminal mischief. They took pictures of the steps and told Stillman they would investigate.
