In 2020 the tightly knit and passionate world of self-published romance literature was shocked by the news that the novelist Susan Meachen, following bullying by other writers, had taken her own life.
Meachen’s grieving fans funded her funeral costs, according to members of the romance community, and helped edit and promote her final book. Fellow authors released an anthology dedicated to Meachen, with the dedication page calling plaintively, or pointedly, to “keep bullying where it belongs – in fiction”.
