Seven Stories Cancels Book

An antiwar book due from Seven Stories Press by a popular comics writer has been canceled after the author admitted that he lied about being a U.S. Army Ranger in the introduction to a previous book and in biographical information in his new book.

Dan Simon, publisher of Seven Stories, said that Micah Wright's forthcoming book, If You're Not a Terrorist... Then Stop Asking Questions, has been canceled because of the false claims. Wright is also the author of You Back the Attack, We'll Bomb Who We Want, published by Seven Stories in 2003. Wright's false claims were discovered by a Washington Post reporter, who had originally written a favorable story about the author.

Wright has admitted lying about being in the military and about being a U.S. Army Ranger. His confession is posted on his Web site (www.micahwright.com).

Simon told PW he has known of the allegations about Wright since last summer and has confronted Wright several times about the issue. But Wright repeatedly maintained he was telling the truth, said Simon: "He was evasive or showed us fuzzy photographs that were supposed to verify his military service."

In his posted confession Wright said he made the admission because of the pressure of guilt and anxiety. "[F]rankly, I'm sick of it. I'm sick of lying to my friends, to employers, to my fans, to myself," he wrote on his site. "I haven't been able to sleep and I've just about given myself an ulcer. It's all become too much. I'm stopping the lies."

However, Simon told PW Wright only confessed when told that the Washington Post planned to expose his false claims. "He confessed when he knew the newspaper article was coming," said Simon.

Wright's first book, You Back the Attack, has sold about 20,000 copies. Simon said Seven Stories will continue to sell the book, but will remove the introduction if it goes back to press. Wright is best known as the writer for Stormwatch, a popular graphic novel series from DC/Wildstorm.