Karen Fletcher, 54, of Donora, Pennsylvania has been indicted by a federal grand jury on 6 counts of obscenity based solely on the content of her fictional writings that she made available for sale on her website. If that’s not fucked up I don’t know what is!

From Free Speech X-Press

CHILD TORTURE FICTION WEB OPERATOR INDICTED
PITTSBURGH, PA — A federal grand jury has handed down a six-count obscenity indictment against Karen Fletcher, 54, of Donora, Pennsylvania, based only on fictional, fantasy, text materials, which Fletcher wrote and offered for sale on her Red Rose Stories website. The fantasy themes specified in the indictment featured the kidnapping, molestation, torture and murder of very young children. These are not themes likely to create sympathy in jurors. This indictment, along with the recent obscenity charges against fetish film producer Danilo Simoes Croce, of Sao Paulo, Brazil (see X-Press report, “Brazilian Fetish Producer Busted,” 9/15/06) is in line with the apparent Justice Department strategy of prosecuting extreme forms of sexually explicit materials; except in this case, by choosing to go after text-only materials, the government has ventured down an even more slippery slope than in its vendetta against photo and film materials. Erotic photo imagery, while a form of expression subject to First Amendment protections, does involve behaviors and actions of models and actors, whereas written fiction, however extreme, however repulsive, is pure fantasy, pure thought. This effort by law enforcement to penalize the sharing and distribution of fantasy comes very close to thought control. The grand jury indictment, rather than the fact that some people share child torture fantasies, may be the scariest part of this story.
“I find it very troubling that a fictional account, somebody’s fantasy, could be considered a crime when there is no indication that anybody has been exploited,” said Joan Bertin, executive director of the New York-based National Coalition Against Censorship.

While this author in no way condones actual behavior as described in Ms Fletcher’s fiction, I find it disturbing that the authorities now are on a path to censor thoughts. What’s next? Censorship of any expression that doesn’t fit the government’s agenda? Did anyone say 1984?