The New York Times reports this morning that five science fiction conservative authors are suing Eagle Publishing, the parent company of the hard right Regnery imprint, for defrauding them out of untold riches. Regnery, see, has been selling books to groups that they’re affiliated with, like the Conservative Book Club, at massive markdowns, and, in turn, the authors don’t see the royalties they think they should. One of the plaintiffs said he earns about $4.25 a copy when his book sells at the store, which is a lot more money than the dime he gets for each copy sold in the discounted group scheme. In fact, it’s about $4.15 more.

On its face, it sounds like a pretty raw deal, but that’s for the U.S. District Court to decide. What’s funny is how much the authors sound like the goofy caricatures of liberals they paint in their books, the type who are a little unhinged and rail against the Man and probably smell of patchouli. The suit claims that Eagle Publishing “orchestrates and participates in a fraudulent, deceptively concealed and self-dealing scheme.” And if you thought that was overwrought, one of the claimants gasped, “It suddenly occurred to us that Regnery is making collectively jillions of dollars off of us and paying us a pittance…. Why is Regnery acting like a Marxist cartoon of a capitalist company?” Why, indeed?  

To top it all off, let’s not forget what the five authors have done to remedy the situation. They’ve hired—wait for it--trial attorneys!

Richard Miniter—author of “Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush is Winning the War on Terror” and gleeful bitchslapper of all things left of The Corner—I don’t even know who you are anymore.

--Greg Veis

Update: My colleague James Kirchick also noticed the Times piece and linked it to his recent investigation of Karl Zinsmeister. Read his post here. 

Update II: How could've I missed this classic line from Miniter: "We're not looking for a payoff; we're looking for justice." Preach on, broseph. Preach on!

(Hat tip P.S.)