I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the photo of "Celina Marka" is actually a snapshot of someone else stolen from the internet...
I suspected that might be the case, and searched it yesterday or day before, but
http://www.tineye.com didn't turn up anything. (I HAVE caught trouble-makers using fake profile pictures they grabbed of the web with Tin Eye before. But not this time.)
It wouldn't surprise me if the individual behind ParaDon -- and I suspect that it is an individual, despite the multiple names -- has managed to convince themselves that: they know what they're doing ("how hard can it be?") they know the industry (possibly better than the "out of touch" industry insiders. "The world is different now."), and that
if only they can get the start up cash, they think they
really will be able to do right by their authors (as well as finally getting themselves published.)
The one con-artist (well, at least that I know of) that I had the misfortune of spending a lot of time around (not by choice; We never got along
) was definitely conning himself to a far greater degree than he was conning anyone else. He couldn't see the way his addition to get-rich-quick was causing and worsening all the problems he wanted this hypothetical sudden infusion of cash to solve. (I'm seeing similarities in attitudes between the two of them. But maybe that's just me.)
