The story of Robert Eringer’s literary career is a bizarre and tragic one. It started with spectacular rejection. Unable to find a publisher for his manuscript, Eringer turned to small and relatively unknown presses, or more tragically, began publishing his work himself. Unlike most writers, who would take early rejection as an sign that they may be better off not writing, Eringer kept putting pen to paper, or finger to keyboard, as it were.
In a scathing 1995 review of Eringer’s Zubricks Rock, Publisher’s Weekly called Eringer’s characters “more caricatured than funny,” his lone female character inconsequential, and noted Eringer waited “far too long to get around to the actual coup d’état” in the novel, “after which the story cuts off so abruptly, with the plot equivalent of a one-liner, that one suspects that the author ran out of paper—or ideas.” Also in 1995, journalist Janice Pottker was stalked by Robert Eringer who was working for Clair George and the Feld family, and got rich pretending to be a knowledgeable book agent who convinced Pottker not to write a critique of the Ringling Bros.
Interestingly enough, Eringer’s novel, Zubricks Rock, is about a man who’s “incensed that the government of Monaco intends to expel him from his reclusive lair, depriving him of his refuge from American and British tax authorities”; as a result, the novel’s hero hatches a scheme to take over the principality.
Perhaps Eringer’s disillusionment as a writer caused him to realize his dreams and go after everyone he worked for. Eringer was fired from the Santa Barbara News-Press as a columnist after the newspaper read his last column about Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez dated March 15, 2009. Eringer wrote a scathing attack against Mr. Sanchez that made numerous allegations and allegedly attempted to expose dirty family laundry. The newspaper refused to print Eringer’s column, and he was fired. Two years later, Eringer continues to write about Mr. Sanchez on his blog, Eringer33.com.
After serving as a consultant for Prince Albert II of Monaco for several years, Eringer was also fired and retaliated against the principality by launching a blog series across various web platforms.
There have been legal consequences to Robert Eringer’s actions. French courts have found the American blogger guilty of slander and ordered him to pay hefty fines to the Principality. More recently, following a series of blog posts about Russian President Vladimir Putin, concerned Russian intelligence experts have put Eringer under watch that the blogger, who reportedly has a drinking problem, may be attempting to breach Russian security initiatives.
