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Roberts Newcomb and Stanek


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#1 Myshkin

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Posted 19 June 2007 - 09:20 PM

The two Roberts are pretty bash-worthy.  A quick rundown:
  
  Robert Newcomb:
  
The author of The Fifth Sorceress and it's sequels.  As far as I can tell the premise of these novels is that women are evil and given a modicum of power they will murder and rape everyone the come across.  The only people capable of standing up to these women are devastatingly handsome "Pure-Blooded" men.  Oh, and apparently in Newcomb's world if a woman is raped by another woman she automatically becomes an evil lesbian.  Sexism and racism aside, these novels are pure cliched crap written by a man whose skill is on par with that of Tairy Goodkind.  In fact, the Yearded One apparently inspired Newcomb to write in the first place.
  
  Robert Stanek:
  
Where to start?  This is the author of the self published Ruin Mist Chronicles.  He is probably most famous for writting and posting glowing reviews of his own works under fake names.  If you see any good reviews for his works you can pretty much be assured that he wrote them himself.  He is also pretty famous for being a lieing douche bag.  He claims that his novels are number one best sellers, but never provides any evidence to support this.  He also claims to have won the Distinguished Flying Cross in the first Iraq war, but upon further review I was unable to find his name amongst those who had won that distinction.  In one of his funniest lies he claims to have met author Brian Jacques, but if you take a close look at the picture it becomes saddly apparent that this is also a lie.  Robert Stanek is also notorious for threatening to sue his detractors.
  
As you can plainly see, these two authors are more than worthy of our scorn.  Has anybody out there actually read anything by these guys?  If you have your input is greatly desired.

Edited by Myshkin, 16 November 2009 - 06:48 PM.


#2 ultraman7k

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 12:34 AM

I tried reading Newcomb's Fifth Sorceress after borrowing it from the library a few years ago....read 50 pages and put it down, never to be read again.

I vaguely recall something about a whiny prince or something throwing knives at one point or another...

#3 The Wolf Maid

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 04:29 AM

The 'inspired by Goodkind' should tell all you need to know about Newcombe. Really. ;)

#4 Maid Sansa

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 04:33 AM

Incidentally, does anyone still have the link to the "Robert Newcomb fan page" that a boarder from the old board used to have in his sig? It was some hilarious Newcomb bashing.

#5 Winterfella

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 08:44 AM

Wow, that picture of Stanek with Brian Jacques explains a lot.  It looks like Stanek is adopting an army of third world children to post all of those reviews.  Or maybe he just adopts them so he'll have a captive audience to read his books.

Seriously, how much more pathetic can you get than standing in line and getting your picture taken with an author, then trying to make it look like it was a mutual get together of two successful writers.

That is one sad, sad man.

#6 Ser Warpechowski

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 08:52 AM

Lol, that is what happened? Lame and sad picture indeed.

Anyway, if you like Goodkind, you have to be pretty lame yourself.

#7 Deornoth

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 10:11 AM

crapauthors.com is a great place to see truly dire authors get trashed; Stanek, GP Taylor and some guy called Sean Wright get a bashing...  :thumbsup:

#8 Rogue Warrior

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 11:22 AM

I thought everyone knew that Newcum is a fine upstanding, Yeard.

#9 Bazzlebane

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 11:30 AM

Stanek does other creepy things like trying to pass off his books as educational and building packets of "teaching materials" to accompany his Ruin Mist series.  He uses that to pitch mass book purchases to schools.  Essentially he's trying to game the system and rip off public schools that aren't savvy to his little web of lies.

#10 J.G.Thomas

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 11:43 AM

View PostDeornoth, on Jun 20 2007, 16.11, said:

crapauthors.com is a great place to see truly dire authors get trashed; Stanek, GP Taylor and some guy called Sean Wright get a bashing...  :thumbsup:

Don't even get me started on GP Taylor...how his dire novel Shadowmancer got picked up by a major publisher is just beyond belief, and what is even worse was the fact that he signed a contract for several more (equally dire books) worth several million dollars...

One thing that makes me laugh about GP Taylor is the biography in some of his books - "GP Taylor has spent his life searching for the hidden mysteries of the universe. He lives in a graveyard."

He is a vicar so it's hardly surprising he lives in a graveyard.

The other thing that made me laugh about him was when he mentioned himself in the same sentence as Philip Pullman (arrogant enough) and then went on to say rather smugly "we're [taking fantasy] in a different direction."

Meh.

As for Stanek...his various escapades have been ridiculed all over the web. He once got his "lawyer" to send a threatening email (an email!?) to someone (I forget who) who was slagging him off. The email was totally unconvincing given that it came from a hotmail account (how many lawyers would send an official email from a hotmail account?!). Furthermore, after some investigation it later transpired that, after checking with the 'lawyer's' law school, that he didn't actually exist. As if we didn't know that from the beginning.

Newcomb I can't comment on, having never had the misfortune to read his work. If his books are as bad as the photo of himself on his official website, then I'm glad I've managed to steer clear.

#11 A wilding

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 11:58 AM

It was Ansible that Stanek theatened. A quick google will get you the story, which is well worth knowing.

Edit: I guess I should make that "someone who purported to represent Stanek threatened". ;)

Edited by A wilding, 20 June 2007 - 12:26 PM.


#12 rado907

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 12:04 PM

Someone should post excerpts of the writings of these guys, so that we can fully appreciate their quality.

#13 Red Templar

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 12:12 PM

And also see here for the Stanek/David Langford contreversy.  Apparently, Langford commented in one of his colums about Stanek's practice of submitting rave reviews for his own material under different names.  Then Stanek's "lawyer" sent a letter threatening legal action.  Quite sad, really.

#14 A wilding

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 12:17 PM

There have also been some interesting Stanek related Wikipedia wars.

For example see here here on Wikipedia - Editing the Wikipedia "literacy" entry! :o

#15 Winterfella

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 12:26 PM

View PostA wilding, on Jun 20 2007, 13.17, said:

For example see here here on Wikipedia - Editing the Wikipedia "literacy" entry! :o

Talk about no shame.  That's classic.

#16 Myrddin

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 04:13 PM

But, but, Stanek has won the hearts and minds of the National Fantasy and Horror Club of Bulgaria!!

http://www.amazon.co...e/AC4GBJRCYEZ26

"The National fantasy & Horror Club of Bulgaria was created in October 1999 by Bulgarian fantasy-fans, writers and publishers. Now it's an influential and popular society and it gives a valuable feedback about fantasy to it's fans. "

Guess which book this group reviewed first on amazon US and UK?

#17 Myshkin

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 04:27 PM

View PostWinterfella, on Jun 20 2007, 06.44, said:

Wow, that picture of Stanek with Brian Jacques explains a lot. It looks like Stanek is adopting an army of third world children to post all of those reviews. Or maybe he just adopts them so he'll have a captive audience to read his books.

Seriously, how much more pathetic can you get than standing in line and getting your picture taken with an author, then trying to make it look like it was a mutual get together of two successful writers.

That is one sad, sad man.
Take a closer look at the picture.  You'll notice that Stanek has no legs.  He didn't even take the time to stand in line to get his picture with Jacques, he just photoshoped himself in there.  Pathetic indeed.

#18 Zap Rowsdower

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 06:23 PM

Question: Is it scarier that Stanek pretends that he has legions of fans out there who are willing to write rave reviews for his books or that Terry Goodkind actually does have legions of fans who are willing to write rave reviews for his books?

#19 Bazzlebane

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 06:25 PM

View PostA wilding, on Jun 20 2007, 10.17, said:

There have also been some interesting Stanek related Wikipedia wars.

For example see here here on Wikipedia - Editing the Wikipedia "literacy" entry! :o

Wow.  I must admit, Stanek's efforts in shameless, misplaced self-promotion are almost admirable, if you admire dementia and obsession.

As a large, fantasy-orientated message board dedicated to an author Stanek has repeatedly compared himself to (GRRM), I'm surprised "RobertStanekFan#1" hasn't registered to provide us with great, positive reviews of Stanek's work and links to his book sales on Amazon.

Edited by Bazzlebane, 20 June 2007 - 06:26 PM.


#20 The Wolf Maid

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 07:08 PM

Stanek takes self-promotion to a whole new level...no, universe. Man, that's way beyond enthusiasm. His methods are in the bleeding edge of egocentricity and obession. (wait, what did I just say? Nevermind)

We should have quotes to mock.