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This is how authors self destruct


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I kinda feel bad for her.

Critics can be harsh, and when someone pours their soul/hard work/time/money into something they truly feel is good, they are going to defend it.

We look at all these big name authors that handle negative press well and think that should be the norm, but without their publishers PR rep, agents, and management telling them not to, they would prolly react the same way.

I also think it would be a more interesting world if those that were criticized for creating something.. anything, were allowed the same forum to defend their art/work/novel to the masses.

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The critic wasn't that harsh, and she was clearly overreacting. She accused him of lying about which version of the book he read based on nothing more than the fact that she couldn't conceive of the idea that there were actual technical errors in her book.

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From her bio:

The changing scenery in London, from the late seventies to the mid eighties with the novelty of Arabs giving out easy money while they became educated had followed, but the left over stench in the air of the Iran war made many flee to the suburbs of London or the countryside. Heavy metal bands, drugs, the AID scares and the confusing beginnings of the first computers taking over, that empted the paper shelves to discs were all part of the horrors that made her flee to North Wales where she continued to edit the novel, Cass. Again, she had to flee from there, due to the Welsh politics of the time, which were burning the British bought homes there. Who knew?

What. The. Hell??

Who knew that the Welsh politics were burning British homes? I dunno, maybe everybody who moved to Wales for better reasons than heavy metal bands, paper shelves being "empted" and "the left over stench of the Iran war"? And what's this about Arabs giving away money?

The critic wasn't that harsh, and she was clearly overreacting. She accused him of lying about which version of the book he read based on nothing more than the fact that she couldn't conceive of the idea that there were actual technical errors in her book.

Agree. I actually thought it was a rather poor review because the 2-star rating wasn't well-substantiated; the reviewer had far more praise than criticism for a book that (based on the prose quoted in the comments, and the author's general incoherence) was probably terrible. Unless the reviewer's rating system is 2=so-so, 3=good, 4=great and 5=best book ever, I expect 2-star reviews to be noticeably harsher than that.

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Critics can be harsh, and when someone pours their soul/hard work/time/money into something they truly feel is good, they are going to defend it.

Critics can be harsh, but this guy was extremely gentle. The first half of the review was praise for the novel and the author; the only criticism he raised had to do with copy-editing. She doesn't even bother defending what the reviewer saw as copy-editing mistakes but instead kept insisting that he was deliberately suppressing a "clean" copy that she had sent him later.

If the guy had really torn into her or called the book unreadable crap, then, yeah, I could see this reaction. But he called the book compelling and interesting, and complimented the way she described the characters and the action; the only issue he had were typographical and syntactical. If you can't defend yourself in a polite, professional manner -- even with people who are being polite and respectful to you -- then don't let anyone review your material.

The fact that professional authors do this too doesn't make it okay. Whatever happened to being an adult? If this lady was born in 1954, she's even older than my mother (!!) Come on!

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Howett must have been taking lessons from Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunting Slut series). Enraged at hints of discontent from her fans LHK had a meltdown on her website, with scathing language directed at anyone who didn't think her writing was totally perfect!

Unfortunately for LKH's fans, the Anita Blake series became unreadable somewhere after Blue Moon and Obsidian Butterfly. It is a bitter disappointment when a beloved series turns sour. The series apparently reflects the writer's domestic situation; our favorite werewolf Richard Zeeman was patterned after her husband. Then came a divorce. Kick the werewolf to the curb! When LKH remarried, the series changed drastically. Poor Anita became so preoccupied with supersex that she stopped going to work. No more reanimation. No more liason with the police supernatural squad. No more licensed vampire executioner action. Also no plot, just cosmic orgasms with snuggly, weak, damaged child men.

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Since this thread started The average customer review score on Amazon for The Greek Seaman dropped from 2 stars to 1.5 stars (I didn't know it could go that low!).

What amazes me is that this e-book has 67 reviews! Just to help you get a sense of proportion, The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie has 43 reviews, The Spirit Lens by Carol Berg has 26 reviews, Thunderer by Felix Gilman has 16 reviews and the book A Magic of Dawn by S.L Farrel (last book of the Nessantico cycle trilogy) has only 2 reviews.

ETA: The Greek Seaman has a higher Amazon bestsellers rank (~50,000) than the kindle edition of The Bards of Bone Plain by Patricia Mckillip (~200,000).

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I think the bit where Heavy Metal bands and early computers forced her to move to the mythical land of Wales is the most bizarre part of the bio.

Yes. That bio was quite magnificent.

And what's this about Arabs giving away money?

This was quite a common meme in Britain in the 80s, the idea that loads of billionaire sheikhs were flocking to London with more money than sense, and thus prime targets for all unscrupulous businesspersons looking for "investors" to rip off with dodgy schemes, or try to sell Tower Bridge to, or whatever.

ETA: the Times confirms this:

For many in the 1970s and 1980s, London provided a place to enjoy their wealth without being scrutinised by conservative mullahs. Arab newcomers sparked complaints from neighbours in Belgravia about limousines in the street and mountains of rubbish sacks stuffed with party debris.

“People had money they didn’t know what to do with,” said Magdi Ali, an Egyptian who drove for the Saudi Arabian embassy. “One sheikh used to carry a suitcase around with $100,000, which he used to throw at dancers.”

Gambling was popular, particularly during the oil boom. Prince Salam, governor of Riyadh, the Saudi capital, was reported to have lost £2m in three nights at Ladbrokes in the 1970s and would tip the waitresses in £100 chips.

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There's some more stuff about Arabs and computers invading in the poetry section of her website.

I wrote this poem. 'Sands of time,' to my entry into America, when I seemingly fled Old England in 1988, at the beginning of the first Arab invasion, not long after the Arabs became educated. And while running away from all that was Europe in change, (It was also the beginning of the computer era.) I was looking back across the channel from my new home on the water in Falmouth, Maine relieved yet somewhat puzzled this was New England. Baxter Island was at my door step. A beautiful untouched landscape on rock where I frolicked with my two pekenese dogs I had brought with me. Baxter Island was a solitary place for the death, dumb and blind. And yet, I felt this is what I had done to Europe for a time.
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There's some more stuff about Arabs and computers invading in the poetry section of her website.

Oh, my word! This lady is the gift that keeps on giving. The death, dumb and blind?

But anyway, one good thing about this thread is that it's got me looking up old Marmalade Atkins episodes (cos her dad was a cockerney geezer who made his money from ripping off Arabs).

I'm also rather tempted by her new novel CASS. From the bio:

It was also a time of reconnecting to her creative spirit, within a state of celibacy, through a very drastic death/rebirth experience that she vaguely explains in her novel CASS.

Cos who doesn't love a good vague explanation?

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Howett must have been taking lessons from Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunting Slut series). Enraged at hints of discontent from her fans LHK had a meltdown on her website, with scathing language directed at anyone who didn't think her writing was totally perfect!

Unfortunately for LKH's fans, the Anita Blake series became unreadable somewhere after Blue Moon and Obsidian Butterfly. It is a bitter disappointment when a beloved series turns sour. The series apparently reflects the writer's domestic situation; our favorite werewolf Richard Zeeman was patterned after her husband. Then came a divorce. Kick the werewolf to the curb! When LKH remarried, the series changed drastically. Poor Anita became so preoccupied with supersex that she stopped going to work. No more reanimation. No more liason with the police supernatural squad. No more licensed vampire executioner action. Also no plot, just cosmic orgasms with snuggly, weak, damaged child men.

I have been told that the Blake series took this turn.

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Really, which episode of the West Wing?

It's the Poet Laureate one. I exaggerated a bit with the 'entire' thing but it's all the LemonLyman stuff, that's based on Sorkin's interaction with the Telivision Without Pity forums. Bizarrely by most accounts the TWP posters were mostly complimentary to TWW.

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I'm convinced that this is all one big somewhat-elaborate troll to gain attention and sales. Responding with sentences that a 5 year old could of constructed better to criticisms that her work contained spelling and grammatical errors? Seems like she was intentionally making herself a target for more ridicule and at the same time fanning the flames. It's working too of course, I'm sure there are threads and links to this blogpost all over the literary community now.

Atleast I hope this is the case.. otherwise I'd have to say that this woman makes me Pro Book-Burning.

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