So I read a Stanek book

[Spastic Plastic]

His Holy Leglessness has no need of lower extremities, like us lesser human beings. He hovers through the air like the godlike being he is.

I truly admire this man. Not many people are award-winning authors of over a hundred books, including children's books, while being a masterful illustrator, winning the Flying Cross, and having contacts with prison gangs.

[pat5150]

I see that Robert Stanek finally took down the line on his blog "In prison, people like them usually get shanked."

Damn. . .

No!!! :stunned: One of my few claims to fame. . . :frown5:

Patrick

[Liadin]

ETA: And "Burt"'s other reviews are Stanek classics, too. Apart from one smokescreen Robin Hobb review, all the others are either glowing reviews of other Stanek works, or pimping Stanek in comparison to other authors... he does have it in for Sanderson, too. Has Sanderson notably joined the Stanek-bashing, or is it just a weird personal vendetta?

Did Rothfuss? Stanek definitely had something against him.

We shouldn't be smearing Stanek's family.

Let's stick this disucssion to his books and the crazy interent stuff he does to promote them.

That wasn't a smear on the family. I'm wondering how he hides his grandiose sense of self-importance and delusional personality in real life. Presumably adoption agencies would prefer parents with both feet on the ground. Does he act out on the Internet because he feels stifled in real life (works as a technical writer I believe)?

[Spastic Plastic]

That's very likely. We know he has two kids and works for Microsoft, writing manuals. His Leglessness might live a dreary, depressingly ordinary, suburban life, akin to the main character in American Beauty. If that's the case, I can definitely see why he feels the need to act like a ten-year old sometimes.

OTOH, I can't see how his family would put up with a dad who writes thousands of fake reviews long into the night, and forges children's crayon handwriting.

[Cantabile]

WEAKNESS: Like many popular authors, the use of words that are not written in common usage drives me crazy. For...."The sunrise was pale as jasmine"...Having said that, the reader does get use to them and comes to understand why Adrina's point of view is so different.

:rofl: We definitely know he's been reading this thread now. Hopefully he doesn't have a crush on me since I'm likely the only person alive, other than his sockpuppets, who has defended anything about his writing.

[Liadin]

:rofl: We definitely know he's been reading this thread now. Hopefully he doesn't have a crush on me since I'm likely the only person alive, other than his sockpuppets, who has defended anything about his writing.

Where'd you get this quote?

That's very likely. We know he has two kids and works for Microsoft, writing manuals. His Leglessness might live a dreary, depressingly ordinary, suburban life, akin to the main character in American Beauty. If that's the case, I can definitely see why he feels the need to act like a ten-year old sometimes.

OTOH, I can't see how his family would put up with a dad who writes thousands of fake reviews long into the night, and forges children's crayon handwriting.

That's nutty, but it could be they don't know the details. Kids frequently don't know what their parents are up to. Not sure how he'd hide it from his wife. Particularly if she's ever googled him or read the negative reviews of his books.

I thought he said all three of the kids in the picture were his?

[Cantabile]

Where'd you get this quote?

From the amazon review link that got posted on the previous page.

That's nutty, but it could be they don't know the details. Kids frequently don't know what their parents are up to. Not sure how he'd hide it from his wife. Particularly if she's ever googled him or read the negative reviews of his books.

I thought he said all three of the kids in the picture were his?

Spouses indulging each other in things they secretly think are stupid or insane isn't too uncommon. Don't want to come off as unsupportive, after all. He may just blend all these activities into the work-schedule for his computer manuals.

[Spastic Plastic]

That's nutty, but it could be they don't know the details. Kids frequently don't know what their parents are up to. Not sure how he'd hide it from his wife. Particularly if she's ever googled him or read the negative reviews of his books.

I thought he said all three of the kids in the picture were his?

Oh, I didn't notice the kids were three. My bad. My full attention and admiration was focused on His Leglessness all this time. As it well should be.

I doubt he has a wife. Maybe he's divorced.

[Rimmer]

What does kind of scare me about Stanek is, there must be a lot of authors doing the exact same thing, who actually have a bit of talent. With semi-competent books that still wouldn't get published, and reviews that aren't so obviously fake, it could be done a lot more successfully. I really wish Amazon would kick him off, because such a blatant fraudster just looks terrible.

[Cantabile]

I'm sure plenty of authors do try little promotional boosts, but I doubt any of the major authors would ever use sockpuppets, when the risk to their reputation is too great, and there's not too much to be gained from a few fake reviews. It could be done a lot more successfuly, and I'm sure plenty of authors do that, but they'll still never make true commercial success from sockpuppeting alone. Selling tens or hundreds of thousands of copies is going to take lots of word of mouth, and legitimate publicity, all of which require if not quality writing, writing that the masses at least enjoy. Can't fake that.

Stanek definitely makes the Amazon system look like a joke, but I doubt they'll ever do anything about it. Stanek's been at this scam for years now, and they've yet to react.

You think he would've given up by now, since just Googling his name turns up rants about his scam as the first results. His writing career is a sinking ship surrounded by sharks with laser beams. Why he stays on it is beyond me.

[Lummel]

What does kind of scare me about Stanek is, there must be a lot of authors doing the exact same thing, who actually have a bit of talent.

I'm sure plenty of authors do try little promotional boosts, but I doubt any of the major authors would ever use sockpuppets, when the risk to their reputation is too great, and there's not too much to be gained from a few fake reviews.

British historian Orlando Figes was caught out doing exactly this earlier in the year. At first he blamed his wife for writing the glowing amazon reviews of his own books and the negative ones of other historians but eventually he came clean and admitted to his sockpuppetry http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/apr/23/historian-orlando-figes-amazon-reviews-rivals . So who knows just how much of it there is out there?

[Cantabile]

I'm not too worried, even if every author does it, one or two glowing reviews is going to still be a small percentage. If there's a hundred real reviews, and two fakes, for example, doesn't seem like too much if an issue. Posting negative reviews about other authors is perfectly fine I think, as long as they truly hold whatever opinions are in their reviews, and not simply defacing the person to make themselves look better. If Billy Bob posts, "This person sucks, read Billy Bob's works instead!" then that's not okay.

Overall, as long as sockpuppetry isn't taken to anywhere near Stanek levels, I don't mind.

[Spastic Plastic]

I found another piece of Stanek brilliance today. It's possibly the worst death scene ever written:

Two more bolts pierced Edward’s body. The troant slumped harshly and suddenly to the floor. His eyes wandered up the stairs just as Vilmos disappeared. Life drained from his limbs. Edward died. (page 162)

[MinDonner]

:lmao:

His eyes wandered up the stairs? Too awesome.

[Cantabile]

The "Edward died," bit is what makes me twitch. I don't really see what's wrong with, "His eyes wandered up the stairs just as Vilmos disappeared," when it's clearly not meant to describe the eyes literally walking out of the guy's sockets and frolicking up the stairway. "Eyes wandering" to describe one's gaze is a common phrase in English. "Eyes wandered across the page," etc. Obviously the eyes aren't literally strolling across the paper.

[Mad Monkey]

Edward is actually a major character (I remember him teaching Vilmos -- boy wizard - how to play chess or some shit like that) and he was pretty much the coolest character in the books. Not that he was dealing with fierce competition or anything, but still.

The best part of the character was how unnecessary he was to the book. You could have excised the entire character of Edward without affecting a single bit of character or plot development. The fact that he was murdered by random crossbow-wielding minions was pretty dumb too.

[Arthmail]

The "Edward died," bit is what makes me twitch. I don't really see what's wrong with, "His eyes wandered up the stairs just as Vilmos disappeared," when it's clearly not meant to describe the eyes literally walking out of the guy's sockets and frolicking up the stairway. "Eyes wandering" to describe one's gaze is a common phrase in English. "Eyes wandered across the page," etc. Obviously the eyes aren't literally strolling across the paper.

I have to agree with this. I have seen similar things in other books. Some of you guys are snarking just to snark, and its pretty fucking lame. The guy might be a complete wackjob, and his writing might be shit, but some of these examples are pretty pointless.

[Mad Monkey]

It's not like it's that hard to find tone-deaf, shoddy writing in these books. This is the same guy who thinks that a pre-teen princess rubbing up against an older man suggestively and one elf stripping and crawling into bed with another elf is appropriate for a fantasy novel marketed towards elementary school kids. This man clearly has no idea what he's doing, and he has no real love of writing. Even incompetent writers at least enjoy writing; Stanek wrote ONE novel that he divided (arbitrarily) into four novels and then changed the title four times to create four book series. He's not just an untalented hack; he's a shameless, uncaring cheater. More genuine love and joy went into Richard Rahl's famous little-girl kicking scene than went into all sixteen of Stanek's "books".

[ultraman7k]

what scares me as a teacher is that he has produced a classroom resource...

http://www.amazon.ca/Teachers-Classroom-Guide-Robert-Staneks/dp/1575450380/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1287514878&sr=1-2

why on earth would you subject students to this?!

[Cantabile]

Teachers around the US are starting to discover Robert Stanek's Ruin Mist books and if you want to use the books in your classroom, this wonderful guide can help you every step of the way. Beyond being entertaining, the stories offer important life lessons. Through the eyes of the characters, readers discover the importance of friendship, loyalty, truth and trust. Readers grieve with Adrina as she mourns the loss of her mother. They learn the importance of listening, and not just looking at the things around them, but truly seeing the world as it is. They learn about modesty, prejudice and how one person's perception of something can be different from another's. But most importantly, they learn that people who are true to each other and themselves can succeed. This wonderful classroom guide is complete with author biography, author interview, vocabulary builders, cooperative learning and critical thinking activities, discussion questions, unit tests and other unit activities.

This wins the thread.