- Joined
- Dec 3, 2013
Authors shitting themselves over negative reviews
- Thread starter lindsayfan
- Start date
-
🔧 At about Midnight EST I am going to completely fuck up the site trying to fix something.
- Joined
- May 16, 2015
Norman Boutin, that's the guy I was trying to talk about earlier. I'm actually embarrassed that I couldn't remember.
He worked on that piece of shit for twenty years.
Also, when I clicked on the Amazon page it recommended a book for "healing" autism.
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2014
Mosey on back to your own pasture, Connor.
I love how Onision said his book wasn't whiney teen angst, then went on to brag about how a character gets covered in blood.
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2014
The artist formerly known as PZB does really interesting visual art now. I know he has a tough time financially, but I feel like he's in a way better place mentally.
Speaking of PZB, one of his anti-fans, Nickolaus Pacione, continues to rant illiterately and impotently. More on his misadventures on the-rusty-nail.net.
Speaking of PZB, one of his anti-fans, Nickolaus Pacione, continues to rant illiterately and impotently. More on his misadventures on the-rusty-nail.net.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2013
Eh, I don't totally agree. Sure, there's a lot of shit talk on the internet, and a lot of people should keep their dumb opinions to themselves (this poster included
.) However, the main problem with these shit authors is they refuse to take criticism. They think they're simply misunderstood geniuses, and the corrupt publishing industry can't understand the daring, experimental nature of their work. Hearing the cold, hard truth about their awful work should encourage them to be better. Instead, it convinces them that people are HATERZ and JEALOUS.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2013
Oh, Nikky, dear, sweet, demented Nikky.
Meeko
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2013
Eh, I don't totally agree. Sure, there's a lot of shit talk on the internet, and a lot of people should keep their dumb opinions to themselves (this poster included
Oh man, I've dealt with those. I used to do some book reviewing for blogs and whatnot. Sometimes authors would send me books, which was cool. Many of them were just mediocre or things that ultimately I couldn't get into, but some were hands down hideous. I dealt with one author who asked for criticism and I sent some back... only for him to flip out. When I called him out on it (this was all via email), he backpedaled slightly and tried to justify it with some "but I'm such a nice guy" BS.
I also dealt with an author that used to be well known (not PZB levels, but relatively known) that was trying to put her books back out on the market now that the rights to them had lapsed. I can't remember her name, but the book was titled "Witch" or something along those lines and was originally published in 86 or around that time. It dealt with a woman who traveled back in time, fell in love with some dude, and ran afoul of some greasy, ugly witch hunter. It had some good parts to it but I just didn't get into it for the most part. I liked the witch hunter, but the main character was a bit irritating at times. Anywho, I told the author that I wasn't going to review it since I didn't think I was a great match for it and that I just wasn't going to get into it like others might, so it wouldn't really be a fair review on my part. I mean, who wants a review from someone forcing themselves to finish it, knowing that they're not the right reader? It wasn't that the book was bad, just that it wasn't my thing. The author got huffy and nasty via e-mail, so I could only imagine what would have happened if I'd actually read it and posted something. I wish I could remember her name since I'd actually like to try re-reading it now that I'm older, since the book wasn't really aimed at 20-somethings.
In any case, I've also seen some reviewers and commenters that were pretty awful as well. Sometimes you'll get people who go out of their way to be nasty in a review and really get off on it. I think that part of it was in response to STGRB going apeshit over negative reviews and backing up some real pieces of work, though. Most of the people I knew were pretty decent about books but only started getting more harsh later on down the line. They'd write some nasty reviews, but really only for the big mainstream authors since they figured that their review wouldn't do much harm to their wallets or egos (ha! on that last part). The more indie or self-pubbed guys they'd tone it down or just not review it at all.
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2013
Not quite authors-behaving-badly (unless you count avoiding the issue and blowing off the concerns of abuse victims as behaving badly*), but EL James, of Fifty Shades fame, thought it'd be a really great idea to go on Twitter and answer questions about the series. It went gloriously wrong.
And then Anne Rice opened her mouth.
*which I kinda do
And then Anne Rice opened her mouth.
*which I kinda do
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2013
I've barley gotten through the first chapter and already I feel like my brain wants to commit suicide. This is terrible. There is no other way to describe it.
The whole story, for the first chapter at least, is some of the most mundane and boring shit you ever read. This is written at a grade school level with all the negative connotations that can be inferred from that. Seriously. I feel like I'm reading some kid's fanfiction and considering it took 20 years for him to write I wouldn't be surprised if this is what it was. Problem is you need to improve your writing if you plan on making a novel.
And then I saw this on the comment page:
Norman Boutin said:
He actually thinks that a real publishing house will pick this up and publish it. I don't even think that Glo Glo is that divorced from reality.
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2014
Normin Boutin:
We caught us a live one, gang.
He mentions his book has a study guide, I'm laughing at the idea of a teacher trying to use that mess in class.
ETA: This was one of the related items to his book:
We caught us a live one, gang.
He mentions his book has a study guide, I'm laughing at the idea of a teacher trying to use that mess in class.
ETA: This was one of the related items to his book:
Last edited:
Kabobs
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2014
He has a thread here already.
https://kiwifarms.net/threads/norman-boutin-and-empress-theresa.6810/
https://kiwifarms.net/threads/norman-boutin-and-empress-theresa.6810/
MentallyIllTeddyBears
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2015
Two Words: Richard Brittain.
http://groupthink.kinja.com/richard-brittain-violently-assaults-book-reviewer-1649170122
Anyone ever heard of this guy? About a year ago, I came across an article on Cracked about people who got extremely upset over online reviews and snapped. This man wrote a really, really bad romance/fantasy novel called The World Rose and this one woman gave it a scathing review.
In retaliation, he flew from England to Scotland and bashed a wine bottle over her head as she was working at her supermarket job. Prior to that, he wrote a post on his blog about how he's a "benevolent stalker" and how he talked about stalking a different woman.
He's extremely prideful over the fact that he's a champion on a quiz show and uses it as a way to defend his awful purple prose. He even responds to Amazon reviews of his book:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1XNCZ...il-glance&nodeID=133140011&store=digital-text
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1TV96...il-glance&nodeID=133140011&store=digital-text
I'm not sure if he's generating any lulz today. Beyond that whole Benevolent Stalker thing, I don't follow his blog a whole lot.
Here is his "Benevolent Stalker" post:
It was her smile that enchanted me, which may sound clichéd, but it is the truth. Her smile stimulated the deepest feelings of wonderment inside my being. Some people offer fake smiles, but a smile should never be forced. There is something incredible, infinite and indefinably good about a genuine smile. She was pretty, too. We did a quiz together, and I kissed her cheek when I left.
I invited her onto the BBC University Challenge team that I was putting together. “I don’t know if I’m brainy enough Rich,” she said.
“We need beauty as well as brains,” I replied.
She agreed to be on our team. “Don’t worry honey, I’ll get these forms filled out for you,” she said when I provided her with the paperwork, as though it was a privilege to have her on our team, which it was. She let me choose a picture of her to use on the form, since she was busy.
That evening, I went through her many Facebook pictures. “Maybe this one?” I asked in a chat message.
“It’s not opening,” she said. “What photo is it?”
“You’re wearing a low-cut black lace-trimmed top. On your pink lips, a mischievous smile is playing,” I described.
“Ermm, if you think I look smart enough,” she replied.
“Well, I can’t see any of you in your glasses,” I quipped.
“I hate wearing them!” she said. “There’s like 3 in existence.”
“You look pretty in them,” I said.
Determined to impress her and get our team onto TV, I intensively revised my general knowledge. I also frequented the student bar where she worked. I figured out what hours she did each day and went at those times.
A couple of weeks before our University Challenge audition, she unfriended me on Facebook. I was a little shocked and asked her why.
“You’re kinda freaking me out,” she explained. “You’re a good guy but you’re being far too forward.”
“Are you still doing University Challenge with us?” I asked.
“Only as a friend, but nothing more,” she replied.
For some reason, I then decided to tell her how I really felt; that I had become infatuated with her, and that I was in love with her. With hindsight, of course I wouldn’t have done that. In fact, I would have done almost everything differently but, at the time, I felt compelled to do what I did.
She pulled out of the team. We found a replacement and failed the audition anyway (I doubt that her inclusion would have made a difference). My dream of winning University Challenge and impressing the maiden was shattered.
Over the next few weeks, when it became clear that I had no chance with her, my behaviour became increasingly erratic. I would drink 2 bottles of wine and go into a club, climb over the fence after being kicked out, and get into fights. I got banned from my SU, which meant that I could no longer go to the bar where she worked.
Occasionally, I passed her on the street. Once, I saw her in the library, and she smiled at me. She was prolific on Twitter and it often felt like her tweets were directed at me.
I wrote love letters to her. I still had her address from the forms that she filled out for University Challenge. I felt a bit guilty using that information, but I wasn’t turning up at her door or anything. I sent a few love letters through the post, rose-themed cards containing poetry and drawings. I also left messages on her phone.
That might seem a bit much, but it felt like I would be denying my love if I did nothing. Eventually, she contacted the police. I was called by a policewoman and told that I had to stop contacting her.
I abstained for six months, but I learned that she was returning to Greenwich for her graduation, and I went to see her. As chance would have it, she was positioned at the far end of one row, in front of where I was standing. She saw me and tried to swap with the person next to her, but it was too late; as the photo was taken, I was standing near her.
After that, I thought long and hard about what I was doing. I think that is when I first accepted that I had become a stalker. Before, I had been an admirer. But what does stalking really mean? It seems to mean that you truly love someone who does not love you back.
Every great romance is about two partners who are utterly obsessed with each other. Romeo, Juliet, Tristan and Isolde are people who are so passionately and powerfully in love that nothing else matters to them. But what if that feeling was felt on only one side? What if Juliet had rejected Romeo? Would he become a stalker?
It seems that modern society drools over depictions of this intense, obsessional love, but only when it is mutual. When it comes from just one side, it is suddenly deemed a terrible thing.
When I was listening to The Beatles, I realised that a lot of their early music suited my mood. Much of it is about being utterly obsessed with a particular woman:
“I’ll get you, I’ll get you in the end,
Yes I will, I’ll get you in the end,
Oh yeah, oh yeah,
Well, there’s gonna be a time,
When I’m gonna change your mind,
So you might as well resign yourself to me,
Oh yeah.”
Are the Beatles creepy stalkers? Of course not. How about Sting?
“Every breath you take,
Every move you make,
Every bond you break,
Every step you take,
I’ll be watching you.”
These songs are about obsessional love, which is both natural and beautiful. Benevolent stalking is different to malevolent stalking. The latter is intended to cause harm or induce fear, but the former is purely an expression of affection.
On Valentine’s Day 2014, I sent her another card, with an elaborate drawing of a wild scene. In it, she became the character Ella Tundra, and that is how The World Rose began.
Seven months later, when it was complete, I decided to try to make my book known by getting into the national news. I found out that she worked in Glasgow, so I travelled there with a plan. I was going to tell her that if she came with me, and we faked a kidnapping, we would both become famous. We would go into the hills and camp out for a few days while the nation searched. I had brought the necessary supplies.
I would like to reiterate that I was not plotting to kidnap her. I was planning on asking her if she would be interested in pretending to be kidnapped, so that we would make the news and people would learn about our story.
Yesterday, I saw her on the street and approached her, and called her name, but she freaked out.
“How?” she said. “How are you here?” She turned and snapped me on her phone before hurrying away.
I didn’t even get to tell her about my plan. I didn’t want to make a scene because people were staring. I also realised that I didn’t have the heart to ask her if she would like to be kidnapped.
I left Glasgow, and I think our relationship is finished now. I gave it my best shot. I really thought that we would both become famous. We would have disappeared for a few days, people would have read my book, and she could have played the lead role when The World Rose is made into a movie. But alas; I’ll have to find another way.
http://groupthink.kinja.com/richard-brittain-violently-assaults-book-reviewer-1649170122
Anyone ever heard of this guy? About a year ago, I came across an article on Cracked about people who got extremely upset over online reviews and snapped. This man wrote a really, really bad romance/fantasy novel called The World Rose and this one woman gave it a scathing review.
In retaliation, he flew from England to Scotland and bashed a wine bottle over her head as she was working at her supermarket job. Prior to that, he wrote a post on his blog about how he's a "benevolent stalker" and how he talked about stalking a different woman.
He's extremely prideful over the fact that he's a champion on a quiz show and uses it as a way to defend his awful purple prose. He even responds to Amazon reviews of his book:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1XNCZ...il-glance&nodeID=133140011&store=digital-text
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1TV96...il-glance&nodeID=133140011&store=digital-text
I'm not sure if he's generating any lulz today. Beyond that whole Benevolent Stalker thing, I don't follow his blog a whole lot.
Here is his "Benevolent Stalker" post:
It was her smile that enchanted me, which may sound clichéd, but it is the truth. Her smile stimulated the deepest feelings of wonderment inside my being. Some people offer fake smiles, but a smile should never be forced. There is something incredible, infinite and indefinably good about a genuine smile. She was pretty, too. We did a quiz together, and I kissed her cheek when I left.
I invited her onto the BBC University Challenge team that I was putting together. “I don’t know if I’m brainy enough Rich,” she said.
“We need beauty as well as brains,” I replied.
She agreed to be on our team. “Don’t worry honey, I’ll get these forms filled out for you,” she said when I provided her with the paperwork, as though it was a privilege to have her on our team, which it was. She let me choose a picture of her to use on the form, since she was busy.
That evening, I went through her many Facebook pictures. “Maybe this one?” I asked in a chat message.
“It’s not opening,” she said. “What photo is it?”
“You’re wearing a low-cut black lace-trimmed top. On your pink lips, a mischievous smile is playing,” I described.
“Ermm, if you think I look smart enough,” she replied.
“Well, I can’t see any of you in your glasses,” I quipped.
“I hate wearing them!” she said. “There’s like 3 in existence.”
“You look pretty in them,” I said.
Determined to impress her and get our team onto TV, I intensively revised my general knowledge. I also frequented the student bar where she worked. I figured out what hours she did each day and went at those times.
A couple of weeks before our University Challenge audition, she unfriended me on Facebook. I was a little shocked and asked her why.
“You’re kinda freaking me out,” she explained. “You’re a good guy but you’re being far too forward.”
“Are you still doing University Challenge with us?” I asked.
“Only as a friend, but nothing more,” she replied.
For some reason, I then decided to tell her how I really felt; that I had become infatuated with her, and that I was in love with her. With hindsight, of course I wouldn’t have done that. In fact, I would have done almost everything differently but, at the time, I felt compelled to do what I did.
She pulled out of the team. We found a replacement and failed the audition anyway (I doubt that her inclusion would have made a difference). My dream of winning University Challenge and impressing the maiden was shattered.
Over the next few weeks, when it became clear that I had no chance with her, my behaviour became increasingly erratic. I would drink 2 bottles of wine and go into a club, climb over the fence after being kicked out, and get into fights. I got banned from my SU, which meant that I could no longer go to the bar where she worked.
Occasionally, I passed her on the street. Once, I saw her in the library, and she smiled at me. She was prolific on Twitter and it often felt like her tweets were directed at me.
I wrote love letters to her. I still had her address from the forms that she filled out for University Challenge. I felt a bit guilty using that information, but I wasn’t turning up at her door or anything. I sent a few love letters through the post, rose-themed cards containing poetry and drawings. I also left messages on her phone.
That might seem a bit much, but it felt like I would be denying my love if I did nothing. Eventually, she contacted the police. I was called by a policewoman and told that I had to stop contacting her.
I abstained for six months, but I learned that she was returning to Greenwich for her graduation, and I went to see her. As chance would have it, she was positioned at the far end of one row, in front of where I was standing. She saw me and tried to swap with the person next to her, but it was too late; as the photo was taken, I was standing near her.
After that, I thought long and hard about what I was doing. I think that is when I first accepted that I had become a stalker. Before, I had been an admirer. But what does stalking really mean? It seems to mean that you truly love someone who does not love you back.
Every great romance is about two partners who are utterly obsessed with each other. Romeo, Juliet, Tristan and Isolde are people who are so passionately and powerfully in love that nothing else matters to them. But what if that feeling was felt on only one side? What if Juliet had rejected Romeo? Would he become a stalker?
It seems that modern society drools over depictions of this intense, obsessional love, but only when it is mutual. When it comes from just one side, it is suddenly deemed a terrible thing.
When I was listening to The Beatles, I realised that a lot of their early music suited my mood. Much of it is about being utterly obsessed with a particular woman:
“I’ll get you, I’ll get you in the end,
Yes I will, I’ll get you in the end,
Oh yeah, oh yeah,
Well, there’s gonna be a time,
When I’m gonna change your mind,
So you might as well resign yourself to me,
Oh yeah.”
Are the Beatles creepy stalkers? Of course not. How about Sting?
“Every breath you take,
Every move you make,
Every bond you break,
Every step you take,
I’ll be watching you.”
These songs are about obsessional love, which is both natural and beautiful. Benevolent stalking is different to malevolent stalking. The latter is intended to cause harm or induce fear, but the former is purely an expression of affection.
On Valentine’s Day 2014, I sent her another card, with an elaborate drawing of a wild scene. In it, she became the character Ella Tundra, and that is how The World Rose began.
Seven months later, when it was complete, I decided to try to make my book known by getting into the national news. I found out that she worked in Glasgow, so I travelled there with a plan. I was going to tell her that if she came with me, and we faked a kidnapping, we would both become famous. We would go into the hills and camp out for a few days while the nation searched. I had brought the necessary supplies.
I would like to reiterate that I was not plotting to kidnap her. I was planning on asking her if she would be interested in pretending to be kidnapped, so that we would make the news and people would learn about our story.
Yesterday, I saw her on the street and approached her, and called her name, but she freaked out.
“How?” she said. “How are you here?” She turned and snapped me on her phone before hurrying away.
I didn’t even get to tell her about my plan. I didn’t want to make a scene because people were staring. I also realised that I didn’t have the heart to ask her if she would like to be kidnapped.
I left Glasgow, and I think our relationship is finished now. I gave it my best shot. I really thought that we would both become famous. We would have disappeared for a few days, people would have read my book, and she could have played the lead role when The World Rose is made into a movie. But alas; I’ll have to find another way.
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2015
Jesus Christ, that's fucked up.
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2015
This guy and James Terry Mitchell would get along splendidly. They both seem to think they're entitled to female companionship, regardless of said woman's views.
What's really creepy about this guy is he makes it sound like he's doing her a favor by stalking her.
What's really creepy about this guy is he makes it sound like he's doing her a favor by stalking her.
sipsitsyournan
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2015
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2015
Yes, any bad press is the result of someone having it out for me, it couldn't possibly be because the book is awful. Nope, that's not a possibility.
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2013
Also, your average self-published book gets about 2 reviews from readers if it happens to rain and the small segment of people who read self-published books happen to have nothing better to do. Of course one review is statistically significant. Big publishers don't send tons of review copies out to journalists to get helpful and comprehensive critique - they do it entirely to show off.
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2016