Mike put up a wonderful piece here, on his LJ. The Nitwits will never bother to read it, much less comprehend its message, but they should. I agree that being polite costs nothing; it’s also far more effective at getting what you want, when you ask a favor of someone, than ranting and making demands. Louise and I are the only ones to have commented, so far.
Cuss has a couple of announcements about Daverana Enterprises here, and here. The first link goes to an entry that announces the Fall/Winter line-up of authors/books. The second entry is about a new incarnation of an old poetry site. Disclaimer: I am Daverana’s marketing director, and do some freelance line editing for the company. Thatotherpoem.com is not yet live, but I’ll let you know when it’s up and running.
This writing-related forum, Whispering Spirits, is not as new as I suspected when I joined it yesterday, but it could prove interesting. Sir Otter (Mark Orr) and Janrae will both be upcoming guests. Disclaimer: I happen to know the forum owner, but have nothing to do with running it; the owner’s blog is here. Mark has a couple of snippets of his writing on the forum, available for reading. I like his style.
Unrelated to writing, really, I found it a bit interesting that someone apparently associated with Goodreads commented on my earlier entry about my frustration with the site one night (comment #39), when I tried to add someone who sent me a friend invitation. Do admins over there actually read this blog?
FWIW, you will never find me reviewing a Daverana book here, or at Goodreads. It would be a conflict of interest. It’s bad enough that I posted the above links, with disclaimers.
Alright, I need to get back to editing.
One of the things that the nitwits do not comprehend is manners, and another is conflict of interest. Certainly there was a marked conflict of interest when Philbin voted for his own book on goodreads.
Or when Mr. Pathetichead posts a five-star review of his personal brand of toilet paper at Amazon.
Thanks, Rusty. :{) Those were tiny tales that ran in the first year of G.W. Thomas’ Flashshots.
Somebody needs to come over to Whispring Spirits and talk to us. Janrae and I are sort of standing around, twiddling our thumbs.
I think when self voting is discovered, any associated books should be pulled from the nominations. Hardly in the interests of fair play.
I loved the one about the errant bicycle assembly, Otter. 😉
So did I. that was very funny.
I’ll head over there today.
Thanks, Rusty. 🙂
It’s a very fine article, Mike.
Thanks, ya’ll. A few others got deposited here, as well:
http://ghostposts.wordpress.com/2008/08/27/flashshots-by-mark-orr/
Yep, that’s a good’un, Mike. :{D Ya done good.
I used to love Flash Shots, so I’ll have to swing over and check these out, Otter. Have to bookmark the forum too, and try to swing over in just a bit here.
So true. Manners cost not a dime. I’ve been ranting about this since back when I worked as a Tim Tart, through college. Courtesy counts for so much, and just taking that minute to step back and remind yourself, ‘it is not about me.’ Your article should be read by every new writer, Mike.
PS — To Rain & Rich. I do plan to make those failed crits up to you both! Just give me about a month to finish my print catch up. 🙂
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/30765515?al=OTI4ODYx-2440660b71627e29200d820f0ff830d9fe4fc523&utm_medium=email&utm_source=review_comment
This is very interesting. I am being accused of slandering Mike Philbin by MIke Philbin because I gave him a bad review.
Let’s unpack the fail here:
A) It would be libel, not slander, because a book review is a work of writing whether it’s on the Internet or in the newspaper.
B) Artistic opinions are libel-proof in US law.
There was a great story about an actor who sued one of the old-school New York newspaper critics because he (I think it was either Wolcott Gibbs or Kelcey Allen) had called the actor “The worst performer on the American stage.”
So of course the suit was thrown out of court and the judge administered a tongue-lashing to Master Thespian.
The next time the actor appeared in a Broadway show, everyone was agog to see what the sued critic wrote about him.
His review discussed the play, the costumes, and all of the other performers, never mentioning the litigious actor. Until the very last line, which read in its entirety, “Mr. {name}’s performance was not up to his usual standard.”
Mikkake doesn’t understand that slander is spoken… typical. He couldn’t tell second and third person apart, so why should this be any different? I think his ego is butt hurt.
That’s a great story, Jupe.
Don’t know who Nelson is, but he countered Mikakke nicely.
The insistance that Janrea read the whole book comes off as odd. I didn’t think it was the reader’s job to engage themselves in the narrative, I thought it was the writer’s job to engage the reader.
I’ll have none of your highfalutin’ logic, here, Gryp. It’s way over Mikkake’s head. Idiotic conspiracy theories and pseudo-intellectual non-debate are much more his speed.
That said, carry on! 😉
The old mom-mantra of “how do you know you don’t like it if you haven’t even TRIED it” is often good enough. Anywhere from one to three bites will do to make that decision. No need to choke down the entire plate.
I didn’t have to sit through more than ten minutes of PIRATES OF GHOST ISLAND before deciding that it was quite possibly the worst movie ever. I didn’t have to do more than skim ERAGON before chucking it aside as crap.
But then, logic and sense even as skewed as mine has no place in Nitwit World.
Admittedly, I could not get past the first three chapters.
Maybe I should have tried Phleabitten’s current technique on Pleabitten last spring when he was quoting from the opening chapters of Serpent’s Quest and making fun of my writing.
I know for a fact that he owns a copy because he quoted from the fourth chapter.
Why is it not okay for me to give him a bad review based on a partial reading (enough to make me want to vomit) and yet, it is permissiable for him to take some paragraphs from mine out of context and poke fun at them?
Of course, he’s probably allergic to my books, because they have actual characters.
And little Nicky made a comment on the essay…
I feel so honored to be officially in the Anti-Nitwit crowd.
I just left you a comment, Mike.
Also, I agree with you, Vern. It’s not kosher to vote for your own books.
Sorry to interject, folks, but I gave someone the wrong impression. My bad, and entirely on my head.
I’m not the owner of Whispering Spirits http://ghostwhisper.proboards29.com/.
I’m a friend who got appointed publicity officer after giving them a few shout outs.
I love to give shout outs and do so just to promote work I appreciate. Because I want more. Simple as that. No pay, just the opportunity to be part of something I consider to be better than most.
For some weird reason this has made a few friends believe I’m competent, (go figure), so I keep getting signed on as book reviewer, public liaison, columnist, ect. to all the sights I like.
Fine by me. I get to help them, and I want them to continue bringing out the same caliber of work that got me interested, so it’s a win-win for me.
All this work is voluntary, and basically fan wanking. All I can say is, I get to review some great work, (GUD, Janrae Frank) and promote more of the same. and I love it.
The actual owner is Diana Cacy Hawkins, and here’s a link to her blog. http://whisperingspiritsnews.blogspot.com/
And, folks, I am pulling in as many of my favs to the message board as I can before Cacy hauls me back.
he he.
That’s Mark Orr, Janrae Frank, Ahmed Khan, Bhatswani Gosh, Angelina Hawkes and Lena Sawyer so far, and counting…
I want Creative Guys, SFReader.com, GUD, Lucy Snyder, Cathy Buburuz, Daverana, Andrea Allison, ….
The blogs under the name ghostposts are my own and I use them for the same reason, to help ensure that my fav material keeps coming.
More, More!!