Thursday, September 09, 2004
My grateful thanks to everyone who's posted a review of Murder of Angels in the last twenty-four hours. You're all very kind and have built for me a nice bulwark against the shit weasels. And the things you've written mean a lot to me, above and beyond being a response to "FruitLoop." All you have to do is look back over the journal for last summer and spring ('03) to see how hard this novel was for me to write. It was the hardest, by far. I spent months going to places I didn't want to go, and my reward is to see the book appreciated and to see it sell well enough that the next book, and the book after that, will sell.
I've a few lingering thoughts on "FruitLoops" comments, and it's easier to express thse thoughts here than to ignore them. Mostly, if this person wanted to accuse me of stealing from other authors and sources, they might have chosen something more appropriate than Kate and Leopold. I mean, really. Start with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever, Baum's Oz books, Paul Thomas Anderson's film Magnolia, Neil Gaiman's A Game of You, H. P. Lovecraft's entire ouvre, C. S. Lewis' Narnia books, and the works of Clive Barker and Charles De Lint. These are books that did strongly influence the story that I tell in Murder of Angels. Some of them are acknowledged in the "Author's Note" in the front of the book. But a reader and qualified would-be reviewer with a background in American fantasy would have recognized these influences without my pointing them out. Just as Murder of Angels is a novel about syncretism, so it is a novel that was written, as are all good novels, syncretically. It's a quilt I've made. That's what writers do. We quilt, stitching with all we've read and seen and hope and fear. Anyway, if you're going to accuse me of theft, please stick to those books and movies that have anything worth taking.
I was pleased with Robyn Ma's observations about how I allow myself to get so very bent out of shape by the Amazonian shit weasels (Mustela coprophilas). I quote:
Fundamentally, these forums exist for people without an official forum to vent, positively or negatively. But what of the possibility of shills? For all we know, studio plants are writing some of the incomprehensibly positive reviews of sludge like Without a Paddle on imdb ... and for all we know, some idiot with an ax to grind against greygirlbeast could post a negative review of Murder of Angels on the grounds that it's "a rip-off" of Kate and leopold or some such asshattery. And the Amazon.com reviews are more insidious, because what a potential buyer reads on that product page could influence whether s/he buys the book. That means fewer sales for greygirlbeast, who, although not all about the benjamins, would at least like to avoid having to eat ketchup sandwiches because a few nosepickers sprinkled their duh-ness all over her work.
I could not have said it better myself. I know that Amazon has made some cosmetic attempts to make their "reviewers" more accountable. For example, you can now see those people supposedly posting under their own name. We would be better served if the "reviews" were dropped altogether, at least until Amazon is willing to impose strict rules regarding who can and cannot write "reviews." I do not say this because I hope never to have another negative Amazon review (though I do), but because I'd prefer those negative reviews at least not be written by people who are obviously unprepared for the task.
I also noticed this morning that Amazon is offerring a discount if you buy Murder of Angels with Poppy's Liquor. I think anyone would have to admit that's an odd combination. Liquor is a wonderful novel, but bundling it with Murder of Angels seems to display a notable ignorance of the substance of both books. Hell, what do I know. I'm just a writer. I can only dream of being something as indespensible to society as an Amazon.com employee.
I would also like to take a moment to complain about Amazon allowing dealers to sell used copies of a new book on the same page where one is meant to buy new copies of that same book. In short, this undercuts sales figures and makes my publishers very unhappy. And then they proceed to make me unhappy. Yes, you can save a few bucks, but those used copies do not figure into the sales figures that Amazon generates and which are becoming increasingly important to "the industry" (shudder). Amazon could at least do the author the courtesy of offerring the used copies elsewhere on their site. And how the frell can there even be "used" copies when the the novel was just released on Tuesday!?
Yes, I am in a snotty mood this morning. It's because I've swallowed about a ten gallons of the stuff since last night. I'm feeling much better, but not yet good. And Spooky's still more under the weather than I am. She spent most of yesterday camped out on the sofa, playing Morrowind. I managed to work all day yesterday, catching up on neglected correspondence, giving an interview to someone who's doing an article on blogging for a French magazine, arranging another interview, selecting an author's photo for The Dry Salvages, and finishing with the last batch of monster doodles. It was a very full day for someone with a snot factory running full tilt inside her head. About ten o'clock, I abandoned work, took a hot bath, and played Morrowind until about 2:30, when I got fevery again and went to bed. I was going to watch Gladiator again, because I've been in the mood for it, but opted for Morrowind, instead. Nar'eth the Dunmer has left Balmora and Ald-Ruhn for the time being and relocated to Sadrith Mora, having grown weary of Fighter's Guild politics and backstabbing and suchlike. Last night, I helped Larienna Macrina rid the ruins at Nchurdamz of a particularly nasty Daedric monster named Hrelvesuu. I also poked about the ruins at Shashpilamat, killed an assortment of Daedra, and scored some very nice orc armour.
I still don't have any Dragon*Con photos for you. They're all on Spooky's iBook, and neither of us have felt like resizing them in Photoshop, transferring them via thumbdrive to my iBook, and uploading them. Maybe later today, after I've made an effort to get "Bradbury Weather" moving again. Maybe I can also find the time and energy to post the new manga pages to Nebari.net. Maybe I can pull a rabbit out of this hat.
1:09 PM
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