Angry response to Dorkles latest rant

[curls975.livejournal.com]

Since I doubt my post will ever be oked by the mods I shall post it here... I just needed to get it off my chest.

For those who dont know there is a link in raven's post as well as below.

Negative Reader

My response.

I really hate to burst your bubble but nobody really cares. They really and truly don’t. You do more by bringing it up again than leaving it alone. What does rehashing something from A YEAR AGO do? If it was that serious it should have been handled then. Plus there is nothing that people posting on a message board can do. She doesn’t even come here so why would posts like these matter to the general public on this board? We are not the police nor can we police the internet.

 

If this is a board where Laurell's personal business is not up for discussion then please stop posting about it. I don’t care. I really don’t. So far it has been posts like this one that has talked about Laurell's personal life. Most casual readers could give a rip. It’s sad if this is really happening but truly it’s none of my business.

 

I don’t need you to give a justification as to why I no longer like the books and thus do not read them. Nor do I need your permission, if I chose to read them again. I’ll decide what I do thank you very much. Because, if you can follow the logic, I can’t tell if I would like a book if I do not read it. It’s just not possible. And if I choose to read it and then find that I don’t like it, it’s my god given right to say that I didn’t. I paid my money to be entertained, so I bought my way into saying what I felt about the service I paid for. And as such, I have the right to recommend or suggest against people who might want to pay for the same service I received. If a restaurant has horrible food I would not recommend it if asked, and would be likely to tell people to stay clear of it for various reasons.

 

Nobody is haunting the Border’s sci-fi/horror/romance/whatever section smacking The Harlequin out of people’s hands. It’s word of mouth from reader to prospective reader. If a prospective reader hears that a book is all sex and little plot, its up to them to decide if that sounds like a good read or not.

 

It’s silly to assume its just the sex that turns both former and prospective readers off. It could be the stagnant plotline, annoying characters, lack of focus, ridiculous power surges, females shoving sexist ideals down others throats, the over use of rape as a CPD, few strong female characters other than the lead, no real powerful or smart villain, a female lead that plays victim, weak vampires, werewolves, etc that have to seek the aid of a human, no real stable or reliable universe rules, no real competition for the female lead, no real connection to the real world that it seems to be modeled after, plotlines and characters that are dropped and forgotten about, preachy sermons by the lead character, or weak male characters used as punching bags by a power bloated self righteous female lead to name a few off the top of my head...

 

What I will say is instead rehashing old topics; EVERYONE should stick to the rules and not talk about Laurell's personal business (1b). Most readers that are fed up stop buying and find authors that are worth their time and money. And if they want to talk about how unsatisfying the LKH books are that’s their right. It’s called criticism and last I checked nobody is above it. Saying what they hoped would happen and what they don’t want to see any more is common practice. Last I checked analyzing what was pleasing and what didn’t work in a book is called a literary critique. Not a personal shot at the author.

 

By posting information that has nothing to do with the general readership you just give in and give attention to the crazy ones. People that attack children, are not in the same boat as those who don’t like the direction of the books. The acts of crazy people that cant get a grip on reality, separate real life from fiction, and move on from a failed storyline are not tied at all to readers who have negative things to say about a story they read. Again, if her child was physically or verbally attacked there is nothing that we here on the board can do. File a complaint at the local authorities and let them handle your “stalker”/”attacker” but this topic just seems extremely personal.

 

These are my feelings as a reader, customer, and former fan. Though my tone can be taken as harsh (I have been told) I don’t say any of this with a bitchy attitude. Take this post as you will. Though I doubt it will stay up.

 

Thank you

 

MB

Comments

[tenaya-owlcat.livejournal.com]

I can’t tell if I would like a book if I do not read it.
This is the first thought that popped into my head upon reading the forum post. But that's logic, and logic has very little to do with anything. ;)

Laurell and crew would hate me... I review books. >)

[easol.livejournal.com]

Me too. At amazon, where I have toasted all post-Narcissus books, and will eventually get around to rereading and reviewing all the earlier ones.

[tenaya-owlcat.livejournal.com]

At the Davis Enterprise (http://www.davisenterprise.com/), my local newspaper. Unfortunately, they've changed the format of the website, and I've been told that my columns will only be up for a week or so before being taken down again. :/ But I have a column the third Thursday of the month, in the Entertainment section.

I'm also working on a website. Hope to have that up soon...