N00b

[pandorasblog]

Hi! I'm really happy to have found this community. A couple of years ago I posted at the official LKH boards, but the design (or lack thereof) made them a nightmare to navigate. It's like whoever built that site had never visited anything but Yahoo! Geocities pages created in 1997.

Anyway, enough snark about the site; my snark about the books mirrors much of what I've read here so far: LKH has gone from tightly-written books with well-balanced plots and snappy humour, to Mills & Boone with fangs and everyone doing everyone else. The reasons this has happened seem similar to those plaguing Anne Rice's fandom - believing her own hype, losing sight of distinction between herself and her central character, and so on.

When I read Incubus Dreams last year I was so disappointed - the last couple of books had had their faults, but this one was almost entirely composed of sex, and scenes engineering Anita into sexual situations. And... 'diety'? 'Is diety?' What about, 'is a deity'? I glean from comments here that she has gone down another Ricean path and refused to have editors. It's one thing (though not a good thing) for a writer to eschew content-editing, but when they won't even let people check for typos then you know you've got trouble.

And now I see that another book is on the way - aptly enough, as someone said in an earlier thread - in sixty-nine days. Ulp. I'm reading the sample chapters now, with trepidation. I don't know how long they've been online, but if they haven't already been ripped to death here I may post my thoughts tomorrow...

To add a little positivity, I do adore Jean-Claude and Edward. And hell, even Anita is a character who I always loved and could relate to until she apparantly became allergic to her panties. ID wasn't without its enjoyable moments, but it was very clear that the balance had finally tipped toward preternatural fiction-as-sexual-therapy for the author. And even that would've been fine, if only she'd had the grace and wit to absorb it all into the character as fully as she did previous personal themes. If NiC and CS were symptomatic of a series in transition, then ID was the beginning of the end. To my irritation, I can't just decide not to be curious about what happens to the characters next, but I'll be waiting for the small-format paperback this time round. Durned oversized paperback ID doesn't even fit with the rest of my AB books anyway... it's like a Richard on a shelf full of Micahs. :p

Comments

[demoncougar.livejournal.com]

"And... 'diety'? 'Is diety?' What about, 'is a deity'?"

Yeah, the diety misspellings and her atrocious grammar are infamous.

"It's one thing (though not a good thing) for a writer to eschew content-editing, but when they won't even let people check for typos then you know you've got trouble."

LKH has claimed mild dyslexia as the cause of her spelling and gramar errors...as if that's justification for a PUBLISHED BOOK to be full of such crap.

"If NiC and CS were symptomatic of a series in transition, then ID was the beginning of the end. To my irritation, I can't just decide not to be curious about what happens to the character"

YES.

[pith]

Welcome to the comm =) Hope you have snark-filled fun!

The editing irks me most of all, and I refuse to blame her publisher for it. As I've stated in a post on the comm, learn the tools of your trade. I wouldn't expect to become a carpenter if I didn't know which end of the hammer to hold; likewise, an author should learn at least passable grammar, spelling, and construction skills.

[pandorasblog]

Well put. Dyslexia is tough to deal with, but certainly not impossible. I would think that instead of using it as an excuse, she could command much more respect if she worked on her problem insofar as was possible, and had the humility to let editors support her with anything that still escaped her - and that would surely be more inspiring for her fellow dyslexics. It's such a common thing that some of her readers must be in the same boat.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Honey, you think the paperback is bad? I own the hardcover. It's massive. I can't fit it on the shelf that's got all my LKH books on it because I'd have to take out either half of my Tanya Huff books, or my entire Christopher Pike section and I have nowhere to put them. It's so much easier to keep ID on a pile on the other side of the room. It also helps me to refuse to acknowledge its existence and deters me from looking stuff up for fic research.

When ID came out, I called it as the end for the series - but with Danse Macabre coming out, I'm going to put the title on that book. ID started the split with long time loyalists and the newer, shinier readers, DM ought to really hammer it home.

And then there's people like me, that keep reading for the sheer morbid fascination of it all.

[laney-1974.livejournal.com]

And then there's people like me, that keep reading for the sheer morbid fascination of it all.

I have to confess I share that trait. I know the books are bad, but I can't resist the temptation of reading them to see just how bad they are.

Though, living in Australia I have to wait until they're in paperback and cheap as hell. Only a few places sell them and there's no way I'm going to pay $50 AUD for crap.

[sailorcoruscant.livejournal.com]

I find that having a friend who buys them all (and loves them all) helps. It does mean you have to wait an extra week after they come out in paperback, but that's an extra $20AUD you could spend buying a book that isn't a trainwreck.

And speaking of Aussies waiting forever, I don't suppose you have any idea when Micah is coming out?

[laney-1974.livejournal.com]

No idea at all. I just looked at Galaxy Books in Sydney (they seem to get it first) and there was mention of it.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I found my copy in Dymocks a couple of weeks ago. Which is why I love Dymocks so much, because they usually get stuff before A&R and Borders remains TEH SUCK.

What part of the country are you in? Because I figure, if it's already hit the shelves here in Adelaide, it must be there in the eastern states.

[sailorcoruscant.livejournal.com]

*laughs*
I'm in sydney, and I hit some of the big city stores last week and it wasn't there (including our big Dymocks).

Maybe they were desperate to get it out in Adelaide for the festival, thinking that it was "art" (much in the way that certain movies on SBS get called "art" when everyone knows they're simply "porn").

[dwg.livejournal.com]

YAY ANOTHER AUSSIE! *thumbs up* or should I be screaming, "Oi oi oi!" at you?

The whole, "I ain't payin' $50 for that crap" thing is why I love Dymocks so much - you get discounts if you're a Booklover member, so what ought to cost $45-ish suddenly becomes $35 and a little bit more justifyable.

But it's even better to get the $9 discount on paperbacks. Half-price books rock.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hallow_/]

Going just by the books you said were on your shelf, you are my new favorite person.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Pike and Huff are pobably the highlights of that particular shelf. The rest is LKH, stuff I raided from bargain bins (you know, buy three books for $10) second hand purchases and my absolute pride and joys: books of Gerald Brom's art. The next shelf over has taken my Nancy A. Collins books hostage and keeps them entirely out of reach.

[gweneth-syeira.livejournal.com]

LOL.

To add a little positivity, I do adore Jean-Claude and Edward. And hell, even Anita is a character who I always loved and could relate to until she apparantly became allergic to her panties

haha. So right! I need a "My Fandom is Allergic To Her Panties" icon. You're awesome and welcome!

[pandorasblog]

Thanks! Maybe I should try making one later; I've been dying to try some icons from my different fandoms. Am new at iconning, but at least unlike the distinguished author I can admit my shortcomings...

[vanity-lost.livejournal.com]

Oh no, snark about the site. Please, please, snark about the site. The site kills me dead with loathing. Mainly because it violates every rule of website design ever...

Ahem, that aside: Welcome to the group.

The reasons this has happened seem similar to those plaguing Anne Rice's fandom
Didn't anyone tell you about the contest? LKH and AR are competing to outcrazy each other. I think Anne's winning, but it's getting hard to tell.

Post your thoughts on the sample chapters! It'll be fun. And therapeutic.

Durned oversized paperback ID doesn't even fit with the rest of my AB books anyway... it's like a Richard on a shelf full of Micahs.

You mean it's a real, 3-dimensional book while the rest are 2-dimensional and made of some sort of transparent cardboard?

[pandorasblog]

Ahaahahah. Very true. Richard annoys me, but at least he feels like a real person. Micah feels like a convenience.

[mneiai.livejournal.com]

The boards? I remember those! Did they fall into the world of ruin and despair that the onelist...yahoo group became?

The paperbacks are bad, I could never understand how something with so little substance could be so huge....

[pandorasblog]

Dunno; haven't dared to go back since then. Bad design makes me sad, and probably makes Baby Jesus cry. Actually, let me steal into the wilds of her site now to see what's happening...

Well... this is better than I remember. It's not one big picture with random links dotted around it. Main wordy box section is still ugly, but there's hope in the menu section.

'Click here if you cannot see the menu bar above.' Wouldn't it be better to optimise the site for all browsers so that didn't happen in the first place?

Anita comics - ZOMG WANT.

Forums: Oh. My. God. They got a vBulletin. Well, that's encouraging. But I'm still not going back there; I fear any overly negative utterances would see me massacred by the faithful.