books

GBR#6: Jody Lynn Nye

/ Nancy Palmer / Leave a comment
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Because we all know who is REALLY in charge here.

Attention novice writers: there’s a theme I’m noticing about the Balticon 50 previous Guests of Honor. In addition to the multiple awards most of them have accumulated, many of these folks have long lists of works to their names. Jody Lynn Nye is one of these: she has PUBLISHED more than 40 books, and over 120 short stories. And that’s what made it into print. Who knows how many not-quite-right manuscripts are lurking about the place? We know that practice improves any skill, and writing is certainly one of these. The Great Balticon Readathon is showing us people putting that very real work into their craft over years, and what the outcome of that dedication may be. Lesson in plain view: oh, you wrote a book? Excellent! Write another!

 

In the case of Jody Lynn Nye, one of these outcomes is my GBR pick, View from the Imperium. A delightful and very funny SF novel that is both political and military. I loved our erstwhile protagonist, Lord Thomas Kinago, who is essentially Bertie Wooster in space. Jeeves is there too, even more utterly competent and utterly mysterious. There are wardrobe disputes and social entanglements and missed cues woven throughout Nye’s story of empire management and mismanagement.  Delightful. And the reason people were giving me side-eye me for laughing aloud on the plane a couple of days ago.

This book has been around for a few years now, but contains a bit of prescient parallel to a current political situation. I won’t get into this right now, but I did identify with a particular bewildered political figure (the one with the cat). Can’t be more specific; my son’s been talking with me rather keenly about spoilers. Bad enough I let you know there’s a cat cameo.

But it’s Jody Lynn Nye, for heaven’s sake, of COURSE she’s going to get in a cat if she can. Visit her website and look at the photo gallery for images of her very handsome black cat, Jeremy. I can of course testify to the usefulness of having a large black cat around when writing or reading, as our own Bruce sets the scheduling at the Palmer household. In fact, without Bruce’s substantial presence and keen vocals, I’d not have been up at 5:30 this morning working on this blog post. He reminds me: if I’d kept his schedule from the beginning, I’d likely be finished with the entire GBR by now, and would be free to do what I really wish I could do. That is, follow Lord Thomas Kinago’s further adventures in Fortunes of the Imperium.

So: what would I speak with Jody Lynn Nye about, should I meet her at Balticon? Well, the cats thing is a simple one. If she feels like talking shop, though, I think I’d be interested in hearing her speak about collaboration. In addition to her own solo work, she’s written extensively with other authors, including such notables as Anne McCaffrey and Robert Asprin. A blog post she wrote back in October last year refers to a Publisher’s Weekly article referring to a protégé relationship with Angelina Adams in the “Stellar Guild series, in which a new writer builds on the work of an experienced author”. I would like to hear more about this, and what the experience was like for both of them. Note to self: see if she’s doing a panel!

If you can’t wait to get to Balticon 50 to hear more from Jody Lynn Nye, Doc Coleman over at The Balticon Podcast has an interview with Jody Lynn Nye and Bill Fawcett, replete with insights on publishing, editing, writing, and more. Good stuff!

 

GBR #5: Allen Steele

/ Nancy Palmer / 2 Comments
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Allen Steele, drawn in markers on a bumpy airline voyage, rather looks like Mr. Scott on sabbatical from Starfleet.

In 2008, NASA’s unmanned Phoenix lander arrived on Mars. Among its components was nestled an archival silica-glass mini-DVD called Visions of Mars. This multimedia compilation includes a vast legacy of art, sound, and literature: some of humanity’s thoughts about the red planet. Among the many novels and stories is Allen M. Steele’s 1988 debut Science Fiction story, “Live from the Mars Hotel”. This is the work I’ve chosen to explore next for the Great Balticon Readathon.

Allen M. Steele was a journalist before he started publishing Science Fiction. The precision of detail and careful descriptions required for his earlier profession has carried over into his fiction writing. “Live from the Mars Hotel” has for its structure a series of interviews carried out over time, regarding the first musicians to be recorded from a near-future human habitation of Mars. An interesting conceit: it gives Steele the opportunity to use several first-person narrators, to build the story from largely second-hand accounts. Included in this assemblage of second-hand accounts, opinions and conjectures (although perhaps unnoticed), is the reader’s own position at the end of the story. The reader is left to decide which of several possible themes is primary. Is this a story about what home means? The immigrant experience? Corporate interference in the arts? The wellspring of creativity?

Using multiple first-person narrators gives Steele room to create, in a single story, a wide variety of environments. From a radio control room in St. Louis to the isolated Arsia Base on Mars, Steele presents vivid pictures in few words, setting up frameworks for the reader’s mind to fill in. It’s very well done. Minimal but evocative description leaves more space for the leapfrogging of narrators. He then lets a different narrator fill in a bit more description where needed, paint a little bit more of the plot. The story spirals along, rather than falling into a direct line. It requires an engaged reader. Not a bad thing, I think, to have the reader as an active participant in the story.

“Live from the Mars Hotel,” with its easy familiarity with the music and radio industries, was a most fitting entrance into the genre for this guy from Nashville. His lengthy and prolific career has taken him from having a “best young author” tag to being cited by many new writers as a major influence. And who knows which future entity, human or otherwise, will be reading this story, tucked away in humanity’s message on the red planet? If I happen to meet him at Balticon 50, I think I’d like to ask him who he envisions discovering or engaging with that Visions of Mars DVD in the future.

GBR #4: Michael F. Flynn

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imageI’m at a loss from the beginning, as Flynn enjoys (as evidenced in his blog) statistical analysis and philosophy and the animated discussion thereof. This doesn’t help me with my “something to talk about at the convention” quest. If I find in my hands something  like a random bead box, I’m much happier arranging the beads into patterns, or wondering who made them and how they got here, than I am forming arguments about them. I’d even enjoy just watching the light play over the beads. So if I happen to meet Michael F. Flynn at Balticon, our natural tendencies in discourse will be very different.

Fortunately for his fans, his very analytical thought processes are not mutually exclusive with an ability to imagine and create. Michael F. Flynn’s many works include subjects as diverse as time travel, alt history, and quantum foam (the drawing above is a joke about that, referencing the story mentioned in the last post). He works in both novels and short stories, committing himself to extensive research when needed to create authoritative prose. Most readers consider his extensive catalog to be “hard” science fiction.  Michael A. Ventrella interviewed him; between this interview and Flynn’s extensive blog, you can get a pretty good picture of Flynn’s thoughts. And they are many, and wide-ranging.

 

 

 

GBR #3: Nancy Springer

/ Nancy Palmer / 3 Comments
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Nancy Springer, sketched directly in pen, then colored with crayon. Because CRAYONS!

I Am Morgan le Fay

At last: I reveal myself! Quail before me, mortal child! Down the long years have I journeyed…

Wait..this isn’t actually a declaration of my secret identity.  (That’s for another time.)

The Great Balticon Readathon continues with a look into the Arthurian realm with the very prolific Nancy Springer. Springer has broken the 50 book barrier. Think about that for a minute. Imagine the sheer linear feet of bookshelf space. Has it sunk in? Great! Now that you’re properly wide-eyed, let’s continue.

I Am Morgan Le Fay is one of those books marketed as Young Adult that so many of us who are no longer precisely young enjoy.

((Aside: Young…compared to what? We need a good term for these readers, and books these readers enjoy. A good book is a good book, and there should be no stigma attached to reading something outside of a prescribed age group. How about Aoung Ydult? Yes. That’ll do. End of aside.))

ahem…

One of the risks assumed in addressing such an often-referenced legend in a book is that the whole enterprise can so easily fall into cliché. Overfamiliarity can kill a reader’s interest.   Nancy Springer takes these familiar characters, as well as a number of brand-new ones (or old ones in new guises) and builds for them a world that is lyric and mystical and uniquely hers.

Morgan’s power comes from her otherworldly nature but, like her enchanted castle, the life she builds is based on very real, and quite primal, human emotions and experience. Aoung Ydults, and Young Adults too, will appreciate the psychological foundation for Morgan’s flawed choices. This book would make an excellent book discussion group, because it raises questions. Can an individual overcome family history? Are we truly able to choose our actions? Or are our decisions pre-determined by early experience? Is Morgan a trustworthy narrator? Do we believe her when (spoiler redacted)? Are there parallels to people we know in life? Do we believe them?

I Am Morgan le Fay is a very readable book. Springer’s prose is lyric without being overblown. It is crisp in places, lush with description in others, but the parts blend well. Very approachable. (Just as with Varley, though, I found myself more deeply touched by an animal death than by some human passings. Seems to be a theme beginning here in the GBR. Or, perhaps, it’s just me.)

And speaking of accessible, Nancy Springer’s back list is now available via Open Road as digital downloads! She’s also rocking an author blog on Goodreads, and tweets about things that matter to me (like dandelions, for example. Oh, and books.) Be sure to visit her author site for these links and more.

If you have been following along through the Readathon, you know that I am seeking out things about which I could have conversations with the various authors, should we meet at Balticon. Nancy Springer collects, among other circular things, Venn diagrams. Thus I have made one. It’s the thought that counts.

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GBR #2.5 More on Varley

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JohnVarley

John Varley. Blue because I was playing with watercolor; why do you ask?

 

Note to self: If you meet John Varley at #Balticon50, DO NOT under any circumstances vocalize the “John Varley-corn” song that’s been stuck in your brainpan these last few days.

He’s far from “a little bown man with a nut-brown beard,” despite the jolly rollicking of my disobedient subconscious which has trapped me with this inglorious earworm. To begin with, John Varley is TALL. 6’5″, it’s been said. I’m married to a tall man. And we created, between us, another one. But even in a house full of men who can reach things off the top shelf, John Varley would stand out.

Additionally, his beard is not particularly brown any longer, from photos I’ve seen. This is appropriate for someone with the writing pedigree that he has. And with his life experience.

He also has a gift for being on the right end of serendipity, repeatedly. How does one ACCIDENTALLY end up at Woodstock?

To answer that question, visit his website: http://varley.net Plan to spend some time poking about and reading: his more personal writing can be funny and, at the same time, deeply moving. The whole premise of the Great Balticon Readathon is to enable ourselves to make the most of our convention experience. We may not get to know each of the Guests of Honor on a personal level, but knowing basic background is cool. It adds layers and depth to a panel or book signing if the person in front of you is more than a name and a title. And maybe you’ll have a point of common interest to discuss!

I quite enjoyed reading Mammoth. Thanks again to Bertie MacAvoy for the review, which was our previous post. Feel free to discuss the book in the comments with us if you like! One thing I particularly appreciate about Varley’s work is his aptitude with female characters who DO INTERESTING THINGS. Particularly given the era in which he began writing, stumbling across such creatures was more unusual than finding … well, perhaps a mammoth!

But if I talk to John Varley at Balticon? It will probably be about pinball.  Y’see, in his blog he mentions having owned Gorgar! My husband told me that he’s jealous. A Gorgar, in lovely condition, is his Great White Whale. (Although I don’t know where he thinks he’d put another pinball machine… Perhaps he should read Mammoth for some unlikely tips on folding things into other dimensions?) I think he wants me to find out if Varley still owns Gorgar! and if so make inquiries. I told him that this is Not Proper Convention Ettiquette. And yet — I suspect I may get a hopeful text at some point over that weekend. Mr. Varley, I apologize in advance. And officially invite you over to play Centaur.

NEXT UP IN THE GREAT BALTICON READATHON: Arthurian YA from Nancy Springer!

 

 

GBR #2: Varley’s MAMMOTH

/ Nancy Palmer / 2 Comments

Look who stopped by from ramacavoy.com! Printed with kind permission.

Guest review by R.A. MacAvoy

Mammoth 

Wow!
In this novel John Varley gives us the most intricate sort of time travel story, and no time travel story is easy in itself. On top of this he donates some very believable portrait sketches of people, some of whom are human and some mammoths of assorted species. Even including mammoth teenage angst. And to tie all this in a bow is an over-story that is a children’s informative introduction into the world of the Pleistocene, complete with bold type for vocabulary building and ‘hyperlinks’ to other source material.

What makes this layered complexity work is humor: over-the-top humor with lovely comic timing.

And my response to it is, as I began my review, is Wow! (See – it’s in bold, too.)
Make that double-Wow.

GBR 1.5: All Clear by Connie Willis

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True confession: I ditched my original reading schedule for my Great Balticon Readathon because I simply had to finish the duology of Blackout/All Clear.

The second book was a much faster read. I suspect this is because I was already familiar with and could recognize characters, places, and situations. Another factor may have been that I was burning through pages, waiting to see what happened next.

I recommended this book specifically to a couple of my friends who will likely love it. I did not recommend it to others: this writing will have very little middle ground among readers. While there’s a lot of action, there’s a great deal of introspection as well. The plot, rather than following the direct line of narrative we are taught in writing courses, ignores the expected linear nature of stories and follows its own way. Not everyone is going to enjoy that. There’s a great deal of humor here, too. It reminds me of Shakespeare: some of  the humor is overt and situational, while some of it’s very subtle. Again: not everyone appreciates the knowing wink, the knowing nod that shifts a scene from tragic to comic. Fortunately, there are as many different flavors of speculative fiction as there are writers. If you don’t care for the style of one, it’s easy to find another. I happen to have greatly enjoyed Blackout/All Clear. If I hadn’t other commitments pressing, I’d be scouting another Willis book to read.

If it does nothing else, the Great Balticon Readathon has brought me these books, and I’m happy for having read them.

After finishing the book, I looked at some reviews online. Some claim that the characters are thinly drawn. I disagree with that. However, they are portrayed indirectly. It’s very easy to miss that development if you’re attentive, or skimming through to get to the next plot point (which can also be easy to miss). For example, if you’re a person who prefers reading, “Character X was distractable,” rather than watching Character X being a distracted, and finding your own conclusion from that,  this may not become your favorite book.

i love the complexity of the minor characters too. No cut-and-paste villains here, no flawless saints. The greedy landlady is also capable of kindness. Heroes are bad listeners. The verger is presumptuous (in the kindest possible way, but still interfering).  A city, a community, is a complex and changeable thing, and our author has reflected this in her characters.

Last thing in my notes to point out is how real Connie Willis made WWII Britain for me. I’ve watched movies, read a few eye-witness accounts. But I don’t think I ever really had an inkling of the day-to-day reality of the Blitz before this immersion. And as painful as it was, at times, to vicariously experience it, I was reluctant to leave that world. Well done, Connie Willis!

Dispatches from the Front (Page)

/ Nancy Palmer / 1 Comment
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Laundry VS reading: the winner is clear

 

You may recall, dear reader, that I recently rather blatantly suggested that Connie Willis might be a supernatural creature. Well, she has revenged herself on me for that outrageous statement, and IN SPADES. I have just finished Blackout… and it ended with a cliffhanger. Do yourself a favor. If you’re going to get Blackout, then go ahead and acquire All Clear at the same time. Trust me on this one. You are going to want to know what happens.

And now I’m left with unanswered questions of my own! HOW will Nancy be able to resist continuing into All Clear, and keep to her schedule by beginning a different author tonight? CAN she finish the Great Balticon Readathon before the convention actually begins? WHO will replenish the family tea supplies so she can keep reading? WILL Nancy be crushed by the growing mounds of unattended laundry surrounding her?

A quick reader response to the book itself: In Blackout, Willis has created a world that one can fall into. (The difficulty is climbing back out: I find myself resenting household mundanities that keep me from pursuing the story.) We learn about the characters organically through their speech and action, and the reactions of other characters to them. Willis is an expert at creating full-fleshed characters without heavy-handed description. You learn about the people of the book by watching them, listening to them, working with them, rather than being told who they are and how you ought to feel about them.

I note that this book took me longer to read than I’d planned. In addition to my broken schedule, I think my very real memory issues impacted my reading. When I create my own work, no matter how real the characters may be to me, I create a dramatis personae chart to refer to as I go along. It would have been helpful to me to have done so with Blackout, at least for the beginning section, as my inability to process made it harder for me to track which character was who, where, when. (This is a feature, not a bug! It replicates the environment of the book. Meta reading experience. I only mention it so that folks with memory or focusing issues will consider making themselves a cheat sheet to refer to.) This is a very dense plot, with intricate patterning.

So: vivid setting, excellent character building, dense and compelling plot. What more could one want from a book? Obviously: Book 2. Unequivocal thumbs up for this fascinating, complex tale of WWII Britain, time travel, and a threatened near future. Bonus points for Shakespeare, and plenty of references to The Tempest (my favorite play). Bonus points for synchronicity, as I have been working on a Tempest-inspired short story for Shakespeare’s birthday.

 

Creeptastic

/ Nancy Palmer / 1 Comment
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Original artwork copyright Nancy Palmer. Pentel pocket brush pen and crayon.

CREEPTASTIC: Sleazy comes in many different guises

Way back when I was a struggling car-less teen college student, living on half a can of condensed soup per day, trying to figure out how to get a job in a commuter city with lousy public transportation, one of my Dad’s friends offered to give me a car … if I’d go to bed with him.

When I refused, he got very angry. I’d had no reason to suspect the man of malice before, and I’d opened my apartment door to him as though he were an old friend (which I did consider him at the time). We were in my apartment with the door closed; nobody was around who could have seen if his yelling and rage-filled gesticulations had turned to physical violence. He did eventually depart, leaving a much less trusting girl behind him. I had no idea if he would come back, and what he might try the next time.

 

Looking back, what angers me most about this encounter isn’t someone trying to make a transaction of sex. People do that, and I’m not judging. It’s that he tried to prey on a person in a very vulnerable life situation, and manipulate her into an illegal action that he knew wasn’t in line with her values, and that would have made her horribly vulnerable in many different ways.

 

I’m very much older and in a place of much greater power now, internally and in the eyes of the world. The memory of that creeptastic day doesn’t come to mind often. It did today, though. I happen to be in the slow, challenging process of promoting a self-published book. I am in the very fortunate position of not requiring sales to pay my rent, buy food, and so forth. However, I am keenly aware that this isn’t the case for every writer. And those writers are who were on my mind when I read this unsolicited e-mail that showed up in my in-box today. We’ll call the composer “Creeptastic.” Here are some excerpts. I’ve bolded a few of their lines, and my comments are in parentheses and italicized:

 

Hello,

I saw your ebook. From the synopsis it looks like a high quality ebook. ((Well, at least they got this part right)) If you are looking for some real promotion and exposure for your book, I have a few offers for you. My book promotion packages are extremely affordable and can be customized to your book.

…

Some of the ways I can help you are (ANY one of the following services you purchase will cost you 15 USD, discounts are available if you purchase more than one service at a time; also note that if you want more than what is offered here, remember that discounted upgrades are available for each and every service mentioned; SPECIAL OFFER: Buy (a), (b) (c), (d), (e) (f) and (h) for just 85 USD instead of 105 USD!):

a) I can post 1 honest, detailed, insightful and helpful review on your book. This review will highlight all the positive aspects of your book and enlighten your future readers regarding the real essence and worth of your book. The book review is written by an avid book reader and Native English speaker so you can be assured of quality. NOTE: You are NOT paying me for the review but for the amount of time I am investing in reading your book. (This is what first triggered the memory from my college years. Prostitution was illegal in that time and place, oh, but the guy wasn’t offering me money for sex. He was offering me an exchange of gifts. Wink, nudge, but news reports at the time suggested the law didn’t agree with his interpretation.) The rating may range from 3-5 stars. I don’t post negative reviews. For 49 USD, I can also write an editorial review for you.

Okay. So already, new writers may be feeling uneasiness. Creeptastic has anticipated this uneasiness by providing a loophole of sorts, in an attempt to get around the FTC’s rule against paying for reviews. You’re not supposed to be able to even receive a free copy of the book for review without disclosing the exchange. I sincerely doubt this specious argument would hold up in court.

 

I can promote your book on social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, etc). You get 100% targeted traffic from book readers located in English speaking countries.

(So this is an actual legitimate service. Although I have absolutely zero faith in the quality of this promotion, given the rest of Creeptastic’s offerings.)

c) I can promote your book on 10 high quality websites EXCLUSIVELY devoted to promoting free kindle books – on Kindle free days. I can also promote your book if it is on Kindle countdown promotion (please note that it is up to each site’s owner to decide whether to list your book or not. If your book listing is approved, it will be shown ONLY during the promotion period). In addition, I can also offer you GUARANTEED free Kindle ebook downloads or book purchases (in other words, you can ask me to buy/download your ebook for as many times as you want, for a nominal fee). This in turn can boost your Amazon rankings even further! (This gaming of the system has actually worked on a large scale on a nationally known publication, by pumping sales one week. Books were returned the following week, and the book plummeted off the sales lists, but the author is now able to tout their “best-selling book” to promote their consultation and speaking business.)

d) I offer a review ‘up-voting’ and ‘down-voting’ service. For existing reviews on Amazon, you can ask for a maximum of 30 up-votes or 30 down-votes, or a combination of up-votes and down-votes which doesn’t exceed 30. This is quite helpful if there are some positive reviews you want to be up-voted, or some negative reviews you want to be down-voted. For an extra 15 USD, I can also defend your negative reviews on Amazon by posting upto 3 comments on them (you need to provide me with the comments).

(This kind of thing is why Amazon reviews are losing credibility.)

e) I can add 30 likes to your positive reviews on Goodreads. All likes come from unique accounts and multiple IPs.

(This is the most blatant admission of this I’ve ever seen. It’s a violation of Goodreads user policy; if reported, the “reviewers” will be banned. But it’s hard to stop this, because they just switch IPs.)

 

I removed a couple more of their services for brevity.

h) My BESTSELLER SO FAR: I will rate your book with as many stars you want on Goodreads, post 1 honest review, mark your book as ‘read’, become your fan and add your book to the listopia list of your choice.

 

(Some of the mysterious popularity of certain authors and titles on Goodreads and Amazon has now become much more clear to me.)

 

…

 

Email me at ((redacted by Nancy)) if you are interested. SERIOUS buyers only, please. I am too busy to respond to tire kickers  ((This is a common ploy of shady salespersons; they try to make you feel committed and that you’re in debt to the Creeptastic person for taking up their time,  so you’ll be less likely to decline a transaction…and labelling yourself a “tire kicker” or other perjorative.))

 ***end of excerpt***

I find this whole thing infuriating, for multiple reasons. Primarily because it makes an already difficult job harder, it subverts the intention of honest reviews, it exploits vulnerable writers, and it attempts to scam readers.

 

Publishing a book, and promoting it yourself, are incredibly time-consuming. It can be frustrating. There are so many new books released every year, and getting yours to stand out from the crowd is a challenge. Time spent promoting the book takes away from time you’d rather spend writing. I know this very well, because the same is also true for the current model of artist-as-entrepreneur, musician-as-entrepreneur, and so on. Creative professionals would rather be creating, in general. Most of us are also uncomfortable self-promoting. And there are social conventions to follow, too: you’re supposed to self-promote, but at the same time over-promotion is both tacky and annoying. There are procedures that work to get your book known. Approaching bloggers, establishing a social media presence, reaching out to book groups, are all touted as means to spread the word of your creative work. Even writing a good book, so that people who read it are genuinely moved to create a review, is cited as a technique… but that too is easier said than done. The hard truth of self-publishing is that most writers are fortunate to sell copies numbering even into the three digits. It’s not an easy task.

 

Circumventing these paths to word-of-mouth exposure by buying false reports devalues the reviews a writer works so hard to gather. A casual reader looking for the next great story won’t necessarily be able to differentiate between a well-considered, thoughtful reading over a period of hours that results in a 4-star rating, and a different 4-star rating given to a poorly-written book that someone paid $15 to promote. How are readers supposed to trust recommendations if so many of them are marketing tools? A professional paid review service has its place, providing insight to people such as the librarians with limited budgets, space, and time, who must sort through all these kajillion books to choose purchases for their libraries. The commercial nature of those reviews is disclosed. But Creeptastic is offering something different: a deliberate intent to pretend to be uninvolved readers.

 

Writers without the patience and, frankly, privilege of being able to wait for word-of-mouth to spread could easily be taken in by offers like Creeptastic’s. If it wasn’t okay, they couldn’t offer it, right? Maybe this is how it’s done? It’s just a kind of advertisement, right? After all, this type of manipulation has sometimes been very successful in the past. And there is, after all, the rent to pay. Children and cats to be fed. My book’s wonderful; I know people would love it if I could just get them to read it… However, if this gaming of the system comes to light, the author may suffer serious consequences. The service vendor? Not so much, as they can just switch IP’s and websites and start again. The author’s name and reputation, however, may be tarnished beyond repair.

 

I’m also angered at how these ploys target the readers. I think people who buy books deserve to be respected. While perfectly lovely books may go unnoticed without promotion, and that is not optimal, purchased ratings are a blow against consumer confidence. It’s not right to mislead people into buying your product, regardless of whether that produce is a washing machine or the novel you’ve spent the last three years producing. There’s a difference between a promotion, such as giving away free books, and a scam, which includes such things as lying and saying that everyone adored those free books. Readers shouldn’t be cheated. Their money and, more importantly, precious time are being invested in your creation. Maybe they’ll like your book. Maybe they won’t. But I don’t believe that setting up a scam to take them in is the best way to build an audience.

 

There’s a darker side to this, too, and I’m surprised that fewer people haven’t harkened to it yet. When I read this e-mail to my husband (he of Italian descent), and told him that I thought that the next logical step was extortion, he agreed.

 

“It sounds like the Book Mafia,” he said. “Pay protection money so you don’t get bad reviews.” Or perhaps, I speculate, pay protection money so we won’t tell the FTC that you paid for the good reviews.

 

And then I wondered if this might not, in fact, be already in place, and we’re not hearing about it because people are paying? It’s not hard to imagine.

 

In any case, to bring this back to some humor, I did visit Creeptastic’s website. It has a tab for “Testimonials”. How funny, I thought, that someone offering to sell reviews would expect someone to trust a review left on their website? Do they not see the absurdity?

 

The funnier thing was that when I clicked on the Testimonials tab? There were no reviews. “Coming Soon.” Wow. You’re trying to sell false reviews … and you can’t even provide them for yourself? That says a lot about your product. Rather reminds me of the guy at the beginning of the story, with the car, telling me I should compromise myself so I could survive, telling me what a mistake I was making by turning him down, and refusing his car. “All it needs,” he said, as I locked the door behind him, “is a motor…”