Friday the 13th

[pbray]

Feel free to skip the whining below.

Today was one of those days. At work the customers screwed the database in truly new and interesting ways, and then forgot to tell me about it so it was a surprise to one and all that $14M dollars had evaporated from the forecast.

I then opened my e-mail to find that I had received the "thanks for being interested but we're not putting you on a panel" mass e-mail from the folks at World Fantasy. I've been instructed that I may still make the final programming cut, depending on how things shake out, but it's still a bummer.

This was followed by a fan letter from someone reading DEVLIN'S HONOR who accused me of padding the book and turning into the next "Robert Jordon" (sic). Since DH is book two of a trilogy that did indeed wrap everything up in three books, I felt the comparison a tad unfair. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I'm once again reminded why I should not read fan letters when I'm feeling cranky.

ETA: In fairness I should note that the crappy fan letter was offset by two glowing e-mails, but naturally I'm focused on the one that said I sucked.

Comments

[melissajm.livejournal.com]

Are they really a fan if all they do is complain?
Well, I liked it. So there. Hmph. Even the disturbing bits. ;)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Well I guess they are still fans since this person claimed to love book one, but then hated book two. I took a deep breath and then sent the "Thanks for writing to share your opinion" e-mail.

[aeriedraconia.livejournal.com]

Well, I liked your Devlin trilogy too! A lot. So there. And Puh-leeze, you don't accuse someone of padding until at least book 5 or so. Dur. :-)

There's an lj community called customers suck.

If you don't get to do a panel you will just have to play instead. Will there be more fun and exciting adventures from the crew of the S.S. Can't Take 'Em Anywhere?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the kind words.

The S.S. Can't Take 'Em Anywhere will be in full sail during the con. We'll start with rum, and drink our way south :-)

[qnotku.livejournal.com]

No one who'd ever read the the endlessness that is Jordan's Wheel of Time series would ever accuse Devlin's Honor or you of any sort of padding or similarity. So I say to them: Bah! Humbug! May a holy man squat in your cornflakes! :-P

Devlin's Honor was fantastic as are the other two books in your trilogy. That wasn't a fan, that was someone who's twelve nuts short of a squirrel.

Teri

[pbray.livejournal.com]

someone who's twelve nuts short of a squirrel

Hee, love it!

[wishweaver.livejournal.com]

In fairness I should note that the crappy fan letter was offset by two glowing e-mails, but naturally I'm focused on the one that said I sucked.

::Hugs:: I'm there with you on that (even though my feedback is for fanfics just now.) I'm getting better, but haven't fully developed the "rhino hide" nightwolfwriter says I need to play this game for real. If I'm not in the mood to take it, a random flamer can really ruin my day. :-(

And for all his tough talk nightwolfwriter isn't immune. He got a review on Amazon for his first Gauntlet: Dark legacy novel that...well...let's just say one of his aunts asked him if it was left by someone he'd dated in the past. :-D To say the reviewer was not impressed it putting it mildly.

FWIW, I liked Devlin's Honor. My one complaint was it ended just about the time things really started to get going, but I wasn't too stressed. I had the other two books just waiting to be read. That's one good thing about finding a series late in the game...no waiting for the sequels! ;-)

Write on!

Wish

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Amazon reviews can be brutal. I've stopped reading mine in the interests of preserving what's left of my sanity. There are times when I have a rhino hide, and then there are times when I know that any feedback is going to make me crazed.

Sometimes I'll Google myself and laugh at the bad reviews, but at certain stages of the writing process I'm not in the right headspace for getting that kind of feedback.

[jlawrenceperry.livejournal.com]

Well that's just ridiculous. Number one, to be a good analogy one must accept the premise that Robert Jordan 'pads' his books. Bullcrap. Second, your books were what, a third of the length of his books? What precisely was there that was padding? Finally, I thought your trilogy was one of the freshest, at the same time most familiar, works of fantasy I had ever read.

I think the best thing about it is that it's easily accessible to the non-fantasy reader. You don't have all the overt trappings of contemporary fantasy. Yes, you have the midieval setting and swords and priests and gods and things, but you have a regular guy trying to escape his problems, who doesn't want to be anybody's hero. Devlin is easy to identify with.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Thanks, it's great to see someone who got what I was trying to do with the story.

Now, a few days later, I can see that the guy was totally offbase with his comments, but at the time, it just made me crazed.