It starts off politely enough with the disclaimer freebie readers are required to use: “Thank you Netgalley for the free review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.” Then it launches into “Mother******g piece of s**t, this to describe my newborn baby piece of literature. (One that young preview readers have told me is my best ever, ever.)
Really? Feel free to be less honest. Or at least less profane.
He’s an 18 year-old reviewer reading (and ranting) about a YA with 16 year-old female protagonist, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Still it’s clearly not for his demograph. He would never have purchased this novel from a bookstore.
But he wants to be outrageous. He has a blog to populate.
Swearing will maybe draw people to his website now, lure them to buy his upcoming selfie story, hook them into offering him a book or movie contract.
No.
He is everything that is wrong with the Internet. And he’ll never read this because all he wants to do is express himself, not listen to others.
He deserves to be strapped to a chair and forced to watch Fifty Shades of Grey over and over.
In other news, you are invited to my launch of Best Friends Through Eternity, Sunday, February 15, 2:00 p.m. at A Different Drummer Books, 513 Locust, Burlington, Ontario.
To pre-order your autographed piece of literature
please call 905-639-0925
Sadly, trolls aren’t under bridges anymore. They’ve moved into the internet en masse. And when one attacks, you don’t dare engage in a dialogue or all their troll friends will come out with clubs. I’m disappointed I can’t be at the launch, but I’m really enjoying reading the book! Onward!
Ah, too bad. We will have (catered) East Indian food and music too. Much merriment. We must celebrate books. And in one of the nicest bookstores in Canada too.
The daft reviewer is, indeed, “everything that is wrong with the Internet.” Well said, Sylvia! I know one can’t take these raves seriously, but as a sensitive creator, call me thin-skinned if you will, but I feel the sting when I read something like this directed at my work or someone else’s. I’m so sorry you had to encounter this idiot’s rant. On the plus side, I started reading REVENGE ON THE FLY this week and LOVE love it! Keep on keeping on, Sylvia.
Thanks Monica Kulling for you kind words on Revenge on the Fly. If we weren’t overly sensitive we wouldn’t be good writers. I won’t stop if you don’t. Let’s face it we write because we love the process. Certainly wouldn’t be because of the reviews.
Because of the profanity, I keep begging Goodreads to delete those first choice words. I know I have to keep the one star rating in my average. Who cares. The automated system is very automated. In a newspaper interview, they asked me about the high of finishing a piece of work and instead I told them about the low of the Internet rants, new in the last three years at least for me.
Your suggested punishment for the little cretin is apt. Take heart! For every self-promoting fool there are many good readers out there, capable and willing to offer a fair commentary.
Always stressful when a new book comes out, waiting and hoping to make “the lists”, get the good reviews, get on to shortlists. We work so hard for all this.