Anyone had a wee sneaky read o this yet.

Nope. This author is a hit or miss.

 

His last, Lost Gates, was pretty solid. I hope this newest one is the best he's ever written.

 

But, of course, I always hope for the best when a new DL comes out.

I liked the idea of the last one but it was poorly written.

This was one of the worst Deathlands books I've ever read. 

 

After reading the first 10 or so pages I knew this was going to be a real dog.  Endless discussions about what the characters were thinking of doing, going to do, as well as endless speculation of trivial minutiae reminded me of the recent title Lost Gates.  Here's what I wrote on that review: "The excessive verbiage outlining every thought, issue and feeling regarding every little thing made it tedious. I ended up skimming about 40% of the story...you might too."  It's clearly the same author.

I skimmed 90% of this book.  Yup, 2-5 words on each page was enough to easily follow the story--a real grind.   If you read the first 10 pages and the last 5 you'll know the whole story.  Really.

 

I wish I could get my money back. 

 

You won't like it.  I didn't.

Well crap, and I just bought my copy yesterday!

 

I liked Lost Gates, though. The beginning kinda dragged, and the overall action sequences were not great. But the overall concept with the mat-trans was fresh, and I wished the authors explored this seemingly limitless concept with a staple that is - and has been - right there the whole time to utilize.

 

Would LOVE to see the gang go on a chron jump!!!!!!!!!

I was shocked speechless when I opened this piece of crap and tried reading it. It is the most boring of any Deathlands book ever. The author is using $2 words for people with no education. I am over half way through the blasted book and not only has no one died, no gun has even been fired!

Everyone is speaking like Doc with a hangover, even Jak.

If this is the new face of the Deathlands everyone has been talking about, then I am not interested. Upgraded weapons are a good idea, but are they even carrying any weapons in this book? Half way through and who knows? All I am getting is a Philosophy lesson.

I quit reading the book yesterday and haven't decided yet if I will go back and finish it, or even ever buy another Deathlands book.

This is a sad moment for one who has looked forward to every book that came out and always bought it on the first day it hit the book stores or Amazon for the Kindle.

For a devoted Deathlands Fan, this is our Day of Infamy.

The Dukester
http://www.duke-davis.com

I wouldn't exactly call Andy Boot "the new face of the Deathlands". I don't believe he has any other books in the pipeline.

I had a feeling of dread and hopelessness I couldn't quite identify. I could "only hope" that as my fingers stiffly and awkwardly turned the pages that the book would should me some redeeming quality. It was almost as if I was brainwashed on had taken some herbs that made me helpless for hours and days.  I kept turning pages (and skimming) continuing to "only hope" the end would come. I had no control. Then I got to the end and I asked "what was that DREK - The ending was worse than the beginning????"  I have never not read a DL book from cover to cover.

But next time I see Andy Boot coming I'm avoiding.  

 

More Chuck Rogers please!

 

 

 

 

 

That's an ace on the line!  What a terrible read. Avoid. Avoid. Cancel your pre-order.

Yeah, unfortunately, the last 3 comments here are accurate of this latest borefest.

 

Action, hell, even a gun, wasn't mentioned until about page 178! 

Well, I'm leaving in the morning for Panama in the Canal Zone, for a couple of weeks. The wife and I are going down to check it out as we are currently planning on moving down there. When I get back I will give it another try and see if I can get past 35% of the way through.

I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

The Dukester
http://www.duke-davis.com

My copy arrived yesterday and I must say i am finding it oh so hard to continue to read this one. Line after line of pointless dialogue telling us the thought processes involved with scratching your arse, oh the tedium. Andy boot has done himself proud with this one.

On a side note, Ryan and J.B visited the Mesa Verde canyons in Road Wars, why didn't they remember this fact and just make for the way in that they knew from the last occasion? Maybe because in Andy Boots world they never did visit it simply because he has never read the book...

Jim

Sorry Mr. Andy Boot, but I have to say that his latest DL was a major miss!

 

Don't bother trudging through this one. Boot is the most 'hit or miss' writer there is here. His last one had a solid concept, and was overall a fun and exciting read. It was the action sequences that were the problem.

 

Now, in his new DL, it is the total lack of action - or anything - going for it. It had a weird tone to it. The companion's weapons are not even noticed until 170-some-odd pages. Even when they are climbing cliffs and whatnot, Andy doesn't even bother to think what a problem carrying long guns and such can be while doing some serious climbing. Much less water and such one would desperately need...

Part of the trouble here is, DL readers can't imagine the mental exhaustion of having written 18 books in the same decades-effed-up series. Add the career pointlessness of being writer for hire (with chump-butt pay), GE's tendency to load up regulars with multiple book contracts, and you have a recipe for inevitable Flame Out. I've never read any of Boot's DLs, but I can assure you this has to be part of the problem.

Okay, so you ask why didn't he just stop writing DLs if he couldn't get it up to do it "right" (in your opinion)? Maybe he has a firm grasp of the situation, who he is working for and what they will accept. Hey, nobody but Boot knows his financial situation or what else he has going for himself. It's very easy with multiple books contracts to become addicted to the regular flow, if not the taste, of what leaks from GE's shriveled teats. I ended up taking more contracts than I could stomach and walked away from the last one (#12). But I had another, better gig to fall back on.

Another thing you can't imagine: my relief at putting an end to this chapter of my life.

 

I can't rag on anybody who has done this job for a living.

 

Well written, AP!

 

I can only imagine this type of job: making all fans happy. 

 

But c'mon! If the writer cares, (as it appears you did, despite your self-proclaimed burn-out), and still managed to churn out solid adventure after solid adventure, then does it not therefore falls upon the writer to either give up, or churn out a 'decent' script every once in a while?

1: Who's to say he does care? Pollotta obviously doesn't.

2: He does churn out a decent script every once in awhile. Several people in this thread alone said his last book was good (I have it, but I have yet to read it). I've read some half-decent Boot books (Sunchild, Salvation Road, Death Hunt*). *So far; I'm 1/3 of the way through it.

Boot's a good writer, but he's not a very good action novel writer. His books, by and large, drift aimlessly along with some fights thrown in to satisfy the requirements for the genre. His characterizations are good, his writing is solid, grammatically speaking... he just seems to have trouble putting together a plot that keeps the reader's attention. I'll still give him a shot, unless someone's already said it's bad - unlike certain other authors whose names shall go unmentioned.

Posted By Maximus on 22 May 2012 06:40 PM

But c'mon! If the writer cares, (as it appears you did, despite your self-proclaimed burn-out), and still managed to churn out solid adventure after solid adventure, then does it not therefore falls upon the writer to either give up, or churn out a 'decent' script every once in a while?

Maximus,

You don't get it. A writer-for-hire and a writer-for-royalties (someone producing original, proprietary work) are completely different species. Even if Boot wiped his butt with DL 18 times, he has done nothing to be ashamed of. I realize this may be crushing news, but in this kind of arrangement you aren't the author's audience. The only audience for a writer-for-hire is the chucklehead at the publisher who is passing out the contracts. And at GE that person probably hasn't read one word of the DL books. Bottom line: a writer-for-hire doesn't care how his books sell because it won't increase or decrease his pay or get him fired. A writer-for-hire doesn't care if he pisses you off for the same reason.

 

As for my product at GE, I think I already explained that I have OCD. The only way I could've written worse books was to go on medication.

Hmmm, interesting. So the writer-for-hire gets a flat fee? Or does it matter how many issues his book sells?

And surely you must've had 'some' interest and liking of the source material. Otherwise, can one write a book based on a series he doesn't give a shit about? Would that not show through their writing? 

In my life I have done a fair number of things for money that I had no personal interest in. You need some code written? Throw me the cash and I will crank out that code. It's pretty much like the opening narration from Firefly. "You got a job, we can do it, don't much care what it is."

Posted By Maximus on 23 May 2012 06:42 AM

Otherwise, can one write a book based on a series he doesn't give a shit about? Would that not show through their writing? 

Guess not always.

And yes, it's a flat fee for service. Which includes all editions of the work, audio, digital, film rights (ha, ha), etc.

 

Speaking of audiobook rights. Graphic Audio released audiobook version of this book. http://www.graphicaudio.n...laces-of-light.aspx.

I am sure Graphic Audio has streamlined the book. In fact I just finished a Rogue Angel book where they cut 1/4 of the book, changed 40-50% of the dialogue, and even added an extra scene. Book was barely five hours.

Yet they let customers believe that all their products are unabridged. In fact they lied to someone on facebook. I hate this false advertising.

Posted By vcoolwater on 23 May 2012 01:47 PM
Speaking of audiobook rights. Graphic Audio released audiobook version of this book. http://www.graphicaudio.n...laces-of-light.aspx.

I am sure Graphic Audio has streamlined the book.

Apparently some might consider this an act of mercy.

I have a hard time being upset by it. They are not unabridged books on tape, they are audio adaptations presented essentially as a radio play complete with music and sound effects. For an audio book that is simply text being read aloud, I expect the text to be identical. For a radio play adaptation, I don't see it any differently than a film or television adaptation. Accommodations for the medium happen.

I have no problem with the books being abridged. I have problem with them not being upfront about it. They should post on their website that some of the books are abridged or they are adaptations of the book. They are fooling their customers into believing that the books are unabridged, when in actual they are cutting 2-3 chapters of story. In fact, they try to avoid letting their customers know that they abridged the books or they cut parts out. This is exteremly low and deceptive.

Some people only buy unabridged books. In fact when I started listening to Graphic Audio, I throught I was listening to the book unabridged with it being act out. I was surprised when I found out they cut 2-3 whole chapters of story.

Posted By AP on 23 May 2012 02:44 AM

Posted By Maximus on 22 May 2012 06:40 PM

But c'mon! If the writer cares, (as it appears you did, despite your self-proclaimed burn-out), and still managed to churn out solid adventure after solid adventure, then does it not therefore falls upon the writer to either give up, or churn out a 'decent' script every once in a while?

Maximus,

You don't get it. A writer-for-hire and a writer-for-royalties (someone producing original, proprietary work) are completely different species. Even if Boot wiped his butt with DL 18 times, he has done nothing to be ashamed of. I realize this may be crushing news, but in this kind of arrangement you aren't the author's audience. The only audience for a writer-for-hire is the chucklehead at the publisher who is passing out the contracts. And at GE that person probably hasn't read one word of the DL books. Bottom line: a writer-for-hire doesn't care how his books sell because it won't increase or decrease his pay or get him fired. A writer-for-hire doesn't care if he pisses you off for the same reason.

 

As for my product at GE, I think I already explained that I have OCD. The only way I could've written worse books was to go on medication.

 

AP,

With all due respect to you who know the industry, I think your burnout is still present, and that is sad. But you don't get it...whether you are writing-for-hire, or writing-for-royalties, the audience has to be readers. Without readers books are indeed toiler paper. If you write uninspired stories, the readers see that and (most) readers won't continue their investment in you and eventually you won't get rehired.  I'm guessing GE uses some sort of performance metric to measure the revenue being generated by their writers-for-hire.

Or is that what you are trying to explain to us...that it doesn't matter how much more we demand Chuck Rogers compared to complaining about Andy Boot...the mindless readers are still buying whatever the machine puts out?  Where we assume we're driving off buyers of an episode with our scathing (yet truthful) reviews - that is not affecting any performance metric that GE execs care about?  Is DL such a small component of their revenue stream they don't notice or care?

 

Posted By Timbermountain on 23 May 2012 06:51 PM

AP,

With all due respect to you who know the industry, I think your burnout is still present, and that is sad. But you don't get it...whether you are writing-for-hire, or writing-for-royalties, the audience has to be readers. Without readers books are indeed toiler paper. If you write uninspired stories, the readers see that and (most) readers won't continue their investment in you and eventually you won't get rehired.  I'm guessing GE uses some sort of performance metric to measure the revenue being generated by their writers-for-hire.

Or is that what you are trying to explain to us...that it doesn't matter how much more we demand Chuck Rogers compared to complaining about Andy Boot...the mindless readers are still buying whatever the machine puts out?  Where we assume we're driving off buyers of an episode with our scathing (yet truthful) reviews - that is not affecting any performance metric that GE execs care about?  Is DL such a small component of their revenue stream they don't notice or care?

 

If GE authors got fired because readers on this site hated their work, how did Boot manage to write 18 DLs? If you are guessing GE is organized enough to have a "performance metric" by which it measures individual author product you are guessing wrong. They don't even know how many books sold until a year or more after publication. Figure in another year of lag time between an author turning in a ms and publication, and an author could have contracts for five or six more books before the results from the first one even comes in. And then it's another year (with three more completed books already in the pipeline) to see if the author has improved!  GE is a stable of ghosts, a bad book here and there averages out over time, and more important than having stinkers in the mix, GE has to have finished books to drop into the printing schedule--which is actually Harlequin's enormous printing schedule. If there aren't books for the slots, the whole system falls apart.

What I am telling you is just that: you have no power to influence anything at GE. Nothing you do or say is going to change anything. Posters on this site have been complaining about exactly the same things (a tape loop of grievance) since the site first appeared, what, 12 years ago? The GE imprint is such an insignificant part of the Harlequin Enterprises, Inc. revenue stream that nobody in charge of that global octopus gives a damn what happens to it. 

The only GE author who ever had a dog in the fight you are describing (original work, building and holding an audience) was Mark Ellis.

P.S.: How you can long distance diagnose burn-out when you don't know me from shit?

Al makes some very good points. And GE is indeed a very small cog in the Harlequin marketing wheel. But rest assured that there is a bottom line regarding sales figures. If GE products don't meet that bottom line or dips below, GE will close its doors. .

Given how quickly Room 59 came and went (which is a shame, I really enjoyed the series), I gather there must me some kind of minimum sales threshold to keep a series going. I expect Deathlands is cruising on a fair amount of momentum at this point, though.

Posted By Wordsmith-reprise on 24 May 2012 12:12 AM
Al makes some very good points. And GE is indeed a very small cog in the Harlequin marketing wheel. But rest assured that there is a bottom line regarding sales figures. If GE products don't meet that bottom line or dips below, GE will close its doors. .

Sure Cathy, but you're talking about the imprint's total sales, or total sales of a particular series, not the sales of individual authors' work in a series. There is no bottom line for that.  The good, the bad, the ugly, it all gets averaged in.

Posted By AP on 23 May 2012 08:21 PM

The only GE author who ever had a dog in the fight you are describing (original work, building and holding an audience) was Mark Ellis.

And even then...

Posted By )3az )3aziah on 22 May 2012 11:28 AM
My copy arrived yesterday and I must say i am finding it oh so hard to continue to read this one. Line after line of pointless dialogue telling us the thought processes involved with scratching your arse, oh the tedium. Andy boot has done himself proud with this one.

On a side note, Ryan and J.B visited the Mesa Verde canyons in Road Wars, why didn't they remember this fact and just make for the way in that they knew from the last occasion? Maybe because in Andy Boots world they never did visit it simply because he has never read the book...

Jim

I skimmed the rest of this book after finding myself reading the same line several times over, such was the lack of attention this book holds for the reader. Looking back now, only some 24hrs since the last page, I can hardly recall the story at all.

I disliked the method he chose to write this, it was disjointed and lacked any sort of oomph!! Andy Boot can write a good story but not a Deathlands one. His over expressive way of explaining every minute detail of a characters thoughts appears to have been used here to pad out an all but empty tale that I am guessing he based off of the "pied piper" tale of old.

2/10 and only for the verbose writing style.

 

Jim

 

Well Victor Milan, you're up for the next two!

 

God let him PLEASE knock it out of the ballpark...

These reviews are disheartening. I actually just received this in the mail today after waiting for it all month, hence why I was on-line looking for reviews and stumbled across these forums. Especially after the awesomeness that was Hell Road warriors.

This turned up last week but from all the "rave" reviews I think its going to the very bottom off my "to read" pile.

Posted By SP on 25 May 2012 06:15 PM
These reviews are disheartening. I actually just received this in the mail today after waiting for it all month, hence why I was on-line looking for reviews and stumbled across these forums. Especially after the awesomeness that was Hell Road warriors.

Don’t bother to read it.  In fact, just throw it away.  Save yourself the aggravation.

I really love Deathlands and look forward to each book, but this one is painfull to read.

I just finished hellbenders. It wasn't that bad. But you folks are making it real hard for me to even start the new book....

 

Is it as bad as salvation road? or worse?

 

Salvation Road is far from Boot's worst book - it wasn't even that bad, IMO, just a little slow. Hellbenders was marginally better, only in that it had more action.

Here's something I learned from reading several of Boot's books recently: for some reason, he thinks that the LeMat has one ball chamber, instead of nine (not only that - he actually had Doc fire both chambers at once one time). Dedication to writing a good story aside, if you really cared about what you were doing, you would at least do the minimal amount of effort to get the details correct, right? I could understand missing something that happened 20 books ago, but this is information that you can find on the internet in 10 minutes. Since firearms feature strongly in DL books, it seems like you'd want to get those details right in any case.

Salvation road is one of his worst In my opinion. And you know what opinions are like...

 

The thing is I really enjoy a lot of Mr. Boot's work. I also feel that when he has to write more then 2 in a sequence that possibly he is burnt out on DL in general. As the pace is slow as mollases with generic barons and the endings abrubtly end suckingly.

 

Ron is right about DLs crusin on its past and with the latest books "suckin"....Its not a shock GE is gona close up.Why GE doesn't give AP a 30 book deal is crazy.Hell there is no dought he wants to write DL's books for the right $

GE is going to close up? That's news to me.

Posted By Diablo on 29 May 2012 07:08 AM
Ron is right about DLs crusin on its past and with the latest books "suckin"....Its not a shock GE is gona close up.Why GE doesn't give AP a 30 book deal is crazy.Hell there is no dought he wants to write DL's books for the right $

 

Yeah, DIablo, you can be my agent. And Chuck can make the coffee.

AP

Ap and Chuck are you both writing other novels at the moment? If so how about some info??????

Posted By Wordsmith-reprise on 29 May 2012 09:33 AM
GE is going to close up? That's news to me.

Do you really think they'd tell you in advance? Seems more likely that your last paycheck would just bounce.

Why, yes, Al, yes, I do believe I would be told. No checks--direct deposit.

Posted By silentalbino on 29 May 2012 01:16 PM
Ap and Chuck are you both writing other novels at the moment? If so how about some info??????

You can find a list of books Chuck has written for the Executioner series on Mackbolan.com. Al has some there as well.

Posted By The Phantom on 29 May 2012 04:30 PM

Posted By silentalbino on 29 May 2012 01:16 PM
Ap and Chuck are you both writing other novels at the moment? If so how about some info??????

You can find a list of books Chuck has written for the Executioner series on Mackbolan.com. Al has some there as well.

The Phantom and silentalbino,

Don't think silentalbino was talking about books already published by GE, but books in progress.

Silentalbino, if you haven't already done so, click on the Slaughter Realms link on ja.com's homepage. It will take you to the SR website and five free to read chapters of an original sf novel/series started, but stalled ... for over a year ... so long ago I can't remember exactly. I entered some of it in the PNWA Writer's Contest last year and it was a finalist in the sf category, but didn't win. (Idiots. What's not to love about "josticulating upthrusties"?)

The original book I'm working on now I've already mentioned on another thread. Vampire Woodstock. Dark, violent comedy/book series--maybe three connected novels. I'm halfway through the second draft of the first one.

AP

Posted By SP on 28 May 2012 04:50 PM

Salvation road is one of his worst In my opinion. And you know what opinions are like...

Indeed. You haven't read Amazon Gate and Destiny's Truth yet, have you?

Yes I have. They were both much better then salvation road.

 

All I can is, your tastes are quite different from mine.

Thanks for the info Phantom. AP, please keep us posted as I for one will certainly buy a copy.

Hell yea AP, I'll be ur agent and I'll get shit done....We'll start with a 5 book deal to get sales back up for GE for what? 6 0's a book?If they say no,then me and Chuck head north....bam bam bam....u get payed.

Posted By Diablo on 01 Jun 2012 04:31 AM
Hell yea AP, I'll be ur agent and I'll get shit done....We'll start with a 5 book deal to get sales back up for GE for what? 6 0's a book?If they say no,then me and Chuck head north....bam bam bam....u get payed.

Diablo,

Remembering your previous avatar I could see how as an agent working face to face with GE you could make impossible deals happen (chin beard, sleeve tats, "guns," etc.), but what's Chuck going to do? Make the sandwiches?

Going halibut fishing again this morning. It's the last Friday of the season. Saw a 100 pounder caught yesterday afternoon. A two-harpoon fish.

AP

What part of the world do you reside in ap? In fact let me throw out that question to all you axlerites???

Posted By silentalbino on 01 Jun 2012 09:51 PM
What part of the world do you reside in ap? 

I'm a proud resident of the Northern Hemisphere. Thank you for asking.

Axlerites.......I like that...I hope u catch something AP,that way Harry can make us a couple of his "soon to be famous" fried fish sandwitchs..

Posted By AP on 01 Jun 2012 10:51 PM

Posted By silentalbino on 01 Jun 2012 09:51 PM
What part of the world do you reside in ap? 

I'm a proud resident of the Northern Hemisphere. Thank you for asking.

Maybe slightly more specific, maybe a continent or even risk a state.

Posted By silentalbino on 02 Jun 2012 12:27 AM

Posted By AP on 01 Jun 2012 10:51 PM

Posted By silentalbino on 01 Jun 2012 09:51 PM
What part of the world do you reside in ap? 

I'm a proud resident of the Northern Hemisphere. Thank you for asking.

Maybe slightly more specific, maybe a continent or even risk a state.

Sheesh. The land of the fried fish sandwich: WA state, of course. And no halibut today, all I caught was the bottom, bigtime. Or to put it another way, "I fought the bottom, and the bottom won."

hold on a min albino,why all the ?s about AP?for those of us that have been around knows AP lives in the northwest and thats all we need to know.I live in the southeast,Ron lives...well come to think of it we don't know anything about Ron.hell there might not even be a Ron....spooky

Posted By AP on 02 Jun 2012 12:34 AM

Sheesh. The land of the fried fish sandwich: WA state, of course. And no halibut today, all I caught was the bottom, bigtime. Or to put it another way, "I fought the bottom, and the bottom won."

I guess that make me a Landofthefriedfishsandwichian.  

Posted By The Phantom on 02 Jun 2012 06:31 PM

I guess that make me a Landofthefriedfishsandwichian.  

Power to the Landofthefriedfishsandwichians!

Posted By Diablo on 02 Jun 2012 06:58 AM
hold on a min albino,why all the ?s about AP?for those of us that have been around knows AP lives in the northwest and thats all we need to know.I live in the southeast,Ron lives...well come to think of it we don't know anything about Ron.hell there might not even be a Ron....spooky

Jeez mate only asking a ?. Not planning on stalking anybody, yet.. Just trying to start abit of conversation.

Posted By silentalbino on 02 Jun 2012 11:44 PM

Posted By Diablo on 02 Jun 2012 06:58 AM
hold on a min albino,why all the ?s about AP?for those of us that have been around knows AP lives in the northwest and thats all we need to know.I live in the southeast,Ron lives...well come to think of it we don't know anything about Ron.hell there might not even be a Ron....spooky

Jeez mate only asking a ?. Not planning on stalking anybody, yet.. Just trying to start abit of conversation.

 

Diablo's point is that this isn't a PRIVATE conversation (duh), and what you plan or don't plan isn't the issue--you aren't the only person listening in.

I realize that I am as guilty as anyone else, but this thread has been so hijacked. Makes me wonder if Diablo isn't right about something else: that Ron the moderator is a figment of all our imaginations.

Posted By AP on 03 Jun 2012 04:48 PM

I realize that I am as guilty as anyone else, but this thread has been so hijacked. Makes me wonder if Diablo isn't right about something else: that Ron the moderator is a figment of all our imaginations.

Well hell, this thread is already completely derailed. I may as well pull back the curtain and reveal myself a bit more.

 (I am so tempted to insert a picture of Brad Pitt right here)

 To give you some idea of why I have been largely absent the last few days, here is what has been going on:

Snow White's Scarey Adventures - A Retrospective

SWSA Final Night - Prelude

SWSA Final Night, Part 1 - The Beginning of the End

It will take three more parts to finish telling what happened this past Thursday night, plus an epilogue. I should have the next part written and posted later today. On Friday night I flew up to Charlotte for a one day conference, and then flew back home early this morning. I've just been napping for past hour or so, and now I am starting to catch up on things.

I guess I pretty much just revealed where I live, too. Huh.

Who else is listening in??? As far as i'm aware this is a website for a book series, not the Al Qaeda sewing circle. So why all the secrecy? Not trying to be a dick, i just dont see the reason for Diablo questioning me over a question I posted to someone else. If you didnt want to say where you lived that was fine, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.
Dave

And now, yeah, I'm going to step in and moderate. Let's take it down a notch, please.

Posted By silentalbino on 03 Jun 2012 05:14 PM
Who else is listening in??? As far as i'm aware this is a website for a book series, not the Al Qaeda sewing circle. So why all the secrecy? Not trying to be a dick, i just dont see the reason for Diablo questioning me over a question I posted to someone else. If you didnt want to say where you lived that was fine, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.
Dave

I hope this is enough down-notch:

Silentalbino, what you see on this site now, the quality of posters and posts, isn't what this site has been in the past. Before Ron stepped up his moderation a few years ago there were not just trolls, but liars, whackjobs, creeps--one who even professed to carry Federal law enforcement "credentials." That's the sewing circle I think all of us want to avoid.

AP

Posted By silentalbino on 03 Jun 2012 05:14 PM
As far as i'm aware this is a website for a book series, not the Al Qaeda sewing circle.

I like this...

A/S/L/Blood type lol

Don't feel bad silentalbino, I got sort of the same responce when I had asked a question. But a PM from the concearned  party resolved the issue. From the sound's of things this place must of been a real treasure trove of trolls. Allthough I would like to hear the story of the 'EX-FBI' agent or whatever the situation was. Purely for the lulz that must of ensued of course.

 

Ugh. You know how some trainwrecks are fun to watch in a horrifying way, but others are just horrifying? Yeah, that second one.

Oh c'mon. Surely their were lulz? I am not a troll, as I joined this website merely by looking for a review of the new disaster- piece book. Wich I haven't even read yet (And I own it!), allthough I have read 14 books from the space I had stopped collecting at the time, in the last 9 days...Guess that is a plus. But you folks can't tempt with a ribeye flavored carrot and then button up? Can you?

Here,here good sir, please enlighten a 'noob'. Yes?

 

Laughing, Crying, it is all entertainment.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Sp. AP, we won't let these types ruin this website.Let's get back to this apparently very dreadful book.

Looks like a lot of small time animosity going on here for nothing. The book is not worth talking about anymore. It simply blows. Period.

 

I am about 117 pages into Deathlands: Wretched Earth. It is pretty damn good so far. Hellava lot better than this turd book here everyone is wasting time on. 

 

If you like Walking Dead, then you're gonna like it Deathlands style. So far, this is better than Milan's last book.

 

But something I've noticed thus far in the upcoming Wretched Earth novel: When a young boy who is the only survivor of a zombie attack is the first to tell Ryan and the companions all about this new threat, about all the details of what a zombie basically is, Mildred doesn't say something akin to: "Hey, back in my day, those would be called zombies!"

We haven't been discussing "this turd book" since page 2 - why do you think the thread's gone waaay off-topic? :lol: Although, if you're going to discuss Wretched Earth, we have another thread for that.

Maximus, I don't want to start a spat. But I do want to say that I don't think any writer's work should be called a "turd."

Posted By Wordsmith-reprise on 05 Jun 2012 03:05 PM
Maximus, I don't want to start a spat. But I do want to say that I don't think any writer's work should be called a "turd."

Wordsmith-reprise,

Why is a writer's shoddy work any different than say the shoddy work of a lawn boy or house painter or 7/11 clerk? Do writers belong to some kind of elevated class that is due special consideration--like the holy one-percent "job creators"? Or are you saying we should respect the dignity of all labor and laborers, without regard to effort and skill?  Some additional explanation would be helpful.

AP

Sir, I concede the field.

Posted By Wordsmith-reprise on 05 Jun 2012 03:49 PM
Sir, I concede the field.

Don't know why you'd "concede." Hey, I agree with you. I was playing the devil's advocate (somewhat ineffectually as it turns out). Just wanted you to clarify the point, which I have made before in this thread. Everyone does the best they can. And "the best" is entirely subjective. It is impossible to put yourself in a particular lawn boy's flipflops or GE writer's well-worn chair. And yet that unwarranted assumption keeps surfacing, like the turd that refuses to flush.

How are the poodles doing? 

When I see or read a turd...I call it a turd.

I love it when a shitty book comes out. It is those that seem to get more reviews than the good ones. 

Palaces of Turds is a dud. One of the worst DL books ever written. Everyone agrees from all the glowing reviews I've seen.

 

I have the last 97 pages left to read of the next book - Wretched Earth - and it is wayyyyyy better than the turd that Andy scraped off his Boot. (Yes, pun intended.)

Well, seeing as the older DL titles I ordered off Amazon STILL aren't here. I have run out of books I haven't read yet. Which means I will be settling in with Palaces of Light shortly, but first a beer run...

 

 

Well, then you need to go purchase some coke or meth then, just to keep awake and focused.

 

Don't say you haven't been warned...

Al, Kosha is showing her age, unfortunately. Good thing Chuck immortalized her in Hell Road Warriors.... Everyone else is full of spring vigor.

102 pages into it. It's not holding my interest. Otherwise I wouldn't be on the internet right now. And that's bad for a reader.

 

In my experience with books I want to read, Which is most all of the DL series, I read until I reach the end. I have no desire to reach the end...

Sad, maybe the awfull reviews tainted me? But prob. not. I am a most literate fellow and can discern my own trepiditions with the first 20 pages. However I feel that Mr. Andy boot wrote this while on the shitter, and between shits he forgot where he was in the novel and simply restated facts for the first 100 pages. Very lackluster. And it's to bad.

So a 'turd' would be an appropriate account.

 

I actually did put it back on the bookshelf.

 

With any luck Doom Helix will arive tomorrow.

That is all.

 

Hate to say I told you so, but I did.

 

But I get it. You got it. Its DL. Gotta give it a try, right?

 

The good news is, when you DO get that Alan Phillipson book in the mail, you gonna be reading a grad A DL adventure.

 

Especially after that turd you just dropped....

AP: You know the saying about opinions, I'm sure...

Posted By Kerrick on 10 Jun 2012 03:44 AM
AP: You know the saying about opinions, I'm sure...

Any rose would smell as sweet ... ?

 

Well, there are people who think their shit smells like roses...

Posted By Kerrick on 13 Jun 2012 03:52 AM
Well, there are people who think their shit smells like roses...

And count themselves fortunate? I could be wrong (I learned all my science from LJ) but I think this is eeeeeevolution gone awry. The whole point of the enterprise (lower intestine, colon, etc.) is to leave something behind that we no longer need. If what we evacuate is pleasing to any of the senses, the parting only becomes more difficult. And there may be an overpowering urge not to leave it behind at all, but to carry it away in pocket or purse.

Visualize the problems this would cause in the modern world--on public transit, in the office, restaurants, or at sporting events.

The rose-shit people are definitely an evolutionary dead end.

Oh my God! Wow! I'm picturing  open purses. Too funny, Al.

well lets do what Ron ask.Lets take all this talk about spies and trolls some where else...

Yeah, but when you 'don't care what it is' - then your fans can tell, and they won't purchase anymore of your work.

Posted By Maximus on 23 Jun 2012 06:35 PM
Yeah, but when you 'don't care what it is' - then your fans can tell, and they won't purchase anymore of your work.

Only going to say this once more. DL is a house-owned series. GE authors don't earn royalties for writing the books. Whether their fans buy the books or not doesn't impact what they are paid or where their careers are headed at GE or elsewhere.

I suggest that you review this thread and take some notes. I'm trying to be nice, but repeating this crap over and over is really starting to grate on my nerves.

Are there any Multi Author Book Series owned by Book houses that give the Authors a fair share of the "takings".

Posted By silentalbino on 23 Jun 2012 09:49 PM
Are there any Multi Author Book Series owned by Book houses that give the Authors a fair share of the "takings".

I'm sure there are. I haven't looked into it in a long time, and I don't remember which publishers/series paid royalties, or how "fair" they were. Since writing in someone else's series/stable is not something I'm interested in doing anymore, I can't in good conscience bug agent friends to find out for me.

If GE want the cream of the crop it would seem that they should start splashing the cash. But we know they won't. Ach well.

The former executive editor of GE absolutely HATED the very concept of any particular writer becoming--in his words--"a star."

In my opinion, he expended more energy and time fighting against that possibility than he did fighting for the writers to be dealt with fairly.

He hated the possibility of any writers becoming stars so intensely, he materially breached my contract with Harlequin in order to remove my name from the indicia of OL books. Three books were printed before I was aware of the removal and it was brought to my attention by readers here on JA.com.

I had to threaten legal action in order to have my name restored.

The guy's philosophy was that if no individual writer was singled out, then there could be no superior writers, no inferior writers, no star writers or anything other than dead center writers.

Every book was just as good--or bad--as the ones preceding it or following it. The old "if everyone is special, then nobody is special" philosophy.

Bad books, good books, mediocre books--as long as you guys keep buying 'em, you can bitch about the quality of the writers all you want.

Wow, Jax2 Mark, that sounds like they put the totally wrong person in charge over there. That sucks!

 

To AP: Yeah, I read what you wrote before, but that just means that people like me won't purchase those particular writer's works. And I haven't in a long, long time. I only trust certain authors. The others I either don't read, or don't pay of them. 

 

So if you are sick and tired of writing to us fans about such things - then don't. Simple as that.

 

If there are fans out there who are deaf, dumb and blind to who pens their books, and purchase them blindly, then bitch about them here or on Amazon.com - then that is their right.

 

Speaking strictly for myself: I don't buy Outlanders any longer because I don't care for the current caretakers/writing of it any longer. They lost one purchaser there. And I'll bet I am not the only one of the old fan base. But since it is still being published, I suppose there are enough new readers, along with old fans who still buy and read them.

 

Thank God DL hasn't gone to two writers I don't care for personally. Thank God writers such as Chuck have come along and saved the bloody franchise, insofar as I am concernded. (And from the other fans who have come out and given him the highest ratings, I am not alone in this thinking.)