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Writer tracks down negative reviewer, assaults her.

catsmate

No longer the 1
catsmate
Joined
Apr 9, 2007
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And I thought Jeanette Winterson was a bit ott...

One Richard Brittain, whose previous claim-to-fame was winning Countdown (a UK television game show) was so intensely angered by a one-star review of his novel The World Rose that he tracked down the reviewer and smashed a bottle over her head.

The book, described on Goodreads as "incredibly dull and meandering" and as being suitable for use as an instrument of torture, is still available on Amazon.

Brittain has a history of stalking, having previously been warned by police not to contact a woman.
 
This happened a year ago, so has obviously coloured some of (most of?) the reviews, but there are some funny ones.

"If you are looking for the perfect Christmas gift for in-laws\relatives that you hate then this book ticks all the boxes. Time reading this book is time they will never get back. On Christmas day you can sit back in your chair and open a nice bottle of red knowing you have done your duty, make sure to throw the wine bottle away so they can't smash it over your head."
 
I tried Kindle Unlimited, which has been nice for reading some old favorites and trying out a little light entertainment; I happen to be fond of the genre known as "space opera". KU lets you read a lot of these, and other genres*, for free.

My word, there is a tremendous amount of really bad writing out there. Some of it is merely dull and stilted. Some of it should be impounded and bit-bucketed as crimes against literature. I don't pretend to be a great writer myself, but the folks who self-publish this stuff really need an intervention from their friends.


*I don't know why, but a very high percentage of it seems to be "romance novels", with a high degree of specialization; there seem to be entire subcategories where the Brooding Male Lead is a banker/motorcycle gang member/shapeshifting bear/time-traveling pirate/etc. Amazon's vaunted customer experience tailoring fails miserably here, as I haven't the slightest interest in this stuff, but it keeps throwing it up on the KU home page.
 
fagin said:
This happened a year ago, so has obviously coloured some of (most of?) the reviews, but there are some funny ones.
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Yeah, it's back in the news because the court case was resolved.

fagin said:
"If you are looking for the perfect Christmas gift for in-laws\relatives that you hate then this book ticks all the boxes. Time reading this book is time they will never get back. On Christmas day you can sit back in your chair and open a nice bottle of red knowing you have done your duty, make sure to throw the wine bottle away so they can't smash it over your head."
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:D

sts60 said:
I tried Kindle Unlimited, which has been nice for reading some old favorites and trying out a little light entertainment; I happen to be fond of the genre known as "space opera". KU lets you read a lot of these, and other genres*, for free.

My word, there is a tremendous amount of really bad writing out there. Some of it is merely dull and stilted. Some of it should be impounded and bit-bucketed as crimes against literature. I don't pretend to be a great writer myself, but the folks who self-publish this stuff really need an intervention from their friends.


*I don't know why, but a very high percentage of it seems to be "romance novels", with a high degree of specialization; there seem to be entire subcategories where the Brooding Male Lead is a banker/motorcycle gang member/shapeshifting bear/time-traveling pirate/etc. Amazon's vaunted customer experience tailoring fails miserably here, as I haven't the slightest interest in this stuff, but it keeps throwing it up on the KU home page.
Click to expand...
:D Ah the 'vampire porn' and it's numerous analogues.
 
From a review

Awful, pompous book written by a pretentious nutbar stalker with delusions of literacy and not a clue in his head. Not many coherent sentences in the book, for that matter; this author loves using big words but hates using them correctly.
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Some people just like to nitpick I guess.
 
It's worth reading the reviews.

One of the five star reviews is one word... "Smashing"
 
Shades of A Vincent Price movie called "THeater Of Blood",where a disgruntled actor starts to kill off the critics who don;t like using methods from Shakespeare's play.
 
dudalb said:
Shades of A Vincent Price movie called "THeater Of Blood",where a disgruntled actor starts to kill off the critics who don;t like using methods from Shakespeare's play.
Click to expand...

I love that movie! In the end everyone dies from high chloresterol from all the ham!
 
sts60 said:
I tried Kindle Unlimited, which has been nice for reading some old favorites and trying out a little light entertainment; I happen to be fond of the genre known as "space opera". KU lets you read a lot of these, and other genres*, for free.
Click to expand...

OT I know, but have you read Peter F. Hamilton? The Night's Down trilogy and the Void trilogy are awesome space operas.
 
dudalb said:
Shades of A Vincent Price movie called "THeater Of Blood",where a disgruntled actor starts to kill off the critics who don;t like using methods from Shakespeare's play.
Click to expand...
TragicMonkey said:
I love that movie! In the end everyone dies from high chloresterol from all the ham!
Click to expand...
I remember it for Diana Rigg.

erlando said:
OT I know, but have you read Peter F. Hamilton? The Night's Down trilogy and the Void trilogy are awesome space operas.
Click to expand...
There's a fair bit of stuff by Stanley Weinbaum online; try here or here.
 
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