Wed Reading Meme...

I rather adore Illona Andrews - who writes the Kate Daniels series. Apparently the 6th book in the series, Magic Rises, was rather controversial.

(What is it about book serials and tv serials and the number 6? Actually, I think I know - this is when writers tend to experiment and go outside the proverbial box. They like to shake things up a bit. Evolve the characters, maybe even change a few things. And a lot of viewers and readers want comfort food - they want their tv show or books to give them what they expect...a comfortable time.

If you will excuse the Buffy fandom reference...I remember back in 2002 getting into a fight dialogue with a poster who went by the name "redactor", which considering the name - I'm not sure why I was surprised it went down the way it did.
Anyhow..the gist was this:

Me: Why do you watch Buffy?
Redactor: Thoughtless, comfortable and fun entertainment. No angst please.

I considered telling him he was watching the wrong show - and he should check out Charmed. But I restrained myself, knowing he wouldn't take that well.

Anyhow, I've not read Magic Rises yet, the 6th book. But I adore the writer's Q&A on their website:

With the comments from the blog, my email box had over 600 emails. I am not going to answer all of them. I just can’t. We’re on a deadline, and this would take days.

So I do apologize, but this has gone beyond my capacity. I hope you understand. It’s not that we don’t care or don’t appreciate you, it’s that the scope of feedback exceeds our ability to efficiently go through it. We are humbled and we are deeply grateful to you for taking the time to read our stuff.

1. I love the book

Thank you so much. We are delighted that the book worked for you.

2. I hate the book.

We are sorry the book didn’t work for you. Not every book will appeal to every person. Thank you so much for giving us a try.

3. I disagreed with something you said or wrote and I will argue with you in the comments to this an other posts. You owe me, you suck, and I will tell you all about it because you need to know etc, etc.

I wish you wouldn’t. We can’t write a book tailored to your expectations. There are thousands of you, and a book by committee wouldn’t be a very good book. We can only write the best book we can according to our expectations.

If you are upset about the book, the internet has many forums available to you. If you just can’t help yourself, go ahead, but we will not respond to your comment. If it contains personal attacks or profanity, it will be deleted.

[Honestly, Neil Gaiman's response sticks with me on this one - "the writer is not your bitch!" They are nicer.]

Maybe I'm weird, but I've never felt the need to tell a writer that I hate their work. Love yes, hate no. Oh sure I'll rant about it in my own blog or in a review on Good Reads or Facebook. But I'm not going to tell them. And I don't feel a desire to argue with them about what they wrote or tell them they are wrong. They have the right to tell the story however they so desire. It's their story. And they've put the time and effort into putting it out there - a scary thing to do.
Attacking them personally - seems...a bit cruel.

( Reading Meme )