WFC and a clarification about reviews
Oct. 27th, 2004 01:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
msagaraI'm going to Tempe for the World Fantasy Convention this year. I'm going to arrive at 9:24 a.m. Since it's my firm belief that in a kind universe, no one would actually be awake at 9:24 a.m. (and yes, this does make my belief in the kindess of the universe a tad on the shaky side overall), I'm not really looking forward to getting to the airport. As in, on time. As in, while they'll still let me on the plane.
Assuming I'm awake enough to stand in the right line.
It occurs to me that I should clarify things a bit. Which usually happens when I'm off in rant territory <wry g>.
I really love reading book blogs and LJs in which readers discuss the books they're reading. I realize that I don't discuss this much myself -- and that's partly because my reading time has been so vastly diminished over the years that I mostly read for F&SF. I start a lot now that I don't finish -- and when I was younger, I finished everything.
But there are books I do get to read for the sheer pleasure; when I can mix work and pleasure so much the better. Sometimes I read things that I don't review but liked, and I hand sell those.
When I said I don't care about amazon reviews, what I really meant was that I don't care about their ratings, their star systems, etc; there seems to be some external sense, at times, that it's like a contest with booby prizes.
I don't get a cogent sense of the reviewer when I browse amazon.com, which is why I don't do it anymore (for fiction, as others have pointed out). Reading someone's book journal is entirely different -- there's a context, and an established tone and voice that tie in the book talk in a way that makes it seem -- to me -- somehow more vital; less about a single book and more about the sheer energy and joy -- and frustration -- of the process of reading itself.
Since reading compulsively was what, in the end, brought me to writing, it remains a joy to me, and also a curiosity; even though I've worked in a bookstore for years, there's a keen anticipation when opening new covers that is unlike almost anything else. It's magic.
This doesn't, sadly, mean that I'm not opinionated -- I'm well aware that this could be considered one of my cardinal sins. Well, sharing so much of the opinion, at any rate <wry g>.
Is anyone here going to be at the World Fantasy Convention?
Assuming I'm awake enough to stand in the right line.
It occurs to me that I should clarify things a bit. Which usually happens when I'm off in rant territory <wry g>.
I really love reading book blogs and LJs in which readers discuss the books they're reading. I realize that I don't discuss this much myself -- and that's partly because my reading time has been so vastly diminished over the years that I mostly read for F&SF. I start a lot now that I don't finish -- and when I was younger, I finished everything.
But there are books I do get to read for the sheer pleasure; when I can mix work and pleasure so much the better. Sometimes I read things that I don't review but liked, and I hand sell those.
When I said I don't care about amazon reviews, what I really meant was that I don't care about their ratings, their star systems, etc; there seems to be some external sense, at times, that it's like a contest with booby prizes.
I don't get a cogent sense of the reviewer when I browse amazon.com, which is why I don't do it anymore (for fiction, as others have pointed out). Reading someone's book journal is entirely different -- there's a context, and an established tone and voice that tie in the book talk in a way that makes it seem -- to me -- somehow more vital; less about a single book and more about the sheer energy and joy -- and frustration -- of the process of reading itself.
Since reading compulsively was what, in the end, brought me to writing, it remains a joy to me, and also a curiosity; even though I've worked in a bookstore for years, there's a keen anticipation when opening new covers that is unlike almost anything else. It's magic.
This doesn't, sadly, mean that I'm not opinionated -- I'm well aware that this could be considered one of my cardinal sins. Well, sharing so much of the opinion, at any rate <wry g>.
Is anyone here going to be at the World Fantasy Convention?
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-26 10:39 pm (UTC)I wonder if I can sell my membership, cheap. :
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Date: 2004-10-26 10:58 pm (UTC)Amazon reviews
Date: 2004-10-26 11:04 pm (UTC)I enjoy writing reviews (though I don't do so professionally). I wish I were a faster reader so I could write more of them! Still, it's not like my reviews don't obey Sturgeon's Law. But that makes writing a good one (even of a bad book) all the sweeter.
Re: Amazon reviews
Date: 2004-10-27 07:13 pm (UTC)Whenever I read a book reviewed by her, I automatically click 'No, this was not helpful'. She drives me crazy, because she does not READ the books she reviews. I 'loved' her review of 'The Scar' by China Mieville where she referred to China as 'she' through the whole review, which if she would have flipped over any Mieville book, you would see a big picture of a MAN on the back.
Unless she's getting some sort of backless, coverless books that I'm not aware of, and then I'll just shut up. But it's obvious she doesn't read the books.
/Rant Off
Re: Amazon reviews
Date: 2004-10-28 02:47 pm (UTC)A journal entry I wrote about her reviews a few years ago. (http://www.spies.com/~rawdon/journal/2002/02/11.html)
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Date: 2004-10-26 11:59 pm (UTC)(i have 5 minutes of fame in the rapid fire readings on thurs)
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Date: 2004-10-27 08:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-27 04:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-27 04:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-27 06:29 am (UTC)Around here, we refer to any ungodly hour as wicked-dark-thirty.
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Date: 2004-10-27 04:34 pm (UTC)I've heard oh-dark-thirty as well, come to think; in university, we made a general all-purpose lovecraftian gurgling noise when referring to any time before 11:00 a.m <g>.
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Date: 2004-10-28 02:26 am (UTC)It only counts as oh-dark-thirty if one has been kept awake that long, I think.
-- Graydon
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Date: 2004-10-31 05:36 pm (UTC)Not that this will come as a big surprise, but I completely disagree. It counts if one has to get one's backside out of bed at that hour; if you're awake until 5:23 in the morning, it's just been a loooong night.
Otoh, if this is your regular schedule, then you are a Morning Person, and there is no known antidote for this. Some envy, at times, but no antidote .
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Date: 2004-10-27 05:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-27 06:22 am (UTC)In today's wishy-washy, lackadaisical, idiotically complacent world, having an honest, heartfelt opinion -- and bluntly sharing it -- is not a sin, but a virtue.
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Date: 2004-10-27 07:31 am (UTC)I'm currently reading How NOT to Spend Your Senior Year. I have nothing intelligent to say about it, aside from it's a reasonably intelligent YA romantic comedy with a few logic issues.
---L,
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Date: 2004-10-27 08:06 am (UTC)As an addict of book blogs myself, I agree. While I do read the Amazon reviews in case the book I'm thinking of completely disappointed everyone, most of them aren't very well thought out. Plus, you can tell there are some people just writing the equivalent of "This book rocks!" or "This book sucks!" which tells me nothing about the book, really. Plus, when you get to know a reviewer you get a better sense of what they will like and what they won't, which also helps.
I wish I were going to the WFC instead of going to work!
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Date: 2004-10-27 11:19 am (UTC)Anyone know if there are going to be blog about WFC like there were for WorldCon? I'd be interested in hearing about the Con.
Zhaneel
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Date: 2004-10-27 04:30 pm (UTC)I doubt it; WFC is a much smaller convention than Worldcon. There's generally less programming, because of the smaller number of people in attendance (although it varies, I think, from year to year).
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Date: 2004-10-27 12:00 pm (UTC)I will be there. And I have my very first public reading on Friday afternoon. ::eep::
Ruth
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Date: 2004-10-27 12:42 pm (UTC)Have fun! And please return with at least one good rant, okay?
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Date: 2004-10-27 06:29 pm (UTC)I find them smaller than a Worldcon, so it's a bit easier to meet up with people -- but I think there is some push to have WFC considered the professional convention, (except run by fen). I like Worldcons a lot, but part of the reason I started going to WFCs in preference when I could only go to one in the early years was that WFC is a shorter con (or was), and it meant I could go for two days, be away from the kids for two days, and still get things done without feeling as if I'd missed every panel and author I might otherwise desperately want to see.
DAW editors go to both, which is why it was a choice between the two; as the kids have gotten older, I try to go to both -- but I had a great time at Confluence this summer.
Have fun! And please return with at least one good rant, okay?
LOL!
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Date: 2004-10-27 01:05 pm (UTC)One of my other favorite writers, Janny Wurts, will be there as well. (JW is definitely my love-hate author, as in her writing style drives me batty, but her plotting and overall vision I find amazing.)
Funny, I've acquired a taste for another JW, Jo Walton, in the last two months. What is it with these female W initial authors?
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Date: 2004-10-31 04:45 pm (UTC)With regards to the Bombshell line, the editor started a thread about marketing it. I'd brought up the point that if they want to attract a more mainstream audience, they needed to pull the books out of the category romance aisle in the bookstore...
and I asked,
I'm under the impression that they do several titles if not more a month--couldn't they pull out one or two a month for a year or something and see what happens? Or does it not work like this?
--any insights for us? I haven't a clue as to whether that's a feasible sort of marketing experiment, and