Entry tags:

books/authors, person: neo_prodigy, reviews

What's worse than getting a negative review on Amazon?
Getting caught leaving a positive review under a sockpuppet, of course!

Author Dennis R. Upkin Jr. reviews his own book under a sock account and is outed by Amazon.com's credit card verification system. ETA: Review's been removed, but here's a screencap from the sf_drama post.

Copy and pasted text of the four star review, left by "Roz Torres":

I heard about this novel on an online podcast and after constantly forgetting to pick up the book, I finally got a copy and read it.

The story is intense. It's got a lot going on. With the paranormal elements and the real world commentary. Upkins pulls no punches tackling racism and homophobia, but really surprised me was the interesting cast of women. I loved Ruby and Cassidy and it was nice to see women of color be shown in a light you rarely see. But my favorite character hands down was Neely. I wish there were more characters like her in the media. And I say this as a fellow bisexual woman. The little representation we have, most of it isn't good. Good story. And I'll definitely re-read again to see what I missed the first time.

ETA 2: Dennis R. Upkins, Jr. is also known as neo_prodigy on livejournal, and is known for wankiness already. (Link goes to unfunny_fandom.)

ETA 3: Someone on fail_fandomanon has pointed out that it is possible to get an Amazon-verified account with a phony name, although a "Rosalyn Torres" also left a positive rating on goodreads earlier this month (thanks for the link, sakanagi). Also, while the Amazon review is gone, but the account that posted it is still up, so you can see the real name verification for yourself.

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	nymeria 2011-08-30 12:06 pm UTC (link)
	She was also highly indignant about drawings of lobsters being taped to hands. Warning: thread contains epic macros. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sepiamagpie 2011-08-30 01:28 pm UTC (link)
	So, it'a all cool as long as it's just pixels? Are you sure that's the path you want to go down? This is the BEST THING. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	anarchicq 2011-08-30 08:56 pm UTC (link)
	I dunno, I personally liked "Lobsters have nothing to do with Michael Jackson" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ekaterinv 2011-09-02 11:11 am UTC (link)
	I don't want to know what's behind this. I just want to love it all by itself. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	yomikoreadman 2011-08-30 09:29 pm UTC (link)
	Please tell me there are icons of that. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	ecchaniz0r 2011-08-30 09:33 pm UTC (link)
	oh my dear sweet lord WOW XD (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sadisticferret 2011-08-30 10:51 pm UTC (link)
	That is PRICELESS. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	puipui 2011-08-30 11:37 pm UTC (link)
	Dude, what is with her and the fictional pain of fictional lobsters? That's at least the second thread where I've seen her get offended over freaking fictional lobsters, which... okay, yeah, funny, and I don't ever ever want her to stop, but still... why? o.O (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ekaterinv 2011-09-02 11:12 am UTC (link)
	How much torturing of fictional lobsters goes on in her fandoms anyway? (Reply to this)(Parent)

	paladin 2011-08-31 12:26 am UTC (link)
	I'm sure she's been in other things as well, because I don't remember either of the above wanks but still have an instant rage reaction upon seeing that black cat icon. Also, this wank is a clear demonstration that her statement during the puppy wank about being able to learn from her mistakes was a vicious, vicious lie. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	notjo 2011-08-31 01:08 am UTC (link)
	There was something C_W about when a top 10 list of female athletes included a horse and her getting remarkably upset because people were saying that horses weren't appropriate for such a list, because didn't we know how hard that filly had worked. And yes, the horse was an amazing horse and deserved praise, but in a top 10 list of female athletes? Not so much. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ealusaid 2011-08-31 01:15 am UTC (link)
	Wait, wasn't that staroverthebay? The same one who, years earlier, said Kagome couldn't be a jockey because horses don't respect women? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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notjo, 2011-08-31 01:18 am UTC

(no subject) - ealusaid, 2011-08-31 01:22 am UTC

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white_tean, 2011-09-02 08:21 am UTC

	khym_chanur 2011-08-31 01:47 am UTC (link)
	Puppy wank? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	miera_c 2011-08-31 04:32 am UTC (link)
	I was afraid to ask. (Reply to this)(Parent)

paladin
2011-08-31 07:58 pm UTC (link)

In the link to the wiki above it describes a comm implosion in which Kittenmommy tried to rally all wankas to the cause of a particular abused puppy. That was also apparently the wank where she caught flak for signing all of her posts with her (clearly visible) screen name. She also said (as quoted in the wiki) that she's one of those few wankers who can admit they made a mistake and change their ways. Clearly.

Come to think of it, it may have been the puppy wank (or something else that she did here at JF) that I remember. I actually went back to the original post rather than just the wiki when writing this comment, and it's starting to look familiar after all.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	threegoldfish 2011-08-31 02:09 am UTC (link)
	Wow. How can she not find a painting of Chewbacca riding a squirrel down on Nazi funny? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	platedlizard 2011-09-01 09:59 am UTC (link)
	That was the most amazing thing. I think I'm going to have to introduce Fark to that picture. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	tehrin 2011-08-31 04:58 am UTC (link)
	If you can't find a wookie riding a squirrel funny, you can't find anything funny. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	ridureyu 2011-08-31 05:40 am UTC (link)
	Wow. Oh wow. Kittenmommy gets offended at cartoon lobsters, happiestsadist is... a sadist, and then the whole thing SPIRALS INTO INSANITY. (Reply to this)(Parent)

the_sun_is_up
2011-08-31 10:52 pm UTC (link)

I'm unclear on how taping lobsters to your arms constitutes animal cruelty. I doubt the tape would harm their shells, and if you attacked someone with your lobster-arms, the lobsters would probably use their pincers and armor to come out on top. The experience would probably be rather annoying for the lobsters, if lobsters' brains are even developed enough to register that emotion, but animal annoyance =/= animal cruelty.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sistercoyote 2011-09-01 02:59 am UTC (link)
	If I'm parsing the above correctly, they weren't even real lobsters, just drawings of same. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

the_sun_is_up
2011-09-01 07:08 am UTC (link)

Yes it was a drawing, but it's also true that even drawings and fictional representations can affect people's views on serious subjects and can be used to normalize things like, say, animal cruelty. So if this were a lighthearted how-to guide on tying firecrackers to a cat's tail, I'd be grossed out, even though it's "just a drawing."

However, that's all irrelevant here, because a) the how-to guide is clearly tongue-in-cheek and very silly, and b) I'm not seeing any animal cruelty at all, fictional or otherwise. Just some confused lobsters.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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artimusdin, 2011-09-01 11:27 pm UTC

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the_sun_is_up, 2011-09-02 01:17 am UTC

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artimusdin, 2011-09-02 01:44 am UTC

	librarianmouse 2011-09-01 05:31 am UTC (link)
	animal annoyance =/= animal cruelty If it did, I'd be in big trouble for making my friend's cat chase my laser pointer. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zara_zero 2011-09-01 07:35 am UTC (link)
	Well, according to Youtube comments, that and just about anything that might possibly mildly inconvenience a cat somehow counts as "animal cruelty"... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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iczer6, 2011-09-01 07:02 pm UTC

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cmdr_zoom, 2011-09-01 09:39 pm UTC

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ekaterinv, 2011-09-02 11:15 am UTC

	platedlizard 2011-09-01 09:55 am UTC (link)
	OMG how did I miss that one? (Reply to this)(Parent)

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