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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	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)

	notjo 2011-08-31 01:18 am UTC (link)
	Oh, maybe you're right. I suppose I could go and check but my head-desking quota has been met for the day. But Staroverthebay is probably correct as I know she's really into horse racing and the like. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ealusaid 2011-08-31 01:22 am UTC (link)
	I remember the juxtaposition of the two. I also remember making gagging noises over it. (Reply to this)(Parent)

white_tean
2011-09-02 08:21 am UTC (link)

But Staroverthebay is probably correct as I know she's really into horse racing and the like.

Given that in my experience at an amateur level the ratio of female to male horse riders is about 19-1, and one of the many women at my stable is a female jockey, that's just silly. I thought that the reason for fewer female jockeys was a related more to the fact that it's traditionally a male dominated industry, and possibly that women generally need a higher proportion of body fat.

I've never heard of horses not respecting women over men - I have however encountered several horses who don't respond well to men. My gelding apparently has that issue, but I've never seen him ridden by a man, because like I said, female dominated hobby.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

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