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.

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

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)

	artimusdin 2011-09-01 11:27 pm UTC (link)
	Confused lobsters that are already dead, given they're a bright red color. So IDK. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	the_sun_is_up 2011-09-02 01:17 am UTC (link)
	Ha, I didn't notice that detail. Well that adds an extra level of pointlessness to Kittenmommy's objections. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	artimusdin 2011-09-02 01:44 am UTC (link)
	Only reason I noticed is someone pointed it out in the comments. I LOL'd even harder after that. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	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)

	iczer6 2011-09-01 07:02 pm UTC (link)
	anything that might possibly mildly inconvenience a cat somehow counts as "animal cruelty So basically anything a human does that's not petting or feeding the cat? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	cmdr_zoom 2011-09-01 09:39 pm UTC (link)
	hdu. HDU. Bow down before your feline masters, and present them with offerings of tuna! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	ekaterinv 2011-09-02 11:15 am UTC (link)
	I'd be in trouble for not voluntarily feeding our temporary foster kitten ice cream and pizza. It is the height of injustice that she must work to steal these things from us when we blink. (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Read comments) -