Current mood:	enchanted
Entry tags:	author entitlement, books/authors, reviews, self-publishing

If you go down to the reviews today, you're in for a big surprise...
TidBITS, a site which bills itself as presenting the highlights of coverage of Apple products including their iBooks, hosts a mildly amusing and, actually, not particularly negative review of what seems to be a self-published mystery novel called Venice Under Glass, by one Stephan J Harper.

The review includes some comments on the author's use (or lack thereof) of the interactive features available to iBook authors, which become relevant very shortly later.

Now you could be forgiven for thinking that there the matter would rest, but this... is... FANDOM WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANK!

*cough* Sorry, sorry, had to get that out of my system. Old meme, won't happen again.

The said Stephan J Harper shows up in the very first comment, and proceeds to go ABSOLUTELY RAVING BATSHIT.

For three-hundred and eight comments, and counting.

(He doesn't even bother to say 'First post!')

A few highlights, in no particular order:
- Possible sockpuppetry (including what I strongly suspect is the author reviewing his own work under a false name)
- Winnie the Pooh jokes
- The author comparing himself to Keats and Fitzgerald
- And accusations of plagiarism, oh my!

There's even a whole thread of haiku. This one's my favourite.

As of posting, he's still going -- oh, and did I mention?

The cast of Stephan J Harper's magnum opus, the epic masterpiece of high literature that he claims to have been working on since 1997... are cuddly teddy bears. Every single one of them.

Feel Stephan J Harper's tiny ursine fury, folks.

Feel it.

Bonus: the Wankee claims to be nearly sixty-four years old.

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	soc_puppet 2014-09-05 12:08 am UTC (link)
	I keep misreading "tiny ursine fury" as "tiny ursine fairy", which would a) be adorable, and b) probably have good reason to be pissed off. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	spawn_of_kong 2014-09-05 02:06 am UTC (link)
	I misread it at first as "tiny ursine furry," which, given the context, doesn't seem that off the mark TBH. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

soc_puppet
2014-09-05 02:23 am UTC (link)

Yeah, that definitely makes more sense. Though I did receive a fanfic not long ago where the MotW was a small contingent of furies, and I kept misreading that as furries. I still have to correct myself on re-reads. The fact that it was pet!fic didn't really help in that respect.

I also have trouble with "puree". My brain insists it should be poo-ray, like a gun that fires or turns things into excrement, but at the same time I know it's pyoo-ray. All too often, I end up getting tangled in the middle and attempting to pronounce it proo-ray.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	hopsandbarley 2014-09-05 06:20 pm UTC (link)
	TEDDY BEAR FAIRIES If this isn't a line of kids' toys with a tie-in cartoon already, it should be. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

soc_puppet
2014-09-05 06:55 pm UTC (link)

I know, right? Sadly, the closest I have at the moment is a bearbee that I don't even have the pattern posted for yet. I'm pretty sure I still have the pattern itself (though I could probably stand to re-make it anyway even if I don't), just not posted.

Still, the possibilities. I could make a shitton of money. And there is that kids toy fair coming up that I'm already going to be sending stuff to; hmmm...

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	cmdr_zoom 2014-09-06 02:22 am UTC (link)
	They make their own hunny? (what am I saying, of course they do.) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	yoritomo_reiko 2014-09-07 05:37 pm UTC (link)
	The closest I can come is two of The Wuzzles: Bumblion (half bee, half lion) and Butterbear (half butterfly, half bear). Do not ask how I remembered the name of that cartoon. My mind is a strange and terrible place. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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