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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seiberwing
2014-09-07 02:58 pm UTC (link)

It's some unwritten rule that authors who compulsively refer to their books in ALL CAPS are arrogant and overattached to their creations.

You are wrong, sir. The name of that character is "Basil of Baker Street" NOT "Basil Baker" and just to PROVE this to you, DISNEY OWNS THE RIGHTS TO BASIL OF BAKER STREET and has known about my creation (Basil Baker; Venice Under Glass) since 1999 when their interactive division expressed interest in licensing a video game ("Venice Under Glass") that was being developed with the storyline and characters of MY CREATION. Furthermore, Basil of Baker Street is wholly derivative of and dependent on the Sherlock Holmes oeuvre (the mouse protagonist lives in Holmes' basement for godsakes!) Don't you think Disney would have something to say if your ignorant supposition were remotely true?

Sure they were. Also thank you for reminding me of Basil of Baker Street, which was a much better series of children's novels/film literature/thing which totally should have been in Kingdom Hearts.

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seiberwing
2014-09-07 03:00 pm UTC (link)

Tell us Andrew when you write something as original as this (from the novel):

...There were over a hundred roses—nearly a hundred and a half! It was over the top. Cordelia kissed me on the cheek then whispered in my ear.

"I especially loved your card, Basil."

"But I didn't..." I started, until Cordelia, singing to herself in the hall mirror, handed me the card over her shoulder. It was unusually ornate for a paper trifle: it held an elaborate gold gilt pattern and the personal greeting inside was as if someone has dipped a very expensive fountain pen into a pot of liquid gold and wrote this haiku:

In Venetian cold
Winter yearning for the Spring
Hunger Needs Romance

It was signed simply "An Admirer."

The I AM SO ORIGINAL LOOK HOW ORIGINAL I AM YOU COULD NEVER BE AS ORIGINAL AS THIS reminds me of the Last Blood guy.

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	rosehiptea 2014-09-09 02:56 am UTC (link)
	That writing is actually better than what I expected to see. Not that I want to read the book, especially if it has teddy bear sex in it and now I think I'll go lie down until the mental image goes away. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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