Current mood:	amused
Entry tags:	person: chancery stone

DANNY fandom wank!
What do you mean you are not into DANNY fandom?

chancery_stone, author of DANNY, appeared on my flist announcing her latest lj entry in wuthering and sistersbronte, because it discusses Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, and DANNY.
I do most certainly not begrudge her that, since I was interested in what she had to say about these novels.
I was, however, even more interested in what she had to say in her userinfo:

There is also a discussion board run here on Live Journal by some 'fans' called Chancerys_Danny. I am not permitted to view it, and have nothing to do with its content (that's how you know this is an authentic cult novel - nothing but drama all the way), but this is the place to go if you want to diss the dirt on me - there is plenty there.

Unfortunately you will need high credentials to enter. They won't admit new users, anyone who doesn't have a regularly maintained journal, or who is not a committted net user and only wants to discuss the book. They are morbidly afraid of spies so you will have to go through the mill of suspicion that you are really me in disguise.

Should you be dedicated enough to endure this just to read about my nasty, unlovable side, a fast and simple way to shortcut this tedious process is to tell them all the things you dislike about me and/or my work. After that your journal can be a big fat zero, you will be embraced as a sister (remember never to let your facade slip though, or you'll be right out on your arse again).

The fan comm mod, excuse me, the 'fan' comm mod has this to say in an open post:

Because of the articles and blog posts by Chancery Stone, which can be read on her website and blog I have decided to moderate membership. If you are a Danny fan and wish to discuss the book, we would love to have you! Please join in the usual way and I will approve you. However, if you are not a regular Live Journal user, and appear to be a fake journal trying to read what we have to say, you will not be approved. I will be checking all journals before admitting anyone.

I would never have imagined that I would have to close membership on a book community, however criticism of the novel Danny has riled the author considerably and many attacks have been made by her using things expressed here in open discussion. Since the author has decided to resort to personal attacks away from the source of the discussion, I have decided that I am no longer going to allow her access to our comments so that discussion of the book can be enjoyed freely and without reservation. Many thanks for your understanding.

Apparently several new lj users have expressed the wish to discuss DANNY, since the community, which so far has five members, is locked.
Meet valentinotango, bronte_babe, jeff_peters, poisondripper, jodie0992 and jillandjodie.

Stone heavily denies that she has anything to do with the ~~sockpuppets~~ dramatic increase of DANNY fans, in her rant against the locking ( Why the fuck would I go to the effort of pretending to be someone else, actually making up a journal, to find out what they say?), although she obviously learned about the unpleasant screening process behind closed doors, as she described in her Farewell To The Famous Five.

I can give you the beginning of the drama.
For all the snide remarks in between, you will have to read her blogspirit.

No Anne Rice bashing, please.

ETA: Have some links to guide you through the splooge.

ETA2: The members of Wuthering read Fanfom Wank or her journal and thus comment anonymously. Hilarity ensues. In which she denies to have ever called Cathy's husband Edward.

ETA3: A brandnew, unfortunately now already deleted, sock joins jillandjodie's discussion group and a stinkin' anonymous troll links her back here: link

ETA4: The Famous Five bring presents. Wheeee!

ETA5: Put those Potter stickers down for a moment and read Chancery Stone's response to Fandom Wank.
Also, I AM Chancery Stone! Maybe.

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loopywafflehead
2006-03-27 04:31 pm UTC (link)

You've stumbled on a goldmine here, tao_tao. There are these two posts where she's angry that people didn't promote her book enough because they're too obsessed with Brokeback Mountain. Or something. The people she bitched about took down the favourable reviews of her book, which is apparently what she wanted (see last comment on second post).

And Agape FTW: Five fans who read your "cult novel" get together to discuss it in an online version of a book group. Instead of finding it gratifying that people are taking your work seriously enough to give it the same treatment that the best works of literature receive, you skulk about trying to dig up dirt on these five people through the public entries of their journals and then passively aggressively rant about them in rather personal, lengthy tomes on a blog.

Lady, all the PR in the world couldn't make me read your novel after this ridiculous display. Get over yourself.

(I'm so sorry for spamming your post, this topic is just so much fun, I discover something new every time! Who knew I wrote slash to feel less abnormal? Not me!)

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	tao_tao 2006-03-27 06:15 pm UTC (link)
	I know she is is a gift, I think every one of her entries gets wanky at some point, it's not easy to keep track of it all. I edited the post and included you comment to help exhausted wankas. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	loopywafflehead 2006-03-27 07:28 pm UTC (link)
	Cool! And thank you for the gift that keeps on giving! She's so much fun! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	rachel_pi 2006-03-27 06:21 pm UTC (link)
	And of course, it never occured to the author that her "fans" aren't promoting the novel because maybe they don't think it's all that good. Hee, Chancery Stone is now my favorite wanker EVER. The spooge just keeps on coming! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	loopywafflehead 2006-03-27 07:36 pm UTC (link)
	Blasphemy! Her novel is pratically perfect in every way! Mine too. I'm hyperventilating from glee! Overload, wank overload! falls over (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	kalindi 2006-03-27 07:38 pm UTC (link)
	Have to agree, this wanker's becoming a favorite. There's nothing better than watching an Anne-Rice wannabe shooting herself in the foot over and over and demanding that people need to stop handing her guns. [even when they're the ones trying to stop her from doing that in the first place] (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	loopywafflehead 2006-03-27 07:55 pm UTC (link)
	Part of me feels sorry for her because she's making life even more difficult for herself. But her ego is so frickin' huge that the whole thing is hilarious (and depressing, she's getting great feedback and doesn't want it! She may not make it as a world famous author, but kudos to her, she managed to become a Wank Star in just a few short hours. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rachel_pi 2006-03-27 08:07 pm UTC (link)
	I do feel kind of bad, but she is giving self-published authors like my mom a bad name. They don't all suck! She really is a legend now. Her website is like the motherload of wank. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	loopywafflehead 2006-03-27 08:13 pm UTC (link)
	Oh yes, agreed on all points. (Her website is now one of my favourite places ever.) Out of curiosity, what has your mother written? If for reasons of privacy you'd rather not say, that's fine, and the best of luck to your mum! :) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

rachel_pi
2006-03-27 08:23 pm UTC (link)

So far, she's written a children's book and a few short stories (another book is forthcoming). Mostly stuff about my grandfather's childhood during the Depression. Although she's not really new to it, she's been a writer for about 30 years. She's just now moving from coroporate/freelance stuff into children's/YA lit. ^^

Her website is here if you want to check it out.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sorchar 2006-03-28 06:36 am UTC (link)
	Oooh, dude, I'ma check her site out. I've got a kids' book that a friend is illustrating and I don't know if there will be a market for it. Self-published doesn't necessarily = bad. (Reply to this)(Parent)

jadelennox
2006-03-27 08:49 pm UTC (link)

Sadly, it's often the self publishing companies that helps self-published authors give themselves bad names. You have terrible companies like PublishAmerica, which actively tries to convince its authors that the only reason they weren't accepted by mainstream publishers is close-mindedness and professional jealousy on the part of the other publishers. Moreover, PublishAmerica claims to be offering editorial control, but really doesn't.

I review self published books professionally, and while many of them are utter twaddle, others really would have been saved by professional editing. It's very disappointing the book which really has some imaginative and creative potential is ruined by the lack of basic editing. Even fanfiction, with its beta readers, does a better job that the self publishing companies so-called editorial staff. At least beta readers catch grammatical errors and consistency errors. Though good editorial control catches much more than that.

With attitudes like that coming down from the companies who expedite the self publishing, it's not surprising that some people go insane and believe their books are better than Annie Proulx's.

It takes a level headed person -- including one assumes, people like your mum -- to ignore the hype.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rachel_pi 2006-03-27 11:24 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, my mom definitely didn't set out to write the Great American Novel or anything. She mostly just wanted to write some of my grandfather's stories. The book was self-published so my grandpa could see it in his lifetime. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	jadelennox 2006-03-28 03:28 pm UTC (link)
	See, that's an awesome thing. That's one of the reaons self-publishing exists -- to tell family stories in a beautiful way. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	loopywafflehead 2006-03-28 04:13 pm UTC (link)
	That's really great, what a lovely thing to do. Thank you for the link, her book sounds wonderful (and Maria McCool is an awesome name). Good luck to your mum! :) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rachel_pi 2006-03-28 04:36 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks! I'll pass that on to my mom. ^^ (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sorchar 2006-03-28 06:38 am UTC (link)
	Just out of curiosity, is it possible to find a good self-publishing company? I know about the evils of PublishAmerica, but I'd like to find a company that's the real deal. Is there such a critter? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

dwarfjen
2006-03-28 12:09 pm UTC (link)

http://www.lulu.com/ is decent although I'd refer to it as a 'printer', not a publisher, really. You'd have to find your own editor - most of those associated with self-publishing houses are scammers themselves - but it's good if you just want to have hard copies for you and family/friends/dog.

It's where the professionals go - the infamous Atlanta Nights, by 'Travis Tea', originally written by assorted writers/editors/etc in a weekend to prove that PublishAmerica would publish anything, is number 54 on the all time best sellers list.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sorchar 2006-03-28 10:54 pm UTC (link)
	Cool, thanks. (Reply to this)(Parent)

jadelennox
2006-03-28 03:27 pm UTC (link)

I deal mostly with iUniverse authors. iUniverse isn't bad, though I agree with

dwarfjen's statement about it being really a printer rather than a publisher and about finding your own editorial services out of the house. As printing demand companies go, they don't have all of the crazy deceptive business practices. And they're pretty honest about the caveat emptor nature of the reviews I do, which makes me happy.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	sorchar 2006-03-28 06:34 am UTC (link)
	She's almost as good as The Countess. (Reply to this)(Parent)

julian_black
2006-03-28 09:37 am UTC (link)

My God. She has five fans, and she obsesses over them.

No, scratch that--she has four-and-a-half fans, because one of them just isn't good and fawning and dedicated enough:

She only got the book by accident. Then it took her a fucking lifetime to actually get round to reading the thing (Brokeback is a short story), she had to be pushed and pushed. When she did read it she really liked it, and said so, but she's primarily a visuals woman (putting paid to the horseshit that men like the visuals and women the words), she just loves her (sadly vanilla, fag hag) porn. And even that is a clue. While she loves the 'torured' romance at the heart of DANNY it just isn't vanilla enough for her. And there are no pictures.

She's a failure as a reader and a fan because she doesn't adore every last angst-riddled word of DANNY, and because she's horribly vanilla and has a short attention span wants pictures of course she liked Brokeback Mountain more.

Chancery Stone makes Anne Rice look humble and self-effacing, if only by comparison.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	carlanime 2006-03-28 03:25 pm UTC (link)
	That quote makes it obvious that, having been nagged into reading it, the poor woman just tried to find something positive to say about a book she didn't like much... (Reply to this)(Parent)

	loopywafflehead 2006-03-28 04:26 pm UTC (link)
	Wow. The 'author' is really being an asshat. She's been lucky enough to have people read her book, and like it enough to give honest feedback and promote it where they can. Instead of being gracious and polite, she's thrown it all back in their faces because they're not fawning all over her. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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