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solelyfictional ([info]solelyfictional) wrote in [info]otf_wank,
@ 2011-01-17 15:41:00


Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Who gets the Final Word? Wankers do.
I actually wrote this up for my writing blog, but there's too much wank here not to share it further. I've expanded it a bit, especially this there's already new info from when I posted it there this morning.

Publishing is outdoing itself this year. First One was just a warm up. Enjoy!

So, on new year's day, a company called Decadent Publishing release a book by debut author Graylin Fox. Later that day, Graylin receives an email to her private account alerting her to a negative review on blog The End is Not the Final Word. She tweets about it.

Graylin claims she was then contacted privately on twitter by someone who seemed very interested in the review, to get her opinion of it. Decadent also see the review. They're confused, because this isn't a site they sent a review copy too, and they're a little suspicious. They describe it as 'not a legitimate review site'.

(at this point, I suggest you go take a look at The End is Not the Final Word. It set off some red flags for me, after so many years watching fandom_wank, but not enough to say anything.)

Shortly afterwards, this post appears on the review blog, accusing Decadent of going through their purchase records to provide the author with private information about the review blog owners, and of accusing them of piracy. Decadent reply to this post offering to let one of the reviewers out of his/her contract with Decadent, if s/he thinks so poorly of the company.

At this point the rest of the web gets hold of the story and start sharing their opinions. Decadent look pretty bad. It doesn't help their case that as word spreads they start posting passive aggressive music videos on their twitter and facebook. They do respond to some of the accusation over at Dear Author (contacting Jane directly) but don't answer all of the questions. They give us their word they never shared purchase information with anyone, nor were any real names swapped. The Enders don't reply to DA's request for their side of the story.

Graylin, however, decides it's about time to give her side of the story, supporting Decadent's claims, but very vague about how she knew who the anonymous Enders were. People are already wondering about an older post on the Enders blog, namechecking Graylin for 'Worst Author Behaving badly moment". Do I smell grudgewank? Oh yes, I do.

Back over at Dear Author, someone else decides to name names, and outs two of the Enders as Belladonna Bordeaux/TJ Killian/Lee Morris and Sandra Sookoo, a claim which is backed up by Graylin. Belladonna, at least, is/was an author with Decadent. Under the name Lee Moriss she used to own Eirelander publishing. Someone else over at DA points out Graylin isn't the only author previously associated with Eirelander who's received a negative review from them: Aasiyah Qamar/Zaynah Mondee was one of Eirelander's editors, but had to quite for personal reasons. It's nothing like as vitriolic as Graylin's but it is a little odd consdering one of the reviewers actually worked on preparing the book for publication.

Oh, and icing on the cake? If you glance back at the Best and Worst of 2010 post on the Enders blog, you'll notice the Best books of 2010 go to Belladonna Bordeaux, Sandra Sookoo, and TJ Killian.

As yet, the Enders haven't commented on the new revelations. Decadent seem to be sitting on their hands now (too little too late, IMO, but I suppose it's an improvement on linking videos), and Graylin seems to be trying to keen to put it behind her, but other authors and interested parties are invested in keeping the wank alive. And, well. It's better than working myself into a tiz about my upcoming holiday, so I've brought popcorn to share.

ETA: The Enders forward Decadent's emails to Dear Author though the Ender's side of the conversation hasn't been made public yet (there's also still debate about whether Decadent shared purchase information or not and whether they accused the Ender's of piracy). Sandra Sookoo is denying any involvement with the Enders.

Also, AbsoluteWrite's thread, which is desperately trying to stay on topic.


(Post a new comment)


[info]greymouse
2011-01-17 05:16 pm UTC (link)
"It doesn't help their case that as word spreads they start posting passive aggressive music videos on their twitter and facebook."

This always helps.

(Reply to this)


[info]feenix
2011-01-17 06:17 pm UTC (link)
...You know, I've read all the links and I still don't get what happened.

And all I see is spooge EVERYWHERE.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]cmdr_zoom
2011-01-17 08:01 pm UTC (link)
Same here.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]solelyfictional, 2011-01-17 11:20 pm UTC

[info]cleolinda
2011-01-17 08:04 pm UTC (link)
Okay, I was wondering if I had just gone stupid or my blood sugar was low or something. Like, I dimly grasp what's going on, but... what?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]feenix, 2011-01-17 10:30 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]caffeine_fairy, 2011-01-17 11:13 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]cleolinda, 2011-01-17 11:21 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]solelyfictional, 2011-01-17 11:32 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]cleolinda, 2011-01-17 11:48 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]solelyfictional, 2011-01-17 11:57 pm UTC
(no subject) - [info]breecita, 2011-01-19 03:45 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]sisterelwood, 2011-01-20 06:44 am UTC

[info]ghostmaster
2011-01-17 08:43 pm UTC (link)
Oh, thank heavens it's not just me.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]solelyfictional
2011-01-17 11:22 pm UTC (link)
Chronological may not have been my best bet in attempting to outline what happened. But, well... There is blatantly so much more going on than anyone's revealed so far. I suspect the grudge goes deep.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]feenix, 2011-01-18 12:37 am UTC

[info]ashenmote
2011-01-17 06:54 pm UTC (link)
Certainly, after so many years of Internet culture, there must be a specific term for piracy rooted product reviews? Review Of Marque or something?

A grudgy pirate critique would be a Review Of Marque And Reprisal of course.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]breecita
2011-01-19 05:30 am UTC (link)
Don't be silly. It's only piracy if the review is critical.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]notjo
2011-01-17 07:36 pm UTC (link)
Oh! I saw hints and tidbits of this and has no idea what was going on.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]breecita
2011-01-19 03:52 am UTC (link)
No one has any idea what's going on. I don't have any idea what's going on. But I'm mad about it, damn it!

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]librarianmouse, 2011-01-19 05:10 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]breecita, 2011-01-19 05:24 am UTC

[info]fern_on_fen
2011-01-17 07:36 pm UTC (link)
OM nom nom nom, grudge. I am feasting on the delicious, petty grudges and the fact that people think they can be anonymous on the internet.

(Reply to this)


[info]eiviiaru
2011-01-17 11:26 pm UTC (link)
Belladonna Bordeaux? Really? Really?

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]magnolia_mama
2011-01-17 11:35 pm UTC (link)
Better than Monkshood Merlot!

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]phosfate, 2011-01-18 02:13 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]sorchar, 2011-01-18 04:55 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]t_boy, 2011-01-18 07:40 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]caffeine_fairy, 2011-01-18 09:48 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]sistercoyote, 2011-01-18 10:57 pm UTC

[info]delcj
2011-01-18 02:08 am UTC (link)
maybe she's a member of the Gambit wives club (you know, like the Snape wives) and she's named after the first wife, Belladonna Boudreaux.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]edana_ni_emer
2011-01-21 09:32 am UTC (link)
Somebody's an X-Men fan. Probably a Gambit fan specifically, and if those aren't the wankiest of the breed I don't know who are.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]wook77
2011-01-18 12:26 am UTC (link)
So wait. Because they can't find the purchase information in their own database, the publisher is accusing the reviewers of piracy? Maybe the reviewers bought it on a different site?

The rest of it is really really confusing to me. So reviewer used to own a publishing house and grudgewanked two of her former authors? But she's also an author with the Decadent Publishing?

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]fools_game
2011-01-18 03:21 am UTC (link)
I think it was more that the review was up on or before the day it was released, suggesting they got a pre-release review copy, which the publisher should know about.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]ardath_rekha, 2011-01-18 05:30 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]librarianmouse, 2011-01-18 05:42 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]ardath_rekha, 2011-01-18 06:21 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]librarianmouse, 2011-01-18 05:38 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]wook77, 2011-01-18 05:59 am UTC

[info]feenix
2011-01-18 10:52 am UTC (link)
I also did a bit of digging through the AW thread (which seems to have a bit of wank upthread about the rep of Decadent). I was immediately enamored of this exchange:

Ann_Mayburn (before edit, but in quote): I feel fantastic having been singed by them :)


Unimportant: Yikes, I hope that's not a prophetic typo!

(Reply to this)


[info]theelusiven
2011-01-19 03:57 pm UTC (link)
What is it about the winter months that draws prolific levels of authorwank?

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]seiberwing
2011-01-20 04:14 pm UTC (link)
It's cold. Nothing better to do.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]sisterelwood
2011-01-20 07:01 am UTC (link)
Whenever I read "The End is Not the Final Word" I keep wanting to say, "No, it's two words."

(Reply to this)


[info]dottiness
2011-01-20 02:04 pm UTC (link)
Wow, I ...

Wow.

I don't even know what to think of this whole mess. Everything looks bad. Everyone looks bad. I think I'm just going to sit back and let its run its course while I try to make heads or tails of absolutely any of it.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]feenix
2011-01-20 10:41 pm UTC (link)
I think my favorite part, while reading through the AW forums, was realizing that Jamaica motherfucking Layne (the author of Knight Moves - aka the queeb book) was all up in that shit. Arguing for Decadent.

As that realization initially washed over me, I began to weep tears of sheer joy.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]kumquat_of_doom, 2011-01-21 03:17 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]librarianmouse, 2011-01-21 03:23 am UTC

[info]gerorin
2011-01-21 10:47 am UTC (link)
I think it really is the season for authorwankery. I mean, we've got the FirstOne writing contest scam, we've got this, we've got LKH fans throwing insults at another writer for taking a jab at her book in their book...

'tis the season to be wanky.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

(no subject) - [info]gerorin, 2011-01-21 10:58 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]librarianmouse, 2011-01-21 03:14 pm UTC

[info]jasonvermilion
2012-01-29 03:40 pm UTC (link)
As a result in the growth in our world progress, we now are able to go anywhere we wish, for a reasonable price too. Some do it to make a profit, other just like to travel for no apparent reason. Do we really need a reason? Why not just travel without a cause. It can only bring joy to those who have learned to appreciate the moment.

(Reply to this)


 
   
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