Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Hi I usually lurk but this issue gets to me.
I will admit that my never buy line is fairly easily crossed but since I do not as a rule visit author websites or celebrity sites in general it is not usually an issue. So far all of my problems have been related to what i think is authors acting unprofessionally towards their customers. And this is by no means a position I reserve for authors, I left Sprint after five years because the one time I had a problem the customer service people were rude and dismissive and I thought screw it, I can get better service elsewhere. The point is that when I see authors berating their customers it puts me in mind of poor customer service reps. Sure sometimes the customer is a douchebag but telling them that is still not a good idea.
Overall, most of the authors I have sworn off of were authors that i had planned to buy or didn’t really like anyway so it was no real loss but I know myself well enough to know that if I see an author acts the fool online it will color my perceptions and prevent me from losing myself in the book.
I apologize if this rambles. I haven’t been to bed yet and it’s like 7:00 eastern so my brain may be slightly fried ;)

Well I don’t think Miss Dawn has actually MET too many gay people, cause last I checked, the ones I know aren’t feeling at all guilty for their sexuality.

I think what peeves me the most are the assumptions she makes about something she obviously has little or no knowledge of. I feel a little sick to my stomach after clicking on the llink and reading that.

Definitely on my DO NOT BUY list.

Kathryn

Spambot ill14, how appropriate!

I have a fairly low flashpoint. My line is here====>.

This works out because my book interests are wide and varied. There are so many authors out there cranking out so many books that I have yet to hit a point where my TBR pile is empty, never mind think, “I’m so bored and there’s absolutely nothing else to do that I just HAS to read this person’s book, even though I already decided not to.”

I think that people’s discretionary spending is getting less as well, which also helps weed out what they’re willing to spend money on. If the throw-away dollars were plentiful, sure. But if all you can afford are a few books a month, why waste that money supporting someone you don’t particularly like?

::boggles::

There is just not… enough… coffee… in the world.

You know, everyone has their own opinions and everyone is (or should be) allowed to express them.  Just as I reserve my right to boggle and wonder what the hell someone is smoking to put forth such blatant falsehoods as fact.

But that doesn’t really address your question, does it?  I’ve only once had a personal Never-Buy line tripped:  and it was when another writer was incredibly rude to me, in public.  *shrug*  Is it fair?  Probably not. Is it rational?  Probably not.  But I can’t help it.  I can’t look at that author’s books without remembering the sting of how it felt to be so completely disregarded.

As far as how much an author should reveal of themselves to the public—well, that’s completely to them and I firmly believe that no one has the right to say how much is enough or not enough.  On my blog, I don’t get overtly political, but I think it’s safe to say that if you read it regularly, it’s not difficult to figure out where I stand.  On other issues, it’s very easy because I don’t exactly keep my mouth shut.  You’ll see me stating a lot of opinions and thing is, these are all things that in some form or another do find their way into my writing.  Maybe it’s because I write in the contemporary genre.

I wonder if authors who write in sci-fi or fantasy or historical find it easier to keep their “selves” hidden as it were?

My no buy line is crossed fairly easily as well. Generally, the thing that trips it is gay rights. I don’t have an issue with people saying “I don’t believe that homosexuality is right.” Whatever their religion has taught them is their personal business. I do get mighty pissed when they want to apply their personal religion and it’s “ideals” to those of us who are not of the same mindset or when they want to deny basic equal rights to others. If you think being gay is wrong, then don’t be gay but don’t tell other people they can’t. Or say things like children grow up to think they are gay because they were sexually assaulted. Umm, ok. That lady goes straight to the no-buy-ever list.

I also do not support organizations that deny entry to members based on sexuality. I haven’t been able to support the neighborhood Boy Scouts in years and it kills me, but I will not spend my hard earned money to fund an organization that excludes gay members. It’s certainly their right to set their membership standards, but it’s also my right to refuse to contribute to them in any fashion. My son will not join the Boy Scouts unless that policy changes. I have a list of all the major groups and companies that funded support for Prop 8 in California and I won’t do business with them, either.

It’s not just gay rights, though. Seeing the way Jennifer Crusie acted in the wake of the CE debacle turned me right off of her. Haven’t (and won’t) purchase anything by her ever. And it’s not some form of “watch me punish you, you evil harpy!” so much as I like to feel good about the things I purchase and I couldn’t feel good about buying a book by Crusie or this Dawn woman.

many readers online have vowed publicly to never spend another penny on an author whose opinion, even an opinion expressed thoughtfully, is too distasteful to them

Actually, the emphasis I placed in there is my tipping point.  Because thoughtfully to me includes politely, and with respect.  If those things are missing, I’ll drop into never again zone.  Luckily, this has never happened with an author I’ve been devoted to. 

Many come from broken or dysfunctional homes.

This is actually kind of hilarious to me.  My mother grew up in a two-parent, perfectly “normal” home. She’s gay.  I grew up in a fairly dysfunctional home and I’m hetero-married with three children, living in suburbia.  Ms. Dawn would brain-melt.

Hmm.  That doesn’t look like a very smart move to me: it’s basically going to alienate a lot of people.  It looks pretty unprofessional.  Then again, maybe alienation is what she’s aiming for.

I don’t exactly have a Never Buy line in terms of making a point about nevah evah supporting an author whose views disagree with mine because OMG if that bitch is gonna say stuff like that then I’m gonna tell everyone to nevah evah buy her books… because I’m not 13 any more.  I’m capable of separating an author from her work.

However, it’s unlikely that someone with an attitude like the author cited above is going to write a book I’ll enjoy.  And maybe she has a point about warning readers up front.  My attitude to readers who swear against me is similar: If you think my opinions or tastes are so abhorrent, you probably wouldn’t like my books anyway, so save us all some angst and don’t bother.

Spamfilter: enough13.

I don’t think you’ll get much debate here on this particular topic…because I’m assuming anyone who believes what this author believes (or anything close to it) won’t come posting here. That would be like walking into a minefield.

I will say this: some people raped as children DO take on the gay lifestyle. And I can totally understand the reasons why.

There are things that will put me off an author, but usually if the writer is good enough I’m willing to keep reading their books. I met one guy a few years ago who totally dismissed my compliment on his writing because I was serving wine at an event. I thought he was a jerk, but I still loved his books.  Good writing tends to trump authorial personality.

Maybe that’s just because the really vile things, things that racism, sexism and homophobia, tend to infiltrate the writing. Even if the author never comes out and says ‘gay people make me feel like barfing’ there’s usually something unpleasant woven through their story.

(Which is weird, because I’ve read stories with sexist or racist main characters and never thought to associate the belief with the author. Other stories - leave me feeling greasy.)

My no-way line is very easily tripped and the list of authors never to be bought again is inexorably getting longer.  Occasionally, I think I was better off before the internetz forced the moron behavior of some folks down my throat.

In some cases, I was disenchanted with the direction in which the author was taking in their writing anyway and it wasn’t a big loss (Coulter, Crusie), but in others I do occasionally get twinges of wanting to read again when their work is praised all over, but won’t because of the complete idiocy the author displayed in public (Deb Smith).

I totally agree with Melissa about the analogy she made about customer service.  In the end, authors want our money.  Maybe they think I’m an idiot for expressing my opinion, but it’s still they who want me to buy their books, so I feel they ought to at least be civil to their customers.

In the case of Brockmann’s Q&A on Barnes and Noble, I felt she was dismissive and disrespectful to all her readers.  Will the vast majority of readers care?  Probably not, but I do and that means, no green for her or her causes, which is a shame, because I am absolutely for gay rights and gay marriage, since I could care less what other people do in their bedrooms and I don’t think anybody should be treated as a second-class citizen because of it as long as it’s consensual and both parties are old enough to understand what they are doing.

So, another author joined the list.  :(

As for the other author mentioned.  I’d never heard of her.  She’s entitled to her opinion, but I think she’s wrong, uninformed and I wish she’d become enlightened.  I won’t buy her books now, but I wouldn’t have anyway most likely.

Whoa. 

I’d say I have a fairly high threshold for differences of opinion, as long as those differences are expressed thoughtfully.  But, oh, man, does that every stampede like a herd of crass and crude cattle over it.

The fact that I have a high tolerance doesn’t mean I won’t buy someone’s books if I disagree with her point of view, but it’s mostly because I won’t *like* the books.  There are lots of books I don’t buy because I won’t like them—whole subgenres full—so it’s not all about the author’s opinions!  I can’t think of a single author I’ve run into that I *was* reading and *stopped* reading when I can found out about a kerfluffle or opinion.

I won’t go see Tom Cruise movies, though.  I want him to stop getting work because the more work he gets the more he can go out on talk shows, etc, and spew his horrible beliefs about people with emotional and mental difficulties, and the more credibility people will give him.  So maybe my threshold isn’t all that high.

Piers Anthony and his repulsive “Firefly”
I had read scads of his stuff in my teens, and then drifted elsewhere.  A couple of years ago, I tried to read him again, and started with his Incarnations of of Immortality and was thoroughly offended by his chauvinistic, nasty, scathing comments about a not-very-fat character in “Bearing an Hourglass”

My brother-in-law recommended and then pushed and pushed and pushed “Firefly.”  I finally borrowed it to shut him up (SO glad I didn’t pay for it!).  The main story wasn’t horrid.  However, the *crap* Anthony wrote about the 4-year-old girl raping the “helpless” adult man was beyond belief.  It was too explicit and too detailed and too well-realized. IckIckIckIckIckIck I wanted to puke but the rage choked it off.

It was bad enough reading that part of the book, but the afterward/apologia in the paperback version left me feeling tainted in an entirely different way.  Waving the “It’s just fiction” banner doesn’t fly for me here.  If Anthony was fishing for reactions, then he is icky and manipulative, and here’s mine:

Not only will I never buy another Anthony book,  I will never again read anything with his name on it.

When an author writing fiction bludgeons me with a particular POV on an issue, where the exposition goes far beyond what’s necessary to advance the storyline, I usually stop reading that person.  That’s more because of the poor writing quality though than the issue. 

I will say I’d have a hard time reading a historical by a creationist author who has cave people co-existing with dinosaurs—and doesn’t label this as fantasy. 

I also won’t be reading Miss Dawn’s novels.  Ignorance is a real buzz-kill for me.  Life’s too short to waste my time that way.

There are a couple of “never-buy” authors for me, although neither are in the romance field, nor is my no buy from the quality of their writing.  First, an award winning [male] author - I read his books until he made a comment on a talk show basically to the effect that he wrote downward of what he was capable in order to be accessible to more readers.  My reaction then, and still, was “you arrorgant prick.”  The second never buy is totally based on prejudice and is embarrassing to me.  I hope to overcome it someday:  After learning that a certain author had participated in a murder when a teen, I could no longer enjoy his/her books.  And I had previously really liked them! It’s best *not* to know anything about the authors.  Books should be found under cabbage leaves - just like babies.

Suzanne Brockmann - I love her books, and I won’t deprive myself of them because she lost it on one message board once. I’ve been caught out more than once by making a remark I thought was clear and it turns out people took it another way, then got myself in worse because I tried to explain - but Brockmann’s opinions are more or less sound, I love her books and I’ll continue to buy them. As it happens, I don’t think she was accusing people who didn’t buy her book as being homophobes, but I bet she’s received some hate mail since “All Through The Night” came through (the first mainstream romance centred on a gay couple will do that).

Autumn Dawn - just checked my TBR, and I had one of her books on it. It’s gone in the “out” box. Someone with that kind of opinion is unlikely to write a book I’ll want to read. Because opinions seep through in books, even if you’re writing books set on another planet. It doesn’t usually bother me, but what she said is too extreme for my taste. I think everyone should make their own mind up about it.

That Bible quotation is often given as ‘proof’ that God condemns homosexuality. It doesn’t, not really Corinthians is one of the “history” books, which are more about the laws at the time of King David and thereabouts. “Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.” We’re all doomed! “Sodomites” are people who engage in anal sex, which isn’t entirely limited to men. Translating it as “homosexual” is anachronistic and misleading (imagine!) And later, St. Paul (also in the Bible!) says, “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (v11). No longer shun such people. Let their sin, or poverty, etc. be your opportunity to lead them to Christ.” So you decide which one you want.

There’s a handful of writers I flat out refuse to have anything to do with, and every last one of them was for acting so horribly unprofessional, it blew me away. My sister reviewed a book, once. It was a bad review, she hated the book-but it was also a solid review, and made fair and valid points. But, the author showed up with his friends and harassed her to death. They were ugly and vindictive and so trollish by the end it was astounding.  One of the trolls was an author I had to that point supported-but for no reason at all, she got involved and harassed my sister as well, all for one little review from a reader that is a pretty quiet voice in our neck of the woods.

The other one I despise is a flat out bully. She yells at her readers, she attempts to guilt them when they don’t buy as many of her books as she thinks, she terrorizes and harrasses and alienates, and refuses to listen to any opinion but her own. Our falling out, I tried to politely point out I was sick of the American-bashing in her journal. She defriended me, blocked me, and refused to give me a chance to say anything after that point.

I don’t care if writers have opinions, so long as they’re professional about them. But I loathe, despise, and detest a writer who thinks he is better than his readers and has no qualms treating them like crap.  My readers mean the world to me, in my little corner. I refuse to ever support a writer who acts like a nasty little princess.

My never buy line normally is very hard to get crossed. My list of will not buy is kinda short. I read what I like and very rarely go out of that comfort box. Which is good for me, being a newbie to the romance genre Ive got awhile to catch up. Though if I found out one of the authors I currently read, behaved like this, I would drop them like a hot potato and purge there books from my library. Most likely by donating them since no book showed be destroyed. This issue bothers me to know end. I only visit authors websites to see when there next book is coming out. I try not to go past there. For this reason.
After reading that expert from Miss Dawn. I am glad I dont read her.  I would never buy a book that she reviewed, wrote, commented on or contributed to.  I understand that she believes thats who she is. But what a limited narrow minded point of view and she shows it be voicing it to her readers and pontential readers.
Maybe the internet isnt for everyone. But honestly just because this women is a writer, dosent not exclude her from general costumer service as someone else mentioned.
Her readers are her costumers, and personally, I would see her butt fired if she pulled that with me any where else and encourage my friends and family to avoid her at all cost too. Im the type of person who will drive the extra few miles for gas just to avoid exxon/ mobile.  I havent bought from them in years. Hell I wont even stop to use there bathroom.

I guess when that personal line is crossed I go to extremes to aviod the person/ situation.

M
simply46

I appreciate a heads-up on authors who have opinions I don’t like, so in an odd way, thanks to this author for expressing herself. I now know what to avoid. Almost all of my books have at least one gay couple in them, usually as friends to the heroine, since I myself have many gay couples who I count as close friends. Write what you know, right?

I don’t mind if authors express themselves. They’re clearly telling people, “this is who I am. Avoid me if you don’t like it and come find me if you do.” She’ll appeal to a large segment of the reading population who may purchase a book only to find there are gay people in it (like mine—I don’t over-emphasize it, but they’re in there, by gum). This way her purchasers won’t be surprised…

Hmmm, having read both of the links, but none of either authors’ books, I would have to say that while I may be disinclined to buy Ms. Dawn’s books, Ms. Brockmann’s response was the one that really made me not want to buy her books.  In terms of politics, I absolutely agree with Brockmann and not at all with Dawn, so for me, I guess it’s not always about the idea expressed as it is about how it’s expressed. 

Brockmann’s response to the reader question seemed really antagonistic and patronizing, which I didn’t think was warranted by the question.  It seemed to me like she wasn’t even replying to the question itself, but to some imagined criticism.  So that even if I may have agreed with the content of her response, it was really the tone which made me not want to buy her books (and although I strongly disagreed with the content of Dawn’s explanation, it seemed like she really cared about answering the reader question honestly and not getting snippy).  Maybe Brockmann did feel attacked by the reader question, which colored her answer, but for me, it was incredibly off-putting.

Before reading this, I would have said that if an author can write, then that trumps personal issues I have with them.  Now I’m gonna have to say that only applies if I’ve already read something by them - if I’m turned off personally before I even get to your writing, then I won’t even give you a chance.  It might make me miss out on some good books, but if I can’t forget about it while reading, then I’m not going to get a lot of enjoyment out of the book, etc. anyway.

Usually my “never buy” authors are ones I’ve never read, who did something to turn me off before I ever picked up one of their books. And actually near the top of my list is an author who posted on this website a few years ago. I don’t remember exactly what she said, but it was roughly “hahaha, I don’t care that you as a reader don’t like my books, I’m still laughing all the way to the bank.” It was just so goddamn smug and distasteful that not only did I want to smack her, but I decided then and there I wasn’t going to ever spend money on one of her books. I don’t like to flounce though, so it wasn’t something I announced, just a personal decision.

I did consider checking one of her books out from the library as an alternative. But then I actually read one of her short stories in a book I bought for another author’s story, and I was so underwhelmed with her writing that I’ve never had any desire to read anything else by her.

I also have a couple authors on my never buy list, simply because their writing has gone so downhill that there’s no WAY I’m spending my hard earned money on their stuff.

I have a line and it usually takes a bit to cross it, depending on the issue. She has crossed it.

As for Suz Brockmann’s Q&A, things don’t always come across on the computer the way they were meant. I read it as, those who have previously read her books and refused to deal with All Thru the Night as being the ones who have the problem. But that is MY interpertation.

I don’t like it when someone starts throwing the bible at me- since it is not a book in my library, don’t expect me to think it is the be all and end all of the way I live my life. She would probably have a heart attack knowing that not only do I have a step-son who is gay, but *gasp* we go out to the movies and I hang with his friends and it’s me he tells his problems too.

And I have always accepted him the way he is. Which is the underlying factor here. She is incapable of accepting people for who they are unless the bible tells her it’s ok. That will then work it’s way into her writing and it’s not something I can read. So she has made my list. I have to check my tbr pile.

I realize my comment may anger some, but I am not an author, so it doesn’t bother me. It’s my opinion. And I don’t degenerate anyone who does read the bible or try to live by the precepts within it. It’s just not my thing. My poor Catholic husband doesn’t know what to do with an agnostic wife, atheist daughter, wiccan daughter, one son who married a woman of Jewish faith, and his gay son and other “normal” son. Ok, that is what we all refer to him as- and for us- it is a family joke. Because we are all different but don’t care. We have more arguments about political standings than we ever do about religion or beliefs.

My never-buy line is pretty clear:
I do not give money to people or groups that will use it to harm me.

Thus, no known Mormon writer will ever get a penny, after their tithes were used to cut the ring fingers off of thousands of married couples.

No known fundamentalist will get a penny.

No sexist, rapist, murder or other such.

@anonymous: there is no “gay lifestyle.” There are people who are gay. And they live all sorts of lives. Lumping me, my 16 year old daughter, the 30ish samba instructor who works for FedEx, the 50-something director of the Gay & Lesbian Center and Miss Trixie Thunderpussy (of the Memphis Thunderpussies) into the category “gay lifestyle” is ridiculous.  Also, if molestation/rape were the cause, 80% of women would be lesbians.

@Lynn
You’ve confused Chronicles (Old Testament) with Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians (New Testament). Paul is very clear that the sexually immoral (anything except het marriage) do not go to heaven. Which is only a problem if you follow that god.

One of my pseudo-jobs is as a music critic, specifically focused on country music, and this is sometimes an issue there, as well. As a pretty liberal even for a Canadian liberal, the political leanings of a lot of American Country singers are pretty far from mine. Not to mention there exists a few of them who have done some pretty offensive sorts of non-political things over the years. When I’m reviewing the music, I can’t let that matter, unless it’s visibly informing the music itself, and then I have to review the record in that context, but try to do it without the context of my personal reaction to their politics.

When it comes to my own reading, or my own music purchases, or my own other purchases, I generally follow a line of ‘if it shows up as part of the product or experience then I stay away’. So, if I lived in California, I wouldn’t be looking up whether the owners of my dry-cleaner gave money to the Yes on Prop8 campaign, but when my favorite Chinese BBQ place put up posters advertising a ‘no on gay marriage’ march in restaurant itself, I stopped going there. I’ve heard that Curves is run by a fundamentalist who puts a lot of money into anti-abortion campaigns, but in the individual outlets, the only campaigns that I see running are pink ribbon breast cancer causes (which I also have issues with, mind you, but it’s not quite the same thing). Similarly, just knowing that a writer was ignorant and bigoted about gay rights and gay marriage wouldn’t necessarily put me off of their books, but if those issues came up in the books, parroting the authors own ignorant views, I would stop reading them.

This may be a slightly head in the sand approach—it’s okay for my gym membership dollars to support anti-abortion campaigns so long as the fact that they’re doing so is not visibly shoved in my face, etc—but for me it’s the most workable line. I have little interest in, and less time for, looking up the moral positions of every company I do business with. Unless it’s in my face as part of the experience of using a product or service, I choose it ignore it. Chances are, if I did the research into a competing product, I would similarly find owners, board members, senior employees, etc, that offended me just as much.

My never buy list is pretty easily crossed—-I have little enough time or money to spend on books.  Why spend it on books that I won’t fully enjoy because the author’s behavior tainted my opinion of her writing.

As others have said above, it’s not the author’s opinion itself, but how the author states the opinion that bothers me.  I don’t know many authors’ political opinions but highly doubt that would stop me from buying their books. 

On the other hand, I agree with most of what Suzanne Brockmann has said, and she definitely crossed over into my never buy list.  She used to be one of my favorite authors, but lately I’ve had more and more problems with her books and was not enjoying them much.  I kept buying for two reasons:  (1) I wanted to find out what happened to characters I’d been reading about for years and (2) I wanted to support her because I respected her outspokenness regarding issues I really cared about.  I liked that she took what must have been a huge risk to her career and wrote the first mainstream book featuring a gay couple.  She put her money where her mouth is and wasn’t hesitant about expressing her feelings.

I think the reason I’m so angry about her comments now is because I did have so much respect for her in the past.  Her comments at B & N were dismissive and condescending.  IMO she was talking down to her readers.

Moreover, she deflected criticism with accusations of prejudice.  I have no idea if any of the posters were homophobic, but I didn’t see anyone expressing any homophobia in their posts at all.  For Brockmann to impute prejudice on these posters with no justification (unless the justification occurred somewhere else such as them sending her emails) crosses the line for me.  I think what makes me angriest here is that if she is receiving hate mail or if there was more going on than what was on the screen it’s getting swept under the rug because I will never believe Brockmann again.  It’s belittling to the causes Brockmann stands for to turn criticism of her writing into criticism of gay rights.

I’ve got to ditto a lot of what’s already been said here. I have put a few companies on my “Do Not Buy” list, but I’ve never put an author on it. Not exactly, anyway.

I’ve seen a few online to-dos which moved authors from my “Never Heard Of, Never Bought” list, to my “Never Gonna Bother To Buy” list. The reason is usually not so much moral outrage, as knowing that there’s so much better stuff out there to spend my money on. I’m sure Ms. Dawn is correct that that sort of stuff does go into her books. I have plenty of other sources for that sort of ignorant shit.  I’m not going to spend my precious book dollars on it. Same goes for some of the horrendous subjects other commenters have said some authors have written about. Thanks for the heads-up. Now I don’t have to waste my money on their crap either.

When it comes to romance novels, my preference is for “smart, funny, sexy.” Yes, that’s slightly redundant, because for me, smart is sexy. Stupid is never sexy. For that matter, stupid is never funny. That’s why I can’t imagine Crusie ever making it onto my “Do Not Buy” list. Certainly not for one off-the-cuff joke and a thoughtful follow-up. (See: funny and smart above.)

As for Brockmann, I didn’t click through to her online kerfuffle, so I can’t really comment specifically. I have been known to blow a mental gasket now and then when I care deeply about something. It sounds like she may have wandered in that direction. I’ll probably click through later and check it out.

So, of the three authors mentioned, one’s (still) on my “Auto-Buy” list, one’s (still) on my “Buy Sometimes” list and one moved from “Never Heard Of” to “Don’t Bother.” That’s about as deep as I can get on my first cup of coffee. Time for a refill.

My standard for my never-buy list seems to be different from everyone else’s: if the author consistently gets easily verifiable facts wrong, time after time, book after book, I’ll stop buying. It tells me that he/she does no research and does not respect either his work or his readers.  I once threw a book across the room because the writer had Germany invading Poland in December 1941. (No, it was not alternative history.)

The only author I’ve stopped buying for any other reason is Orson Scott Card.

I would have said that my line had more to do with disrespect than politics. I would have been wrong. I’ve never heard of Ms. Dawn, but can’t imagine reading anything of hers now. I recently decided not to buy anything else from one of my favorite authors. She has shown a blatant disrespect for her fans. Going so far as to say, that if you don’t like her books now, it’s because you’re reading them too fast.  She threw a little hissy fit on Center Stage that made me lose all respect for her. Being rude to the very fans that put her on the bestseller list, book after book.  Will she still hit the bestseller list, yes. Will her contract still get extended for an obscene amount of money, probably so. But I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that I didn’t help line her coffers. I know how to hold a grudge, I haven’t spent a penny with Exxon since the Valdez incident, geez that makes me feel really old. :-)

This is why I don’t want to know much of anything about authors, particularly those who write books I enjoy.

I usually blink at these flounces because it takes a LOT for me to reach a point where I am unable to see past my impression of an author to the point where my reaction interferes with my reading that author’s book

Me too.

This may be a little off the subject but also an important point in getting to that never buy again stage.  About a year ago I joined the bbs of one of my all time fav authors.  She had just released a book that I was looking up on Barnes and Nobles and I read some really bad reviews.  I couldn’t imagine any loyal fan not loving any of her books!  Unfortunately, there were six or seven bad reviews from very loyal fans. 

When I mentioned this on my next visit to the site,  I was totally slammed by the guy in charge of the bbs and some of the members.  I wasn’t being mean or bitchy, I WAS CONCERNED!  Not one person mentioned the book.  The only thing they zeroed in on was MY mention of the bad reviews.  All I was looking for was a little reassurance that she was still our reigning queen of the dark…that the new book was yet another masterpiece!  Anyway, after that my whole perception of this author changed from Author Goddess of the Universe to eh, I wonder if she’s as pissy as her employees and fans.  I don’t RUN to the bookstores to get her newest releases anymore and I don’t go to her bbs.

I’ve only put 2 authors on my do not buy list. Terry Goodkind after reading an interview where he stated his books were not fantasy, as the magic followed rules. Most well written fantasy has the magic following rules (of course ones made up by the author. :) )As a long time fantasy reader I felt like he was talking down to me. I also no longer read Victoria Laurie after the whole mess of going after a reviewer. I really like both of the authors’ books, but I can’t read them anymore.
Jenny

There is exactly two people on my never buy list and neither of them write romance.  I tend to stay away from author’s personal opinions unless they spooge them all ove rthe internet.  So right now I’m limited to never reading Orson Scott Card and Dave Sim.

I tend to avoid writers who choose stupid pen names so even if I hadn’t been turned off by Autumn Dawn’s politics I would have been turned off by the fluffiness of her nom de’ plume.

I’ve seen a few online to-dos which moved authors from my “Never Heard Of, Never Bought” list, to my “Never Gonna Bother To Buy” list. The reason is usually not so much moral outrage, as knowing that there’s so much better stuff out there to spend my money on.

I’m right there with you Tara.
I’ve only really been hanging around these parts (“Romancelandia”- TM?)  of the internets for the last year or two, and have probably missed some if not most of the incidents involving authors bad behaviors. And in most of the ones I have seen, it’s really not turned me off entirely. Because most of them have happened with authors I’ve not read/heard of.

As for my “not-in-this-life/next-life- EVAH-gonna-buy” list?

J. Dailey- I used to like her books. But what she did to Ms. Roberts? Now I get PO’ed if I even SEE one of her books on the shelf.
C. Edwards- Read one of her books, didn’t care for it- but that wasn’t enough to put her on my “list”. After what went down last year? Sorry, your fighting with Dailey for first place on the list!

As it stands now, IMVHO, everyone else has a chance. Truth be told, I’ve actually found many more new authors via this ( and other) blogs, than have ticked me off.

My sentiments are similar to many of those listed here. I would find it extremely difficult to read an author whose views or attitude is offensive to me. And as someone said earlier, their prejudice would somehow creep into the writing, methinks, and let the cat out of the bag.

Talking straight from the writing/plot point of view, a character whom I cannot help but dislike (in a series) would put me off a writer. I read one book in the Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell (I think I have it right) and the prota was someone I just hated. I’m sure she has a million fans and that’s all right, but I couldn’t get past my prejudice for this character. So, I guess that makes me prejudiced too! Hmmm… Writing this post makes me realize that perhaps I should try another series of hers just to give her (and myself) a chance. Another author I dropped was Anne Rice when I came to the book Armand. The pedophilia in that one totally turned me off! And I couldn’t bear to read any more of hers. Then again, I read somewhere that she found Jesus and did a complete turnaround on all her views, so perhaps I quit at a fortunate time.

-anin

I just buy their books second-hand when I find out that an author is manifestly bat-shit crazy in the bad way (why, hello, there, Anne McCaffrey).  Not reading books I’d otherwise really enjoy seems a bit too much like cutting of my nose to spite my face.

@Lynn
You’ve confused Chronicles (Old Testament) with Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians (New Testament). Paul is very clear that the sexually immoral (anything except het marriage) do not go to heaven. Which is only a problem if you follow that god.

I didn’t confuse them, I just quoted two parts of the Bible (which does contain the New Testament and the Old Testament, at least mine does) which appear to contradict each other. There are lots and lots of these, because the bible was actually written over a couple of thousand years by people who had very different opinions and aims. But against fundamentalists, you can’t win, only waste a lot of your time.

But yes. If I read and love an author’s books it takes a lot to turn me away. If I’ve never read her then no harm, no foul, but I won’t bother. Good comment.

Ditto on the Piers Anthony boycott. He’s the only one on my “never read again” list. He lost me after And Eternity. A lot of railing against the statutory rape laws. There’s a big, giant hole in the wall from that one, and an empty bookshelf.

I think the reason I’m so angry about her comments now is because I did have so much respect for her in the past.  Her comments at B & N were dismissive and condescending.  IMO she was talking down to her readers.

My feelings exactly. I generally love Brockmann - her writing style, her stories, her heroes. She’s an auto-buy for me. Too, I fully support her opinions on homosexuality and gay rights, so there has never been an issue for me.

But now she’s using her personal crusade and message as a club to beat up on people. To imply that anyone who has any issue at all with any of her stories is most likely doing so only because they are homophobic is not only insulting to all of her readers, it’s a form of reverse-discrimination. To infer that readers are incapable of forming opinions based on anything other that whether or not they agree with her stance on homosexuality is pretty darned unprofessional.

So now I’m torn. I’m angry with her, but to deny myself of her stories is to cut off my nose to spite my face. Perhaps it’s a matter of going from buying the hardcover or e-book on immediate release to waiting in line to get a copy from the library. Or does that just make me a hypocrite?

Too many authors confuse their professional blogs with a personal blog.  I also get put off when people go on about politics, especially if I think their point of view are the regurgitated words of a far-wing ideologue, because people who do this can’t seem to express their own opinion without disparaging an opposing viewpoint.

Racist, sexist or gender-preference hate speech would all put an author on my “never” list.

There are too many books out there to support the careers of hateful people.

I don’t know if it’ll ever wear off, but I pretty much refuse to read Anne Rice. It’s mostly because all of her Internet WTF-ery and wank. Also, the only time I DID end up reading her was when one of my friends lent me the Beauty books, and I found them unsettling.

Nora Roberts’ also has a certain tendency to rub me the wrong way.

It’s not so much a would-not-buy thing, though… More of a wouldn’t-even-read-for-free.

It takes a lot for me to hit a “no buy” line as well… and when I do, it’s because of what you said about the politics/religious views/crazy ranting mania tainting what I’m reading/watching/etc.

I’ve hit that point with actors/actresses, where I can’t seem to separate their ridiculousness from the character they’re attempting to portray on the screen. (Although someone told me that Valkyrie would free me from my Tom Cruise moratorium.)

I think it’s why I try to stay away from celebrity news in general.

But it is a peeve of mine. Since my Junior year of high school when my English teacher stood up in front of the class on election day telling us how George H. W. would destroy the world, and how she wouldn’t want to live in a world without Dukakis as president (omg I’m sooo ooooold *headdesk*), I’ve had a pet peeve about people who use their power and authority to front their judgmental agenda… even when I agree with it.

People should be respectful and thoughtful whenever they share their opinions and views, no matter the forum (um, except when mocking reality television… because, seriously…). But really, I don’t care about the author’s background or belief system. If you want to use your storylines as metaphors for your religious beliefs… have at it. (Although I will say I was creeped out by a snarky Twilight review I read recently where someone pointed to all of the hidden Mormon subtext throughout the book. didn’t.want.to.know.)

But to come out after the fact and make statements for political or religious reasons just seems to lack integrity or courage or something… along the lines of Rowlings’ insistence that Dumbledore was gay, even though she never had the balls to include that in the books in the first place.

My never buy or read line is easily crossed.  However, I don’t have a problem if an author wants to support X political party or have a certain position about an issue.  That never makes me put an author on the Do not buy or read list.  But when an author acts like a bully towards his readers or other authors they automatically get dumped into the never buy list. 

Sometimes I haven’t read a single book about the author and because of their words or actions, they get listed on the never buy list.  Perhaps it’s unfair, but I can’t stand bullies.  I also (and I realize that this is a personal issue) have a tendency of shying away from buying authors that do not believe a readers opinion is important at all.  I understand that characters are your creation and you can do with them as you please.  I’m not going to argue about that issue, because I believe you are correct.  However, when I hear authors being rude or talking down to the readers, as someone said, I get disappointed. 

Look, I don’t want an author to write what I want.  Write your story the way you want it to be. But, if I or anyone else, don’t agree, then please don’t be rude.  There is no need to remind us that this are your characters and you do with them what you want; say your sad that they didn’t like it, and move on.  If you wish to discuss the issue, then great! I’m always fascinated by discussions where there are two different point of views.  But again don’t talk down to readers.  In fact a good discussion where the author respectfully defends his/her point of view, story or idea against someone that disagrees, has most times put that author in the Need To Buy list.  I may not like what you did in a book but I will totally support you if you are willing to defend your position in a dignify manner. 

Thankfully, I don’t have time to read authors blogs or follow them around.  So for me to put an author in the Do not buy list the issue has to reach big proportions or show up in a blog/site I follow.

You know what they say about opinions…we’ve all got them like…belly buttons.  I don’t care what an author’s opinion is on anything, but if they did something I found distastful or nasty (oh umm…like get caught on video kicking a homeless person, mocking handicapped people, etc - something that is repulsive & vile) then I would not only wash my hands of them, I let everyone I know in on what they did.  Expose their nasty behavior with the hopes they’d see it and feel ashamed and some remorse.  How they vote or what they believe will or won’t get them to heaven doesn’t make any difference to me.  It’s their opinion and everyone is entitled to an opinion- right or wrong, it’s just an opinion.

Too many authors confuse their professional blogs with a personal blog.

Why should there be a difference?  My blog is my blog, period.  Yes, there are things that I don’t put out there for public consumption, but that’s a personal choice—things that wouldn’t be out there for public consumption regardless.

I mean… I guess I don’t quite get the difference here.  As a writer, I use everything as fodder and a lot of it gets filtered through my blog.

Now, if it was a blog being hosted by a publisher or if I was being paid by a site like Entertainment Weekly or People.com to blog about being a writer, then that’s different.  That’s a “professional blog” and I’d make an effort to keep the topics centered around more professional topics.  Otherwise, though, I just don’t see a need to keep blogs separated into “Writer Barb” and “Person Barb.”  For one thing, it’s too easy to follow links or searches and there would be no real delineation between the two and secondly, writing isn’t just my job, it’s who I am, so from that standpoint, there’s very little line between professional and personal.

Of course, there are authors who manage to maintain separate blogs and personas or only blog as their characters or don’t feel the need to blog at all and that’s fine.  I’m just saying that for me, trying to maintain such a distinction would be a waste of time.

There is very little that will permanently turn me off of a writer, outside of that authors work that is. Cassie Edwards did… but I’ve never had the urge to read her books anyhow, so no love lost there. I’m not sure either Suzanne Brockmann or Autumn Dawn (someone please tell me that her nom de plume) did, though I have never read AD.

What does turn me off of a writer is if in their writing they take the time to beat me over the head with their own personal beliefs. If AD’s opinion comes through in her writing, it would be stuck in the freezer (ala Joey from Friends). I read a book recently where the Female Protagonist discovered she was pregnant, and the author used that to go on a page long pro-life spiel, complete with using “the baby’s rights now were more important that hers”. I couldn’t finish. I can’t make it through books that read like a bible study.

What is this woman smoking? She has to know that she’s royally screwing herself over when it comes to readership, because I’m going to argue here that the majority of romance novel readers are probably more open-minded about these things than not.

That being said, my Never-Buy line is somewhere around here. When an author’s beliefs are as ridiculous and repugnant to me as this, that’s when I draw the line. For some reason, extreme arrogance really turns me off, too - it makes me read the book in question much more critically, trying to see if it’s really worth all that hubris. Nine times out of ten, it may be good, but it’s not the gold standard of writing or the Next Great American Novel - and often it’s just popular, and not actually an example of decent writing (hey, Stephenie Meyer, what’s up?).

I have serious problems when several books by an author reinforce the same negative themes, too, and again I’m thinking of Twilight. When a popular series is telling young girls it’s totally fine and even romantic for their boyfriend to stalk them and control them, that kind of thing is NOT okay.

I hate to come in with what feels like a dissenting opinion. 

[Insert long boring anecdote here]

I was up in the remote kinda hills a while back, sitting on a front stoop talking to an old man who was about to have a delicate and difficult operation.  He had insisted, he said, that the work not be done by the Chief Surgeon of the Department.  He wanted it done by a Resident with much less experience.

“I didn’t want that Jew doctor,” he said.  “I want a good Bible-believing Christian doctor.”

He was unable to separate the work from the man doing it.

If I look at the author and say, “I won’t buy his book because I disagree with his politics,” or “I don’t like her religion,” or “He’s a creep,” or ‘She’s ... I dunnoh ... a bad mother or a shoplifter or overspends her credit cards or says stupid things on-line,”

then how am I different from somebody who won’t listen to music because the man who wrote it had bad morals or the wrong sexual orientation? 
From somebody who wants to throw out art because it’s painted by a man who deserted his kids? 
From somebody who won’t go to a movie—not because of its content—but because it was directed by a Muslim or a Jew or a Black or a Religious Fundamentalist or a Republican or a werewolf?

If I say a book or a work of art can be judged just by who wrote it and not what it says ... I’m using the same rational that led the Nazis to burn books by Jews. 

This is not company I necessarily feel comfortable in.

@job: I don’t think your intolerance-of-intolerance-is-hypocritical shtick is really believable. No one here says throw the books out and burn them. In fact, many people have said that
a. their decision to not buy an author are usually only affected when it comes to authors they’ve never read before.
b. their decisions are affected not because of the author’s beliefs by their personal attitude/behaviour/etc.

Secondly, I don’t think lives are being saved through books. ...Unless it’s a case of BEING IN YR A**, SAVING UR LIFE hahahahahaha, k sorry about that, I just had to weave it in somehow. (I was kidding there, to reiterate). Seriously speaking, art is an indulgence. Not a life saving procedure. So perhaps we need to get our scale of reference turned out right?

-anin

EDIT: I also wanted to add that art is something so personal, it seems impossible to experience it without feeling it. So how is it possible to not feel the creator of that, especially if you know something about that person, in the art? Taking the case of Roman Polanski, I have never watched any film of his. When I first heard of his case, I was like you saying, art is different and why should we judge a piece of art by the character of its creator, but when it came down to it, I just could not stop thinking that the movie was made by a suspected pedophile. It was just the way it turned out and so I stopped lying to myself and decided to join the company that you feel not very comfortable in. Maybe I am being hypocritical or prejudiced myself, but at least I am being honest to myself without hurting anyone else (except the authors and artists I find offensive by depriving them of money, which is not that great a hurt I think).

My “Never Buy Again” line is set pretty far out.  The only authors I absolutely won’t buy are Cassie Edwards (never bought her in the first place) and Janet Dailey (whose old, old categories I read years ago).  Because they plagiarised.

There are a lot of other authors that I used to read but just don’t care for any longer, who have also since either moved away from genre romance or disavowed their romance roots (Coulter, Delinsky, etc.).  I stopped reading them before being put off by their behavior, though.

I would put Brockmann in the category of, say, Linda Howard and J.R. Ward:  authors I once liked, and may read again in the future, but who are no longer auto-buys or even auto-borrows from the library.  That decision was made before seeing the post at B&N, which strikes me as unprofessional.

@job
I am not obligated, in the name of tolerance, to give money to people who will then use that money to harm me and mine. We are not required to tolerate those who wish to destroy us.

I use my money to support people, companies and causes who are beneficial to me and mine.

The money Orson Scott Card and Stephanie Meyers receive from their books is tithed to the Mormon church. The church spent millions of dollars from those tithes to pass Proposition 8, which harms my family.

Now, I’m not calling for a boycott of their books. I’m not insisting they should change faiths. I’m only saying they do not get my money because a portion of it will be used to hurt me. I’m tolerating their beliefs and their tithing. But I’m not required to condone or participate in it.

f I say a book or a work of art can be judged just by who wrote it and not what it says ... I’m using the same rational that led the Nazis to burn books by Jews.

Well, no.

Nazis burning books by Jews is persecution, based on racist prejudice.  Refusing to buy a book/ get medical treatment/ go to the local shop because I don’t like the race or religion or sexual orientation of the author/ doctor/ shop owner is likewise prejudice.

Refusing to buy a book/get medical treatment/ go to the local shop because the author is a convicted paedophile/ the doctor is rude and unkind/ the shop owner sells out-of-date stock isn’t prejudice at all—it’s a perfectly reasonable decision based on what the author/doctor/shop owner has done, not on who they are.

Also, refusing to buy a book or only getting it secondhand is nowhere near burning it.  Really.

Interesting - maybe I’m weird, but I’d never considered boycotting authors because they hold opinions I don’t like or are jerks.  I love books, and I rarely, rarely ever look to find out anything about the authors (usually just looking for release date for new books, or looking up old works I might have missed if I like their work).  I simply looked at whether I liked their work or not.

There are authors I won’t buy because I’ve read their stuff and just don’t care for it.  Perhaps it’s because their views permeate their writing, perhaps their words just don’t speak to me.  I doubt it, because there are plenty of admirable people whose views I agree with - but I just don’t like their writing.

More and more I find myself following authors on the web.  I find it both interesting and frustrating to read about them.  Some of them seem to have read too much of their own press and believe that fans will read whatever they write.  Some of them seem to think that they have ‘godlike’ status and so whatever they say will have no bearing on the book buying public.  Some of them are gracious and witty and entertaining, which makes me enjoy their books more.  This is interesting to me.  I don’t buy or not buy books based on the authors personal views of any subject or belief; I generally purchase books based on the quality of the writing.

Not too long ago I had a bit of a run-in with a well known author on a blog.  The discussion had to do with author photos on the back of books and I expressed my opinion about a certain author’s picture.  I was not the first person on the discussion to mention the photo, which is partly why I expressed my opinion about it.  The author - who is a regular poster on that site - chimed in with what I am sure she thought was a pithy comment about my comment, which prompted others to chime in and agree with the author.  First, I didn’t say anything of a personal nature against the author, just expressed my preference for a professional studio shot, rather than the one shown; the author on the other hand, made a not so veiled reference about me personally and I felt put down and made fun of, by both the author and her supporters.

I have a huge collection of this author’s work - previous to this she had been one of my favorite authors and a must read - since then she has had 2 books come out that I have not bothered to purchase.  I still want to read them, I just can’t seem to make myself spend the money on her. 

I guess for me, it does come down to the customer service argument.  Who am I to judge anyone’s opinions or beliefs?  Just because what you believe doesn’t match what I believe doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t read your books, if they are well-written and of a subject matter which I enjoy.  But when you start treating your readers as peons or assuming that because you have been lucky enough to have been published means you can behave in any manner you wish then I have an issue with your behavior.

Respect your readers and your readers will respect you.

This is a very interesting topic, and I don’t know if I’ve honestly ever hit that line yet with an author.  As someone above mentioned….

I won’t go see Tom Cruise movies, though.  I want him to stop getting work because the more work he gets the more he can go out on talk shows, etc, and spew his horrible beliefs about people with emotional and mental difficulties, and the more credibility people will give him.  So maybe my threshold isn’t all that high.

That’s exactly how I felt.  I will never see another movie of his ever.  But authors?  I honestly have never sought out their personal opinions on anything, so I’m totally ignorant on this topic, so reading through the comments and replies was very interesting.

I will never begrudge someone their opinion on a topic (no matter how ignorant I might feel it is as in the Autumn Dawn example).  However knowing the person is entitled to that opinion doesn’t mean I have to support it by supporting them by purchasing their work.  Just as I feel no obligation to buy paintings of someone who portrays an enjoyment of the mutiliation of women, I feel no need to support someone whose views so widely differ from mine that it offends me on a basic level.

Hate is THE line for me.  It’s actually what got me to vote in the election this year.  Someone starts preaching hate and intolerance and I’m the first person on the line saying, “Whoa!  Wait a minute!” 

When anyone—be it author, actor, singer, etc—uses their celebrity status as a platform to start presenting their beliefs about issues and/or to start preaching to the public about issues (be it rape, abortion, gay rights, religion, etc), I’m instantly turned off.  While I expect any artist to reflect or delve into issues in their writing (or whatever medium they work in) to explore thoughts, once that exploration turns into preaching?  I’m gone.

Just because you’re a celebrity doesn’t mean I care what you think nor that I’m that interested in hearing about it.  LOL.

Oh, and the Piers Anthony thing?  I had no flipping idea!  I used to read his Xanth series all the time but haven’t picked up a book by him in ages.  I do, however, think that authors do delve into touchy subjects at the risk of losing readership.  I did that in a story (written for online) that involved domestic abuse.  It was a dark, twisted event (as abuse often is) and many of the readers were disturbed by their reaction to those events.  Heck, I was disturbed writing it because I had NO idea where that came from.  *sigh*

But yeah.  When an author stops writing to tell a story and starts writing the story to pimp their political/social views to preach to me about how right they are?  I stop buying.

JT

young47

I very rarely put an author on the Never Buy list strictly because they express an opinion that offends me.  Lots of things really bug me and I simply can’t police the world.  I do hate the idea of my money supporting causes I hate, but it’s not possible to know what most people do after you pay them.  Focusing on authors just because I can would seem a little arbitrary to me. 

The thing that will put someone on my bad list is expressing a distasteful POV in a way that makes it difficult for me to not see offensive things in the author’s work.  I do not want to read a book and find myself seeing nasty, horrible things lurking behind the writing.  Both Orson Scott Card & Piers Anthony are in this category.  That causes me pain because I loved Ender’s Game when I first read it but I can no longer read Card’s work without wanting to hit something.

The hard part for me is that I’m an over analyzer by nature so it doesn’t take all that much to trip this reaction.  Because of that I tend to stay away from author websites that have much content not directly related to the books and I never join author-focused BBSs.  I feel like I make a deal with authors—-you don’t shove nasty things in my face and I won’t search out things that will make me mad at you. 

That’s were I am on the Brockmann controversy.  I love her books and don’t want to give them up.  I also tend to agree with her and I understand that she has probably received a lot of feedback that’s tough to take.  Anyone in the public eye needs to have a thick skin but when it comes right down to it the homophobes are talking about her son.  No one’s skin is thick enough for that.  I can see how that sort of thing would make a person touchy enough to see homophobia in some places where it may not necessarily exist. 

And lord knows I have no room to critique people’s inability to communicate effectively under stress.  The world is full of people who think I’m the devil because when I feel strongly about something I tend to get a little worked up.

I’ll wade into the minefield here.

I’ve never read Autumn Dawn’s books and don’t plan to now because I’m not inclined to patronize someone who speaks so ignorantly. It doesn’t seem to bode well for the content of her novels. As a Christian woman (try not to aim too well for the bulls-eye that just popped up on my chest) I am sadden by such statements as hers. My personal faith often clashes with my political stances where what I believe and what I think should be legal or not are often in contrast to each other. Swimming in a world where a pro-life opinion is automatically (and in my case, erroneously) assumed to go along with spiritual conviction is often very difficult. When someone spouts such ignorant opinions as Ms. Dawn did, I feel embarrassed to be even nominally associated with it.

I did, however, stop buying Sue Brockmann’s books for a while. She was a go to author for me (full price hardcover purchases) and I used to salivate for the next Team 16/Troubleshooter book. I’ve got a weak spot for those Alpha boys and my PB copies are well read indeed. But while I love the Jules character, I have no interest in reading intimately about his romantic arc. That’s just not what I read romance for and honestly, it makes me uncomfortable. I don’t think that’s homophobic; I think it’s personal preference, but y’all are welcomed to judge me so if you wish.

So I didn’t purchase the two or three books that intimately chronicled that arc, though I eventually checked them out of the library for the ancillary storylines to keep abreast of the world and flipped past the pages that made me uncomfortable. I also don’t read m/m fiction and prefer straight hetero romance, but I love the SB web site and the DA web site and often make my purchases based on their reviews. I’m not about to stop reading these sites b/c they sometimes feature titles I’m not so keen on. I just scan past the reviews of books I have no interest in be they m/m romances or fantasy titles. Just not my cup of tea.

I have purchased Brockmann’s newest DARK OF NIGHT and loved wrapping up the long arcs of those featured characters (though I think her men are increasingly being defanged, but that’s for another day). And while I really missed her world during my self-imposed break, I believe Sue B. had/has every right to write what she wants and highlight whatever she believes in. It’s her world; we’re just reading it. Likewise, I have every right not to participate in that world and not to spend my dollars on those titles. I don’t post a venomous rant raging “how could she do this?” because of course she should do whatever she feels necessary with her own creation. I just quietly make my own decision regarding it.

This Autumn Dawn person makes us all look bad by hard-lining what can be a complex issue for some people. It can, my friends, and to think otherwise is its own ignorance. We enter into community with each other not because we only share the same opinions or likes but also to explore dialogue and sometimes opposing views if only to cement our own convictions. But we must do this with respect and grace on both sides of the aisle and not with fundamental entrenchment and ignorance, otherwise we might as well just have stayed in the caves.

Still, I am glad to be back with the Troubleshooters.

Also, thanks Angelia for the Chronicles (OT history) and Corinthians (NT Letter from Paul) clear up. No bad juju towards Lynn; I just hate it when people get the words to the song wrong.

It strikes me that many of our “never buy” decisions seem to be tripped not by the subject matter or competence of an author’s novels, but by the way the authors communicate with fans - be it via messageboard, website, blog, and/or personally.

Food for thought.

After learning that a certain author had participated in a murder when a teen, I could no longer enjoy his/her books.

Why so circumspect? The background of the author in question is not a secret, although I admit it made me deeply uncomfortable, especially since she writes murder mysteries.

As for me…my DNR (do not read) list is made of up authors whose works are unreadable (Patricia Cornwell), have pissed me off due to racist comments in the text (Anne McCaffery), have pissed me off due to women falling in love with their rapists (this is specifically focused on Stephen R. Donaldson, b/c there doesn’t appear to be a reason for it in his fantasy novels. I do understand what classic romance novelists like Woodiwiss are doing with it, even if I choose not to read those novels and still find the concept offensive), or authors who are known plagiarists (Dailey, Edwards).

There are others I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole for much of the same reasons listed here (Connie Mason and Nicole Jordan, for example). But I rarely avoid someone just b/c their religious or social beliefs are utterly opposed to my own. If it shows up in the text, I have a problem with it. But if the author’s beliefs are just that, and I don’t see them in the text, or if they somehow work in service of the text without seeming preachy…well, fine. I mean, Michael Crichton was a batshit crazy ultra-right-wing conspiracy theorist, but it worked for his books, even though I’m not a huge fan.

I really don’t care about the personal beliefs of the authors that are on my auto buy list. I only drop them when it’s something that I don’t agree with that bleeds over into their writing that is obviously the author try to speak their personal opinions through the character.

  The main reason I ever drop a writer from my list usually happens when they are writing a long series and somewhere around the fifth or sixth book if the series is really popular they seem to be listening more to their squeeing fanbase than actually working on the books.
 
  Most of the authors that people have mentioned I stopped reading a long time ago as my interests have changed or I found that I just couldn’t enjoy their stuff anymore.

It’s tricky for me. I will rarely scratch an author I really love off my list because of some personal opinion (to which they are entitled.) If that opinion colors their work, however, and I actually see it in the writing, that would be enough to make me think twice before buying again. Or, if that personal opinion is shoved down my throat as an absolute certainty (especially if it’s based on the person’s religious book of choice) they’ll most definitely lose me. But a reasonable, rational opinion that differs from my own just isn’t enough to make me give up on someone. (I’d have to swear off ever opening another one of my own father’s emails if that were the case, as we have such differing views on gay marriage, politics and other issues and frequently debate them.)

Unfortunately, there are times when an author can cross the line and not even realize it. I blog with dear friends, and try to be respectful of their views, which are, on some issues, vastly different than mine. But during the election, I (very carefully, I thought) put up a few posts about how important it was to register to vote, and to actually get out there and pull the lever. I was then told by one of my blogging buddies that she had heard criticism that I was bringing politics into our blog and obviously, because I was encouraging people to register right before the deadlines, I had an Obama agenda. Gee, and I thought I was just encouraging the democratic process.

It was those comments that made me decide to not put up a link to a video I was really excited about, that included a photograph of my daughters in D.C. on inauguration day. If it were a personal blog, I would have done it. As a professional one, shared with other authors, though, I decided not to.

And I’m with Barb on not buying someone who I find just rude and obnoxious in person. Like the romance author who very publicly, in my presence, opined, “I can’t believe I lost to this total nobody” after I beat her in the NRCA many years ago.

No royalties for you sweetie.

Signed—the total nobody.

When anyone—be it author, actor, singer, etc—uses their celebrity status as a platform to start presenting their beliefs about issues and/or to start preaching to the public about issues (be it rape, abortion, gay rights, religion, etc), I’m instantly turned off.

The problem with that argument—and we’ve talked about this here before—is that when any person of “celebrity” status says ANYTHING public, it can immediately be construed as “preaching.” So if Jo Rowling or Stephenie Meyer or Nora Roberts says “I don’t care for corn, and I wish they wouldn’t serve it in schools,” that person has somehow turned their fame into a platform. Basically, a famous person can’t venture any opinion without it becoming some kind of political statement, and being famous should not deprive you of your right to speak.

Personally? I like it when celebrities speak out. Why? B/c they have the power to do so—and they should use that power to make a difference. Maybe I don’t always agree with them (I think Toby Keith is a blowhard, for example), but I appreciate that they’re not just using their fame to spend money or something.

There are quite a few authors I won’t buy because of writing quality.  Some of them also have personal umm… “quirks” that also make me disinclined to buy their work, but that’s not the primary reason.

The few authors who inhabit my absolutely-will-never buy list are those who have plagiarized or attacked readers/reviewers (who was the one on Amazon- McGivilray?).  Oh, and Michael Crichton (who I used to really enjoy) inserted someone who gave him a negative review into a book as a child rapist.  Not cool.

Ohhh, I totally forgot to mention the Dresden files by Jim Butcher. His sexist character, who is so obviously channeling his own views (according to me at least) put me off the whole series. I couldn’t get past book1.

-anin

Ruth (or anyone else!): What did Jennifer Crusie do during the CE debacle that crossed the never-buy line?

Rachel, she basically said only mean girls would be going after a nice old lady like that and then she segued into how she herself had been guilty of being snarky but was now all reformed and would never do it again, and did it right away.  Gack!  Her tone was also very condescending like she thinks she’s somehow better than her readers.

Michael Crichton (who I used to really enjoy) inserted someone who gave him a negative review into a book as a child rapist.  Not cool.

Oh, I agree. I was thinking of his earlier books—before State of Fear.

Dude was *batshit*, I tell you. Absolutely insane.

Why is it that so many authors are that way? I’m thinking of Anne Rice now…(anotherDNR, but that’s more b/c her books just don’t appeal to me).

she basically said only mean girls would be going after a nice old lady like that and then she segued into how she herself had been guilty of being snarky

...that’s really not at all what she said.

I mean, the second part, yes. She said it. And she had horrifically bad timing on her “redemption from snark” post. But all she actually said HERE was “Did Cassie Edwards run over your dog?” Which was funny and I think meant to acknowledge that CE had been a bit of a whipping boy here. A lot of people were upset about that comment, and I think it might’ve been in poor taste, but she never actually defended CE. At all. I think she’s gotten a really bad rap for this—Mrs. Giggles said worse, but people didn’t really call her out.

Leslie, you should have posted the video!  I was the blogging buddy who told you about the email from a reader…not because I agreed with her, but because I was shocked that someone who think that encouraging people to vote possessed some sort of underlying agenda!  If it did, then damn.  I misunderstood the whole democratic process thing, too.

Other than plagiarists and known bat-shit crazy people who have attacked authors I am friends with or just authors I love, I don’t think I have a “will not buy” line.  Mostly because I forget about most crap unless it’s really personal to me.  This Autumn Dawn person is not someone I would have read anyway, but her opinion, which I disagree with, means nothing to me.

ksquard, I agree with a lot of what you said.  I do not read m/m or other homosexual fiction.  I have no desire to.  That, however, doesn’t make me homophobic anymore than if a gay person doesn’t who doesn’t want to read my books makes them heterophobic.  Sometimes, readers want to read to their own experience and I see nothing wrong with that.  I’m glad they have their own books to appeal to their personal love lives.  But I don’t mind gay characters in books nor do I mind if they get a secondary love story.  As long as I have my m/f lovestory, I’m good. :-)

Although I will say I was creeped out by a snarky Twilight review I read recently where someone pointed to all of the hidden Mormon subtext throughout the book. didn’t.want.to.know.

I’ve seen that before.

My do-not-buy line is when people take a jab at people from the South—especially people from my own state, Alabama. For this reason, I’m not buying anything by Tom Clancy.

I’ve been known to change the channel on a comedian I’ve been otherwise enjoying when he starts talking about how you can tell a woman from India is married by the jewel on her forehead, and, in a similar vein, a married woman in Alabama has a black eye. It absolutely infuriates me to hear that kind of stereotype enforced, because I’ve met people who assume that because I live in Alabama, I’m from a farming community of 20 people and related to 17 of them in more ways than one, and have amorous designs on my first cousin.

Or, to put it another way, a woman who sat next to me in college was from West Africa. Before moving down here, she lived in New Jersey. When she gave her friends the news that she would be moving to Alabama, her friends in New Jersey, bless their hearts, tried to worn her that ‘people in Alabama don’t like black people.’

It gets really fucking depressing to find out that your home, which isn’t a bad place to live, makes you a target for derision.

Also: Keyword—Science45. SCI-ENCE. KNOW-ING. Too may people think they know something, but what they know isn’t true.

I use my blog and website to promote my books.

I figure anything else would likely bore my readers.

Snarkhunter wrote:

The problem with that argument—and we’ve talked about this here before—is that when any person of “celebrity” status says ANYTHING public, it can immediately be construed as “preaching.” .... Basically, a famous person can’t venture any opinion without it becoming some kind of political statement, and being famous should not deprive you of your right to speak.

Personally? I like it when celebrities speak out. Why? B/c they have the power to do so—and they should use that power to make a difference. Maybe I don’t always agree with them (I think Toby Keith is a blowhard, for example), but I appreciate that they’re not just using their fame to spend money or something.

Ah, but for me there’s a difference before standing behind a cause or an issue and speaking out or sharing an opinion on a topic (because so many people do hold a celebrity up and find inspiration in them to, say, come forward about date rape because the actress or singer steps forward to say they were a victim of the same and experienced XYZ) vs. preaching and “abusing” (for lack of a better word) their status to bring those opinions forward. 

Celebrities do enjoy a wider opportunity to take those stands than most will ever have.  But for me there’s a line between appropriate places and venues to express those opinions and clear instances when its not.  The Tom Cruise is a perfect example.

For me there’s a clear difference between speaking out and getting involved in causes and “preaching”.  Shrug.

JT

Dude was *batshit*, I tell you. Absolutely insane.  Why is it that so many authors are that way?

Because in our society they can be.  We think artists are supposed to be eccentric so the BSC (batshit crazy) can be nuts and still be allowed to function.  We think people in other jobs are supposed to be “normal” so when they’re BSC they get locked up and/or put on serious meds.

I did. I printed out her entire blog post. I use it to raise my blood pressure when I’m feeling lazy. Or, barring that, to urge me to run another 5 minutes on the treadmill.

:) You’re right. I was thinking in the larger community. I felt like a relatively important person in the review community got away with being pretty nasty—but you guys did call her out for that.

I can’t always remember what was said then. Just the ones that stood out.

(I should try this “remember people who make you angry” thing to get me to exercise. I bet I could lose 10 pounds on Ann Coulter alone. It’s the first good use I’ve ever thought of for her.)

Huh.  I didn’t find Brockmann’s statements that dismissive of her fans.  I thought she was speaking very honestly and openly about her writing process, and that fan sentiment just doesn’t play that big a role in it. 

She didn’t say that ALL the criticism of DON was homophobic, she said that some surely was, and if you’d spent any time on her message board, you’d know that was true.  She received several hateful, personal messages that caused the board to be shut down for a while.

She spent a lot more time talking about the negative fan reaction to the Sam and Mary Lou arc than the Jules arc.  I personally didn’t like DON much, but that’s just because the characters weren’t among my favorites, not because I felt cheated or deceived in any way.

There are a few authors I refuse to buy because of their hateful views or behavior, but that’s usually reflected in their writing, so I wouldn’t read them anyway.  FWIW, there are FAR more writers that I started buying (whose works I used to just get from the library) because they were nice to me online or in person.

Ditto, Julie. I know you felt the same way I did about it, how crazy it was that someone considered encouraging voter registration an obvious ploy to support one political ideology over another! I was pretty shocked by it, and thought it served as a good illustration of how an author can be “offending” someone or “crossing lines” without having any idea whatsoever!

The other one I despise is a flat out bully. She yells at her readers, she attempts to guilt them when they don’t buy as many of her books as she thinks, she terrorizes and harrasses and alienates, and refuses to listen to any opinion but her own. Our falling out, I tried to politely point out I was sick of the American-bashing in her journal. She defriended me, blocked me, and refused to give me a chance to say anything after that point.
I don’t care if writers have opinions, so long as they’re professional about them. But I loathe, despise, and detest a writer who thinks he is better than his readers and has no qualms treating them like crap.  My readers mean the world to me, in my little corner. I refuse to ever support a writer who acts like a nasty little princess.

I think I know of the bitch you’re speaking of, and in all honesty, she’s the only person who writes my favorite genre (m/m) who I will not touch with a ten foot pole.

wrong27.  Well, this chick has been wrong about 27 ways to Sunday, and no one has had the balls to call her out on yet yet.

The other one I despise is a flat out bully. She yells at her readers, she attempts to guilt them when they don’t buy as many of her books as she thinks, she terrorizes and harrasses and alienates, and refuses to listen to any opinion but her own. Our falling out, I tried to politely point out I was sick of the American-bashing in her journal. She defriended me, blocked me, and refused to give me a chance to say anything after that point.

I don’t care if writers have opinions, so long as they’re professional about them. But I loathe, despise, and detest a writer who thinks he is better than his readers and has no qualms treating them like crap.  My readers mean the world to me, in my little corner. I refuse to ever support a writer who acts like a nasty little princess.

I think I know of the author you’re speaking of, and have had my share of traumatic experiences with her.
She’s the one author in my prefered genre (m/m) that I won’t touch with a ten foot pole.

Wow. Well I’ve written the author’s name down (from o.p.) and she’s going on my no-buy list for sure. This is a really interesting topic, and very good read this morning (all the comments).

I don’t visit author blogs, websites, face book, message boards, etc. hardly ever unless I’m cruising for new books to read or want to see what’s coming. So I’ve yet to have an author cross my ‘no buy’ list from their opinions/politics/etc. That said, if I knew an author was some form of evil (rapist, murder, child abuse…) or believed in something very serious and at a fanatical level that went against what I believe in (such as author mentioned in post) and I found out they’d be off my read list for sure.

I am anon. in my romance-related posts here, on my blog, etc. for this very reason: I work in an industry where my opinion on politics, let alone reading of romance and love of the sexy books could actually cost me money and turn people against me. Might sound dumb- but it’s true. Oh, it’s known I love ‘chick lit’ and ‘happy romantic books’ but not my steamier reads. Rather than be ‘known’ and loose income (in this economy who can afford that?) I choose to keep my mouth shut or go anon. As myself I share (on-line) as much as I would at a gathering with strangers present, and I believe that to be a good rule of thumb.

I really, really don’t want to reopen the plagiarism thing but I’ll offer my perspective on the Crusie’s comments.  I didn’t say anything about it at the time because, as someone said earlier, I’m not in jr high and I really try not to flounce in public.  However, privately I lost a lot of respect for her.  It didn’t move her to the Do Not Buy list, but it took a bit of the glow off my love for her older books.  (I’m not thrilled with the newer ones for reasons that have nothing do with this, but that’s a whole other topic.) 

Her comment about “what did she do, run over your dog?” was, to me, pretty offensive.  It implied that the Bitches were continuing to post about CE and people were continuing to talk about the situation because they were petty & mean.  The reality was that new posts were going up because new instances of plagiarism were being found in every single CE book. 

It was, and still is, difficult for me to understand why an author would value a veneer of Nice over respect for the integrity of people’s writing.

As for Mrs. Giggles, her stuff wasn’t directed at me so it doesn’t raise me blood pressure or inspire my work outs the way it does for Sarah but I do remember it and I changed my web surfing behavior in part because of it.

I’m not sure about the logic behind my very short Never Buy Again list. I’ve been off Crusie since the whole CE mess. I’ll probably buy her books again, just not yet. Another author took exception to requests that she state an opinion on the matter. I still buy her books, but I no longer participate in discussions on her blog. Again, that may change eventually.

The one person I used to buy books by, but don’t anticipate buying ever again is Laura Lee Guhrke. She pushed one of my personal buttons in an AAR discussion a few years ago. I think she started by posting a reply to an editorial on wallpaper history. Ms. Guhrke maintained that she didn’t understand use of the term and no amount of explanation seemed to help. I thought that was pretty disingenuous of her, considering wallpaper history was what she had been writing since her move to Avon, but whatever. The discussion then moved to epublishers and Ms. Guhrke dismissed them as inconsequential and alleged that they ‘pay their authors next to nothing.’

Jaid Black got into a fairly well-reasoned discussion with her on the matter. Ms. Black posted some round numbers, saying that the top tier of authors at EC made what amounted to $60,000 a year. I was impressed. That’s quit your day job money.

Guhrke’s response (copied from Karen Scott):

60K a year gross isn’t what I call good money. It’s respectable, but it’s not what I define as good. Again, it’s my personal opinion. As Karen said, by the time you pay agent fees, taxes and expenses, you’re taking home about $1500 a month if you’re lucky. That’s not what I call good money.

I’m really not sure why this irritated my so much, although I do know that $60,000 a year is quite a bit more money than I earn. Anyway, I haven’t bought a book of hers since. Every time I read a review or see a new title by her, all I can think is, ‘Nope. Laura Lee Guhrke doesn’t need my money.’

I didn’t read all of the B&N discussion, but I read the first few pages at the time - my take on it was that it was some of the readers who were behaving badly.
I think that’s the problem with on-line discussions, that they move from site to site, and depending which bit you happen to come across, that your understanding of the discussion is coloured by your familiarity with, and attitude towards, that poster. (I’m not talking about Brockmann’s response to that particular poster: just my impression of that discussion - as far as I read it - in general.)
As for the Never-Buy line - it’s permeable. Don’t understand it myself, but some people give up Brockmann with each new book. I think it’s a kind of inverted fandom.

Naturally, my biblically based beliefs include “one man, one woman”
relationships. ... Contrary to the propaganda, I believe that
homosexuality is a choice, like stealing, like drinking, like drugs.
Addictive, sure, but a choice, one that can be overcome.

ACK I was raised in a religion that taught if a boy was raped or even masterbated he’d “turn” gay. What bullshit. I’m shocked that in this day and age people still believe those theories have any merit whatsoever. 

  Evidently God/Jesus of the bible can mean whatever mankind wants him to say. That’s why there are over 34,000 versions of Christianity then add in all the sects of Judaism, Islam , Eastern religions, Wicca etc.  Pretty sucky odds of sticking your hand into a hat and drawing out the only one that will win the lottery and lead to salvation huh?

Whatever anyones belief is , how can a free country base human rights on religion?  Which religion? Ultimately ,why do so many pass judgement and devalue THIS life and dispose of people because they bet on the “next” life?

I had only been a very occasional visitor of Mrs. Giggles, but after her rant I haven’t been back. 

The reason, Crusie got more attention is that she’s a writer, who despite all claims to the contrary was and is endorsing CE and her plagiarism by vilifying the people who exposed it.  It’s especially galling from her, since not only is she a writer who could suffer the same fate as CE’s victims, she’s also an ex-academic, who has used that fact to improve her stature in the community or lend authority to her statements.

Snarkhunter, I did not say that she said these things here on SBTB, I was referring to her blog posts and her comments on those blog posts.

Wow, I didn’t mean to stir up the hornet’s nest again!  Thanks for the clarifications, and I’m sorry for dragging up the past!

Marianne,

there was a particular post towards the end of the Q&A that triggered my ‘oh, no she didn’t’ meter for Brockmann.

Originally, it was the ‘folks who don’t like DoN must be homophobes’ bit that made my jaw hang open, but I now think the beginning was really where she disqualified herself the most in my opinion.

I know that there’s been noise about DARK OF NIGHT, but from what I understand—without soiling myself too completely in the ugliness—that noise has been from just a relatively small group of disgruntled people—who seem to have more of a beef with me than with the book.

I just cannot find this opener in any way professional and the argument that writers are human, too, just doesn’t fly in this context.  She’s a purveyor of goods she wants the readers to buy.  Smart PR dictates that you don’t talk down or insult the potential customers.  I think she ‘soiled’ herself quite considerably with that particular post.

My “author I won’t buy” story is:  Several years ago legislators in The Big City in our state started talking about banning pit bull dogs after a summer during which several people had been maimed and a couple people were even killed by that breed of dog.  One author whose books and blog I had read off and on (and who doesn’t even live in this state) opined about the ban on her blog. She didn’t agree with it.  Ok, fine.  But then she went on and on and even let her “personal assistant” have some time on the blog to opine about it.  Their arguments boiled down to accusing every person in the STATE – not just every person in The Big City, but the entire freaking state – of being mega-awful animal haters.  By the end of the multiple postings over multiple days the author and assistant had worked themselves into a good lather about it all.  I don’t even live in The Big City yet here this author and her BFF are calling me an animal hater/killer because of the fact that I live in the same state as The Big City.  That was it for me.  It’s one thing to say, “Hey, here’s this issue I feel strongly about and here are my arguments for/against it.”  It’s a totally different thing to scream hysterically and accuse everyone in shouting distance of being a horrible evil person.  I wouldn’t have been able to read another one of her books if I’d tried because the whole time I would be sitting there thinking, “This is the author that hates me, or at least thinks I’m an idiot, because of the state I live in!”

We’ll have to agree to disagree on our interpretation of what Crusie said and wrote in several venues, on her own blog and elsewhere.

As I said and you pointed out in your original post, our respective meters of what’s over the line are set pretty differently.

I don’t really have a problem with the Brockmann comment because I interpret it quite differently the GrowlyCub did.  Face to face communication is tricky enough.  When you take away facial expression and tone of voice human beings are really disadvantaged. 

One a happier note—-I agree with an earlier poster who said that online interaction with authors has actually been far more positive than negative for me.  I’ve been inspired to search out books by several people whose online comments have been smart and funny and kind.  It’s far easier to remember the very negative things, but that’s just how the human brain is wired and it often doesn’t reflect reality.     

I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions but this year I am trying to be just a bit more focused on the good things.  It’s not in my nature to be Little Mary Sunshine, but I am trying to reward/reinforce the positive more often.

I don’t go out of my way to find out about authors’ personal lives, political views ethics or manners, but when they rub my face in it, I do notice.  Most of the time, the authors who by doing so cross my “never buy line” are ones whose books I have never read, and now I won’t, kthx.  That’s true in fantasy as well as romance.  Never read Terry Goodkind anyway, nor Cassie Edwards, nor most of the others on my list.

Orson Scott Card?  Yeah, that one hurt.  A lot.  But I just can’t pick up one of his books now, even beloved old favorites, without getting that slimy feeling.

Anne Perry?  Doesn’t really bother me.  She did her time, after all, and was a juvenile; I’m a fan of rehab over retribution in penal systems (giggle @ “penal”), and it seems to me that she’s a good example.

I do avoid contributing to certain companies (Domino’s, Smoking Loon come first to mind) when I know that the owners give large sums to social causes I don’t support.  When I know that, it’s because they’ve made big public announcements about it—they are obviously trying to attract certain people’s money, and those people are not me.  I figure that’s my choice.  If an author did that and I knew about it, he or she would go on my NBL.  But like I say, I don’t go looking for that sort of thing.

My never-buy line is fairly easy to cross because I read heavily in several genres—romance, YA, sci fi, fantasy, mystery, historical.  So when an author says something repulsive in the book or online, it’s pretty easy for me to take my time, attention, and money elsewhere. 

Still, when I won’t buy an author it’s not necessarily meant as a statement… some are just so obvious in pushing their politics in their books that it’s unpleasant and distracting and I avoid the author thereafter.  My latest experience of this was Star Bright by Catherine Anderson, a real throw-it-against-the-wall piece of poorly written drivel.  I couldn’t even finish… I lost it after the third rant about how NEUTERING YOUR PETS IS INHUMANE, OMG. 

I mean seriously, neutering????  I cannot deal with a debate over neutering in a romance novel. 

I did skip to the end to catch the scene where the villain takes drugs to make all his hair fall out so he can’t be identified by his DNA when he murders his ex-wife.

UM, WTF????  ... I do not need just72 more reasons not to finish this book, the anti-neutering thing was enough.

NoBuy Authors for me tend to behave badly, online or elsewhere.  I don’t take offense easily, and can usually see both sides to any story.  Well, except the anger/annoyance/hair pulling over the Sophia/Decker ‘ship.  I guess they didn’t make that much of an impression on me over the course of the books.

Anyway, there is one author in particular who I felt crossed a line on a site.  I can’t remember the site or the argument, just that the author told a commenter that they didn’t know what the f*ck they were talking about and to shut the f*ck up.  I had never even heard of her before then, but she is always the first author who pops into my head whenever anyone mentions Authors Behaving Badly.

My personal “do not buy” line consists of book content. If the writers “values” are so blatant that they preach throughout the book, and those “values” don’t mesh with my “happy, everyone’s equal because we are all in this together” utopia, then…well… they don’t get bought. Frankly, they can op-ed whatever on their web sites, it’s called freedom of speech here in the US of Amerika…well, so far it still is. And they can op-ed anything in their books too.

Two-somes, hetero relations, three-somes, homosexual relations, cross-species, etc. It’s all good. I read paranormals and you get “all” kinds there. Mostly, the writing sells it…or not.

Amy

As I get older, I get more and more picky about what books I buy. Generally I only buy things I KNOW I will enjoy, from authors I have enjoyed in the past. But occasionally I’ll pick up something new, as I think we all do.

What usually puts me over the ‘I will never buy anything by this author again ever’ line is bad writing, plotting and/or bad research. Back at the start of my romance reading, I read a book in which the hero got himself into a corner, plot-wise, and about 3/4 of the way through the book, a guardian angel - that had never been mentioned before - appeared and poofed him out of all his troubles. I heaved the book across the room and have never spent a penny on the author’s work again. These sorts of things annoy me.

Bad research, I can forgive, depending. If it’s a nitpicking detail, I get over it. If it’s a huge glaring error, and there has been more than one, bye-bye. Not reading you again.

I don’t read author web sites (except for Jenny Crusie ‘cause she makes me laugh like crazy, and think really hard). So when I hear about something from an author’s web site, that means it’s so bad it’s made the press. Which means I will usually quit buying. (When Laurell K Hamilton insulted all her fans, I’d have quit buying her stuff then. But I already had quit buying it for the previously mentioned sucky plotting issue.)

Ethics I am also rather blase about, but since I’m a writer myself (non-fiction), I will NOT donate my cash to the income of a plagiarist. Haven’t bought (or read) a Janet Daley novel since the whole mixup with Nora Roberts. (And I’d have quit reading/buying Cassie Edwards, but I’d already quit because of how offensive her treatment of Native Americans is.)

So that’s about it. Of course there’s also the ‘I just don’t like it’ issue, but I’d say that’s pretty common among all of us.

I usually put people on my do not buy list for writing bad books.  That’s pretty much the only qualification.

And while it’s not quite the question you asked, I would like to address the idea of rape making a person gay, which I hope most people do not believe.

I live in San Francisco, the self-proclaimed gayest city in the world.  I live with both a gay man and a lesbian.  I have lived with homosexuals for over eight years, even helping one friend go through her very painful coming out.  Every other weekend or so, we go to gay bars and dance to supposedly gay music.  And I’m not gay.  If someone can “catch the gay” I’d be so flaming, the ocean couldn’t put me out.  Yet I still like, even sleep with, men. 

When I was fifteen, I was nearly raped by someone who I thought was a friend.  I managed to fight my way out of his clutches (ladies, you CAN fight back) and get away somewhere safe.  And while the incident did profoundly affect my trust in the male species, it didn’t turn me towards women.  I brought up this point to someone making the raped-means-gay argument, and they implied that had I not fought off the person and actually been raped, I would have been gay.

They managed to make my save-them-last-out-of-a-burning-building list. And that one’s hella harder to make than my DNB list.

If you ever hear someone making that claim, please, feel free to give them my email.  plainjanelane at gmail dot com.  I’ll explain to them how the difference of about six second and a swift kick to the groin was not the deciding factor in my sexual preferences.

And sorry this is waxing poetic, but I would like to mention that romance novels actually played a big role in my eventually learning to trust men again.  That, however, is a subject for another time.

I had written a long-ass post but I suppose it’s somewhere in Electronic Hell. Here’s the SparkNotes version. My blog I write what I want to write. Do I offend people? Yep. But then, I’ve been offending people since I got kicked out of Sunday School for calling Saint Paul a sexist. Didn’t change my opinion then, won’t change my opinion now. I loathe religious extremists of any stripe and won’t knowingly have anything to do with them. People have warned me that my views probably impact my bottom line. That’s unfortunate, but I remain ‘unbought and unbossed’ to take Shirley Chisolm WAAAYY out of context. Presumably those authors who expressed their views understood as I do that people often speak with their pocketbook. I respect that, as I sure as hell do.

PlainJane, I’m so sorry about the assault and glad that you were able to save yourself.  And I totally hear you about how delusional people are if they think that bad experiences and hanging around w/gay people can turn you gay.  My continued fondness for the dudes is also proof.   

I have to add that I LOVE this:

They managed to make my save-them-last-out-of-a-burning-building list.

It sounds like something I would say.  I mean you can’t just abandon a person in a burning building because s/he’s an ass.  That would be wrong and I like to think of myself as being a good person.  But you can totally save the more deserving first.

Count me among the people who can distance themselves from an author’s personal views, so long as they don’t express them in a hateful, ignorant, or offensive manner.  I’m more likely to get turned off an author based on how he/she acts in public, or to me, when I meet him/her.  I come back from RT every year with a list of “Will buy/Will never buy” based on those factors alone.  One author I was on a panel with in Houston was so flat out dismissive and rude, rolled her eyes after every answer I gave and mocked me for laughs, yeah, I don’t care how great her books are, I will never buy them and, because I’m childish and spiteful, I tell everyone what a total d-bag she was.

I have to admit that I am careful about stuff I say on my blog as it pertains to certain topics… and anyone who has ever read my blog is probably making a jerking-off motion right now and going, “Yeah, right,” but really, I am more restrained on the internet than I am in real life.  Why?  Because I want to sell books.  There are things in this world that I find flat out freaking stupid, but I am aware that others might totally love them and they might be offended by my staunch anti-those-things attitude if I threw it out there.  Their offense might be so great that they no longer buy my books… and I love money more than I hate the things that piss me off, so I make that choice.

That said, I know I lost readers during this last election because of my vocal support of President Obama on my facebook and my blog.  But I felt strongly about the subject and, you know, oh well.  I figure that loss of those readers is the price I paid for speaking my mind about something that was important to me, and it was worth every cent I lost.

There are a lot of people in here talking about how writers respond to reviewers, or whatever, and that turning them off… well, how would you like it if someone strolled into your job and started talking shit about you?  That’s what happens to authors, at times, and everyone has a breaking point.  Sometimes, reviews cross over from “I didn’t like this work,” to “I didn’t like this work, and it means the author is a bad person.”  That Laurielikesbooks woman called me a sadist when my first book came out.  It was the worst book of the year, it was terrible, okay, lady, I get that you didn’t like it.  You are totally free to not like it.  You are not free to call me a sadist and imply that I’m some kind of sick freak because you couldn’t handle the gore in my books.  Criticize my work all you want, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to play nice so that I don’t offend readers if someone comes after me personally.

When Anne Rice lashed out at her fans, I was like, “Ugh, puh-leeze,” but then I put myself in her shoes.  I do the same thing when Laurel Hamilton goes off about her negative readers.  With both those authors, the readers aren’t just criticizing the work.  They’re making judgments against the authors personally, talking about their religion, or their marriage situation.  That’s ridiculous, and they have every right to lash out at the reviews that cross that line.

They’re making judgments against the authors personally, talking about their religion, or their marriage situation.  That’s ridiculous, and they have every right to lash out at the reviews that cross that line.

The thing is that both Rice & Hamilton made those things very front & center and used them in their work.  They were happy to have it out there when it was perceived as a net positive, but got mad when people started to criticize. 

I have HUGE personal space issues and I think fighting dirty really sucks so I normally have no patience with personal attacks.  Calling you a sadist was over the line.  I do think things get a little trickier when the personal stuff becomes a big part of the work.