LOL. I apparently pissed off someone in Illinois who gave two of my short stories one-star reviews. Apparently a man of few words, one review said simply, "utter trash," and the other just said, "terrible." I doubt anyone will be persuaded by his eloquent critiques. The first rule of the internet is, "Don't feed the trolls." So, best just to laugh.
I find your take on leaving your first work up interesting. One of the most fascinating books I've ever read is My Name is Legion by Roger Zelazny. It consists of three novellas, all starring the same character, and each written 20 years apart. The first was an interesting but pedestrian mystery/adventure story set in an undersea city. The second was a more interesting murder mystery involving intelligent dolphins that showed he had crossed from just plot in an imaginative setting to exploring ideas along with the plot. The third was Home is the Hangman, his story that won well-deserved Hugo and Nebula awards. The first paragraph of that story is a tour de force in great writing that practically forces you to read the rest without stopping.
I wrote the article about ten years ago, and what I've found since then is that the first book sank deep into obscurity, but once in a while a True Fan will find it and comment to me that they can see how much I've grown since writing it. So... should I take it down? Probably. I'm not making anything leaving it up. I just can't be bothered, honestly.
I've noticed a serious downturn in the number of reviews posted on anything. It's probably why Amazon has turned to things like "Vine" for getting people to try products in exchange for reviews. (I participate in that, but only go for items I can actually use, and MAN there is a lot of junk put up on offer.)
I dislike writing reviews. If I give a book 1 star it truly has to be awful in many regards. I've never figured out if the authors read the notes that readers make. Because those are my reviews. Constant misspelling, paragraph repeating, calling one of the main characters by another name. I rarely read short stories as I like series. Your book with the 8 year old spending summer with grandfather and finding kittens in the barn, had me hooked in the first chapter. That could have been a novel or better yet a series. Even with the short stories I still read most of yours. Your graveyard is excellent. That could be a great series. I am now reading a series of 60+books. I'm at books 29 now. Not all are 5 stars but many are. When I was in grade school I was allows a card to the adult section and was interested in crime novels. (Nancy Drew started that obsession) (Nero Wolfe,author) Archie was the side kick and I read every one that had come out at that time. I guess I haven't change much in that regard of reading straight through an entire series.
Kindle has a contest of how many books you read. Last year was I was at 267. So this year I'm going to try reading 275.
Daughter went back to college for her masters and proofreading was what she did to pay for school so we've had some interesting conversation on what people will publish without having a good proofreader.
Speaking of authors removing their own books - I have no idea why so many of my favorite stories from the crew at MGC were taken down. Kate's "Knights in Tarnished Armor" is one of the funniest things I've ever read. I've reread it so many times that if it were a mass market paperback, it would have fallen to pieces by now. And I would have happily replaced it.
LOL. I apparently pissed off someone in Illinois who gave two of my short stories one-star reviews. Apparently a man of few words, one review said simply, "utter trash," and the other just said, "terrible." I doubt anyone will be persuaded by his eloquent critiques. The first rule of the internet is, "Don't feed the trolls." So, best just to laugh.
I find your take on leaving your first work up interesting. One of the most fascinating books I've ever read is My Name is Legion by Roger Zelazny. It consists of three novellas, all starring the same character, and each written 20 years apart. The first was an interesting but pedestrian mystery/adventure story set in an undersea city. The second was a more interesting murder mystery involving intelligent dolphins that showed he had crossed from just plot in an imaginative setting to exploring ideas along with the plot. The third was Home is the Hangman, his story that won well-deserved Hugo and Nebula awards. The first paragraph of that story is a tour de force in great writing that practically forces you to read the rest without stopping.
I wrote the article about ten years ago, and what I've found since then is that the first book sank deep into obscurity, but once in a while a True Fan will find it and comment to me that they can see how much I've grown since writing it. So... should I take it down? Probably. I'm not making anything leaving it up. I just can't be bothered, honestly.
I've noticed a serious downturn in the number of reviews posted on anything. It's probably why Amazon has turned to things like "Vine" for getting people to try products in exchange for reviews. (I participate in that, but only go for items I can actually use, and MAN there is a lot of junk put up on offer.)
I dislike writing reviews. If I give a book 1 star it truly has to be awful in many regards. I've never figured out if the authors read the notes that readers make. Because those are my reviews. Constant misspelling, paragraph repeating, calling one of the main characters by another name. I rarely read short stories as I like series. Your book with the 8 year old spending summer with grandfather and finding kittens in the barn, had me hooked in the first chapter. That could have been a novel or better yet a series. Even with the short stories I still read most of yours. Your graveyard is excellent. That could be a great series. I am now reading a series of 60+books. I'm at books 29 now. Not all are 5 stars but many are. When I was in grade school I was allows a card to the adult section and was interested in crime novels. (Nancy Drew started that obsession) (Nero Wolfe,author) Archie was the side kick and I read every one that had come out at that time. I guess I haven't change much in that regard of reading straight through an entire series.
Kindle has a contest of how many books you read. Last year was I was at 267. So this year I'm going to try reading 275.
Daughter went back to college for her masters and proofreading was what she did to pay for school so we've had some interesting conversation on what people will publish without having a good proofreader.
There is a second book after Vulcan’s Kittens. And I am currently working on the next book in the graveyard series!
Speaking of authors removing their own books - I have no idea why so many of my favorite stories from the crew at MGC were taken down. Kate's "Knights in Tarnished Armor" is one of the funniest things I've ever read. I've reread it so many times that if it were a mass market paperback, it would have fallen to pieces by now. And I would have happily replaced it.
Yes, I badly miss Kate Paulk’s work, too. Heck, I just miss her very much.