Customer Disservice

I'll diverge a little from the norm here to tell a story of bad customer service.

In a recent fiasco of epic proportions where a large Amazon seller falsely advertised a price on a twin mattress (illegal) the seller was quite clear that they weren’t going to do anything about it. More or less. And we’re not talking about a small difference in price, this was HUGE.

After a lot of trouble and lost lunch hours, things appear to be on the mend, so I’ll leave their name out of this, but I think the story itself deserves telling, and the lesson learned:

The Sparkly Hurts the Eyes

We’re all very familiar with the anti-sparkly phenomenon, and in contrast the utter love for the prettification of vampires. Some have made a direct comparison to the sparkle equating a poor book. I don’t know about that. Does it not jive with some readers’ expectations? Apparently, and that’s a whole other topic.

During a recent read of The Greyfriar (see my review), which has vampires, I’ve got to say one thing about this book: The vampires are not sparkly...but it doesn’t help it ONE bit. I am shocked by the level of annoyance people exhibit towards the sparkly-phenomenon.

Vampires are a fictional monster. Fiction. As in not real. Therefore if someone wants to mess with the mythos. Go for it.

Were Meyer’s vampires unnaturally lucky in that they never really went toe-to-toe with anybody? Yeah. And that’s her greater failing that she didn’t put them to task, she didn’t risk her little pretties. It doesn’t matter that she made them sparkly. What she did, was she acted like they were made of delicate crystal and treated them too gently. Edward never mussed an eyebrow, despite the level of “danger” they supposedly faced.

Is there a lesson to learn here, beyond the surface? I think we can take away from this problem that you don’t take the easy route when you put your characters through the paces—whether it is the action, romance, or whatever. Make them real challenges with real consequences. Otherwise it’s just as bad as a Hollywood flick where the good guy wades through a blizzard of bullets and comes out unscathed. Are these fun to watch? Sometimes, but they lack the punch of something truly great. Risk everything and gain so much more.

Book Review: The Greyfriar, Book One of the Vampire Empire, by Clay and Susan Griffith

(This is a repost, in part, of my review that appeared on SF Signal recently - reposted here for posterity)

Paperback: 301 pages
Publisher: Pyr (November 18, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1616142472
ISBN-13: 978-1616142476

Sucked of life, this steampunk, vampire mash-up misses the mark.

Vampires have taken over the world, ruling with a clawed fist. Humanity's hope lies with a marriage of two nations, a "mysterious" freedom fighter, and a princess that is more than she appears.

Book Review: The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi

(This is a repost of my review that appeared on SF Signal recently - reposted here for posterity)

Paperback: 300 pages
Publisher: Night Shade Books (April 20, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1597801585
ISBN-13: 978-1597801584

This book springs into...Action? The Plot? Character? No, not really any of those.

This is a hard book to figure.

On the surface it seems to have it all: Distinct characters all working towards their own ends, sometimes in conflict, sometimes in harmony. You don’t know what will happen as a reader, only that something big is coming. The world is unique and plays with some of the big topics of the day.

The Windup Girl takes place in a dystopic future Thailand, where the world is beset upon by plague and famine—a result of massive corporate greed and folly. The oceans have risen and many of the world’s greatest cities are under water. Petroleum fuels are scarce and alternative energy abounds. The fruits and mistakes of genetic manipulations are everywhere. It is a difficult place to live for those not at the top.

The Reviewer's Style

How do you review a book, movie, game? Why? What motivates you? And what is your focus? These are questions I raise as I looked over a couple of my reviews in contrast with others.

I want to be a professional writer, so it is no surprise that my reviews try to analyze, not just what worked and didn’t, but why. I don’t just want to say how much enjoyment there was to be had, but why it was enjoyable.