Friday, July 22, 2005

Wierd Fans

I was terribly and horribly bored at work yesterday and since my boss is on vacation, I spent much more time than I should have on the internet. I kept telling myself that a) there wasn’t anything else for me to do and b) I had already volunteered to help a number of people with their jobs but none of them took me up on it. I still felt very guilty about it though. Whenever I go on the internet at work, I always imagine some computer geek kept in a locked room somewhere tracking where all the employees visit on the ‘net. I really need to get over that.

Anyway, I had myself a rollicking good time at Amazon reading the reader reviews of a Certain Author. This author’s fans are weird. First off, there are no fewer that 20 reviews for every book she has published. Most have 30 reviews and one of CA’s books has an astonishing 61 customer reviews. Now that’s weird. And if you read the reviews themselves they are unintentionally hilarious. I give you this example:

[...]. I was thrilled to see that she plans atleast 6 more books to xxxxxxxx story. Yeah! HOWEVER, I am left steaming and nearly irate as I found out that there will be A YEAR BETWEEN RELEASE DATES! A YEAR! Come on! You've made us obsessed with your writing, we have money, give it to us now! I can understand MAYBE 6 months, she is a busy auther, but an entire year! And the next full book in her Xxxx Xxx's Series won't be out till March 2006!!!! Come on, if you think we are going to wait with this much enthuisiasm for that long you're crazier than some of your characters! (And not in the fun way we love!)
Now call me a snob, but if I was going to post a review somewhere, I would at least make sure the spelling was correct.
This one caught my eye:
After receiving this book I ran into the only private place I could find and eagerly tore into this book. (Bet it was the bathroom)
This one is also rather amusing:
When I read Anne Stuart I often ponder what she eats to stay so good from book to book. When I read Xxxxx Yyyyyyyyyyyy that never crosses my mind. (yes, I often wonder what authors eat too)

Some of the headlines amused me too. There was this one:

Best Book Since Lord of Scoundrels (I don’t think so)
it's gold, i like it. it's mine. (I hate when people are too lazy to capitalize)
headspinningly brilliant (headspiningly stupid title if you ask me)
But this is my favourite
Warning!! Don't not drink milk when reading this book!, (Oh thank you for that advice)

Now I have never read CA. Her type of books just don’t appeal to me at all. She may be good or she may not be. What I consider authentic review sites are not very kind to CA at all. A certain married lady who laughs a lot has some hilarious reviews. But even if I were to be tempted, her weird fans would certainly give me second thoughts. I must say, I don’t even understand the mindset that causes fans of certain authors to get so wrapped up in the author of their choice. If I were an author, I think I would be slightly spooked to have wacky fans that some authors do- keeping the movie Misery in mind Occasionally, very occasionally, I will write to an author and let her know how much I enjoyed her book, but that’s about it. So while I will always have my favourite authors, I truly hope I never get weird about them.

BTW - I still have settled on a favourite colour or font. That's why I'm still
experimenting.

33 comments:

Tara Marie said...

So, are you going to let us know who CA really is??

There is only one author I can think of with a fangirl following like this and I find her books to be wallbanger bad.

Nicole said...

Oooh....you could email us the name...*hint hint*

Angela James said...

or you could post it where all three of us could see it (I can think of one place that might fit the bill *hint*)

You can't write a post like that and not tell us who it is!!

Megan Frampton said...

I think I figured out who it is...I've never read her, never really been tempted. Fangirls are _so_ weird.

Kristie (J) said...

Ah, hint. Megan, you have read her, you reviewed one of her books for AAR.

Tara Marie said...

Kristie--just whisper it. We wont tell. Though after checking AAR I'm pretty sure it's the one I'm thinking of. You either love her writing or hate it.

Kristie (J) said...

Another hint: Her next release cover has a dead ringer picture of Captain Jack Sparrow.
Like I said, I've never read her books, but her fans crack me up.

Nicole said...

Ooooh...her........lol

I liked some of her books and not others. I have to be in the right mood. But yeah, some crazy fans. But she IS pretty funny at times.

lost said...

Is it one of my all-time favourite authors? The one who likes to torture her heroes to the point where they become therapists' wet dreams?

Feedback on font colour: hard to read. I think it's the tiny size of the font that makes it tough?

Kristie (J) said...

Maili; I'm not sure. You'll have to give ME a hint now on who your author is :)

lost said...

Redwyne begged me not to kill her for giving away a copy of the said author's book to her friend. :D

Wendy said...

Wierd fans creep me out. I mean, I know I tend to gush over certain authors, but lordy I don't get all pyscho about it.

And, thanks to the Megan Frampton review hint I know who the author is! Yeah Wendy! Although I have to say I wasn't even close. My knee-jerk guesses were either Christine Feehan (scary, rabid, obsessed fans) and/or Sherrilyn Kenyon (see Feehan fan description).

Megan Frampton said...

Oh, for goodness' sake, now I have no clue at all! Even though I've read her, apparently! Maybe I'm not as smart as I think I am after all. Duh.

Megan Frampton said...

Phew! I figured it out. I regret the relatively high grade I gave, btw. I think I was drunk.

Anonymous said...

Oh, her. I have to agree with you about the fangirls. I've read only one of her books and didn't particularly enjoy it. In fact, I ended up so annoyed by it that I left a less than kind review on Amazon. I might have gone back afterwards and removed it except for one little thing -- some of the fangirls showed up on my LJ to take me to task for being "so mean" about their favorite author and demanded to know if I was in cahoots with a certain "evil author" that was apparently feuding with CA. Their attitude was that I couldn't possibly have a sense of humor, taste or morals if I didn't love CA's works.

That pretty much guaranteed that my reaction was I wanted to stay as far away from the CA and her fans as much as possible.

Jaynie said...

oh crap - somebody please please email me who we are talking about. I'm dying here.

Angie are you listening? *g*

jaynier@optusnet.com.au

Kristie (J) said...

Megan: alcohol can make me happy too :)

Caro: I've always wondered who the "evil author" is.

Jaynie: I emailed you the name

Maili: I'm still lost?

Nicole said...

Did this author get a C- from Megan in a review?

lost said...

I made the mistake of thinking it was one author [the one with tortured heroes] but when I figured out the correct one, I was almost blown down.

Tara Marie said...

Is anyone going to tell us who is the "evil author"???

lost said...

Tara Marie - no, this CA [certain author] used to make many claims that there is an 'evil' author who's dead bent on destroying her career by leaving negative reviews about her books.

Tara Marie said...

So, let me get this straight, she (Kristie's Certain Author) claims there is an "evil" author, but hasn't named who the "evil" author actually is??

I'm very confused--LOL, which is a normal state for me. Though I have to admit, I knew who CA was just from the "Wierd Fans" title.

lost said...

Tara Marie - that's right. :)

Karen Scott said...

Kristie, who the heck is it? I'm far too nosy and I want to know!! Angie if you know, can you e-mail me?

Anonymous said...

Katie MacAlister

Karen Scott said...

Is anonymous right Kristie?

Anonymous said...

Karen: Yep.
The cat's out of the bag now. I'll duck should any of her fans come charging my way :)
Check out some of the reviews, they are a hoot! The Corset Diaries is the one that has 61 reviews (and the infamous milk title)

Nicole said...

I figured it out from the pirate comment.

I did rather like how she made fun of the Carpathians from Feehan in some of her books.

sybil said...

LOL

I figured out the PS now... how very brave of someone to post it anon.

I haven't seen her fangirls although the Diana Palmer ones scare me.

And yes I did give a friend Men In Kilts ;).

She has pirate books? All I can think of are the vamps.

Nicole said...

Sybil, her upcoming book is a pirate one. Contemp, though, I think.

Anonymous said...

Have any of you ever noticed the flame wars that went on in the Amazon reviews with one of Anne Rice books?

Now THOSE are nutso fans!

*hides from the crazy people*

Angela James said...

LMAO. So sorry I didn't see this sooner Jaynie and karen, I DID know and would have happily mailed you.

I have to say that her books are so hit and miss for me. I've actually only liked the Aisling Gray books so far.

And she does have some very...err... avid fangirls.

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