Michele Lee

My friend Nicole Cushing does #storyeachnight on Twitter where she reads and reviews one tale from her vast collection of anthologies before bed every night. A few of us Horror Belles have joined in. I think it’s a neat way to read & review and I finished my first book tonight. Here’s the collected version:

Jan. 1- “The Lure of Dangerous Women” by Shanna Germain from Queered Press’s BloodFruit. Ocean-creature paranormal tales are very rare. This one was rich, well times, but a touch too short. I liked it, but I think expanded more it could have been amazing rather than just striking.

Jan 2- “A Different Kind of Monster” by TA Moore, also from BloodFruit from Queered Press. It’s a sexy, wicked tale that succeeds where a lot of horror/romance mixes as of late often fail. It reminded me a lot of Poppy Z. Brite.

Jan 3- ″Just Past Winter″ by Nathan Sims (Bloodfruit, Queered Press). Oooh! A Werewolf story! Interesting tale with a side that almost gets lost in some viciousness and m/m shape shifting sex scene. Not for everyone, but I liked it.

Jan 4- ″Hemophobia″ by Trent Roman (Bloodfruit, Queered Press). A hemophobic vampire tale this story tries to play with all kinds of stereotypes (sexuality & horror) but in the end it doesn’t escape the cliche. It’s not bad, but not standout.

Jan 5- ″The Diarist″ by Mark Silcox (Bloodfruit, Queered Press) is a queer ghost story with a classic-horror feel. In the end it seems like more time was spent on the setting and the characters and something’s missing in the pace/flow of the story itself.

Jan 6- ″After All″ by Laramie Dean (Bloodfruit, Queered Press) is one of the sweetest tales so far. Bitter sweet, but that’s how I like my ghost/zombie stories.

Jan 7- ″Happy Anniversary″ by Stephen Osborne (Bloodfruit, Queered Press), another ghost tale with a brief mention of facing the ghosts of the past. It has a real horror movie feel, which combined with its brevity makes it seem a little rushed.

Jan 8- ″Tombstone″ by Raymond Yeo (Bloodfruit, Queered Press), a neat little story about a superhero who is really a witch and his lover. This one is different from the others so far in how it handles the paranormal and GLBTQ theme. While I enjoy stories that use horror and the paranormal as metaphor for GLBTQ issues it’s nice to see a pulpy paranormal story that just happens to star a gay guy.

Jan 9- ″Captive Magic″ by Garry Mclaughlin (Bloodfruit, Queered Press). I also enjoyed this one, with its pseudo-Lovecraft feel and clever lead. It could have been a hard hitting moody piece, but the author went for satisfying and amusing instead. It works.

Jan 10- ″Hollow″ by Jamie Freeman (Bloodfruit, Queered Press). This is a real dark, real hard story to read because it puts reads directly into the mind of a sadistic rapist. Too disturbing for me to really like.

Jan 11- ″For Her Eyes″ by Quinn Smythwood (Bloodfruit, Queered Press). This one has a creepy gaslighting feel sure to put readers on edge without a single vampire, killer, werething or ghost to be had.

 

More than hundreds of rejections, more than the number of Twilight ripoffs getting published and going best seller more than anything else that I can think of bullshit like this makes me want to stop publishing.

It’s not the bad review. It’s not the angry comment from the author who should have kept her mouth shut (or vented verbally to a friend, rather than on a recorded media). It’s the mob mentality behind seven pages of readers thinking it’s okay, justified and actually in defense of the reviewer to attack the author.

There are three sides to this mess, the reviewer who knowingly posted a review that while not directly insulting was NOT polite. She had the right, I would never say she didn’t. But she also, if she wanted to avoid potential backlash, could have written it differently. I respect that she thought it was important to warn readers/buyers of her disappointment. I understand that feeling completely. It is never a good feeling to be excited about a book and be thoroughly disappointed with it.

The second side is the author who was COMPLETELY in the wrong by calling the reviewer names and COMPLETELY in the wrong by rallying her readers to dislike the reviews. Authors DO NOT do either, especially in written form. Seriously, that’s what bffs and spouses are for. Rant to them. And never, never indulge in the rating your books/positive reviews game. Ratings aren’t there for you as an author, they’re for readers/consumers.*

The third side is the anonymous public. You know, the seven pages of responses, many of which didn’t just give a supportive “I’m sorry that happened”, but instead devolved into nasty comments about the author then (as it always does) ended up encouraging others to join in with the crowd by returning the author’s ill-conceived nastiness a hundred fold.

Yeah, people, we know. Don’t fuck with people on the internet because they will say nasty things about you and flame you. Except, that doesn’t make them more right.

I have been in that situation, where I posted a negative review of a book I felt personally insulted by (I’ve done that a few times, and never without much consideration, usually a second opinion, and rewriting the review several times to make sure I was ready to stand behind every word.) And the writer did flip and personally insult me. It stung (probably as much as the review stung them.)

But I never, never want people to come to my defense by personally insulting the author or turning the thread into an insult fest/snarky comments via memes and gifs/using a single author to dismiss or insult an entire genre. Which is probably why the thread where it happened to me didn’t get to seven pages.

These kinds of things are not ONE person’s mistake, but a series of mistakes that people allow to feed on themselves and morph the nature of reviewers/writers into something else. So if any of you are my fans, my friends or my loved ones, feel free to dislike bad reviews of my work if you want, or send my sympathy if you feel I’ve been mistreated, or express disappointment. But don’t let yourselves be a mob.

This is why I’ve largely stopped reading and commenting on blogs. And this is what usually makes me wonder if I should give up now.

*I cannot honestly say that reviews aren’t for authors because authors are encouraged to get them, some are addressed to the authors directly and I love it when an author finds my reviews. I have even had some very positive interactions with authors who I’ve given negative reviews to, and honestly those people become auto-supports in my book.

Lots of good ones!

January

1. Shotgun Sorceress by Lucy A. Snyder

2. Angel: After the Fall #2: First Night

3. The Dreadful Doctor Faust by K.H. Koehler

4. I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked it by Adam Selzer

5. Raiju by K.H. Koehler

6. Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets by Dav Pilkey

7. Brains a zombie memoir by Robin Becker

8. The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell

9. Hallowed Circle by Linda Robertson

 

February

10. Captain Underpants #3 by Dav Pilkey

11. Anatomy of Evil by Michael Stone

12. Zombie Powder #1 by Tite Kubo

13. Zombie Powder #2 by Tite Kubo

14. Zombie Powder #3 by Tite Kubo

15. Zombie Powder #4 by Tite Kubo

16. How to Speak Zombie

17. Embers by Laura Bickle

18. Murky Depths #15

19. In the Basement by Michele Lee

 

March

20. Captain UnderPants #4 by Dav Pilkey

21. Half Past Dead by Zoe Archer & Bianca D’Arc

22. Demon Dance by Sam Stone

23. Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins

24. The Dog Rules by Coco La Rue

25. Captain Underpants #5

 

April

26. Shady Lady by Ann Aguirre

27. Storm of Magick by LA Burton

28. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

29. This Totally Bites! By Ruth Aimes

30. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby by George Bread & Harold Hutchins

31. Enclave by Ann Aguirre

 

May

32. Captain Underpants #6

33. Private Lessons by M. Lush

34. Burning Shadows by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

35. River Marked by Patricia Briggs

36. An Agreement with Hell by Dru Pagliassotti

37. Night Child by Jes Battis

38. Haunting Blue by RJ Sullivan

39. Bunnicula by James Howe

40. Death Masks by Jim Butcher

41. Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

 

June

42. Wild by Naomi Clark

43. Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews

44. How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper

45. Howliday Inn by James Howe

46. How to Seduce a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper

47. By the Light of the Moon by Larry Kerr

48. The Celery Stalks at Midnight by James Howe

 

July

49. On the Prowl

50. Blood Lite

51. Midnight Howl by Clare Hutton

52. Haunted By Your Touch

53. Dark and Stormy Knights

54. Captain Underpants #7

 

August

55. Zombies don’t Cry by Rusty Fischer

56. Sparks and Shadows by Lucy Snyder

57. As I Embrace my Jagged Edges by Lee Thompson

58. Asylum by Mark Allen Gunnells

59. Peter the Wolf by Zoe Whitten

60. Death Sword by Pamela Turner

61. Fatal Circle by Linda Robertson

 

September

62. Queen of Shadows by Dianne Sylvan

63. Clockwork Vampire by K.H. Koehler (Jan read, published Sept.)

64. From Bad to Cursed by Katie Alender

65. Shadowflame by Dianne Sylvan

66. Murky Depths #16

67. Fifty-Two Stitches

68. Doppelganger by Byron Starr

69. Murky Depths #17

 

October

70. The Snow Queen’s Shadow by Jim C. Hines

71. This is My Blood by David Niall Wilson

72. The Loving Dead by Amelia Beamer

73. Monster Moon: Secret of Haunted Bog by BBH McChiller

74. Jack O’ Spec edited by Karen A. Romanko

75. Labyrinth of the Dead by Sara Harvey

76. Beware the Snallgaster by Patrick Boyton

77. Apexology: Horror

78. Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

 

November

79. ElfQuest v 1: Fire & Flight (#1-5) by Richard & Wendy Pini

80. Elfquest v 2: Forbidden Grove (#6-10) by Richard & Wendy Pini

81. ElfQuest v 3: Captives at Blue Mountain (#11-15) by Richard & Wendy Pini

82. ElfQuest v 4: Quest’s End (#16-20) by Richard and Wendy Pini

83. ElfQuest v 5 Siege at Blue Mountain by Richard & Wendy Pini

84. ElfQuest v 6: Secret of Two-Edge

85. ElfQuest v 7: The Cry From Beyond

86. ElfQuest v 8: Kings of the Broken Wheel

87. ElfQuest: Hidden Years by Wendy & Richard Pini

88. Wayside School is Falling Down by Louis Sachar

89. ElfQuest v 9: Rogue’s Challenge by Wendy & Richard Pini

90. ElfQuest: Hidden Years (#10-13)

91. ElfQuest: Hidden Years (#14-#17)

92. Allegiance to a Dead Man by Sara M. Harvey

93. Blood Rites by Jim Butcher

94. Breathers by S.G. Browne

95. House of Fallen Trees by Gina Ranalli

96. Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger by Louis Sachar

 

December

97. Zombie Racoons and Killer Bunnies

98. Zombielicious by Timothy McGivney

99. Aftermath by Ann Aguirre

100. Fate’s Edge by Ilona Andrews

101. A Clockwork Vampire by K.H. Koehler