So, is there some sort of club that is formed while I'm not looking? For authors who send me books to review and then announce publicly that they have no idea how their books got reviewed by me when those reviews end up being less than glowing?
Not that I am angry or anything, I'm just puzzled by this kind of behavior. What does it prove? If the author keeps quiet about the fact that she sent me books, nobody will know, right? So why make public OH NO HOW DOES SHE GET HER HANDS ON MY BOOKS?!! announcements? What good does it do? Do they get some kind of medal? Membership to some exclusive "That bitch hates me!" club? Guilty conscience at work? No, really, what's the point?
Another one for my files of Really Strange Author Behaviors, I suppose, right up there with authors who insist that I hate them because I gave them a review with an 80+ score and authors who make public announcements to their peers apologizing for any good reviews from me for their works apparently because they are too ashamed to be reviewed favorably. Fine, but these authors send me books in the first place to be reviewed so why then the whole "I'm sorry, I didn't like it when the bitch loves my works!" attitude? I can't help feeling used here, really, as if I'm being used to garner attention to their ebooks yet I'm being treated like chewing gum stuck at the sole of their shoes for the crime of liking their ebooks. Lucky me, I'm nice not to name names here but these authors have better not send me their books next time or they will really make themselves bigger hypocrites than they already are.
May I take this opportunity to remind these authors again: please, please, do not send me anything if you cannot take the things I will say. I don't mind tearing apart ebooks, but if YOU will find that a problem, then please do yourself a favor and don't send me these ebooks. I don't need anyone sending me ebooks, I can buy them myself, so it's not like you have to send me anything, especially when you not sending them to me may give you a better peace of mind.
Sometimes, I tell you, dealing with immature and even outright crazy e-authors takes too much time and effort (the effort of sitting on my hands before I type something that will embarrass them, that is). My only worry is that it may actually affect my enjoyment of those ebooks in general in the long run because a part of me always wonders what crazy reaction will a particular review garner.
PS:
I love the blog/website Dear Author to pieces but I need to know - is it just me who find the site always loading so slowly for me? I have this problem since the last few months. I'm in Malaysia, which probably explains the slowness, but I do not have this problem with other websites. For example, websites on Blogger load almost instantaneously for me. Dear Author, however, takes a good 30 seconds to even a few minutes to load for me each time.
PS 2:
The funniest thing I've read the other day is this theory that I don't really live in Malaysia and that I somehow uses some kind of "router" to give the impression that I am. Seriously now, even if I will go through that much effort for who knows what reason, I'm not that capable. I can't even master properly the whole PHP thing, much less set up a routing system.
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