Worst response your books have ever gotten?

[RedMuffin]

Christianity is pretty integral to the story of Europe (white people) so you could definitely call it the white man's religion.

No.

 

[aToTeT]

Neil Gaiman co-wrote both Good Omens (with the late Terry Pratchett) and Coraline (well, the script at least - with Tim Burton; IIRC, the story it was adapted from was a short story written by someone else entirely) - Gaiman is a weird guy (have met him twice and chatted with him a few times on Twitter before it became X), but not a bad egg as far as I know..

There are allegations regarding his character by a number of women — these are allegations, mind; as-to-my-knowledge unproven in the court of law.

Spoiler

‘Kind of gross’ is my reading of some of the accusations levied, but I am not unaware of the capacity for the word ‘sexual assault allegations’ to be loaded, and for the potential of false reporting and bandwaggoning when people ‘accepting’ of their horrid abuses as a cost of doing business smell the possibility of a financial incentive.

These are possible outcomes also, but the details described by said alleged victims are; in a word: not fun. Deeply unpleasant, even. It’s always the subtext that does it for me; not so much what they say, but the indicative factors required for what they say to arise, if true… and the details suggest to me truth: they’re too poorly constructed to have been anything but spoken by a person (tell me pretty little lies, the truth is hideous to me)

Anyway: I am not thrilled that such aspersions have been levied upon the character of the (partial? I swear it’s a book and not just a movie, thought Gaiman got his start in comics) creator of Coraline and co-writer of Good Omens… and I am still less thrilled that such has arrived in such a multifaceted manner.

… though I do consider it somewhat morally reprehensible (and completely understandable) of the victims to not use ever scrap of social power to torpedo him as a person in the eyes of society and the law — I really despise these sexual assault cascades, because they so resemble the reality (majority of molestations, gropings, and rapes are perpetuated by a minority of actors; which is to say: one perp to nine preyed upon is, as of when I last looked, a number often cited (and chatGPT tells me I’m not crazy and then started babbling about some background reflections… so I’ll go with it).

The right thing to do is rarely the easy thing — it is often exhausting, and is usually terrifying.

But not doing the right thing allows evil to act unfettered.

Personal safety, societal responsibility; a debate truly difficult to any answer, yet answers are demanded from us in every action.

The world fails us all: the accused by vengeful ‘justice’ beyond the scope of the crime, the accusers by the doubt, denial, and dismissal of those whose purpose is to protect them.

It’s still on my YouTube feed, like the JKR being a thief of the story video I haven’t touched.

But YouTube knows… it knows I’m interested, because I pause before I flick away.

I wish it wouldn’t do the same with the ads of Ukrainian brides and a rather scanty “clothing” store that I don’t hover on, but don’t realise my phone scrolling has settled onto until it’s too late :)

Christianity is pretty integral to the story of Europe (white people) so you could definitely call it the white man's religion.

You could.

It is also the black man’s religion.

It has enough faces, and it can wear them all just fine.

Protestantism is pretty solidly in the ‘white man’s religion’ camp by point of origin (but there are more black Christians in the USA than white by overall population size), and many of the snowifications of the story arise from the common English understandings of the downtrodden lower classes: now able to interact themselves with the word of God translated into their own tongue so they could understand it and come to quaint conclusions that fit their own limited worldview that didn’t stretch far beyond their village, townships or grungy city.

Crusader is my favourite Christian face depiction: killing German Jews because they thought they had made it to Jerusalem — or so I have heard it said.

Or maybe it’s the partying Popes with their golden orgies that is Christianity’s most beautiful face.

All I can say, is that Christianity is an awful mess to hold together in your head. The line, ‘thou shalt not suffer a witch to live’ or however KJV (best bible) framed it: that really does not jive with the rest of the message.

… though I have heard that turn the other cheek might be more complicated an expression, a la blood thicker than water: twisted on its head.

Much to hear of Christendom, little of it good or sensible, some of it very nice.

Abolitionists are one of its nicer faces, and my (actual) favorite is friendly old retired polling place lady (of any colour or lack of pigment): they might be the very best of all people.

Right up there with the Jains.

It’s like a box of chocolates: never know what you’re gonna get: white, black, peppermint bark, or spicy.

No.

It is -the- defining cultural pillar of Europe since the sixth century or so, and its tenets hold considerable stake there today: it can’t be unfair to say that Christianity has had a grasp over European culture, often described as ‘Western’ in somewhat absurd schools of thought content to longitudinally divide the world into coherent cultural hemispheres.

Nothing wrong of course with artificial division: what would we argue about otherwise? :D

 

[CharlesEBrown]

There are allegations regarding his character by a number of women — these are allegations, mind; as-to-my-knowledge unproven in the court of law.

By his own admission he can be a bit of a jerk, (even gave examples during the one panel he wound up drafted to run because two of the scheduled panelists - Harlan Ellison and the then-editor-in-chief of DC comics, who was supposed to chair it - had both cancelled their appearances at the convention for health reasons) but I've never heard anyone except his life partner (last I heard they both refused to get married but bought a house together in the US, back around 2010) say anything about him beyond that. But I haven't been involved in those fandoms for about ten years and people do change so it's possible
And he was upset about something along those lines about the time I stopped using Twitter (2012) - claimed there were unfounded accusations but refused (perhaps for legal reasons or just because he considered them ridiculous) to discuss them publicly anywhere. Though I had the impression the accusations had been made against his partner, Amanda Palmer IIRC, not against him (or maybe against both of them - which MIGHT track with some of the rumors I'd heard).
And Coraline was a children's book before it became a movie. Don't think he wrote it (maybe but remember hearing another name at the time it came out), but he did co-write the script for it with Burton.
He also co-wrote Stardust with an artist (and then with the director when it became a movie)

 

[CrimsonGenius]

That said, this is my worst reply received, and funny, too. Goes to show how some idiot named Melvin Wong is so thirsty for some horny shit...

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Also, Imma add my brother's experience with a "fantasy writers' group".

Bro wrote an anachronistic fantasy novel and submitted it to the group for some feedback. Got panned, mainly because members can't think of anachronism in fantasy.

This all the while they kept writing rape fantasies about furry and yandere stuff.

Haven’t received one of these yet.

 

[aToTeT]

By his own admission he can be a bit of a jerk, (even gave examples during the one panel he wound up drafted to run because two of the scheduled panelists - Harlan Ellison and the then-editor-in-chief of DC comics, who was supposed to chair it - had both cancelled their appearances at the convention for health reasons) but I've never heard anyone except his life partner (last I heard they both refused to get married but bought a house together in the US, back around 2010) say anything about him beyond that. But I haven't been involved in those fandoms for about ten years and people do change so it's possible
And he was upset about something along those lines about the time I stopped using Twitter (2012) - claimed there were unfounded accusations but refused (perhaps for legal reasons or just because he considered them ridiculous) to discuss them publicly anywhere. Though I had the impression the accusations had been made against his partner, Amanda Palmer IIRC, not against him (or maybe against both of them - which MIGHT track with some of the rumors I'd heard).
And Coraline was a children's book before it became a movie. Don't think he wrote it (maybe but remember hearing another name at the time it came out), but he did co-write the script for it with Burton.
He also co-wrote Stardust with an artist (and then with the director when it became a movie)

Ooooooooooh that is drama and spice. That’s a developing thought and a half; it’s what they always say: nobody does it like a kinky couple.

Stardust is one of my favourite movies.

I have a harder time pulling a ‘death of the author’ with his work than I do with JKR: his best work is good on all levels. So if they do pan out true: I’m not going to not watch Stardust and Coraline.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Parents read my stories as a tween/teen and despite having nothing that they would consider bad, they deleted the first one and threw away the second because they were quote "fantasy" and that was enough to make them think it was bad.

 

[l8rose]

Worst reaction would be when someone commented that a chapter broke immersion. I've had people respond several times (one repeatedly as well) how the all powerful character didn't do what they thought she should. Nevermind the fact that there was a lot happening behind the scenes that the PoV character was not privy to.

Not sure which response was more entertaining. The person who commented about it on the first chapter which was just really introducing a few main characters and tye setting or the one who did it on a time warp chapter where I only wrote the end result of another character's shitty year before the year was "erased".

Most confusing which I think was worse was the reader that bitched me out for the polygamous relationship between three characters. Which was weird as there was zero romance at that point. Just people dealing with a monster trying to kill them. Can't please everyone. ?‍

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

Parents read my stories as a tween/teen and despite having nothing that they would consider bad, they deleted the first one and threw away the second because they were quote "fantasy" and that was enough to make them think it was bad.

I'm in my 30s and I've long since learned not to talk about my books with my parents. My dad thinks anything that couldn't potentially happen in real life is "baby stuff" and the only reason to write anything is to make money off of it. It drives him crazy that I pay my artist $100+ for every book cover I commission, and then just give the books away for free. If it were up to him, I would have stopped writing entirely after my first self-published book didn't sell any copies.

My mom loves to read, but she thinks my books are weird and refuses to touch them. That one actually hurt, because I would go to her like "Mom, I wrote a book about [...]! Do you want to read it?" and she'd say no and reread Harry Potter for the tenth time that year. But I got over it when I realized the fact that she would never read them meant I could put whatever I wanted in them and not get in trouble for it.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I'm in my 30s and I've long since learned not to talk about my books with my parents. My dad thinks anything that couldn't potentially happen in real life is "baby stuff" and the only reason to write anything is to make money off of it. It drives him crazy that I pay my artist $100+ for every book cover I commission, and then just give the books away for free. If it were up to him, I would have stopped writing entirely after my first self-published book didn't sell any copies.

My mom loves to read, but she thinks my books are weird and refuses to touch them. That one actually hurt, because I would go to her like "Mom, I wrote a book about [...]! Do you want to read it?" and she'd say no and reread Harry Potter for the tenth time that year. But I got over it when I realized the fact that she would never read them meant I could put whatever I wanted in them and not get in trouble for it.

Yeah. My parents are similar. Only my mother will read, analyze, and correct any grammatical or spelling problems she sees. I just don't bother sharing my stories with them anymore.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

Haven’t received one of these yet.

Good.

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

Only my mother will read, analyze, and correct any grammatical or spelling problems she sees.

Man, with how hard it's been for me to find proofreaders and beta readers, I friggin' WISH I could get my mom to do that for me!

 

[Corty]

oh boy... Okay, here are some from my collection:

For this half-star review here is the relevant part from the synopsis:

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Man, with how hard it's been for me to find proofreaders and beta readers, I friggin' WISH I could get my mom to do that for me!

That's fair. It does help with editing. Though it's always through a chastising tone of why isn't it perfect. Spite does become a great motivator.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Parents read my stories as a tween/teen and despite having nothing that they would consider bad, they deleted the first one and threw away the second because they were quote "fantasy" and that was enough to make them think it was bad.

Heh. Both of my parents were: "Well, dad tried the writing thing, wound up a reporter for several years, an editor for many more and then unemployed so it's not a good way to make money. So, if you want to try it, do something else first, get successful, and then maybe go that route." so I haven't bothered them with it outside of the stuff I sold for role-playing games in the past.

 

[3guanoff]

I post on some other language sites. Never received anything too terrible here on SH, but elsewhere, well.
Here's a Google translate of my personal favorite:

The white-out was to remove my account names. To be fair, the novel has some gore, but I tagged it as "18+" and "violence". What do you expect?

 

[Valmond]

No.

So, this is where Muffin has been hiding. Alright folks, to get you caught up. That is a stray muffin, feel free to take a slice. ?

I'm in my 30s and I've long since learned not to talk about my books with my parents. My dad thinks anything that couldn't potentially happen in real life is "baby stuff" and the only reason to write anything is to make money off of it. It drives him crazy that I pay my artist $100+ for every book cover I commission, and then just give the books away for free. If it were up to him, I would have stopped writing entirely after my first self-published book didn't sell any copies.

My mom loves to read, but she thinks my books are weird and refuses to touch them. That one actually hurt, because I would go to her like "Mom, I wrote a book about [...]! Do you want to read it?" and she'd say no and reread Harry Potter for the tenth time that year. But I got over it when I realized the fact that she would never read them meant I could put whatever I wanted in them and not get in trouble for it.

I’d laugh if that was when she decided to secretly read them. ?

 

[Valmond]

This was two years ago, not the worst, though very hilarious.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

This was two years ago, not the worst, though very hilarious.

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Your roasts on yourself are worse than that guy.

 

[Valmond]

Your roasts on yourself are worse than that guy.

True. ?

 

[RedMuffin]

So, this is where Muffin has been hiding. Alright folks, to get you caught up. That is a stray muffin, feel free to take a slice. ?

Hush— I am currently on a mission to infiltrate this place and turn them all into furry heretics. I'm not a heretic. I have never betrayed our brothers.