Books, Irate Authors & Car Door Vs. Finger (hint: Car Door Wins)
I neeed this book. Why are you so expeeeeensive???? Neeeeed this. As in, for the dissertation. Need need need. The bibliography alone is requisite. I might, I suppose, be getting it for Christmas as it's on my wish list, but I doubt it. And ASU's library doesn't have it. I currently have it on ILL, but need to return it tomorrow because of leaving town on Monday. Pout, pout, pout. Anyone have any idea how I can get it for less than $113 (the current lowest "used" price on Amazon.) I've already checked Alibris and ABEBooks. It's too new (having come out in late-ish 2009. I know because my adviser showed me her copy and said, "You need this." And I said, "I can't afford this...")
This is my new favorite quote: An author places himself uncalled before the tribunal of criticism, and solicits fame at the hazard of disgrace.
I can't say I'm a huge Samuel Johnson fan. (I approve of the fact that he approved of Frances Burney, but it seems to me it was in a rather patronizing way.) But that's a good quote. I ran across it in the comment section on an article about the new Stargate series, but find it particularly useful given both my own run in with an author (as you'll recall, over at Amazon) and the one that Neil Gaiman recently linked to. (In which Candace Sams responds to a one-star review of her book Electra Galaxy's Interstellar Feller. The trainwreck was here. The author defended her work by claiming that the reviewer was drunk with the power of being allowed to review on Amazon (?!), had called her minions down upon the author, suggesting that the reviewer was not smart enough to understand the book, and was generally out to get her. She began anonymously but within a page of comments was outed as the author. She raged against everyone commenting, suggested that the reason her book sucked was the editor's fault, that because Harriet Klausner gave her a good review, the book must be wonderful, and eventually declared that she had been receiving threats and was reporting everyone involved to the FBI. This included other authors (such as Meljean Brooks) Sadly, however, I've just noticed that she has deleted all of her comments, so all that is left is the (still amusing) responses. [Although you can see the other review she commented at here-- there's no long drawn-out argument, but you can see her "issues" and a response.], Many people had tried to gently point out that this is not, in fact, the best way to handle the situation, but to no avail. (Hell, the review in question wasn't even that vitriolic. The one-star reviews I've written were fiercer.) You can see the Best Of in a blog entry here. Perhaps savvier people than I will know how to find archives/screencaptures. There is now speculation that the author wasn't batshit crazy, just pretending to be, in an attempt to get out of her contract with her publisher. ...That's still insane, 'cause there are now thousands of readers who won't buy her stuff (maybe more-- this was linked by Neil Gaiman, both his Twitter and blog, after all!)
On internets, you amuse me.
(Speaking of, it turns out that when the above author writes "Fantasy and Erotica" it's under the name C.S. Chatterly. I have to assume that the C.S. is her real name-- Candace Sams-- and that the Chatterly is a reference to Lady Chatterly's Lover. I then have to wonder if she's ever read that book because while, yes, it is certainly explicit in its sexual content, it's actually far more about industrialization than it is about erotica. But then again, her homepage declares her to be a not only a former cop/ambulance driver but also a gardener, author and senior woman on the US Kung Fu team... when would she have time to read DH Lawrence?)
(Oh, and apparently Laurell K. Hamilton did something similar, which you can read here. It's pretty awesome, too.)
I understand the desire to respond to criticism. But... it does no one any good. Well, except for the thousands of people reading the trainwreck. Whee!
In other news, I'm drowning in stress. I leave on Monday for PA and I'm totally not ready, and I have gotten nothing done for comps and ohmygodhelp. Also, Christmas shopping? What Christmas shopping?
I did go to the Heard Museum today-- well, to their shop-- in order to get a book signed by Sandra Day O'Connor. Well, two copies-- one for me and one for my Pseudo-Sis. While there I picked up a few things for gifts. Justice O'Connor was very nice but was clearly growing tired of the whole situation by the time I got my book signed.
I was in line for a little over an hour. Cleverly, however, I had brought a book with me (one other than Justice O'Connor's!)
Here, have a health-care (of me) Sum Up. This week I saw 3 doctors, went to the health center 4 times, was prescribed 3 new medicines, had 3 vials of blood drawn. Did I miss anything...? I wrote about Monday and Tuesday's appointments before. Wednesday I stopped in twice, first to get a prescription (#2) that they'd had to special order and second to get a letter that my doctor wrote for my insurance company (and oh crap, I have to deal with that too.) As far as I can recall (and it was a hell of a week, so I could be wrong) I did not go to the health center on Thursday (but instead worked at the bookstore.) Friday, however, I was to be on campus not for the health center but to give my 221 grades to the my prof, and then go out for lunch with her and the other TAs. I was, however, running late. In my rush, I parked in the nearby parking garage and hurried to gather my things.
Unfortunately, I then slammed the middle finger of my right hand in the car door. There was shock, and then there was searing pain and there was rather a lot of dripping blood, and an amazing instantaneous bruise. I sat there for a few minutes, crouched between cars, trying to decide what the hell to do. I considered calling my mom for advice. I considered going to the coffee shop for ice (and napkins) and then going to my appointment. In the end, however, I called wild_donkey_man and asked him to meet me at the health center so that I could give him my grades. I wrapped my bleeding finger in some tissues and went to the health center. Poor W_D_M, I'm sure he didn't need to get a phone call from a semi-hysterical colleague. By the time I got to the health center, I was already doing much better-- while the finger hurt if I so much as looked at it, I was no longer in so much pain that I was crying. If I thought about it, though, it hurt horribly again, so I went on in to Urgent Care. I felt foolish-- it's a bruise and a cut, right? Gimme a bandaid. But see, since it was both, and since I squashed the nail and stuff, I thought it best to go in. They gave me an ice pack, and made me wash out my own wound (!!). The Medical Assistant was the same jackass I'd seen on Tuesday, so I was displeased on that front. The doctor, however, was really nice-- she was very sympathetic. She had the assistant put a compression bandage on me, and gave me some follow up care suggestions as well as a prescription for an antibiotic. She offered me a painkiller, too (if I thought Tylenol wouldn't be enough) but I demurred. She warned me that there might be bleeding under the nail which builds up pressure and requires a cauterized hole to be put in it. Fun! Surprisingly, though, this does not seem to be the case, ::knock on wood::
I stopped at CVS after, to pick up some guaze and stuff because the compression bandage didn't, y'know, catch blood and I was still all oozy. I still managed most of my errands, believe it or not-- bank, post office, gas for the car. Then I came home and slept. By last night I wasn't in much pain, just the occassional twinge. The finger is ugly and I don't want to, y'know, bang it into anything, but I was knitting last night already and my typing is normal. At this point it looks much worse than it feels (and likely will for months, since I bet the nail is going to fall off, ewwww.)
An update on the Paypal saga... Zynga's last email just said they're dealing with it. Then I found a refund in my Paypal account. But Paypal then said that they were giving me back the $150 while they investigate. So where did it come from? Before that Paypal comment, I'd tried to cancel the investigation, but evidently it didn't work. And I don't have access to my account now-- which really sucks because I'd bought something on Etsy before realizing I can't pay for it. I emailed the artist, so hopefully it'll be okay. :( (I'd also really like access to the rather large-ish amount of money in my Paypal account just now-- between the yarn and mousies I have enough money in there to maybe buy the Oxford book... if I can ever have access to it again... )
Tomorrow, I'm braving Target (!!) and packing and cleaning. Monday, off to the land of the COLD. (Mom says it's 24 degrees in PA today-- it was 71 here.)
I really don't know what to do about this damn Oxford book. Poo.
This is my new favorite quote: An author places himself uncalled before the tribunal of criticism, and solicits fame at the hazard of disgrace.
I can't say I'm a huge Samuel Johnson fan. (I approve of the fact that he approved of Frances Burney, but it seems to me it was in a rather patronizing way.) But that's a good quote. I ran across it in the comment section on an article about the new Stargate series, but find it particularly useful given both my own run in with an author (as you'll recall, over at Amazon) and the one that Neil Gaiman recently linked to. (In which Candace Sams responds to a one-star review of her book Electra Galaxy's Interstellar Feller. The trainwreck was here. The author defended her work by claiming that the reviewer was drunk with the power of being allowed to review on Amazon (?!), had called her minions down upon the author, suggesting that the reviewer was not smart enough to understand the book, and was generally out to get her. She began anonymously but within a page of comments was outed as the author. She raged against everyone commenting, suggested that the reason her book sucked was the editor's fault, that because Harriet Klausner gave her a good review, the book must be wonderful, and eventually declared that she had been receiving threats and was reporting everyone involved to the FBI. This included other authors (such as Meljean Brooks) Sadly, however, I've just noticed that she has deleted all of her comments, so all that is left is the (still amusing) responses. [Although you can see the other review she commented at here-- there's no long drawn-out argument, but you can see her "issues" and a response.], Many people had tried to gently point out that this is not, in fact, the best way to handle the situation, but to no avail. (Hell, the review in question wasn't even that vitriolic. The one-star reviews I've written were fiercer.) You can see the Best Of in a blog entry here. Perhaps savvier people than I will know how to find archives/screencaptures. There is now speculation that the author wasn't batshit crazy, just pretending to be, in an attempt to get out of her contract with her publisher. ...That's still insane, 'cause there are now thousands of readers who won't buy her stuff (maybe more-- this was linked by Neil Gaiman, both his Twitter and blog, after all!)
On internets, you amuse me.
(Speaking of, it turns out that when the above author writes "Fantasy and Erotica" it's under the name C.S. Chatterly. I have to assume that the C.S. is her real name-- Candace Sams-- and that the Chatterly is a reference to Lady Chatterly's Lover. I then have to wonder if she's ever read that book because while, yes, it is certainly explicit in its sexual content, it's actually far more about industrialization than it is about erotica. But then again, her homepage declares her to be a not only a former cop/ambulance driver but also a gardener, author and senior woman on the US Kung Fu team... when would she have time to read DH Lawrence?)
(Oh, and apparently Laurell K. Hamilton did something similar, which you can read here. It's pretty awesome, too.)
I understand the desire to respond to criticism. But... it does no one any good. Well, except for the thousands of people reading the trainwreck. Whee!
In other news, I'm drowning in stress. I leave on Monday for PA and I'm totally not ready, and I have gotten nothing done for comps and ohmygodhelp. Also, Christmas shopping? What Christmas shopping?
I did go to the Heard Museum today-- well, to their shop-- in order to get a book signed by Sandra Day O'Connor. Well, two copies-- one for me and one for my Pseudo-Sis. While there I picked up a few things for gifts. Justice O'Connor was very nice but was clearly growing tired of the whole situation by the time I got my book signed.
I was in line for a little over an hour. Cleverly, however, I had brought a book with me (one other than Justice O'Connor's!)
Here, have a health-care (of me) Sum Up. This week I saw 3 doctors, went to the health center 4 times, was prescribed 3 new medicines, had 3 vials of blood drawn. Did I miss anything...? I wrote about Monday and Tuesday's appointments before. Wednesday I stopped in twice, first to get a prescription (#2) that they'd had to special order and second to get a letter that my doctor wrote for my insurance company (and oh crap, I have to deal with that too.) As far as I can recall (and it was a hell of a week, so I could be wrong) I did not go to the health center on Thursday (but instead worked at the bookstore.) Friday, however, I was to be on campus not for the health center but to give my 221 grades to the my prof, and then go out for lunch with her and the other TAs. I was, however, running late. In my rush, I parked in the nearby parking garage and hurried to gather my things.
Unfortunately, I then slammed the middle finger of my right hand in the car door. There was shock, and then there was searing pain and there was rather a lot of dripping blood, and an amazing instantaneous bruise. I sat there for a few minutes, crouched between cars, trying to decide what the hell to do. I considered calling my mom for advice. I considered going to the coffee shop for ice (and napkins) and then going to my appointment. In the end, however, I called wild_donkey_man and asked him to meet me at the health center so that I could give him my grades. I wrapped my bleeding finger in some tissues and went to the health center. Poor W_D_M, I'm sure he didn't need to get a phone call from a semi-hysterical colleague. By the time I got to the health center, I was already doing much better-- while the finger hurt if I so much as looked at it, I was no longer in so much pain that I was crying. If I thought about it, though, it hurt horribly again, so I went on in to Urgent Care. I felt foolish-- it's a bruise and a cut, right? Gimme a bandaid. But see, since it was both, and since I squashed the nail and stuff, I thought it best to go in. They gave me an ice pack, and made me wash out my own wound (!!). The Medical Assistant was the same jackass I'd seen on Tuesday, so I was displeased on that front. The doctor, however, was really nice-- she was very sympathetic. She had the assistant put a compression bandage on me, and gave me some follow up care suggestions as well as a prescription for an antibiotic. She offered me a painkiller, too (if I thought Tylenol wouldn't be enough) but I demurred. She warned me that there might be bleeding under the nail which builds up pressure and requires a cauterized hole to be put in it. Fun! Surprisingly, though, this does not seem to be the case, ::knock on wood::
I stopped at CVS after, to pick up some guaze and stuff because the compression bandage didn't, y'know, catch blood and I was still all oozy. I still managed most of my errands, believe it or not-- bank, post office, gas for the car. Then I came home and slept. By last night I wasn't in much pain, just the occassional twinge. The finger is ugly and I don't want to, y'know, bang it into anything, but I was knitting last night already and my typing is normal. At this point it looks much worse than it feels (and likely will for months, since I bet the nail is going to fall off, ewwww.)
An update on the Paypal saga... Zynga's last email just said they're dealing with it. Then I found a refund in my Paypal account. But Paypal then said that they were giving me back the $150 while they investigate. So where did it come from? Before that Paypal comment, I'd tried to cancel the investigation, but evidently it didn't work. And I don't have access to my account now-- which really sucks because I'd bought something on Etsy before realizing I can't pay for it. I emailed the artist, so hopefully it'll be okay. :( (I'd also really like access to the rather large-ish amount of money in my Paypal account just now-- between the yarn and mousies I have enough money in there to maybe buy the Oxford book... if I can ever have access to it again... )
Tomorrow, I'm braving Target (!!) and packing and cleaning. Monday, off to the land of the COLD. (Mom says it's 24 degrees in PA today-- it was 71 here.)
I really don't know what to do about this damn Oxford book. Poo.