I very rarely check my Amazon reviews--better for my mental health if I don't!--but I had to check a thing on The Raven & The Reindeer, and noticed that there was a one-star review on it. And curiosity...well, y'know.
Predictably, they were very angry about lesbians.
(Actually, they accused me of writing fairy-tale slash fic, were wrong about one minor plot point, and accused Mousebones the raven of gender confusion. Then there was a Think of the Children and a desire for Amazon to issue refunds, the word hack thrown about, etc.)
Well, I expected that to happen eventually. What I didn't expect were the remarkably kind things I've heard about it from so many readers, many of which made me stomp around the house grumbling and making tea, which is what I do whenever I think I might cry a little otherwise. And the stark relief of this one little nasty bit made me realize how incredibly generous people have been about this book, and how grateful I am to have been able to write it for my readers...and then I stomped around the house grumbling and making tea.
And about ten minutes after I noticed this review,
Tor.com published a really spectacularly glowing review of it, which I hadn't known was coming.
So, y'know. One of those days. But thank you all for being such damn fine people. I'll write books for you guys until I keel over.
Have a toad.