books to make my flist's heads explode: John Ringo

[hradzka]

Lately, some folks on my f-list have been looking at Lord King Bad profic. brown-betty gave us LEOPARD LORD, and cereta reviewed THE SHEIK, and burger_eater pointed me to Smart Bitches, Trashy Books's take on Shayla Black's DECADENT. These books, it should be admitted, are deeply awful, and as portrayals of their authors' ids, they're more than a little alarming. You don't

Comments

Thank You

[anonymous]

Thank you for the best review of the Ghost books I've ever seen

Re: Thank You

[boogieshoes]

If I needed the sun coming up in the east, I'd do it.

::psssst:: John, the sun *does* come up in the east! lol.

fwiw, i'm not entirely sure marketing was correct to make you ditch 'the wanker piece' as a working title.

we were discussing the books in chat last night. ::sighs:: i still have major issues. which come in subscription packs of 100, it seems. one day, i may even be able to discuss it rationally. but not right now.

:-p

-bs

Re: Thank You

[ilcylic]

If I needed the sun coming up in the east, I'd do it.

::psssst:: John, the sun *does* come up in the east!

Motherfucker's good, int'he? ;D

Re: Thank You

[susanlawton]

Somehow I knew you would find this review. What a clever boy you are... ;-p

Despite the issues this series raises for me, I must say I really do like it. In fact, when I finish the series I am on now, I may just have to go back and re-read it.

Re: Thank You

[susanlawton]

Which is why I didn't drop him any mail myself. He has minions for that, you know. And knowing John, that reply came right after he read the review, which he did once his minions informed him of its' existence.

Re: Thank You

[anonymous]

Susan, as usual, is spot on. I got the email last night from a minion I trusted wasn't wasting my time, read it, nearly fell on the floor laughing, and had to reply.

It is an excellent review.

John

Re: Thank You

[jbmcdragon]

*cracks UP* I will probably never read the books, but I have to say--you, sir, are awesome. Most everyone can smile at a review in public, but not everyone can laugh along. I may have to pick up some of your other books. ;-D

JB

Re: Thank You

[svmadelyn]

In the vein of, there's no such thing as bad press, this post made me laugh so hard that I've directed the friend who linked me to this that she is to buy me your series for my birthday.

...also, it's pretty reassuring that you've been such a good sport about the whole thing, considering the review content. *grins*

Re: Thank You

[susanlawton]

Aww, shucks...

Re: Thank You

[hradzka]

OH JOHN RINGO HI. Seriously, John, thanks for being a good sport, and for sharing your perspective on writing the series. Very nice of you to drop in.

UNTO THE BREACH is *really* interesting; I'm collecting pull-quotes and organizing my thoughts for the review, and UTB is definitely a step in a new direction for the series. That's probably why I can't stop reading 'em, and why I wrote the review: on a number of levels, your series is never, ever boring. Plus, you know, share the pain and all that.

I've had dark thoughts in the deep of the night about having the last scene in the last book being a group of terrorists in Syria looking at a frozen body in a wheel-well and going 'Who the hell is that?' (Thus the entire series being Mike's fantasies as he's dying.)Dude, if you do that, this highly-armed reader will *buy you a new gun.* (Which, of course, you would need to fend off the irate hordes. Never mind

Re: Thank You

[lonewolf545]

John isn't exaggerating when he said he called it the "Wanker Piece". He was griping for days that the story just WOULD NOT LEAVE HIM ALONE, and was getting in the way of his REAL writing. So he wrote it to get it out of his head. Then everybody wanted to see it. So, as he headed out the door to DragonCon, he posted a large chunk of it to Baen's Bar. I live closer to Dragon, by the time I left, two or so hours later, there were almost 300 positive comments, including many from females I'd never seen post before (the section posted included most of the first book in Ghost, I don't remember if he got as far as the SEAL's jumping from the B-2 or not).

The look of HORROR on John's face when I told him that was quite amusing. Then he considered selling it under a pseudonym to some other publishing house. Then Jim heard about it, and wanted to see it, and was insulted that John would even THINK about going to another publisher. And, of course, it HAD to be published under John's own name, no pseudonyms, uh uh.

Re: Thank You

[ext_69117]

That sort of writing can be therapeutic, because that kind of story can be really powerful. It's not a surprise, really. The id is hotwired right into the base of our brain, and its impulses can be powerful.

I have to confess that I've written stories like that myself. Not about John's specific kink, but about my own kink, vorarephilia. I've posted them under a pseudonym-the same pseudonym I'm using to post this LJ comment, in fact, rather than my own real name/LJ account-and made every effort to make sure that nobody I do not swear to secrecy will ever know the connection.

And even then, some people still notice the similarity in writing style to this stuff and my normal stuff. But at least I keep plausible deniability.

OH THROATWOLF NO

[shoutingboy]

looks up vorarephilia

looks for brain bleach

...aw, man. I really am vanilla.

Re: OH THROATWOLF NO

[eric_hinkle]

Dude, vore isn't all that strange compared to some of the really twisted stuff I've seen in fannish art and writing.

Re: OH THROATWOLF NO

[shoutingboy]

I'd respond to that at greater length, but I'm afraid I've just cancelled my internet service.