Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

Kevin J. Anderson has written dozens of national bestsellers and has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Reader's Choice Award. He has set the Guinness-certified world record for the largest single-author book signing--for a posthumous collaboration with L. Ron Hubbard!

A Thing of Eternity wrote:From the same site in a post about a different book there's a bit that got cut out of the one you quoted:

Kevin J. Anderson has written dozens of national bestsellers and has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Reader's Choice Award. He has set the Guinness-certified world record for the largest single-author book signing--for a posthumous collaboration with L. Ron Hubbard!

He sure did it all on his own eh?

Source: http://us.macmillan.com/slanhunter

Spice Grandson wrote:

A Thing of Eternity wrote:From the same site in a post about a different book there's a bit that got cut out of the one you quoted:

Kevin J. Anderson has written dozens of national bestsellers and has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Reader's Choice Award. He has set the Guinness-certified world record for the largest single-author book signing--for a posthumous collaboration with L. Ron Hubbard!

He sure did it all on his own eh?

Source: http://us.macmillan.com/slanhunter

"...dozens of national bestsellers ..." "...nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Reader's Choice Award..."

Note the word "dozens", meaning more than 1 or 2 or 8. And his nomination list is pretty impressive. You do know that many of the nominations are given out by those within the industry, right? Just curious.

The best case scenario is for the author to say nothing about the characters, and instead let them be described through what they do. Barring that (KJABH frequently break the "show don't tell" method) the actions of the characters should at the very least not contradict what the author has said.

Sandworms is rife with both of these flaws, from Yeuh being characterized by other characters and the narrator simply saying over and over and over "he's scared to be re-awakened because he doesn't want to be that person", to Murbella, leader of one of the most cognative groups of people in history being completely shocked when she figures out the machines are going to attack. Also, many people aboard the Ithica are said to be intelligent (Duncan is the ubersuperKH and the rest are bene gesserit) but cannot figure out how the face dancers replaced Hawatt and the Rabbi.... um, maybe it was that time y'all went down to the face dancer planet and those two went off by themselves? No, they think it much more likely that Hawatt had been a FD from birth - COME ON!

A child with downs syndrome could have solved that mystery.

He has set the Guinness-certified world record for the largest single-author book signing--for a posthumous collaboration with L. Ron Hubbard!

HoosierDaddy wrote:

He has set the Guinness-certified world record for the largest single-author book signing--for a posthumous collaboration with L. Ron Hubbard!

"posthumous collaboration". Is that another word for prequels/sequels of a dead person's writing?

Spice Grandson wrote:Brian Herbert, the son of Frank Herbert, is the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers. He has won numerous literary honors and has been nominated for the highest awards in science fiction. In 2003, he published Dreamer of Dune, a moving biography of his father that was nominated for the Hugo Award. In 2006, Brian began his own galaxy-spanning science fiction series with the novel Timeweb. His earlier acclaimed novels include Sidney’s Comet; Sudanna, Sudanna; The Race for God; and Man of Two Worlds (written with Frank Herbert).

Kevin J. Anderson has written dozens of national bestsellers and has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Readers’ Choice Award. His critically acclaimed original novels include the ambitious space-opera series The Saga of Seven Suns, as well as The Martian Wars, Captain Nemo, and Hopscotch. He also set the Guinness-certified world record for the largest single-author book signing.

Phaedrus wrote:And Hitler was Time Magazine's 1938 Man of the Year.

A Thing of Eternity wrote:

Phaedrus wrote:And Hitler was Time Magazine's 1938 Man of the Year.

And there it is. I've been holding back on this one myself. Not that I would compare KJABH to the old AH (Hey, I just realized I have the same initials as Hitler. That sucks.) in any way save one: The Majority is not always right.

GamePlayer wrote:If the various bodies dispensing awards in modern literature are anything even remotely like the Oscars for film or the Grammys for music, the integrity of these awards organizations have long since been compromised by commercial interests. Given the enormous commercial stakes involved in critical recognition, most awards are primarily about the given industry celebrating itself. The actual promotion of worthwhile talent is likely small and recognized only as window dressing or a token grab for legitimacy. If "authors" like Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson can win awards for "writing", the celebration of mediocrity has now attained levels beyond the absurd.

Phaedrus wrote:And Hitler was Time Magazine's 1938 Man of the Year.

Rob wrote:as far as national best sellers, how many of those are due to his work in established universes? X-Files, Star Wars, Dune? Has his own material done as well? Nope.

orald wrote:What are the standarts for "best seller" anyway? Don't you see "best seller" on book covers even before the book is out, as part of the "review" quotes and all?

Reading the 'about the author' blurb at the front of the book, it becomes obvious that Anderson cut his authorial teeth writing movie and TV tie-ins (X-Files and Jedi books in particular), from which he moved on to the 'dead author exploitation' market by writing Dune prequels with Frank Herbert's son, Brian. The frightening thing about all this is how immensely successful it has made him. He has, it seems, 15 million books in print in 27 languages, has hit The Times bestseller #1 slot and achieved a whole slate of big prizes or at least nominations.
When someone with this little ability to generate original plots and world-scapes, with so poor a grasp of scientific principles, and such desperately inadequate writing skills can shine so brightly and sell so well, it begins to look as if the science fiction genre is in terminal decline. His success seems to be evidence of a vast readership who's ability to discriminate good from bad has been systematically degraded by a remorseless marketing machine.
Well, I know that's not completely true. We have real writers, both well established and up-and-coming. The trend, however, is worrying. Anderson, taken as an individual, is just an aberration. His success is ephemeral and his books won't even be a bad memory ten years after the last one is foisted on a jaded public. But Anderson is not unique. There are plenty of other hacks and formula-merchants, helping the corporate merchandisers crank out the pap. That's the depressing thing, and the danger to the genre's hopes of inspiring new, talented writers, and attracting intelligent, discerning readers.

Spice Grandson wrote:Brian Herbert, the son of Frank Herbert, is the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers. He has won numerous literary honors and has been nominated for the highest awards in science fiction. In 2003, he published Dreamer of Dune, a moving biography of his father that was nominated for the Hugo Award. In 2006, Brian began his own galaxy-spanning science fiction series with the novel Timeweb. His earlier acclaimed novels include Sidney’s Comet; Sudanna, Sudanna; The Race for God; and Man of Two Worlds (written with Frank Herbert).

Kevin J. Anderson has written dozens of national bestsellers and has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Readers’ Choice Award. His critically acclaimed original novels include the ambitious space-opera series The Saga of Seven Suns, as well as The Martian Wars, Captain Nemo, and Hopscotch. He also set the Guinness-certified world record for the largest single-author book signing.

Spice Grandson wrote:
Kevin J. Anderson has written dozens of national bestsellers

SandChigger wrote:Writers write, right?