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Robspierre
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Post by Robspierre »

Mine is still up at least.

Rob
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Post by Illogical Banana »

How awesome, my review is still up! :D

Edited to add:
Wow, I just found an Iron Man Vs. Stilgar discussion there. The amount of intelligence in this world really saddens me.
“But what is the good of friendship if one cannot say exactly what one means? Anybody can say charming things and try to please and to flatter, but a true friend always says unpleasant things, and does not mind giving pain. Indeed, if he is a really true friend he prefers it, for he knows that then he is doing good.” -Oscar Wilde
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Robspierre
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Post by Robspierre »

Iron Man vs Stilgar is an epic thread ,it is maximum metal.

Rob
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Nekhrun
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Post by Nekhrun »

Robspierre wrote:Iron Man vs Stilgar is an epic thread ,it is maximum metal.
It's pretty much the only discussion going on about Paul of Dune right now :lol:
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GamePlayer
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Post by GamePlayer »

I'm turning into an Artis fan. His posts are killing me with laughter :)
Iron man, or Harry Potter? Who would win, and of course it would be a battle To The Pain!
My co-workers are looking at me funny :lol:
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Mandy
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Post by Mandy »

I can't remember if it is a known fact or speculation, but I know we've talked about Kevin being a Scientologist..

In the paper this morning they printed a blog post from http://www.metafilter.com/76504/More-fu ... cientology I thought this was interesting considering how the 1 star reviews disappear from PoD.
Recently, everyone who pre-ordered a certain book on Amazon.co.uk received a letter notifying them "This item has been removed from sale for legal reasons." Amazon.com claims the book is temporarily out of stock. The book? The Complex: An Insider Exposes the Covert World of the Church of Scientology by John Duignan. Interestingly, on November 5th, Tom Cruise attended an "all hands" meeting of Amazon.com bigwigs. Photos. A random coincidence? What about all those one and two-star reviews that kept disappearing from books like Dianetics and Science of Survival?
posted by changeling
I followed this link http://glosslip.com/2008/04/18/more-sci ... ntentions/ and read a very interesting article by someone who was battling Amazon over the deletion of reviews.

If Kevin is a member of CoS, then it's not so far fetched to think that bad reviews of his books are being deleted due to some pressure CoS puts on Amazon. Even if they're just using their numbers to swamp the system with complaints.
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Post by SandChigger »

GAWD knows I get a good chuckle out of Teg's "KJA is a Scientologist" rants, but if the "Church" really was involved, wouldn't sales of PoD be higher?

NICE CATCH, though! :D
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Mandy
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Post by Mandy »

Well.. the economy has been really bad lately. Maybe the CoS lost a shitload of money in the stock market, and can't afford to give Kevvie's career a boost at the moment :)

oh.. well you guys probably already knew this, but Kevin is named as a "Friend" of L. Ron Hubbard, in this hilarious article about a statue of an elephant with an enormous penis, lol. http://www.observer.com/node/41055
Last edited by Mandy on 14 Nov 2008 13:04, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by SandRider »

Kevin's on the board of the Writers of the Future award isn't it ?
What more proof do you need ?
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TheDukester
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Post by TheDukester »

Mandy wrote:If Kevin is a member of CoS, then it's not so far fetched to think that bad reviews of his books are being deleted due to some pressure CoS puts on Amazon. Even if they're just using their numbers to swamp the system with complaints.
I think this is dead-on accurate. The CoS is infamous for this sort of bullying.

And I don't think any formal process is necessary at Amazon; from what I can tell, a review is flagged for investigation after a certain number of "report this" buttons are clicked. And clicking the button doesn't even take you to a form: it's just an automatic "okay, thanks" process.

As to why sales are flagging, I think that one's pretty easy: I'm sure CoS encourages its drones to purchase works by CoS authors, but that's about all they can do. Clicking a "report this" button is free; buying a hardback of Dune Legends: Soo-Soo Sook is not.
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Post by Freakzilla »

SandRider wrote:Kevin's on the board of the Writers of the Future award isn't it ?
What more proof do you need ?
That's enough for me.
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Post by Mandy »

I wonder what happened to the outrage over the CoS from last year? I just read this review http://sandstormreviews.blogspot.com/20 ... xxiii.html the author of the review calls Kevin a "hackmeister" so she must be cool. The Scientologists went after her in the comments. I don't hear about that going on anymore, CoS must have changed their policy about the internet. I bet too many of their followers were getting an education about CoS.
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Post by TheDukester »

"Kevin J Anderson is not a very good writer. His dialogue is stilted, his plots are implausible, his sentences are clumsy. I have read two books and one essay by the guy and do not wish to read any more.

That alone was worth following that link. :)
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Post by Tleszer »

I was attempting to read "Hunters of Dune" this morning but I could not help but start ovulating to Europe's "The Final Countdown," which my roommate loves to blast during the morning hours, and I was left thinking Scientology is badass! Kevin J. Anderson wouldn't lie to me! And then Tom Cruise kicked my door down and said, "Come with me if you want to live." I'd let him jump up and down on my couch all day long, but sadly the anorexic woman standing behind him gave me the evil eye and I pissed myself.
I'm not sure exactly why I wrote this just now, but I think I wanted to post some inane drivel "relating" to Scientology.

My bad.
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Mandy
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Post by Mandy »

Are you a Scientologist?
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Tleszer
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Post by Tleszer »

Mandy wrote:Are you a Scientologist?
Should I be one? Only if God is an alien because that sounds awesome! 8)

Actually, since South Park taught me everything I need to know about Scientology I'm quite certain I'm not one. The only God/religion I believe in is the one that we ourselves create to get through the day. Take that for whatever that means to you.

A round of seltzer, on me! :crazy:
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Mandy
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Post by Mandy »

You should be a Scientologist if that's what you choose. I was only curious, your post didn't make much sense.


Does seltzer cure crazy?
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SandChigger
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Post by SandChigger »

:lol: Ouch! Shot down by La Mands! :lol:

Ahem.

Was just checking the Amazon page for PoD; no change.

The book has been out almost two months now and there are only 58 reviews (not counting the ones deleted, of course). Only 3 over on Amazon UK the last time I checked. I think it's safe now to call this one a non-event.


More fun at the moment is sniping at the Indian guy going on about the Cydonia region on Mars! Thread comes up in the discussions at the bottom of the PoD page. :D

I was thinking last night it's about time to have another look at Susie Wong's review thread. :twisted:
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Tleszer
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Post by Tleszer »

Mandy wrote:You should be a Scientologist if that's what you choose. I was only curious, your post didn't make much sense.


Does seltzer cure crazy?
I assume you mean the first post didn't make sense. You're right, of course, but apparently that's all I could think to post, and since "rank" is determined by post count I figured that I'd try to raise my posts (that might be a euphemism :) ).

It's also true that I could be crazy. I mean, you can't have the Tleszer without the seltzer! And don't you forget it! :cool:

P.S. - I'm not a Scientologist.
P.P.S. - This is why I usually don't post much. I'd much rather read your crazy than write crazy, though it can be fun to write it.
P.P.P.S - Cheese! You're on candid camera!

Oh, to stay on topic, I can't help but wonder how long the HLP will continue to let "Dune" slip further into mediocrity especially with the even lower lack of quality of PoD compared to the Hacks previous canon contributions. I still can't believe that PoD reduces FH's work to being in-universe documents.
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Post by Bijaz »

The Observer wrote:Ms. Runyon said the Friends were not identical with the Church of Scientology. "It's an organization made up of people who agree with L. Ron Hubbard's philosophy," she said, "of whatever religion. There are many members who are non-Scientologists and who support his goals and basically consider him a friend. It includes writers that knew him and military personnel that worked with him. I don't think that everyone is a Scientologist as far as I know." When asked to specify names of Friends, she mentioned author Kevin J. Anderson, who has written novels based on the X-Files television series and Star Wars films.
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Post by Mr. Teg »

SandChigger wrote:GAWD knows I get a good chuckle out of Teg's "KJA is a Scientologist" rants, but if the "Church" really was involved, wouldn't sales of PoD be higher?

NICE CATCH, though! :D
I've read the size of members has shrunken (but they still keep inflating the size of their members in press releases).

Well, the original point of my rants was never to claim that KJA was a scientologists but that he had very strong connections to the church, which the article backs up, and why this was important. (Thanks again for posting Mandy. I just forwarded to my editor :wink: Seriously).

I think a case can be made that KJA models himself after Hubbard up to a point, but lacks the imagination and originality to pull anything else off beyond a few book signing and publishing records and scouting garments :wink:
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SandChigger
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Post by SandChigger »

Well, I know my member's not often as large as it used to be.

:P
Last edited by SandChigger on 15 Nov 2008 18:36, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by TheDukester »

Mr. Teg wrote:I think a case can be made that KJA models himself after Hubbard up to a point ...
In terms of confusing quantity with quality, very much so. No one could pump them out like ol' Elrond. :)

(Not that it's terribly important, but I find it pretty funny that KJA can't even match "Book A Day" Hubbard when it comes to quality. There's some halfway-entertaining Hubbard stuff out there; that's not a claim that KJA can make)
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Post by Freakzilla »

SandChigger wrote:Well, I known my member's not often as large as it used to be.

:P
Mine's getting bigger.
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Robspierre
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Post by Robspierre »

Freakzilla wrote:
SandChigger wrote:Well, I known my member's not often as large as it used to be.

:P
Mine's getting bigger.
Eyesight is one of the first things to go when one gets older :twisted:

Rob
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