Everybody Hates Keith

[SandChigger]

Well, TheKJA tries to project this image of himself as Everyman, so maybe it's just easy to look at it like every hack is the same hack, and every bad writer is the same bad writer, and TheKJA is the source of all evil and hungry kittens in the world...

[Kojiro]

I still think it's because of centrifugal force, but isn't that a bit more primitive than Star Trek's usual gravitational floor plating?

[TheDukester]

" ... invisible jetsam, the ethereal flotsam ..."

Just awful.

It's like reading fanfic from a 12-year-old who wants to sound really important.

[lotek]

look at meeee!!!!!!
I've gotta dictionnareeee!!!!!!!!!!!

[dunaddict]

I don't think Ks ego would allow him to dictahike below his 'ability.'

edit; He's not the first fortysomething juvinile.

If KJA's other novels are just as juvenile, that can only mean three things for Brian Herbert in the McDunes:
- He is dumbing down his own writing style.
- He writes in the same juvenile style.
- He doesn't write them at all.

Anyone read BH's solo novels? For adults or kids?

[SadisticCynic]

Slightly off the current topic but I just found this in an Amazon review for the One Ring as a piece of jewellery:

Did Amazon really say "Celebrate Peter Jackson's greatest trilogy"? What about JRRT? He didn't just scribble the script on the back of a napkin.

[Tleszer]

Nice!

[SandChigger]

Anyone read BH's solo novels? For adults or kids?

I've only read Sidney's Comet and skimmed/spot-read bits of the first volume of his Timeweb series (Mr Teg has read the whole thing, tho). I might have liked Comet better if I'd read it back when it was written, when I was in my 20s. Instead I read it after the McDune stuff and seeing the Timeweb book, so at first it seemed worlds better than those, but repetition of the same old shtick (is it satire or farce?) throughout got REALLY OLD after a while, and by the end I was slogging through it just to get it over and done with and be able to say I'd read the whole thing.

The Timeweb book is just awful. It not only feels like it was written FOR a ten-year-old, it reads like it was written BY one. I've never seen any of the trilogy in a bookstore, but if you ever do come across one of them someday, think seriously before wasting even a few minutes of your life by browsing through it.

Simply BAD. After seeing what he's supposedly writing on his own, it became much, much easier to believe that he is contributing nothing to the writing of the McDune crap. Yes, that's how bad it is.

[Hunchback Jack]

I saw the first two Timeweb books - in hardcover - in my local library. So I'm guessing I have proximal preeqs.

HBJ

[SandChigger]

Eeew.

Call city hall and see if you can have someone spray.

(If they've been left too long, though, you'll probably have to burn them out. )

[SandRider]

jumping back a few posts, I think the reason there are not more mainstream negative
reviews of Keith by literary critics is that he just isn't on their radar; no-one in the
adult world would take him or his work (and by association then, McDune) seriously;

I wouldn't expect to see a review of WarHammer: Beyond the Armour of Blood IV - Revenge of the Sleestak
in the Sunday NY Times Book Review;

the lack of any discussion at all among the real literary critics is more revealing
of where Keith actually stands in the publishing world ...

besides, what could they say?
Horrible. Really bad.

Is this a novel or the back of a cereal box ?

Hello, Mrs. McPhee ? Yes, could you please fire whatever dolt what put this drivel on my desk ?
Yes, thank you. Yes, a kick in the arse would be appropriate, I should think ..

Moreso than the juvenile and unimaginative scribblings of Anderson, who is most likely doing the
best he can, what is disturbing is the judgment of Frank Herbert's estate, for one: allowing Anderson
to attempt to write a Dune book when he is obviously not qualified; two: actually publishing the
failed attempt; but, and this is the unfathomable part, three: continuing to allow Anderson to write
Dune novels, and publishing them as well.


and that's just not a story...

[SandChigger]

and that's just not a story...

Well, it is, actually, just not one sufficiently novel or unique to attract their attention or warrant their interest.

[D Pope]

You both make a good point. I admit to an amount of tunnel vision, not hard these days to get too wrapped up in my own little world. Thanks for the reality check.

[merkin muffley]

I wouldn't expect to see a review of WarHammer: Beyond the Armour of Blood IV - Revenge of the Sleestak
in the Sunday NY Times Book Review

Yeah, it's terrible. The continuation of books in the Dune should be worthy of attention from critics, but they're so obviously bad they're not even on the radar. It's a truly despicable thing they've done.

[SandChigger]

No one at NYT has touched the new books since Hunters, so far as I know.

(That was the famous "Dune babies" review. )

[TheDukester]

Is that also the one that Keith always refers to as his NYT Notable Book "award"?

[Ampoliros]

Just saw this and thought I'd share.

http://www.epictail.com/2009/05/04/dune-legacy/

[Omphalos]

Ultra-whip.

[Kojiro]

[Nekhrun]

Just saw this and thought I'd share.

http://www.epictail.com/2009/05/04/dune-legacy/

I love the drawings. Keith looks every bit at pathetic as he does in real life. I like how the artist isn't buying the shit about him having hair on the top of his head either. Any Bobo's pubic tornado is about as coiled as ever.

The writing though could use some work, because I don't think they ever considered Frank's writing that much while working on the books.

[Ampoliros]

In my study of the hacks writing 'skill', the use of the exclamation point in this comic is spot on.

I think Kev truly believes that the mere presence of an exclamation point makes something exciting!

[TheDukester]

Great stuff. I especially love Kevvie's little Jabba arms reaching for the keys ...

What's scary, though, is that there's likely a ton of truth in the comic. That's how Spanky operates: he's a producer of widgets, able to fill any order on time. A quick Dune widget is no more difficult or time-consuming than a Star Wars widget or a Seven Suns widget or whatever. Assembly-line fiction, baby ...

[Robspierre]

In my study of the hacks writing 'skill', the use of the exclamation point in this comic is spot on.

I think Kev truly believes that the mere presence of an exclamation point makes something exciting!

That is exactly how he uses the exclamation point. It's all over the "Meet the people of Hellhole" posts he's been making.

Rob

[D Pope]

dataline: turdfire
The Sagging Suns of Liturature continue, almost;

A few months ago I started work on an ambitious proposal for a new standalone trilogy set in the Seven Suns universe, developed and expanded it to the point where I felt comfortable submitting it to publishers.
My British publisher, Simon & Schuster UK, has just made a very nice offer for British rights to the trilogy, so I can make this announcement. We’re still negotiating with US publishers, but I will be starting the outline process for the first book.

But wait there's more! It looks like Brian has tried to reconcile his dalliance;

We gave our talk, describing some of the Hellhole background, our upcoming projects, and Brian’s new chapbook “Stormworld,” coauthored with Bruce Taylor, who had also visited us in Seattle; Bruce is the editor of the forthcoming magical realism anthology, Like Water for Quarks, in which both Brian and I have contributions.

If anyone is interested, there's a photo of 14evin hunched over to sign a book. (I guess) It's worth seeing- he looks like the sort of fellow who would live under a bridge so he could harrass goats that want to cross. Also, it's probably just me, there's something about his head in that picture that reminds me of the face on Mars...

[SandChigger]

Like Water for Quarkslet?

How fucking original! And oh so clever!



God I hate these shitheads...