It's a fact of life: everything you do has consequences. How silly of me to forget that. This summer I became reacquainted with a former favorite, iced tea. (It took Denis several years, but now this Englishman no longer turns his nose up at it... he even likes it!) My reacquaintance is due entirely to Lipton's Diet Raspberry Iced Tea Mix. No calories, no sugar, no sodium, no carbs-- but a wonderful, refreshing taste. I have to stop; I'm making myself thirsty.
Well, I had my teeth cleaned yesterday, and my suspicions were confirmed. Those dark areas that had begun appearing on my teeth? Tea stains. Come on, Murphy! Here I am, being good by staying away from soda, and what do you do? Stain my teeth! So I'm back at the drawing board in an effort to outsmart Murphy and his law. (Denis would tell me that I'm not dealing with Murphy's Law, but Sod's Law, but we're on the American side of the pond.)
On brighter notes, the monsoon season blessed us with more rain today, which is always good, and I had a wonderful time at the Poisoned Pen last Monday when Louise Penny was there. You'll be hearing more about that tomorrow!
I'd better round up what few links I found this week, or y'all will be giving me some consequences of your own. Let's get to it!
Bookish News & Other Interesting Stuff
- I've just posted my review of Inger Ash Wolfe's A Door in the River (I highly recommend the entire series), and most of you who've already discovered the delights of Inspector Hazel Micallef probably know that the author's name is a pseudonym. The real Inger Ash Wolfe has finally been revealed.
- Because I have some latent pirate DNA or summat (Britspeak for "something"), I found this article about a shipwreck being revealed off the coast of Alabama in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac very interesting.
- I could care less about the flap over Kristen Stewart's love life, but this well-written article made me realize that I should. I'm very glad that I'm not a young woman trying to make sense of all the mixed signals in today's world!
- There are daily blogging topics for the 2012 Book Blogger Appreciation Week.
- I was quite chuffed (Britspeak for "surprised and thrilled") to learn that Sunny Frazier, author and acquistions editor for Oak Tree Press has begun her very own version of my weekly round-up. In it, you can find out what the Oak Tree Press authors have been up to-- and if you're anything like me, you'll find some new authors to read. (I didn't just hear someone groan, did I? Don't forget, I'm an Enabler!) Here's the first week's round-up, and here's the second week.
Sock Puppets
Even I occasionally crawl out from under a rock to find out what's been going on in the world. This week's topic, as far as books go, seems to be all about authors who've created fake accounts to heap praise on their own books and to trash the books of rivals. For some reason, this is being called sock puppetry.
Am I surprised? Not a bit. Anyone who's dealt with the wonderful world of Amazon book reviews knows how some reviewers take competitive to a whole new (and stupid, pointless) level. Crime fiction writers have been particularly vociferous about it, and here are some links:
- The first I heard of it was from reading this article about R.J. Ellory (one of whose books I've read and enjoyed).
- Stuart Neville names another author whom he believes to be a sock puppet.
- Then an entire busload of crime fiction authors started talking about this and what they believe should be done.
- Then Amazon's Canadian site revealed the identities of thousands of people who have posted anonymous book reviews on their United States site.
- And-- as usual-- Bernadette of Reactions to Reading summed up my opinion about the entire mess perfectly in Hit 'em where it hurts.
I ♥ Lists
- Otto Penzler's list of five underrated crime writers.
- The 50 Coolest Book Covers
That's it for this week. I hope I found at least one goody that tickled your fancy. Don't forget to stop by next weekend when I'll have a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure!
Yes, 'Sod's law'... LOL... I too am trying to cut down on fizzy pop (soda) and trying to find other things. It's not easy. In The States you have that nice still lemonade that we saw being made into wonderful fruit drinks. I adored the watermelon flavour.
ReplyDeleteYour mention of iced tea reminded me of when we were in either Virginia or S. Carolina and could not work out what so many people were filling their cups with (it wasn't marked). Two English people sitting there scratching their heads... not having the nerve to ask. We were in a supermarket later and saw all the iced tea and then it clicked. Too funny. I love these cultural differences. I'm sure you find the same when you're over here but luckily you have Denis to explain. :-)
Yes, we're often 'chuffed' over here. So cute to hear President Obama use the word in his speech when David Cameron was last over there.
I would imagine our penchant for iced tea is all due to the fact that our summers tend to be much warmer than yours. Coming in from working out in the garden when it's 45°C., the last thing most Americans want to reach for is a hot drink!
DeleteI think my adventures in Tesco's and Sainsbury's are among my favorites whilst in the UK. You can tell so much about a country from their grocery stores! I'm glad I do have Denis as backup, but I've read so much British fiction that I seldom have to ask.
Stay tuned, Cath. I may use gobsmacked in a post soon. ;-)
Happy Saturday, Cathy! :) I've got Louise Penney on my mystery list to read!
ReplyDeleteFantastic!!!!
DeleteYou definitely are an enabler, Cathy. Well, enable away. I'm unable to resist. I like the little Britspeaks in your blogs. I feel like Denis has widened your vocabulary with these sayings. As for the tea, I drink it all year long and just figure that's what my dentist's hygienist is there for. It's job security for her.
ReplyDeleteJob security? That's true, but dark spots on my front teeth are not only unattractive, but they tend to freak me out.
DeleteOh, you might enjoy this little factoid, Barbara. Guess where Oak Tree Press is based? Taylorville, Illinois!
the whole sock puppet issue has me so angry...and sad. especially sad as someone who writes review and post some on places like Amazon.
ReplyDeleteAmazon's review system has been "broke" for years, but short of taking away the voting process altogether, I don't think there's any real way to fix it. There are always a bunch of pillocks with nothing better to do than find a crooked way around the system.
DeleteAh, sock puppetry. The creation of multiple false identities so you you can be your own cheerleading squad/attack dogs online. Works great, I suppose, until someone outs you.
ReplyDeleteWhile I can understand to some degree why people would do that, it just is wrong, and I have no respect for them. Nor can I respect those who pay for reviews. (Much as I need the attention on my books, there are places I'm just not going to go.)
I wish I could commend you for your integrity through book sales. I think Bernadette of Reactions to Reading had it right. There is a basic list of rights and wrongs we should all learn and know as human beings. Insisting that writers and bloggers sign something saying that they're going to write and blog with integrity is virtually meaningless.
DeleteToday everything seems to boil down to one thing: money. If we want to show these lowlife authors what we really think of them, WE DO NOT BUY THEIR BOOKS. Plain and simple. It's a message they should be able to understand.
Another thing that I don't quite understand about all this is: who's got the time to create all these fake identities (and keep them all straight)??? "Oh. I'm sorry I missed the deadline on my latest book. I was too busy creating fake identities so I can give myself 5 star reviews on Amazon."
Thanks for the shout out Cathy and glad I could echo your thoughts on this occasion. Like you I am not terribly surprised by all this nefarious behaviour (I mean if some authors had read all the books they provided blurbs for they'd never write a word of their own) but I was a bit surprised that people would think any kind of petition or code or whatever would stop it. But thankfully I don't need to rely on fake Amazon reviews for my recommendations with fabulous blogs like yours around.
ReplyDeleteNow off to see if the Inger Ash Wolfe has made its way down under yet :)
I hope it has. I love this series!
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ReplyDeleteOh, gosh, I couldn't live without tea. Had to give up coffee for health reasons years ago, and became a real tea aficionado -- Irish or English Breakfast tea hot in the cold months and iced in the summer. I love it. I look askance at coffee, unless it's superb.
Thanks on the Inger Ash Wolfe recommendations. I've definitely put these books on my TBR Mount Kilimanjaro.
And also thanks for that link to the article on Kristen Stewart (and so many other issues). It's an excellent piece, with lots of points in it that should be widely available to young people, women and men.
I love this link round-up and look forward to it weekly. Have read some things and seen photos I'd never have accessed without the links.
I'm glad you enjoy the links, Kathy. I've always hated coffee, and tea's never stained my teeth like this before, so I'm in a bit of a quandry. Tonight I've been drinking lots of water. At least my kidneys are getting flushed out! LOL
DeleteCathy - I know just what you mean about those consequences *sigh*, but I'm not giving up my coffee! No! Good to hear you've had some rain. What a blessing it is when you live in places where there is never quite enough of it...
ReplyDeleteYes. We have a tendency to smile and say, "What a lovely day!" when it's overcast and raining! LOL
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