Diamond
Banned
I bought a book - The Bastard King, by Dan Chernenko - about a year ago, thinking it looked like an interesting and offbeat new fantasy. I got about a third of the way into it, and couldn't go on. The writing was dry and repetitious, the plot was threadbare and silly, and the characters were boring and unsympathetic.
It reminded me of someone else's writing, but I couldn't quite put my finger on who... Then, yesterday, I was at my local bookstore, browsing, and I happened to see that the third book in this series is out. And the author is now revealed as Harry Turtledove. Ah-ha! It all makes sense now! No wonder I couldn't stand the book. Turtledove turned out some quality stuff a decade or two ago, but his recent efforts have been just horrible. I've vowed to never again buy anything 'hot-off-the-presses' by him.
It would've been nice if Turtledove and his publishers had put his actual name on the cover of 'The Bastard King' so I could have saved the money.
Just another shining example of why I hate the use of pseudonyms - let's muddy the waters a little more, shall we?
Anybody else get ripped off?
It reminded me of someone else's writing, but I couldn't quite put my finger on who... Then, yesterday, I was at my local bookstore, browsing, and I happened to see that the third book in this series is out. And the author is now revealed as Harry Turtledove. Ah-ha! It all makes sense now! No wonder I couldn't stand the book. Turtledove turned out some quality stuff a decade or two ago, but his recent efforts have been just horrible. I've vowed to never again buy anything 'hot-off-the-presses' by him.
It would've been nice if Turtledove and his publishers had put his actual name on the cover of 'The Bastard King' so I could have saved the money.
Just another shining example of why I hate the use of pseudonyms - let's muddy the waters a little more, shall we?
Anybody else get ripped off?