Forum: Editors/Reviewers Hangout

The similarity between Pollock's and Bollocks comes to mind. The latter pertains to many so called artists.:-)

I agree with Al S, Laslo Z and Gina M W as good choices but Kaffir wrote some good yarns as did Wes Boyd. Some of the Swarm authors have written very well. I'm stopping before I spend all day on this. I've got a few cubic metres of oak leaves to clear up!

DS

@Switch Blayde

You don't think the Pulitzer judges' personal preferences come into play?

You think Pulitzer Prizes are useless? ;-)

They are good for bragging rights and make excellent paper weights. Beyond that, yes, they are useless. :)

@Dominions Son

You've really got to stop doing that. What's the world coming to when I actually AGREE with you? And this isn't the first time, either!

Will you two BOTH please STOP posting what I'm thinking…!!!

The authors who win a Nobel Prize of Literature might beg to differ. But then there's money at stake ;-)

I don't remember any SOL author winning the Nobel Prize of Literature. Even then it still remains a decision that is made NOT on the author's qualities but on the affect one or more of his/her works had on society. In other words (like you said): money.
Even the number of copies sold doesn't really reflect how good an author is. That heavily depends on advertising and a good dose of luck to get some attention at the right time. Just look at the difference in sales figures if a book is mentioned in Ophrah's book club. Does it suddenly make the author better because he was reviewed after a very biased choice?

I don't see why a similar principle couldn't apply to SOL authors. It applies to Clitoride nominees.

You get what most readers that bother to vote think is the best author. There are no hard, unbiased check points to rank authors. Even the Clitorides splits into categories and most go by story, not author. You can't distill a 'best author' from those results.
The same for Nobel Prize winners although for the exact science and medical fields you can get a little closer with true facts. Remember, the Nobel prize is not for the 'best scientist' but for the person(s) that realized achievements that (can) have great impact.

ETA typo

Not even 'Author of the Year'?

Chosen by a limited group of readers on personal preference. You could try to rank authors on their technical ability (which is somewhat measurable) but that's no guarantee their stories are just as good as their technical quality.

PS Where I live, 'distil' is the verb and 'distillate' the end product.

fixed

PS Where I live, 'distil' is the verb and 'distillate' the end product.

Distil is what happens when a force acts on an object at rest. :)

Mushroom, have you ever heard of the opposite intent in 2004? Atlanta Nights by Travis Tea.(wiki link)

Which is the best colour in the rainbow?

Infrablack

Pratchett&Gaiman's Good Omens:

It's the color past ultra-violet. The technical term for it is infrablack. It can be seen quite easily under experimental conditions. To perform the experiment simply select a healthy brick wall with a good run-up, and, lowering your head, charge. The color that flashes in bursts behind your eyes, behind the pain, just before you die, is infra-black.

Infrablack

Pratchett&Gaiman's Good Omens:

I'll stick with Douglas Adams

"Ultra violent to infra dead"

HHGTTG As I recall it appears in TRATEOTU

Which is the best colour in the rainbow?

Octarine.

Octarine.

Which part of "in the rainbow" confused you?

:)

It's an in joke for Pratchett's readers.

Pratchett's

Who?

Imagine you can obtain a new story (i.e. one you've not read and have not heard anything about) from any author. You have no information about the story other than the author. Whose story would you choose?

Robert Anson Heinlein. Unfortunately his stories are not posted on SOL and he died in 1988, so it is unlikely such a story would be available.

You never know until you search on line. There is a Heinlein book I never heard of until today.

"The Pursuit of the Pankera
The Pursuit of the Pankera

by Robert Heinlein
published 2020

The Pursuit of the Pankera is one of the most audacious experiments ever done in science fiction by the legendary author of the classic bestseller Starship Troopers.

Robert A. Heinlein wrote The Number of the Beast, which was published in 1980. In the book Zeb, Deety, Hilda and Jake are ambushed by the alien "Black Hats" and barely escape with their lives on a specially configured vehicle (the Gay Deceiver) which can travel along various planes of existence, allowing them to visit parallel universes.

However, unknown to most fans, Heinlein had already written a "parallel" novel about the four characters and parallel universes in 1977. He effectively wrote two parallel novels about parallel universes. The novels share the same start, but as soon as the Gay Deceiver is used to transport them to a parallel universe, each book transports them to a totally different parallel world.

From that point on the plotlines diverge completely. While The Number of the Beast morphs into something very different, more representative of later Heinlein works, The Pursuit of the Pankera remains on target with a much more traditional Heinleinesque storyline and ending, reminiscent of his earlier works.

The Pursuit of the Pankera was never published and there have been many competing theories as to why (including significant copyright issues in 1977). Over time the manuscript was largely forgotten but survived in fragments. A recent re-examination of these fragments, however, made it clear that put together in the right order they constituted the complete novel.

And here it finally is: Robert A. Heinlein's audacious experiment. A fitting farewell from one of the most inventive science fiction writers to have ever lived: a parallel novel about parallel universes as well as a great adventure pitting the forces of good versus evil only the way Heinlein could do."

It appears to be available from the muddy river (Amazon) so I probably won't actually buy it.

David Weber, David Drake, John Ringo, Travis S. Taylor, Michael Z. Williamson

"Writers similar to John Ringo:
David Weber, Lois Mc Master Bujold, David Drake, Eric Flint. Steven Brust, Elizabeth Moon, Harry Harrison, Jack Campbell"
and Tom Kratman. Lots of Baen books.

The reason to read stories available on line is the cost of books, even used paperbacks, and lack of storage space. And as I get older I like being able to increase the size of the print, to 125% or 150%, so the stories are easier to read.

The best 'best' author on SOL, IMO, is rache. She wrote a number of stories involving sex with dogs, and even a FAQ on the mechanics thereof. ;-)

That statement proves how vastly different the opinions about who's the best author can be :D

Rachael Ross rache T.S.Severe God of Porn Just Plain Jane

(and others)

Rants, Tantrums, and Hissy Fits by rache
Author's Description:
rache talks about life, love, the pain and joy of writing, her "special" relationship with readers, anonymous email, plagiarism, the size of God's penis, and her own failings as a sort of almost kinda successful porn author struggling with a self-destructive fetish for pen names, tequila, and blogs. Um...Actually, I don't think I mention God's penis at all in my blogs, but it's huge! Big enough to fuck everybody! //rant
Size: 112 KB (20,950 words)
Genre: Fan Fiction
Sex Contents: No Sex
Tags: True Story, FemaleDom, Humiliation, Sadistic, Caution
Bookmark Zip EPUB
Review by richardshagrin [other reviews by richardshagrin - Contact Reviewer]
Reviewed: 6/14/2018

I miss rache and most of her pseudonyms.

The title pretty well describes the "story", which there isn't. But brilliance and useful thoughts abound and instead of reading the Forum every day, read a chapter or maybe just a couple of paragraphs of these rants, tantrums and hussy fits. Spell check likes "hussy" better than "hissy."

There is a chance rache would have too.

Or what some of us already do, go on bookapy and buy on the blind or having read a couple of chapters here on SOL. When you part from hard earned money is usually because of quality.

Unfortunately the ratings are currently underpopulated - I can't believe that nobody has yet rated 'The Hawk and the Chipmunk' :-(

It's known that very few readers bother to vote/rate. That's even worse for Bookapy because a reader has to go back to the site to enter a rating. Even less readers bother to do that. Combined with the fact that the number of buyers is much smaller than the number of readers on SOL it's no surprise that getting ratings takes much longer than on SOL.

IMO the purpose of ratings or reviews on a site like bookapy is to advertise to fellow readers what you like or don't, not to extablish rank. My opinion again. You already have a ranking and it's the number of copies sold. Maybe it's just not wise to advertise that but it's another matter.

It's a recommendation.

Absolutely true.

But.

Authors often have difficulty understanding that readers don't comment because they feel intimidated.

You have just finished reading a wonderful story. You are NOT a writer. Any comment you post will appear below the story, can your comment really do the story justice?

Writers often don't see a problem, non writers usually do.

Seeing if adding a comment will refresh this thread for me.

How erudite your comment is controls the freshness of the thread.

:)

It's the old delay problem. The thread was marked as updated, but the 7:32 comment by richardshagrin
was still the last comment I was seeing in the thread.