Somebody just sent me this link: http://blog.laurellkhamilton.org/2006_07_01_archive.html. I refuse to link, but you guys can just copy and paste into your web browsers.
Itβs an entry by Laurell K Hamiltonβs arse wiper assistant.
He/she heard about the latest trend of taking potshots at MJD and wanted to offer his/her support.
The letter to MJD starts:
Hi MaryJanice! I saw that they have started picking on you too! I am so sorry. I kept hoping it was limited to Laurell. But more and more I am seeing it is not.
Because we do hear it from other authors too. I am not sure what it is about the internet that inspires people to be rude! Other than anonymity. But for some reason, people who wouldn’t dream of saying it to your face, feel free to post it on the web. It is like junior high, they have to be right or their world ends apparently.
He/she goes on to add:
I love how some folks have higher expectations for everyone else, want special rights for themselves, that they don’t extend to others.
As long as you agree with them, then it is okay to say something, but if you disagree or defend yourself, then you are some kind of horrible person out to cause them harm. They never consider that their opinions (and that is all they are, opinions, not facts), might be painful for someone else. That being rude and nasty is neither clever nor cute.
And just because a few folks tell you that it is, doesn’t make it so. There is always someone out there ready to tear down anything. They seem to revel in doing so. Why they are so miserable and cannot find some joy in life is I don’t know, and is just sad, in my opinion.
This bit tickled me no end:
Youβre an excellent writer! Funny, witty and craft a heck of a story! Else, I wouldn’t read you. And Laurell would not now be out on tour answering the question about who writes something similar readers might like and giving your name and Charlaine Harris as good choices.
Pass me the fucking sick bucket. Some people will do anything just to get in on the action.
Bam
July 6
9:44 pm
Hmm… LKH… MJD… I need a middle initial so I can be acronym’d too.
Well, I guess I can be known as DLG. What does the L stand for? Maybe it stands for luuuuuuuuurve.
Anne
July 6
10:29 pm
What-effing-ever. Blah, blah, blah. They do it to themselves, no one does it to them. Insult readers and expect them to sit idly by without striking back? Puh-leeez.
Kate R
July 6
11:32 pm
OT OT OT OT!
here the hell you are. I couldn’t find you for the longest time. . .searching all over the flipping internet.
Heh. Turns out I have no sense of direction on any highway.
I’m going to have to put in a link.
Kate R
July 6
11:41 pm
HA! Now I went down a bit and discovered that you moved away and didn’t leave a forwarding address ON PURPOSE.
Here’s a nice turnaround. A reader stalked by an author.
Stalker Girl
MaryJanice Davidson
July 7
2:02 am
Just think, Karen! No matter where you hide your blog, you’re FAMOUS! π
One of my readers agreed that you’re super smart (she was kind enough not to say in so many words as I did when I suggested you’re actually smarter than I am) but that you use your intelligence for eeeeeeeevil. That’s how she put it: eeeeeeeeevil. I had to crack up, and all day long I’ve been walking around saying “Eeeeeeeeeeeevil,” under my breath. But then, it takes so little to amuse me.
Anyway. I thought Darla (I think you misspelled her name in your blog, ahem) made an interesting point: some readers get a little, uh, odd. I see her concern, because some did get REALLY ugly when LKH set Anita down a different path. I mean, she walks around, I’m totally serious, with an armed guard. Not because she’s a NYT author who’s full of herself. Because readers TRY TO HURT HER because they dislike what she’s done with some books. I mean, come on. I think felony assault is the definition of Readers Behaving Badly. Say what you like about me, I’ve never slugged you!
Whether you think I’m a dolt or not, I think we’ve gotten far afield of books and the things we like to talk about, as you suggested. We’re all focused on behavior and perceived actions. So, in an effort to get back to discussing stuff we love (which was, I think, your intent in switching blog spots) I plan to rent Taxi Driver this weekend. Every single other movie on your list I completely adore, especially The Sixth Sense. So I’ll probably like Taxi Driver, too. It’s such an oldie, I guess it’s weird I’ve never seen it.
And speaking of Mr. Shamalyan’s movies, are you counting the days to The Lady In The Water? Do you even know what it’s about? (I don’t have a clue; the previews are super vague.) But I get chills when that creepy kid they’ve got reading the previews hisses “The Lady in the Water…” Yeesh!
Jane
July 7
3:51 am
Karen, those are the least of comments Darla, LKH et al have said about the fans. I know it’s hard slogging through the myopic mess that is the blog but it contains some true gems that MJD has only begun to reach. Of course, I don’t think, for all her bragging, MJD’s royalties even begin to touch LKH’s.
I’ll write up an article someday about LKH. Sigh. I hope she writes forever as it is wonderful to make fun of her. Same with MJD. Write forever MJD. The blogosphere, particularly KarenS’ blog wouldn’t be the same without your insightful, meaningful and purposeful comments. You are awesome. Love everything you write. I anxiously await your next glorious comments.
Lori
July 7
5:34 am
Hey Karen, totally off topic, but you need to update the urls of your listings on the right nav – they all still go to the old blog urls. π
Karen Scott
July 7
8:43 am
Bam, I think DLG rocks!
Hi Anne, this is her assistant who’s been known to be quite vocal when it comes to some ofn LKH’s more rabid readers.
Kate, I’m amazed by the number of people who have bothered to try to find me. I definitely have stalkers who as much as they can’t stand my blog, just can’t seem to help themselves. It’s good to see you here by the way.
MJD wrote: Anyway. I thought Darla (I think you misspelled her name in your blog, ahem)
I haven’t re-read my post, but I’m pretty sure I referred to Darla as a he/she. I think you just got me confused with somebody else’s blog.
The Sixth Sense is just the most amazing film, and I still get goodebumps even when I watch it now, especially knowing what the twist is.
I haven’t actually heard of The Lady In The Water, but it sounds like the kind of film I’d get on DVD.
Jane, do I detect a note of sarcasm there?
Lori, I’ve been meaning to do it but I can’t be arsed, to be honest, anybody who wants to find the original posts can do so fairly easily it seems. There’s an example of that on this blog:
http://community.livejournal.com/lkh_lashouts/93084.html?thread=1373852
She’s not a big fan of LKH by the looks of things.
Oh, and the anonymous fuckwit who’s post I deleted, seriously do yourself a favour you mother fucking arsehole, GO AND FUCK YOURSELF SIX WAY TO SUNDAY AND KEEP THE FUCK OFF MY BLOG, YOU TWAT
sybil
July 7
9:06 am
uh email me….
Karen Scott
July 7
11:30 am
Sybil, I sent you an e-mail…
MaryJanice Davidson
July 7
2:26 pm
Jane, you’re a 100% right. There’s no way, no matter how much I babble, that I come anywhere close to LKH’s royalties. NO way. She’s a #1 best seller, she’s been published for 10 years; I’m just nowhere near her level and I’m still relatively new to the game (the first Undead book came out in 2004). I’m guessing her income is seven figures. But boy, she pays for it (see above: armed guard). I’m not sure I’d trade all that money for personal freedom. Luckily, it’s not likely to be a problem for a while, if ever.
Karen, you haven’t seen previews of Lady in the Water? It stars the redhead (Ron Howard’s kid) from The Village and looks creepy as all hell. I wish you could see in in the theater but hopefully it’ll be out on DVD soon.
You seem surprised that so many of us have tracked you down: I told you, you’re famous! We all need our Karen fix. Hurts so good. π
Desiree Erotique
July 7
3:06 pm
Karen, thank you for sending me the new link to your blog!
No comment from me this morning on the topic at hand; had a very late nite and half-awake. But take care, babe, and hugs.
Kat O+
July 7
3:11 pm
I was going to comment but it got too long so I posted on my blog instead. Can I just say that I’m amazed, amused and utterly addicted to the bitchiness so thank you for keeping nosey but lazy people like me updated. π
Avid Reader
July 7
6:06 pm
Oh shit, LKH getting attacked for her lack of imagination? Personally, I hate the direction she’s going with her Anita Blake books but couldn’t be arsed about it any more since I dont’ read them and plan never to read them ever again. Is it worth a felony charge to attack the author for it? Oh, hell to the no. Did anyone watch Misery?
Keishon
Rosie
July 7
7:01 pm
For God sakes…I take a vacation and you move!!! Fortunately I can follow bread crumbs and found you.
I read why you moved. All I can say is I get it.
Yix
July 7
7:29 pm
*smile*
Cute. No lie, I am coming in from the LKH blog. Conflict, link trails, madness, name-calling – amusing for about an hour or so.
I neither agree or disagree with anyone here – the whole thing reeks of advertisement for People Behaving Like Fucktards. I could care less who ate who’s last tube of Monistat.
Mz. Karen, I have scrolled on down through your blog – your insight is humorous, and you are capable of stringing sentences together. Clearly, you have most bloggers at a disadvantage with those skills alone.
Darla’s defensiveness stems from a long-standing issue which has been commented on time and time again. So-called “fans” have said some downright classless, ridiculous things on the LKH message board, the blog before it was locked, and even in user reviews from 3rd party companies.
Writing a decent novel is not easy. You have a few published authors commenting on your blog who double as poster children for that sentiment. Ironically, they don’t realize who they are, because they continue to kiss your ass. And hey, good for you. Consider a run for President – we can work out the details later.
Thank you for introducing me to MJD through Darla’s post, as it would happen. I’ve found her blog interesting, and look forward to making up my own mind about her work.
ReneeW
July 7
10:30 pm
Whew, I found you, thanks to Sybil. I was starting to get twitchy. See, this is the exact type of crap I hate to miss out on.
byrdloves2read
July 7
11:31 pm
Well, Karen, it took you less than a week to get right back into the CONTROVERSY. Please don’t move again next week. *snort*
Anonymous
July 7
11:36 pm
I work at a bookstore which LKH has stopped at on a couple of her book tours.
A lot of her fans are really cool people. A lot of them are assholes who seriously need the dosage of their meds increased, and who can’t seem to separate LKH from Anita Blake.
So I don’t find Darla’s letter all that wank-worthy, though I can see why someone else might if they’re not aware of how nutty some of her fans are.
-Seri
Anonymous
July 8
5:43 pm
Karen, you rock. Your blog rocks. (I thought I’d make that my frontrunner, since I’m about to take it OT.)
MJD — pardon me, but could you tell me when LKH was ever offered any kind of violence? I’ve been a longtime fan of hers, but the only time I heard about “armed guards” was when she was escorted around the Romantic Times ’05 by bodyguards in leather corsets.
~Kat
Jenn
July 8
9:15 pm
“Here’s a nice turnaround. A reader stalked by an author.
Stalker Girl”
ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!
I love it
I have long supsected that most of the posters at LKH are teenagers and thus accounts for much of the tone on her board.
I have went by to see when the next “Merry Gentry” book would be out and could not resist a peek at a bad post and the poster was sixteen.
Why hang around an author who no longer writes anything you like.
Do like I did and kick the Anita Blake series to the curb.
Jenn
July 9
2:59 am
LOL
She actually compares LKH to Charlaine Harris? Similiar stories?
Now whyyyy did she have to go and insult Ms. Harris?(g)
MaryJanice Davidson
July 10
2:10 am
Sure, I can tell you what I know (heard the exact same story from three separate sources)…she was followed into the ladies’ room at one of the biggies (either RWA or RT) and actually slapped around by a fan who didn’t like what she was “doing to Anita”. Now, I’m not sure how a male bodyguard will solve this problem in the future, but Darla (her assistant) also goes to all the conferences, so maybe she’s a secret black belt or something.
Anyway, talk about shades of “Misery”…
ananke
July 10
4:34 am
Any of those sources reliable? Because it doesn’t seem to have been written up elsewhere.
MaryJanice Davidson
July 11
9:34 pm
Oh yes, two of the three sources were reliable, as a matter of fact. Just about as close as you can get to the horse’s mouth. I’m not a naive sort, and we live in a violent world, and I’ve seen her armed guards with my own eyes (the ones I’ve seen wear very nice suits with their guns discreetly out of sight, but if you know how to look for them you can see them), so I never doubted the story for a second.
CJB
July 18
10:19 pm
Puhleeeeeeeeeeese, show me a news item, from the newspaper, or t.v. news where LKH was attacked by a fan. I saw LKH in San Diego, and the only body guard, she has is a member of her board and he is definitely not armed
The ones she should be concerned about are those that are following her around the globe just to be near her, that’s obsession, and you know what they say about obsessive fans.
I am one of the ex-members of the LKH board, I have been banned for speaking my mind and for questioning the actions of her mods, and you just can’t do that on the LKH board. You are only allowed to stay there if you are doing the cheerleader SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE… I love Nate, Micah and sex is a new method of character growth.
I say to MJD, what harm has someone done to you to warrant stalking thier blog, has this person caused you financial hardship, mental anguish, you are the one who caused the problem, you and now Darla are giving whatever accusation made weight.
The only reason your actions can be accounted for is if the accusations have some truth to them.
Anonymous
December 1
12:10 am
Another LKH saga, how is it that a mod from the LKH can come unto another board to have members there banned.
Some of the fans are complaining about the artwork done by the artist who drew the characters in the new comic book.
They are complaining that the rat in GP looks like a Ken doll, that he is asexual. That the artist should to do something about his nether regions to make him more of a threat.
Well there are 2 members there who does not agree with the status quo and one was banned after an email was sent to a moderator of this board, making him aware that she had been banned several times from the LKH board.
The excuse from the moderator of said board was because the two people one of whom he banned were using the same IP address. He publicly banned them and stated “We do not allow double registrations on this board, so you are banned, something have and will do again, it will not be tolerated here, if you cannot back up your post, do not sign up under another alias, to give yourself a cheering section.
It was also stated to the person banned that a moderator of the LKH board warned him that said member had been banned from the LKH, for being disrespectful to the AB characters.
Shakes head will it never cease?