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Jill Noble Has Left Noble Publishing?

Jill Noble Has Left Noble Publishing?

Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Posted in: arseholes abound, authors being treated badly, e-book publishers behaving badly?
Tags:,

Wait – I thought she owned the company?

Apparently there have been rifts between her and “the owner”, (yeah, I’m doing air quotes every time I mention the owner) and they’ve had major differences of opinion on how to move the company forward.

So who owns Noble Romance?

It all seems a bit fishy to me. I’ve heard reports that a lot of their authors haven’t been paid for a while. Is this a creative way of saying sayonara and blaming the ‘owner’ for people not getting paid in the long run?

I’m assuming that the authors who write for Noble know who the other owner is? If so, do tell. (I could Google, but I can’t be arsed)

Do any of you guys have any more details?

Thanks to Anon for the tip-off. You know who you are.

33 Comments »
Seriously?

Seriously?

Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Posted in: Adventures with Blog people, arseholes abound, There are far too many sickos in the world, there's a fucktard born every minute

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while, but life tends to get in the way a bit.

Anyway, I’m interrupting my unintentional blogging hiatus to share my incredulity at the following:

Firstly, I’m reading a Lena Matthews book, where one of the secondary characters is called MeShell. Seriously? (Does the fact that she’s a drag queen make a difference?)

Secondly, what the fuck is going on with that crazy fuckwit over at StopGRBullies? Outing Goodreads reviewers, whilst pretending she’s the seeker of truth and justice? Say whaat? She seems to think that she’s sticking it to the mean girls, but as with that Cindy Whatsherface from a few years ago who wanted to teach us mean girls a lesson, she seems to be under the illusion that what she’s doing is for the good of the Goodreads community. Somehow, she’s failed to grasp that what she’s doing is soooo much worse than readers leaving negative or slice and dice reviews. Here at KKB, we understand that the bint over at StopGRBullies is the real bully in this tale. A cowardly one at that. Doctor heal thyself much?

Here’s a post from from one of her victims.

Seriously?

UPDATED TO ADD:

For a rather beautifully articulated OP on the above, head on over to Dear Author, but for Oprah’s sake, watch out for the batshit loony wankers defecating all over the comments section.

18 Comments »
No, plagiarism doesn't just "happen"

No, plagiarism doesn’t just “happen”

Monday, May 21, 2012
Posted in: arseholes abound, Azteclady Speaks
Tags:, ,

Back when the shitstorm surrounding Kristi Diehm, plagiarist, aka The Story Siren¹, broke out, I posted about apologies, and how I think it’s useless to expect–or indeed to receive–an apology from a plagiarist. Like many other offenders, said apologies tend to be of the “fuck, I’m sorry I got caught” variety. Or, much worse, they include so many excuses, explanations, rationalizations and justifications that in the end, to many an uncritical follower/fan, they read like a justification to hate on the victims of the plagiarist.

Well, that queen of chutzpah, Kristi Diehm, is at it again. The short hand for those who don’t go to the SmartBitches: apparently this plagiarist, who has still to apologize properly (as in, without excuses) to her victims, and who has failed to address her fans outright hounding of said victims, has decided to organize a week long event on plagiarism, designed to ‘educate herself’ (yeah, because that very pointed post she wrote on the topic, after allegedly being plagiarized herself, shows that she reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelly didn’t know what the fuck she was doing when she stole Beautifully Invisible and Grit and Glamour. Right.) (more…)

12 Comments »
And People Wonder Why I Hate Organised Religion So Much...

And People Wonder Why I Hate Organised Religion So Much…

Thursday, April 26, 2012
Posted in: arseholes abound, Religion sucks ass, there's a fucktard born every minute
Tags:

Check out this utter knob jockey called Bruce, who had this (and loads more besides) to say:

“It is funny to see the charge of misogyny leveled at the Church by women who promote the female version of pornography. Both “romance novels” and porn objectify and destroy the dignity of men and women. The Church opposes this, because she believes in the dignity of men and women, and rejects our objectification. (more…)

105 Comments »

“It’s nothing for me to write a story, print it out and snuggle up to it.”

Monday, March 12, 2012
Posted in: Adventures with Blog people, arseholes abound, Fucktard of the week
Tags:,

I actually initially posted about the topic below this post on Goodreads yesterday, and the “writer” who’s comment I copied and pasted, came along to take umbrage with me.

Arch wrote:

“Karen, I’m the one that wrote the above statement and I stand on what I have said. I’m not an author – I’m only a writer. I don’t desire to be published and if I did desire to be published, I would still write for myself and no one else. A lot of people feel they should tell a writer what they should write and not write and they are in the wrong. I don’t and will never let people move me. I write the stories that I want to tell and I’m fine with people hating my work, but yet, I haven’t written the story for them”.

Do you guys really believe that she’d be fine with people hating her work? I think not.

Anyway, this was part of my rather diplomatic response:

“I guess that’s the difference then Arch. I think as somebody who doesn’t particularly want to be published, it’s easy to say that you would only ever write the stories of your heart. I think if you relied on writing as a career, you’d end up treating it as a business rather than as a hobby.” (more…)

13 Comments »
A lesson in management (or, how to fuck that up)

A lesson in management (or, how to fuck that up)

Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Posted in: arseholes abound, Azteclady Speaks, cranky AztecLady, rant

Where I work, everyone but salary managers and (hourly) shift supervisors provide availability so that, when the weekly schedule is made, you are not expecting employee A to show up while he’s sitting in anatomy class two hours away.

Manager R has been making the schedule for a couple of months–and oh my lord it sucketh ass. (Read: we’ve spent a lot of time waiting for A to show up, while he’s looking at bones and muscles somewhere else)

Manager B was in charge of training, so there would be times when unknown-to-anyone-else employee X would show up, as clueless as the rest of us, for ‘training’ (on what? for how many hours?). Not happy with that clusterfuck, manager B tells employee C to show up for training at this time, on this day…only to send him right back home the moment he shows up (after driving 20 minutes, mind you) because “we don’t need you right now.” ¹

erm…

Manager J decided to transfer employe K to another store–realizing right after the paperwork is complete that we don’t have anyone who can cover K’s position during the hours she was available.

…

His solution? Schedule employee N–outside her availability–to cover those shifts, while scrambling to train employee S (who, by the way, sucks at it) to regularly cover those slots.

*head desk*

Best part of last week: manager A asks manager J whether N will indeed cover K’s shift on Saturday. J’s answer, “I don’t know, she made me so angry² that I hung up on her.”

*sigh*

 

I need a new job–three months ago.

 * * * * *

¹ The second time he asked her, right out, “then why the fuck did you schedule me for training?” She’s lucky he didn’t do it in front of customers.

² Angry because she’s “bitching” about having to work when she’s not available to do it, how dare she, the bitch.

4 Comments »
Too good to pass up (as blog fodder)

Too good to pass up (as blog fodder)

Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Posted in: arseholes abound, Authors behaving like twits, Azteclady Speaks, rant, Review sites behaving badly?, reviews, self-publishing

 

I was busy with other things yesterday when this review went up at Dear Author, but as I was coming over to post something else, Karen had already been there, done that, and come back to post about it.

Anyway, will you look at this precious, precious gem from Sandy: (more…)

5 Comments »
And the fun, it never ends.

And the fun, it never ends.

Friday, September 17, 2010
Posted in: arseholes abound, authors being treated badly, Azteclady Speaks
Tags:,

Over at Dear Author there is some noise over Red Rose Publishing and the alleged issues the company has with authors, editors, etc. The fun started here, followed by this tidbit, and it’s currently going strong here.

The quick and dirty summary: Dear Author reported some shenanigans; anonymous authors came out; sockpuppets followed; RRP’s owner wants all blog content related to the company taken down; Dear Author pretty much ignores the noise; lawyer-like threats follow; Dear Author pretty much still ignoring them.

The moral of the story: be careful who the fuck you threaten with legal action over the internetz–they may just be real lawyers who not only won’t be cowed by your barely coherent threats but who will actually know the law.  (In simpler terms: be careful you don’t bite more than you can chew.)

11 Comments »

Frustration: same stale shit, different damn date

Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Posted in: Adventures with Blog people, arseholes abound, Authors behaving like twits, Authors on the net, Azteclady Speaks, Review sites behaving badly?, reviews

I admit it, patience is not my long suit.

I get frustrated when I see the same old bullshit brought up and touted as truth, the whole truth and the absolute truth. Honestly, how many time must these things be debunked for it sink in?

“A review that points out anything negative about a book is a bad review.”

No. A bad review is a review that doesn’t say anything about the book. Examples of bad reviews:

“This is the best book EVER!”

“Highly recommended!”

“You have to buy this book!”

“Don’t buy this shit.”

“It’s obvious the author can’t write, don’t buy his/her work.”

None of these tell the reader anything about the book, regardless of whether they praise or berate it. As reviews, they are useless. Useless review = bad review.

“A good review must contain constructive criticism. “

Not only no, but hell, no. Reviews are for readers, not for authors. If authors want constructive criticism, they should get beta readers and/or critique partners.

“Free speech protects authors as much as it protects reviewers.”

First, free speech is a protected right in the US–check your country’s law for other takes on it.

Second, what the hell does that have to do with a reviewer’s reaction and/or opinion on a book?

Third, while authors have every right to their feelings and reactions, common sense (that most rare of all senses) tells me that it behooves them to be careful with their professional image.

“There is no need to be ‘mean’ when reviewing.” “Why go out of the way to hurt the author’s feelings?” “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything.”

A good review needs to be well articulated and factual; the rest is style–the reviewer’s style. The rest of the above admonishments are bullshit intended to silence opinions that differ from those of the people uttering them.

* *** * *** * *** * *** *

(Most of KKB’s readers know what brought this up; the few who don’t can check here and here)

* *** * *** * *** * *** *

In other news…

I’ve been reading like crazy. Seriously, who needs sleep when there are books to be read?

Now I need to sit down at the computer for more than three minutes in a row and write reviews for at least a few of the two dozen books I’ve read in the past ten days…

7 Comments »

I have a little rant (or, customer type people suck)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Posted in: arseholes abound, Azteclady Speaks, cranky AztecLady

Or perhaps it’s more like a series of mini-rants.

Either way, here we are:

  • Why is it that people believe that buying a lousy cup of coffee for less than two bucks gives them the right to treat the employees at the coffee place like slaves?
  • How can people coming in for breakfast/lunch right after church justify to themselves calling wait staff “bitches”?
  • What makes a man call a bus person over to a table—while she’s carrying a heavy plastic tub full of dirty dishes, thanks so much—to tell her, “this is the worst goddamned coffee I’ve ever had”?
  • Where does a male customer get off calling the young female employee preparing his food ‘brainless’ and telling her that ‘a monkey could do her job’?
  • In which universe do customer type people live that they believe it’s okay to tell an employee eating lunch during her break, “Since you work here, would you mind giving us your table?”
  • Who tells customers of any age that it is okay to stick chewing gum to non-disposable dishes?
  • When has it become acceptable to buy food ‘to go’ at one place and enter another establishment—with the full family, drinks, etc.—to eat it?

Did I mention that customer type people suck?

Well, too many of them do, at any rate.

22 Comments »

Cured? Cured????

Monday, July 12, 2010
Posted in: arseholes abound, Azteclady Speaks, rant

This story has been bothering me for months now and it finally boiled over:

Asshole cheating drug using pastor claims that therapy has cured him of his “urges” to use male prostitutes.

I call utter and absolute bullshit on the whole thing.

You cannot cure who you are.

Blame abuse all you want if it makes you feel better, but don’t belittle so many people’s sexuality just because you can’t accept who you are.

Asshole.

6 Comments »

Charity, compassion and forgiveness: Christian virtues… of a kind.

Friday, June 18, 2010
Posted in: arseholes abound, Azteclady Speaks, What the Hell?

A few days ago I read an article in msnbc.com about a Florida teacher who had been fired from a private Christian school because she conceived her daughter a few weeks before her marriage, to the father of the baby. Apparently the school director told her that “fornication” was grounds for termination (but only, of course, outside of the sacrosanct institution of marriage).

I fumed over this and wondered whether such a clause was spelled out in the employment contract–since in the article the teacher stated that the whole thing came at her out of left field, during a discussion to arrange for maternity leave.

Well, it seems the teacher and her husband thought it worth their while to check on the legalities of the issue, and found a lawyer that confirmed that nope, it’s not legal to fire a qualified teacher for having premarital sex*. Based on this lawyer’s advice, the teacher is suing the school for unlawful termination–and now the school has the gall to ask her to drop the suit and “consider the testimony of the Lord.”

Me, I’m thinking of that little thing about having compassion and charity for your fellow human being–you know, the kind that would make it easier to forgive this sin in order not to fire a pregnant woman, let alone a widow with five children, particularly in this economy.

But then I’m not a self-righteous asshole 😉

* * * * *

*At least not when it’s not in public, with a minor, with a student, in school grounds and the like–you know none of those pesky illegal or criminal possibilities; this was consensual, adult-adult, private sex between two people in love.
11 Comments »

Dear customer service people,

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Posted in: arseholes abound, Azteclady Speaks, rant

Having dealt with the public consistently for some four years, I readily understand how draining, unreasonable and aggressive people can be towards those of you who make your living as customer representatives.

Perhaps it would help everyone involved if you would internalize this trivial fact: by the time a customer seeks you out, he or she is already aggravated by a broken down system. He or she doesn’t have the emotional reserves to be kind, understanding and apologetic about interrupting your day with unreasonable demands to receive whatever services s/he is already paying for–the nerve!–and when you yourself are short, ungracious and rude, it only compounds the problem, unnecessarily prolonging an interaction that is, clearly, as repugnant to you as it is to the customer.

Therefore, perhaps it would behoove you, in a fit of self-interest, to be expedient in resolving whatever disagreement or complaint is coming your way, so that you may hang the phone all the sooner, turn around to your fellow customer service representatives, and make fun of/bitch about the latest imbecile to interrupt your working day with her trivial and stupid problems.

Thank you kindly,

a customer.

An excellent tutorial:

12 Comments »

Are you effin’ kidding me?

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Posted in: arseholes abound, Azteclady Speaks, What the Hell?

Michael Vick gets a tv series in BET.

Excuse me while I go puke.

11 Comments »

And now for another WTF moment…

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Posted in: arseholes abound, Azteclady Speaks, What the Hell?

WTF gorilla

Some of you in the US may have seen this news article, but for those who haven’t, the nutshell: a woman somewhere in Michigan watches over the elementary school children of several (I believe it’s three) of her friends for about an hour before the school bus comes along to pick them up. An unnamed neighbor of this woman complained that she was running an illegal day care in a residential area–even though no money is changing hands. Now this woman is facing certain fines and potential jail time.

(more…)

15 Comments »

Really??

Monday, August 31, 2009
Posted in: arseholes abound

Gartonians? Seriously? Gartonians? Hahahahahahaha!!!!!

How very Lord of The Flies!

*Wipes tears from eyes*

43 Comments »

Malia Obama Wears Peace T-Shirt, and Gives Right-Wing Nutters Excuse To Get Racist…

Monday, July 13, 2009
Posted in: American Politics, arseholes abound, Terrorists in America

malia-obama

As much as I hate the extreme left-wing nutters, there seems to be a malevolence to the extreme right-wing nutters, that the lefties have no chance of competing with.

This story about the racial slurs darted at Malia Obama made my stomach cramp. (more…)

26 Comments »

Public Service Announcement: Ebay Seller Pirating Ebooks: You Can Help To Stop Him…

Sunday, July 12, 2009
Posted in: arseholes abound, E-book piracy

wrong

So, this arsehole is actually selling pirated ebooks on Ebay.

Amongst his ill-gotten wares, are books by Terry Pratchett and Dean Koontz, as well as a disc with 550 erotic romance books: (more…)

35 Comments »

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