Hmm. What do I say?
HARSH REVIEW OF THE HUNTER
You think I make up stuff from emails and readers who call my books trash, crap, and other unmentionables? Well, here is proof that one reader's treasure is another's most reviled poison.
One of the most frequently asked question for me from readers is which of my book is my favorite story. I don't actually have a "favorite" story but Hawk/The Hunter was one of my favorites to write. That I'm being accused of trivializing sex-trafficking after all the months of looking at U.N. photos of victims has me wondering whether saying it was my "favorite" book to write might be misunderstood that I actually "enjoyed" looking at them.
I started the series wanting to explore the very personal-to-me issue of child trafficking in Asia because I came from there and have seen it with my own eyes. In The Hunter, I chose Eastern Europe because at the time of writing, the United Nations had published a series of reports which you can find on the web, if you like, about what was happening there with weapons and female/child- trafficking after the downfall of Sarajevo. I wanted to show that this problem was not just in a third-world country in Asia, but also in Old Europe, where many people didn't believe white slavery existed.
However, having written this story as it is, showing how a war-torn country can be ravaged by a corrupted system, and not preach, to this particularly reviewer, meant that I was a PIMP. Whoa. Hate the book, okay, have a swing at it. But I was quite taken aback by the pimp accusation.
For the record, those pictures of mutilated and helpless women and children and their testimony at U.N. sessions weren't enjoyable to read. I used some of what they said for the book to show what they had gone through. I wasn't making fun of their humiliation or using it to fill the story with lurid sex. I wasn't even trying to preach. If I were, there would have been long passages of diatribe against men and their penises, trust me.
In the last couple of years, the Crossfire series has caught the attention of a few international women's rights groups who have contacted me to donate books, time or money for their causes, which included awareness to stop the violence against women as well as helping hungry children. There were auctions held by the VDay Bethesda (Until the violence stop) for the VDay Worldwide Campaign as well as Lewis Clark State College Book Auction for hungry children, both of which I donated to because these were a few of the reasons I wrote those books (there were others, but not for this blog topic).
I've posted many links to positive reviews of my books so I thought it was only fair to add at least one ;-) that shows a reader's negative reaction. If you do go to this blog, please do NOT post anything on my behalf or start a flame war with this reader. It's her opinion of my book and that's that, and I sure don't want to have you pimping for me, bwahaha. You may, however, rant all you want HERE ON MY BLOG ;-) because it's my blog and we can party anyway we want to here.
Obviously, I felt a need to make a defense about being called a PIMP or I wouldn't have posted this today. I hope you all understand that I'm not asking you to go there and rage about reviewers giving bad reviews at that person's blog because really, I have enough of that kind of behavior in Romancelandia Blogs and repeat, DO NOT WISH TO BE A PART OF THAT.
I do, however, wish to discuss about fairness in reviews, in the sense that, if the story didn't work for you, would you call the author a pimp? A PIMP???! If the bad guy is written as a child molester, would you be enraged enough to accuse the author of being a rapist??? And if there is torture involved, would you then judge her as a sadist???
I cannot emphasize enough that I am NOT angry about this review (I have to keep repeating this because in Romancelandia, many bloggers like to link to other blogs that have an author ranting about a bad review of her book). I don't agree with a lot of the reader's criticism of the story, but that's how she saw it, and that's fine. I thank her for giving me a try. I am, however, fascinated by the fact that the reader wasn't actually saying it was a badly-written book, but that she was totally put off that the author (me) was writing horribly realistic themes of men using children and, horrors, U.N. officials unable to achieve U.N. goals. Last time I checked, Sarajevo and what was Yugoslavia were still in the midst of chaos because of international (RE: U.N.) intervention.
Whatever would this reader say if I ever write about the horrendous practice of female fetoecide in China and India? Because it's been happening yesterday, and is continuing today, and tomorrow, you know. Depressing issues, yes, I admit that. No place to write graphically in romantic suspense/military spy romances? Bullshit.
See, I think we do need a blog-related forum for this post ;-).
A really bad week so far, my friends. First my car gets scratched and I feel more defensive about the crime than the perp. Now, I'm a pimp. Poor Vivi, Amber, and Llallana; they thought I was on their side!
I must add (with a smile) that The Hunter is, besides Facing Fear, my best-selling book. Yes, that does make me feel better. Off I go to pound out my frustration on the roof...nothing like real sweat to make me feel less like a pimp.
Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!
NO NEED TO CLICK TILL I TELL YA: RESERVED FOR NOT SAFE FOR WORK STUFF
Posts
