I wrote a letter to an author who wrote a book(which shall remain nameless) about a gay teen making his way into the world. Later, on the internet, I sent him my opinion of the book I recently purchased and read your first ever book, Hero. I'd like to say that, while the book itself has an incredible plot, the delivery was surprisingly lacking. Some parts of the book were incredibly well written, and I enjoyed reading some of it, but the description was not vivid at all, and I found myself stumbling through some of it(which is saying something). On top of that, the more major parts of the story ( like the revelation of Scarlett's cancer, the Ruth's back story) were too close together to make a strong enough impression of their character. After Ruth's section, it just seemed like you were too anxious to get to Scarlet, and that made it difficult to fully soak in Ruth's news. Not to mention the brief description on the back of the book was very misleading. When I picked up the book at Barnes and Noble, I thought it would be a little deeper than it was, that Thom would have a terrible, gruesome journey discovering who he was, and finally come to terms with it. But It really just pimp slapped you. it wasn't a major realization where Thom met someone and felt strange feelings for them, but it was at a basketball game. Because some prick opponent said he was. With no major evidence, I might add. There was no real basis for some scenes of the book.
As I stated before, the book's description made it difficult to understand what was going on during certain parts of the book. For Example, the ending, where Thom is holding up the building using his powers. I don't understand how that worked, exactly. Did he get super strength? was he just naturally strong? However, at the same time, the description gave away some of the major twists and turns of the story. Every single scene where Dark Hero and Goran were described, it was a virtual cut and paste of the description of their stare(side note: the ending description with Goran and Thom's kiss was very...... hot... sorry, the horny teen in me acted up a little). The description was far too unbalanced.
your book had an incredible back up to it, but it was lacking in delivery. While I applaud your efforts to break into a new ground of writing genre, and being the first to write a novel with a gay super hero, but it would have made a much better movie than a book.



In another note, I shall post his response.... Those of you who know which book this is, Please do not post his name. I would like to remain as anonymous as possible, and reduce the risk of getting sued for defamation of character or something

---------- Post added at 12:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:13 AM ----------

I meant to say "later, on the internet, I found his email address, asking for any comments his fans had on the book"

NEXT: his reply:


Dear Erik,

I try to respond to every one who takes the time to write to me, no matter how scathing the review. Yours is perhaps the harshest one I've received. But, each to his own...

I'm not sure how old you, but I get the sense you may be young, because you assume that the author gets to write the brief description of how own book on the back page. That job is, unfortunately, reserved for the publishers. And if everyone feels the way you do about my writing, I doubt I'll ever become one of those super-successful writers who gets to approve the back page summary, which in this case, I would agree with you, is very misleading and just plain strange.

I'm confused by your term "back up" in terms of a book. For example, when you say what I think may even be a quasi-compliment, "Mr. Moore, your book had an incredible back up to it," what exactly does that mean? A setting? A premise?

I'm also usually extremely encouraging to avid young readers and even more encouraging to aspiring writers.

Yet, maybe you just caught me on a bad day.

Try reading your letter again, and put yourself in my shoes. I took an idea I believe in passionately, spent years doing my best to make it the best I possibly could. No agent, no publisher, just sheer passion and commitment.

Along with all that comes the commitment to read everything people send to me so I can give it due consideration.

Well, you took something that does in fact help some people and managed to make me feel awful about it.

Maybe you should write your own book.

If you do, please allow me to suggest you look up the term "split infinitive." It's a rather ugly grammatical error that pops up often in your letter.

Just remember, it's much easier to be polite when you write an author, or anyone who's taken on a massive endeavor. Maybe even employing a little respect would take you a long way. I get the feeling there's something positive about you. Somewhere.

But you also learn that everyone everywhere seems to judge you and your work whenever you try your hand at something. I do have a question for you, because I've always wondered--and a writer-friend of mine brought it up the other day, and since the tone of your letter was so callous, I don't feel bad in asking the following question.

What makes you feel so strongly that you have the literary authority to judge the "delivery" of mine or any one else's book? Have you written before? Are you a tenured professor who specializes in LGBT literature?

Seriously, I don't often defend my work. I usually let it speak for myself, but why did you take time out of your day just to make me feel bad? I don't spell out many descriptions, because I prefer readers use their imaginations. That's just my style.

So I try to be grateful for anyone who's taken the time to read my book and write. At the same time Erik, I would be even more grateful if you'd give these questions some serious thoughtful consideration and write me back with your thoughts and answers.

Really, what motivates you to take the time to write someone you don't know, whose book you don't like, and then to rant on and on about how good their book could have been if only their writing abilities hadn't been so lacking?

I'm very interested in hearing your replies.

Thank you for your careful consideration.

Sincerely,