The metatags theory holds water for me. My book (funny erotica stories, het) was deranked, but only the paperback version, which was in the Books > Literature & Fiction > Erotica category. The hardback, which was not assigned to a category at all, remained ranked.
Sometime around 10:30 this morning the sales rank returned to my paperback. Personally I think it's because I demanded they also derank Twilight (for brutal necrophiliac sex) and the Harry Potter books (cuz Dumbledore was teh gay, Rowling said so!).
I'm curious to see what this does to everyone's Recommended Books lists, since we spent all day yesterday searching for gay books...
Shinyday #4:
"So if - as this Twitter site suggests - everyone and their dog is laughing at Palin and McCain, given that both the BBC and CNN agree that it was Republican congresspersons who shot the bailout package down, and that no-one including those Republicans is paying the slighest attention to Dubya now...
...why isn't Obama galloping away to certain victory? Or is this site suggesting that he is, and I'm misinterpreting it?"
Because what you read online is a very small, self-selected subset that does not accurately reflect the voting public. It's easy to just read Twitter and your favorite columnists and bloggers and come away thinking Obama will win in a landslide.
Dave @131: "As a lifelong lefty, I feel intuitively that the free market does not serve the interests of society at large, and this is surely a fine example."
Actually it's an example of how the market can work just fine. I have no doubt that as a result of the publicity this has received A&R will see a direct hit on their profit margin as outraged bookbuyers take their custom to other stores. Some because of these letters, some because of other practices that these letters are emblematic of, most because using these practices A&R will gradually devolve into stocking only best-sellers and discount books and customers will be unable to find what they want.
The trick is to make the market transparent and use only enough regulations to control criminal abuse.
Neil Gaiman has checked in.
The characters, their relationships and dialogue (most of the time). The attention to world-building detail. The attraction of the hero's journey story. Pretty much in that order.
Greg: it's true, Rowling does throw in more than her share of last-chapter "oh, by the way Harry, there's this bit of lore no one knew about" endings, but I enjoy the books enough to let them slide.
Re: houses. Since HP was also a satire on British boarding schools, the casual cruelties and competitions were pretty much required. However, several people act in ways their Houses were not known for, especially in the last book.
Greg: To use your examples, having the sword in hand and a Phoenix nearby would still have been suspenseful, since a 12-year-old boy going up against a giant snake would have been touch and go no matter what he was carrying with him. And there were indications earlier on that he could call for help and it would be given. Didn't take away from the danger to Harry or the bravery he displayed.
And the car was not manned by Weasleys. It had earlier escaped on its own into the woods and emerged, nearly feral, to rescue the boys. I didn't see it as a cheat or deus ex machina at all, more like "oh, that's where it went."
When it comes to increasing peril through withholding facts, I think there's a degree where some is acceptable as long as it doesn't invoke the "oh, come on" response. Your level may be much lower than mine...
Fair enough, he may well have changed anyway. As you say, he's a very complex characters. But there is a lot of discussion about how he was a good guy the whole time and I don't think that's true, either.
Renatus - True. But had Lily never been threatened by Voldemort I have no doubt Snape would have remained a faithful Death Eater. He didn't turn good, he turned vengeful and determined to honor her memory. Brave, yes, ultimately doing good works, yes. But the goal was never good. The goal was to get the guy who got Lily.
I disagree, however with the idea that Snape was Good. Snape was in love with Lily, and that determined his actions. If protecting her or her memory required him to do evil things, I suspect he would have done them just as promptly. I liked that about the character, because he was too much of an arrogant jerk in the first 6 books to suddenly become an angel.
The reason for the off-camera wedding, deaths, discoveries, and the lightweight epilogue is obvious: J.K clearly left huge wide-open areas for fanficcers to leap merrily into. I anticipate lengthy, conflicting explanations of each of these scenes and lots of "Harry Potter: The Missing Years" stories to keep those fan sites active for years to come.
They do. The Supreme Court interpreted it to mean the President can pardon, partially pardon, commute, respite sentences, remit fines, etc. Check out the DOJ's page on it.
One of my few complaints about the movie The Princess Bride was the loss of the penultimate scene, where (SPOILERS) the four are onj the white horses, bruised, battered and bleeding, and the brutes line up in front of them only to have Buttercup stand them down ("I am your QUEEN!"). The one thing she actually did -- aside from being loving and faithful, which is no small thing -- and it had to be chopped out.
Gotta agree with the fear aspect. Here's what I posted in his comments:
Me, I think it’s fear. Too many men are afraid they are not strong so they bolster themselves by punishing the weak, just because they can. Too many men are afraid of how lust takes over their thoughts and makes them lose control so they subjegate what they see as the origin of that lust, either by punishing women for being attractive or by just raping them to get what they want. Too many men are afraid of how their friends and family will regard them if the women under their control try to defy orders and live for themselves. Too many men are afraid of life in general, and they banish the fear by becoming an object of fear themselves. And too many women agree with this and stand by as it happens.
I don’t think womb-envy answers it. I suspect Joss personally envies the womb but lacks even the slightest fear of women that would help him recognize it in others. This is a Good Thing, and should be spread around.
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| 2009 | 2 |
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| 2007 | 12 |
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