In response to a bad review
It happens. As an author I know how important it is to not respond to the review directly. I still pouted about it. Everyone is allowed their opinion. And I know what I write isn’t for everyone.
But sometimes a review is just wrong. And this one made me angry.
So I’ve turned it into content.
Sorry not sorry, but if the review is going to call my book “nothing but a series of hot wet dreams,” yes, I will use that to advertise a book about a ghost who seduces the heroine in her dreams.
And if a review claims my book has a Black character defending a neo-nazi, I’m going to write a response about it.
I’m not mad the reviewer DNFed (did not finish) the book, that’s their choice. I’m mad they left a damning sentence that is incorrect in a review. What they said that occurred in the story did not. They reported the reaction one character thought was happening.
The Black character is not defending a neo-nazi, but the misinterpretation of markings they want to protect from being taken over by such groups. The reviewer jumped to the same conclusion the FMC did, and that’s what I want to address.
This reader clearly DNFed at the same time the FMC made the assumption that the runic tattoos meant the other character was a white supremacist. The reviewer couldn’t have read the rest of the scene. If they had, they would have learned that the original runes, the written language given to Odin, are not some automatic connection to hate groups. That character’s tattoos had nothing to do with hate groups, but were a significant aspect of his religion.
The character doesn’t even have any of the specific symbols that current hate groups are trying to make use of. He has a small prayer for battle written in runes along the edge of his hair cut. He and his friends, including a Black man, go on to explain that the Norse Heathens they align themselves with are inclusive, and embrace diversity. After all, Loki was a mother—but that’s another story.
The characters even go on to explain how some bastardizations of certain runes are used by those hate groups, but the unaltered rune is not a hate symbol.
There is a group called Heathens Against Hate, and they are very concerned with “misuse of sacred Germanic symbols by alt-right elements within Heathenry.” When I learned about this group, that’s when I got the spark of an idea that eventually became the Berserker Boys trilogy. And that’s what the scene in the book addresses.
The character in question isn’t a reformed white supremacist, because he never was one to begin with. He is a Norse Heathen, and a self-proclaimed Viking. He’s a berserker warrior who shifts into a bear during magical battles. He’s woke AF. He drives an electric vehicle and knows that recycling needs to be done on a massive corporate scale to have impact, but he still cuts up those ring-drink holders because of sea turtles and holds on to his trash so it can get recycled properly.
I’m not going to reply directly to the review, that’s bad form. But talking about it on my blog… damn skippy that’s going to happen.
And if you want to make your own opinions about Berserker Boys and the characters Vik, Wolf, and Scottie, you can now listen to the stories for free on YouTube.
They have been edited/abridged of the spicy scenes to comply with community standards
Ebook available here
