Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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THE GREAT ARCHIVE
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What's New From Josh?
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Please. The Mystery MARTINI GLASS. ;-D
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It's all relative. When I used to get a "C" in algebra, I was over the moon. But a "C" in any kind of English class would have had me reaching for a razor blade. :-D
I don't know much about mystery writers, though I did read Agatha Christie's autobiography.The science fiction community are a bunch of gossiping hens, so even 30 years ago you heard what folks (authors) were up to. I wasn't totally reading in a vacuum.
At first when I was online I avoided following or seeking out authors. Some were jerks and that sort of scared me off for a while. Now I'm sort of used to the contact but I'm still a bit in awe that I can communicate with just about anyone.
When I followed George Takei on FB and William Shatner on Twitter a while back it was a "wow" moment for me. Star Trek was part of my childhood, a time with really no social networking besides face-to-face.
John Cleese's tweets are hilarious, as are the rest of the crew from Monty Python, as you'd expect. Even HRH Prince Charles tweets once in a blue moon. He's very droll.
I've stopped rating and I don't review. Perhaps it is only temporary. Along the weeks I've questioned my integrity in those. My taste evolves. Some ratings became obsolete, others might have been influenced by interacting here. It's unavoidable. Even if I am just a grain of sand, it bothers me not being able to be fair. At the moment I don't want to grade, or review, but I like analysing, learning and talking about books.
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That's the only useful part anyway.
We are a grade/score oriented culture. But the grade is not the important part of any course. It is what you learned. What you take away from your studies.
I see people rushing through books in order to rate and review. That is just...not what the reading experience should be.
Josh wrote: "Anne wrote: "Lou wrote: "As an introvert and a private person I share only so much of myself on social media. I have the constant nagging notion I should be more outgoing, promote myself more--and ..."It's depressing if you're right. And perhaps you are. I still wish to hold on to the belief that quality shines through in the end. But there will be some who manage to fool so many that they actually do make a living of it to the detriment of the good ones who don't. A sad state of affairs for sure.
Josh wrote: It's all relative...True. And, about getting a "C" that would be because you know what you're doing and you can write.
Josh wrote: "Na wrote: "but I like analysing, learning and talking about books. ..."
That's the only useful part anyway.
We are a grade/score oriented culture. But the grade is not the important part of any..."
I rush through books to find out how they end, then later I reread at a slower pace (unless it was a bad book) ;-)
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True. And, about getting a "C" that would be because you know what you're doing and you can write."
That's part of it, you bet! I was lucky to get a C in algebra. :-D
Sometimes I read critical reviews and think: okay, fair enough. Other times I think: you don't know what you're talking about.
(Er, not YOU. I do think YOU know what you're talking about. I appreciate your reviews ;-) )
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Phew! *Decides to keep writing those not-real-reviews-but-more-like-scattered-thoughts of bo..."
You write excellent reviews. You know why I think so? Because you are cogent and articulate, but also because your reviews are very personal and you share why you are reacting the way you do. Anyone reading your review knows exactly where you are coming from. That's useful."
Thank you, dear. *blushes a little* Hearing that really means a lot to me — especially because my English is far from perfect.
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I don't know, but there's difference between being accessible and over-sharing. You don't do the latter.
As for reviews..."
The fact that so many people are actively talking about books seems like it is a good thing.
But at the same time it feels like books are increasingly less valued, so who knows?
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Please. The Mystery MARTINI GLASS. ;-D"
*splutter* :-)
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Agreed.
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..."
That's the only useful part anyway.
We are a grade/score oriented culture. But the grade is not the importan..."
LOL
I only do that if I really can't take the suspense.
In fact -- this is really bad, I think -- I've started checking out the endings of movies on Wikipedia if I'm afraid of how it's going to turn out. :-D
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I hate grading the works of my art students with school numbers. I don't think we should be doing evaluation like this (numbers, stars, whatever) when art is concerned.
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and now we have officially moved TOTALLY off topic. :-P
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Which is one of the things that makes this group such a delightful place. :-D
Johanna wrote: "Josh wrote: "and now we have officially moved TOTALLY off topic. :-P"Which is one of the things that makes this group such a delightful place. :-D"
Yes! ;)
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TTY'all Later.
Josh wrote: "I got so cocky about being in the homestretch, I've used up all my morning! Oops. :-D TTY'all Later."
Yes, back to work with you! ;)
ETA: a very good and fun discussion, thank you.
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When I write reader comments, and that's not often, I think of it as just that, my comments. Sometimes I write because I feel that a book deserves reader attention (and maybe hasn't received much), and sometimes my comments are my public thanks to a writer. But I'm very uncomfortable with considering what I've written as a review, because it really isn't one. I seldom synopsize. I don't critique. I don't "review" books I didn't like. I do look at some reviews (the ones without those giant flashing gifs), mostly those by members of this group or by writers I read. And that's useful, but it's almost always the excerpt that seals the deal.
Idamus wrote: "I rush through books to find out how they end, then later I reread at a slower pace (unless it was a bad book) ;-) ..."I do this too. It's one of the reasons I like audiobooks; I can't rush them. I rarely listen to a book before I've read it, unless I know I have a long period in which to listen -- because I'm in too much of a hurry to find out what happens!!
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But other authors started requesting reviews from readers of freshly pubbed books, and someone else came out with the list of questions for her reviews and I started to think about doing more "review" type things.
I do find that some reviews are helpful, especially when then blurb isn't. They often help clarify things. Also, I'll read almost anything. I don't really have any hard limits, don't really need a safeword or any of that. lol. But I know so many people do, so I think it's good to be able to put some of those specific things into a review, so that those who can't read about certain things will be forewarned. And I then add a section of "personal thoughts" where I can gush about it, or explain why I rated it low, or high, or whatever.
When I do book reviews for work, I do them very differently because it's on a blog. There is no blurb at the top of the page. So I summarize the book in paragraph one, and then paragraph two is why I liked or didn't like it. Audio books will get three paragraphs, so I can talk about the narrator too.
But the whole reviewing outside of work has only been a recent thing. I'm also finding it to be a good thing for me personally, because my memory is crap. And I've gone back to review previously read books and forgotten important parts to be able to review it properly. So, having those comments to jog my memory months or years later, is a good thing.
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Yes, Josh, you are the Mysterious Martini Glass!
I've never really wanted to know a lot about specific authors. Growing up, I didn't know anything. That's just the way it was. And therefore, it was a treat to get to see them in person, doing a talk and signing books. :-) I think that has just followed me into the next century.
Jordan wrote: "As far as getting to know authors closely, I don't know that much about most of the authors I read. Sure I follow some of them on Twitter, or interact here in this group, but I still don't know a l..."Yes, I too am very last century in this way. As a child I wrote a letter to the author of my favourite books and was thunderstruck when he not only wrote back but included a drawing (he illustrated his own books). That letter was my most treasured possession for a very long time :-)
My mother sent a card to Isaac Asimov and received a post card as a reply. I still have it.
Lou wrote: "When I was a kid I sent a letter and a drawing of a dodo to Gerald Durrell. (There was an address at the end of one of his books.) He wrote me back, or probably his staff, but it did..."I loved Durrell's books. They were so much fun. I didn't discover them until adulthood though. Pity.
I also loved the James Herriott veterinary series. I still have my battered paperback copy of All Creatures Great and Small
The audiobooks of Gerald Durrell's books are very good, especially the ones he also narrates.
Hj wrote: "The audiobooks of Gerald Durrell's books are very good, especially the ones he also narrates."Oh cool! I will look for them.
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http://joshlanyon.blogspot.fi/2014/09...
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There is a hilarious interview with Kit and J.X. in the brand new Newsletter! Made me laugh out loud (several times!). :-D
ETA: The first part of that interview was in Josh's December 2013 Newsletter.
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This latest Josh blog is wonderful. Josh, you seem to be in a very good place. :-)
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I haven't been able to watch any Tom Cruise movies since he..."
When I started reading your books, Josh, I was still used to the idea of the writer being somewhere else. Somewhere I couldn't talk to them or see them unless they did a book signing near me.
If you dropped off the face of the internet, but kept writing, it wouldn't bother me, in that I would still keep reading your work. However, knowing you now as I do here on GR, I would probably worry that things were suddenly not okay, unless you explained with good reasoning why you were withdrawing from the world to continue to write, or not, as the case might be.
I see other authors who aren't on social media as much, they tend to come in for awhile then duck out again. And that's normal for them, so I don't think twice when we don't hear from Aleks or Ginn or whomever. I do miss hearing what they have to say, of course. But you do tend to show up here on a fairly regular basis, almost daily, so it would be weird if you suddenly didn't. Perhaps for others who aren't here on GR or any other place you frequent like this, they wouldn't notice as much if you withdrew from the internet.
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http://joshlanyon.blogspot.de/"
Am wicked excited about this new Christmas anthology! And all four authors are authors I want to read. So yay! I'm always bummed when an anthology contains only one or two works I'm interested in. So glad that isn't the case here. :-D
Ohh, I hadn't read that blurb before now. Just a few more weeks...
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http://notyourusualsuspects.blogspot...."
The blurb for Fair Play sounds soooooo good!
I hope this link works. It's Josh writing about the poets of WWI and Out of the Blue for Charlie Cochrane on her LJ account (she sets many of her books in that period).http://charliecochrane.livejournal.co...
Jordan wrote: "Sabine wrote: "A new blog post:http://joshlanyon.blogspot.de/"
Am wicked excited about this new Christmas anthology! And all four authors are authors I want to read. So yay! I'm always bummed wh..."
Oh yes, this anthology looks great. Very keen. :)
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Thank you for the link, Hj!
HJ wrote: "I hope this link works. It's Josh writing about the poets of WWI and Out of the Blue for Charlie Cochrane on her LJ account (she sets many of her books in that peri..."Thank you, I wouldn't have noticed this post!
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Q&A with Josh Lanyon
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To be honest, I'm considering not writing them anymore, except for me when I adore a book.