54 posts tagged “rant”

You know I love reviewing books. But I have to say that in the past few months, I am newly re-astonished at the crapola that gets published.

Yeah, I know, I've said it before.

Self-published books are one thing. Most of them don't go through an editor. STILL if you're going to pay to have your book published & you're going to put it out there in front of Buddha and everyone with your name on the cover, one would think you'd want it to be the best that it could be. SO that same "one" would also think that you'd run it through a spell checker. Maybe turn on the grammar checker (neither of which is always right, but they'll make you look at possible problems). And here's a radical idea: let someone who reads a lot who ISN'T in your family (in your cubicle, in your bed, in love with you) read it. OR take a writing class and submit it as a final project. OR join a writing group with people who aren't (and don't want to be) your best friend. OR pay someone to read it and critique it. I was my only editor on my book (though half of them were published in magazines, the paper, or on-line). Most of the stories went through several outside readers. All of the stories went through many, many re-writes. There were probably still errors and things I could have done better...but I own those mistakes.

Then there are the self-published books that DO go through an editor (paid by the author)...some of them are still crapola. I finished one a while back and I seriously considered contacting the author and telling them to sue their "publisher" or at least demand a refund.

I do NOT think self-published books are necessarily bad (obviously, since I wrote one myself), but a lot of them are. The sad thing is they don't have to be. I actually have a fondness for 'em. They are the underdogs. Those authors are (sometimes) the writers who have worked the hardest at their craft. (Really do YOU think James Patetrson pays a lot of attention to what flows out of his word processor? Oh, that's right he always works with a co-author!)

Then there are the books published by commercial publishers. I excuse them for publishing crap when it has a celebrity name on it (here too a caveat: all celebrity books are not poo. Jamie Lee Curtis is fantabulous! Julie (Andrews) Edwards can be.) Publishing houses have to make a buck, ya know! But, why are so many of the books I read (to review and for "fun") just plain drek? Books that have been through editors who get paid more than I do to read, critique, and punch up these works...and yet these works have errors aplent. Errors in grammar (and I do not usually read looking for those). Errors in style. Errors in narrative craft...sigh. Errors that are easily fixed...sigh again.

I finished a book a short while ago (author to remain nameless) by a supposed "fresh new voice" & the book had point of view problems. (Note to budding authors: if your book is narrated in the first person, your narrator can't know exactly what another character is thinking or feeling or what motivates their friends...unless your first person narrator is psychic--just use a little phrase like "I could tell he was feeling..." or "I bet he was remembering that time when he was five..." instead of "I looked at George. He felt sad." or "Sitting by Sam while he remebered that time when he was five...").

I should start an editing business. Of course, I'd have to charge on a sliding scale--the more painful the book is to read, the more I'd charge :-) Kidding! Well, about the sliding scale at least...maybe when I retire (ha ha, it is to laugh) I'll go in to business...or maybe I'll mid-life-crisis-job-change myself on up to NYC and present myself at a publishing house with ARCs marked up, and say: "You coulda done better. Now hire my ass!"

Oh, Yeah...Buy my book!

Seeking the Link

Tim Capehart

It's better than what I've been reading!  :-)   <--evil grin

But at least they gave us a laugh...

My e-mailed complaint got a response from one Lori Flores who offered us each $75 vouchers on our next flight.

I politely told her that was as good as salt in the wound in view of what we had spent on the tickets & the fact that we still have yet to recover.

Their response is akin to someone saying, "Yes, I poked you in the eye. Here's a discount on your next poke in the eye!"

Honestly, I thought that was the end of US Airways response. I joined www.airlinecomplaints.org and posted my letter there. (Got a response almost immediately telling me our experience was not singular). I thought about other options...just to get the word out.

A few hours later US Airways replied to my reply. This time Denise Cannon-Bush (obviously more important since she's hyphenated) told me that the company had procedures in place and the vouchers were all they could or would do for us. Here are a few paragraphs (unaltered save color) of her short reply:

Dear Mr. Capehart:
 
We are in receipt of your request for additional compensation. We apologize our original attempt at resolving this issue was not to your satisfaction.
 
In order all of our passengers are treated equally, our Executive Management has designated compensation guidelines to which this department must adhere. With these guidelines in mind, our Customer Relations management team has reviewed both our original request and your additional request. After careful evaluation, we were unable to discover any additional concerns causing us to reconsider our original compensation.

The highlighting is my work, but the text is pure US Airways.

I responded that her grammar was as poor as her customer service. (This made Trent laugh & that was a welcome sound given our ordeal). And I reminded her that while a happy customer might only tell one person about their experience, an unhappy customer will tell everyone.

I have gone on to file complaints with the Better Business Bureau and airconsumer.ost.dot.gov (the department of transportation). Next is a letter to the head of customer relations at US Airways just to let her know what has occurred and who I have contacted.

It might not be EVERYONE, but it's a start. 

Avoid them like the plague...if the flight is cheaper, it's not worth it. Here's my complaint letter to the company:

I am writing to complain about some of the worst customer service we have ever received from any company for any service. My partner Trent said near the end of our ordeal that May 30^th was the worst day of his life, and I would agree. We thought in a time when the airline industry is getting some of the worst press in years, that US Airways might go a few extra steps to win its customers over. Instead, from our experience it seems that US Airways has just given up.

Due to an unexpected death in the family, we had to fly to Northern Maine on very short notice. We booked our flight online on the 29^th to fly out the next afternoon. Here is a rundown of what we encountered:

Our first flight out of Dayton (to Philadelphia 2476) was supposed to leave at 1:37. The plane had trouble with its landing gear sensor. The ground crew tried to fix it. Our delay kept getting longer. Finally, they brought in another plane. We were set to leave Dayton at 4. The staff at the desk said they would call customers who might not make their connections up to the desk. After a half hour, they had not called ANYONE. Knowing we would not make our 4:15 flight out of Philly, I took the initiative to go to the desk and ask for a new flight. The staff didn’t seem to be able to handle the task. The ticket agent booked us on a flight out of Philly leaving PHL at 6:15, and assured me we’d make it. She basically lied about when the plane would arrive in Dayton and what the turnaround time would be to get it back in the air. She had booked us on a flight we had little chance to make.

While sitting on the runway for a half hour in Dayton, the stewardess let me use her cell phone to talk to customer service to try to get another flight from Philly to Boston. I asked the customer service agent if, since we had such a tight connection, they would hold the plane for a few minutes if we were late. She said, “Sometimes if there are a lot of people on a flight that is late who are making the same connection, they will hold the flight. Are there a lot of people on your flight connecting to Boston?” What did she expect me to do? Ask for a show of hands? She concluded that we’d probably have no trouble making the connection and stated that the flight we were booked on from Philly to Boston was the last flight of the day from PHL to BOS. Two more lies.

On arrival in Philly we ran to the bus between terminals, and we ran to the gate. We arrived at the gate (per the airport’s clocks) at 6:13. And were told quite rudely by the ticket agent at the counter that the flight had already left—it had & it hadn’t just pulled away from the gate, it was gone. (I find this even more reprehensible since on our return journey, I watched a ticket agent in Philly open the access door for a customer after it had been closed for departure and say, “Oh, they almost left without you.” Why did she merit this treatment when we didn’t especially since I had talked to the “customer service” agent on the phone?) We were told we had to trek across the terminal to find a customer service desk to see what they could do for us. Thinking that we had just missed the last flight out, I thought we’d have to get booked on another airline…but the woman at the customer service counter—who could not have displayed less concern for two wheezing, stressed customers—booked us on a 7:30 flight to Boston (flight 777).

Knowing our connection from Boston to Presque Isle was tight, I went to the ticket agent and asked if we could be moved up from the 16^th row so we could deplane as soon as possible. He moved us up to the 10^th row saying that was the best he could do and confirmed that the flight from Boston to Presque Isle was running about 20 minutes late. I thanked him profusely. But he’d lied too. When we got on the plane, the row in front of us was empty; and there were at least 10 other seats in the rows in front of us that were unoccupied. Flight 777 was supposed to leave at 7:30…but when the plane arrived it was subject to a TSA security check because it was an “international flight.” Then it had to be cleaned. Then we spent another half hour on the runway. If a flight has already been made late by airline or airport staff, wouldn’t it be a good idea to bump it to the front of the line for take off?

Our first break of the afternoon, now evening: the flight from Boston to Presque Isle WAS delayed due to “routine maintenance.” Thanks for that, but shouldn’t that be done after the flights for the day are complete or when the plane isn’t in service? So we actually made our original flight (4955) between Boston and Presque Isle. It had been scheduled to leave at 8:45. When we arrived at just after 9, it was scheduled to leave at 9:45…then 10:15…then 10:45…it finally left the ground after 11. Each time I checked on when we might leave, I was told another lie. We had been in the travel pipeline since noon. At no time did we have a chance to get something substantial to eat—we were always about to leave. Both of us were exhausted. Trent had a migraine. When I asked the ticket agent and her hangers-on if there was a way to turn down the annoying and omnipresent “Boston Logan Airport Radio,” I was treated to three sarcastic, joking responses (one from each).

We got to Presque Isle at about 12:30…but our luggage did not. So after being on the ground in Boston for over two hours AND making our original flight number, our luggage did not get on the plane to PQI with us. We got to go back to the airport the next day to pick it up.

An unbelievably stressful day was made excruciating by US Airways.

So, remember my passive-agressive gas-passer? The lovely company I pay exorbitant rates to for natural gas who forced me into a week long game of phone tag until I got sick of it and called customer service?

Welll! They do have customer service...it just sucks as much as the rest of the company!

So the operator last week scheduled a technician to come out today...between 8 and 12 (I know, I thought that was a pretty big window too--the techs from the two other companies that were out the week before, said 8-10 and both were spot on)...I said sure.

So here I am...not vacuuming so I'll be able to hear the phone...taking the phone out with me when I let the cat out back...waiting, waiting, waiting...

And at 11 I get a call from some guy who says, "Uh, what is it exactly that we are supposed to do out there? The technician with the order called back to find out."

I explained the whole situation. Phone tag. Getting fed up. Calling customer service.

He had to call me back. And he said that their technicians don't do that. that it's contracted out to another company. He was very helpful getting me connected...sorta...see I still had to wait for a call.

I told him this time, I'll be here for another 20 minutes & then I'm gone.

She called back. And said she's waiting for a tech to return her call (well, at least it's a company wide policy) I told her I was leaving at noon (to go talk to the vet)...and she did get back to me...and the tech made it WITH NINE  MINUTES TO SPARE!

Never let it be said that VEctren doesn't do the least they can for their customers!

I'm wondering if they get paid by the call...or if they get kickbacks from the phone company for keeping the wires hopping.

I'm also wondering what the phone numbers are for the other natural gas delivery companies in the area.

If you have a choice, avoid Vectren at all costs...because VECTREN SUCKS! 

OK, with apologies, since  I am again not going to name publisher or author. You might be able to guess from some of what I'm about to say...but I won't confirm or deny (because I reviewed it for someone much like the two previous posts in this series)...

Will someone tell me why mega-authors feel compelled to try their hand at writing for young people?

When your every book for adults goes to the top of the bestsellers list (and I like them, really!) WHY WHY WHY do you think you can write for kids?

Look, people, writing for young people without sounding saccharine, condescending, or lame is HARD. It's harder than writing for adults. This is mostly due to the fact that you ain't a kid any more & being a kid is nothing like what you are telling yourself you remember it being. If the kid you were...read the book you just wrote, they'd probably poke you in the eye...at the very least they would throw it at you.

And publishers...I KNOW the publishing game is about making a profit. I know that if Bestseller Betty comes to you with the desire to write "Equine Magic Dream Mystery" or Bestseller Bob comes with a plan for a series "just like Harry Potter only in outerspace with aliens and a graphic novel to boot!" I'm sure you publishers know their name will sell even the most asinine, brainless barf...but please PLEASE employ some editors! Remember them? They are the ones who used to read manuscripts and tell the author that the characters were cliches, the dialog was unintentionally laughable, there's a complete lack of internal logic in the narrative, and the plot points appeared in pulp fiction when grand-dad was in diapers...

Sigh...I just read one that was all of that and a bag of poo.

My brain is bruised, but at least it's over!

Unfortunately...come on, you know what comes next! SURE you do!

IT'S THE FIRST OF A SERIES!

Nobody likes their natural gas company now. Mine, Vectren, is really on my tits.

Usually I am just disgruntled about the size of the bill...oh, and the size of my customer number...it won't all fit on the memo line on my check; it's like 35 numbers long. And this stupid thing they have called "Vectren Rewards" where each dollar I spend on natural gas gets me the equivalent of frequent flayers miles that I can "spend" to buy cheap crap made in Korea...ACTUALLY I only get a discount on cheap crap made in Korea...AND I get to read my own meter five or six times a year...OK, I usually don't like them much.

Last week we got one of their little hangy things on the front door. Usually this just means I have to go read the meter, give them a call, and follow their contradictory directions (if the numbers in the two grey boxes aren't important why put the two grey boxes on the form?!). This time they said I had to schedule a visit from one of their inspectors.

As if I hadn't had enough boot-wearing strangers in my house in the last week!

So I called & got a machine. I hung up and called a half hour later...got a machine again. This time I listened to the cheery chick tell me she was sorry they couldn't take my call, but I should leave a message and they'd call back. I left a message & the next day when I was at work they called and left a message.

So I tried calling during the day--and got the machine...see Vectren can't be bothered to take my call when I have time to call them. In classic passive aggressive style, I have to leave them a message and take a call at their convenience. Two more days passed this way. I left them a message...they left me a message...(I can't take cell calls at work unless it's an emergecy & I'm not often at my desk so leaving any other call back number is out of the question). So yesterday, I told the cheery chick, this was my last call...

Yes, folks...Vectren sucks. You know PUCO puts that flier in your bill about comparing "apples to apples" about getting your gas or electric from a different company...maybe it's time to look into another apple vendor...

Dayton, Ohio likes to think of itself as a bigger town than it is. A couple years ago even the library changed its name from the more rural sounding "Dayton Montgomery County Public Library" to "Dayton Metro Library." (How cute!) Our population is under 160,000...I think of us as a big town...not even a small city...I know others might not agree.

And I AM quite bitter, though I try my darndest day in and out NOT to be.

I am bitter that Bush was allowed to be appointed to office by his party's Supreme Court appointees in 2000. I'm bitter that he was allowed to lie to congress repeatedly after 9/11 and then allowed to get away with it. I'm bitter that because of those lies my civil rights have been curtailed & race relations have gone into the toilet. I'm bitter that he was allowed to lie to congress about WMD in Iraq and START a war with some yahoo-saber-rattling, tin-pot dictator and screw the world up for generations to come.

I'm bitter that his campaign was allowed to use the issue of gay marriage to steal the election in 2004. I'm bitter that he and his buddies in the Oil Industry have demolished the economy and padded their pockets. I'm bitter that my state is still hemorrhaging jobs, and my city is hemorrhaging people (110,000 since 1960...we're back to 1920 in population). I'm bitter that over 4,000 young people have been stolen from their families and countless people in Iraq (who we never hear about) are dead because of this administration--all that potential forever gone.

I am bitter that what I was taught in elementary school about America has been turned to ashes, that progress has been reversed in science and civil rights and medicine and social equality, that the respect this country once commanded has vanished.

So...yes...I guess you could say I am just a little bitter. And I am ready for change. If I was wavering at all about who I want to see in the White House--the wavering is over.

I write. I think I write pretty well. I've won a few local awards. I published my book a couple months ago & sold a few. (I'm too damn lazy & too easily discouraged {and distracted} to go further...but I REALIZE those are the problems).

I also review literature. I think I review it pretty well. If nothing else, in the genres I review I bring a pretty large knowledge of what has gone before & what's out there now. I write regularly for Kirkus Reviews and VOYA. I write occasionally for Library Journal. I also write for Amazon (but that's a weird arrangement). I have written for SLJ & Parent's choice & Hornbook in years past. I review graphic novels, adult sci-fi, teen fantasy and sci-fi, picture books, general kids' fiction, teen GLBT fiction, and teen and adult non-fiction about Buddhism.

Some of the stuff I get to review would just blow your mind (in a BAD way).

Now, when I was on Newbery, sometimes authors who self published would send us their books. A couple were good. Most were awful...but they were self published. They never passed by an editor.

The items I get to review are nearly always from publishing houses. 99% of the stuff that comes from the names you'd recognize (Simon & Schuster, Candlewick, etc) is good to great. --There's always that one book that just stinks despite the fact that it's by an otherwise talented author...if you ever meet me ask me about the book "Starsplit" (barf!) or "that damn bunny book." Then there are the small publishing houses. A lot of what they publish is really good too--

A lot isn't.

I'm not naming names (publisher, title, or author), but I just read a book that should come with a either a reader-proof lock on the cover or a syringe of insulin. It comes from one of those authors who seem to think that childwren just wuv sweetness! It was the most   >.<  overly precious, overly punctuated!!! chapter book I have ever read. Know what I mean??? The animal characters all had cutsie names. It was chock full of extremely lame jokes...that were then explained. The adjectives were all flat...and repetitious...two pages in I was thinking "help me!" But I soldiered on...

I need your help here...say it with me and say it loud: Stop them before they write again!

I'm home for a few days to paint the house...well a couple small pieces of it (bathroom ceiling and basement hallway). I decided to get a couple other things out of the way whilst I was home. I made an appointment for my cat to get dental work done & for my car to get a check-up before my trip to Lexington at the end of the month...I artfully avoided making an appointment with a lawyer for Trent and myself (on the docket--he he) and an appointment for myself at the dentist (Bruegie has now been twice since I was last to the dentist)...

Well, Bruegie is 16 and putting such an old cat under anesthetic is always risky. I worried through the whole day yesterday. When I went to pick her up after her tooth cleaning (she seemed ok), they had one pill and two liquids they wanted me to give her--Huh? I wondered if they actually had ever spent any real time with cats...they don't DO pills. On the way home the Jeep started making a louder odd noise (louder than the slight thud it's been making for a couple weeks)...

I was just a wreck last night when I got home--poor Trent--the day's painting had not gone smoothly either. After calming down a little & seeing how much I had participated in the day's suffering, I resolved to do better on the morrow. Well, I was partially successful.

I successfully gave Bruegie one of the liquids and a pill this morning before looking them up on the Internet--which wasn't working. After chatting online (yes, I could connect, but Internet Explorer wasn't working, thanks for that update last night Microsoft!) with Ranier at my service provider...and talking to Chris (a nice Indian woman who has probably never even MET anyone named Chris), I was sent to Dell. I got a very nice man named Ramesh who helpd me out quite a lot despite the fact that my service contract has expired--he says it's been cold in Bombay, though he admitted he would actually call it Mumbai when I asked.

I then looked up one of the medicines & discovered it's not really safe for cats according to the FDA. It actually causes problems in dogs less than 10 lbs & Bruegie weighs just over 7...and is quite a feline--so I had just shot something into her mouth that could cause her kidneys to fail.

I have been a much better Buddhist (though labeling as good and bad isn't, erm... "good") today. I was polite and patient with all the people I "spoke to" about the computer problem. I didn't rip the vet a new one, though I wanted to--they say they even use it with kittens...we shant be going back there. I think Buddhists use lawyers, so if she gets sick South Dayton Veterinary Clinic will be sued.

Today's painting also went better...I'm actually done, allowing me to do taxes tomorrow if I am not at the car dealership all day--I haven't had enough stress yet  >.< 

All opposition to vaccines against HPV will now cease.

How does the psychic Disturbingfurniture do it?

He reads the news and knows that the straight, white men who make the law only care about themselves. So when their health is put in jeopardy...Jinkies! We gotta act quick! News story from MSNBC:

"ATLANTA - The sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer in women is poised to become one of the leading causes of oral cancer in men, according to a new study.

The HPV virus now causes as many cancers of the upper throat as tobacco and alcohol, probably due both to an increase in oral sex and the decline in smoking, researchers say.

The only available vaccine against HPV, made by Merck & Co., is currently given only to girls and young women. But Merck plans this year to ask government permission to offer the shot to boys."