10 Oct 2006 kja myspace blog; More on the Talifan

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D Pope
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10 Oct 2006 kja myspace blog; More on the Talifan

Post by D Pope »

http://www.myspace.com/kevinjanderson/blog/178687160



More on the Talifan
Oct 10, 2006



I appreciate the comments on my last blog. Some of you asked me to clarify
who I was including in the "talifan." As Sandchigger pointed out in his
comment, not everybody who doesn't enjoy the new Dune novels is an
"irrational fanatic." Of course not. Like everybody else, I have my likes and
dislikes. A novel or series that is wildly popular among some readers, may not
do anything for me. We've all got different tastes. But if I don't like a novel,
I don't read any further books in that series -- or maybe I don't read anything
else by that author. But I don't go on a crusade to try to stop the author
from publishing any more books, or lambast every fan who claims to like it.


Before our first Dune prequel, HOUSE ATREIDES, was published, a gang of
these "talifan" decided they wanted to ruin our sales. Even though there
were fewer than a dozen of them, they used multiple screen names and
posted 60 one-star reviews on amazon.com, making statements like "I don't
even need to read this book to know how bad it is," or calling Brian "the
Antichrist" and me "the Dummy of Dune." (Remember, the book wasn't even
out yet, and none of these people had read it.) Someone else posted a truly
vile and disgusting cartoon of me and Brian gang-raping Frank Herbert's corpse.


Other individuals have gone onto Wikipedia and repeatedly sabotaged our
entry in the Dune section. Some conspiracy nuts have insisted quite
vehemently that we are making up the whole story of finding Frank Herbert's
notes and outlines, even though we've posted scans of the old floppy computer
disks with Frank Herbert's labels plainly on them, and published a great many
of the chapters and notes in THE ROAD TO DUNE. Some of the conspiracy
nuts claim that it's "too convenient" that we would find all of Frank Herbert's
notes soon after we began work on the Dune novels. That's a rather lame
argument. Brian had placed all his father's papers in storage after his death,
and he didn't dig through all the boxes until we started working. It's not
surprising when you don't find something until you actually look for it.
A conspiracy? Not at all.


Others have held up what they call "errors" to show that we don't know
what we're doing...although the answers to most questions they ask are
clearly explained in the books, so it's obvious they didn't bother to read
the novels before complaining about them.


I like to use a comparison to Star Trek, which was created by Gene
Roddenberry in 1966 and lasted three seasons. I liked classic Star Trek and
grew up on Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Many years later, Star Trek: The Next
Generation debuted, based on some ideas of Gene Roddenberry's, with a
whole new cast of characters, and a new look and feel, though it was set
in the same universe. Roddenberry passed away not long after the show got
going. His successors carried on Star Trek, with full authorization from the
original creator, and kept the series going through seven seasons (I think),
four movies, and then spinoff series Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise.


Not all fans liked all incarnations of Star Trek, but each show was legitimate
and authorized by the original creator and his estate. As far as I know, crazy
fans didn't band together and do everything possible to crush the show and
make certain no other Star Trek was ever aired because "Classic Star Trek
is the only Star Trek." If they didn't like it, they didn't tune in anymore, and
the ratings declined (which is exactly what happened with Enterprise.)


Our Dune novels are based on the background that Frank Herbert left us.
It is very clear that Frank intended to continue his chronicles, had he lived.
Anybody who has read CHAPTERHOUSE DUNE to the cliffhanger ending,
knows that he intended to publish at least another volume to complete
the story. Frank wrote his very last novel (MAN OF TWO WORLDS) in
collaboration with his son Brian, and he asked Brian to work together with
him to write the story of the Butlerian Jihad (which we did in THE BUTLERIAN
JIHAD, THE MACHINE CRUSADE, and THE BATTLE OF CORRIN).


Using thousands of pages of his notes and his outlines, Brian and I write
original books. Do we do everything exactly the way Frank Herbert would
have done it? Because that's not possible, we have never attempted to
do so. We do, however, write the best novels we can, in what we believe
is a manner true to the Dune Universe. The vast majority of readers
understand this and enjoy the books. Other people may read the novels and
not think they're up to the caliber of the original DUNE (but then, what other
book IS?!), and they're entitled to their opinions. I'm grateful to those of you
who give our books a chance.

KJA






...
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
-AToE
Serkanner
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Re: 10 Oct 2006 kja myspace blog; More on the Talifan

Post by Serkanner »

Huh?
a Hack wrote:"Other people may read the novels and ... they're entitled to their opinions."
a Hack wrote:"so it's obvious they didn't bother to read the novels before complaining about them"
lotek
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Re: 10 Oct 2006 kja myspace blog; More on the Talifan

Post by lotek »

jabecca wrote:I am a Dune fan. I am also married to Kevin J. Anderson.

I wanted to let all of the posters so far know how much I appreciate your comments on Kevin's blog. Each of you has been thoughtful and civil — including those who, like Sand Chigger, are not currently fans.

Let me assure you all that Kevin has *never* criticised a fan for simply not liking something he wrote. Tastes vary from person to person, and Kevin is realistic enough to understand this and not take it personally.

My own objections (and many of Kevin's) to comments/commenters begin when

1. Commenters have not read the material they are criticising
2. Commenters make personal attacks on the author
3. Commenters attempt to damage the career and/or reputation of the author
4. Commenters threaten the author, publisher, or anyone else involved with the material
5. Commenters draw broad negative conclusions about the author (whom they have not met) and announce those comments as fact
6. Commenters forget that the author is a fellow human being and not a monster that they need to destroy in order to score points in Life's Cosmic RPG

These things, to me, constitute the form of verbal terrorism we attribute to the Talifan. There may be a few other categories I've overlooked, but those are the ones that sprang to mind for now.

Lastly, you should know that Kevin works his butt off, night and day (70+ hours a week), pretty much every day of the year (yes, even Christmas, birthdays, and our anniversary), to write the best books possible, because that's what he believes his fans deserve. He also does countless book signings, speeches, and conventions to meet his readers and be available to them. He's even here on MySpace.

You don't have to love everything Kevin writes, but please treat him with respect. He deserves it.

ciao & hugs,

Rebecca
In short, the Jihad is over. It ended just as SandRider predicted it would, not with a bang or even a whimper, by simple attrition.
- D. Pope
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Re: 10 Oct 2006 kja myspace blog; More on the Talifan

Post by D Pope »

Thanks for adding this, mate.

What an oh-so-reasonable plea to stop the hate.
When a brand knew urinal puck showed up in the bathroom of my studio, I knew what I had to do.
-AToE
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Re: 10 Oct 2006 kja myspace blog; More on the Talifan

Post by SandRider »

We do, however, write the best novels we can ...
I have always agreed with this sentiment, whether uttered
by Keith, Jabecca Molesta, or the Other Guy : I do believe
that the McDune are as good as they can be, given the
talent & intellect of the "authors" ....

the comparison of McDune with post-Roddenberry Star Trek is,
of course, flawed .... the continuation of Star Trek was carried
out by talented folk with great respect for and attention to detail
of the original material ...
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Re: 10 Oct 2006 kja myspace blog; More on the Talifan

Post by Omphalos »

^^^Agree.
Something is about to happen, Hal. Something wonderful!

-James C. Harwood, Science Fiction Writer, Straight (March 5, 1956 - May 25, 2010)



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SandRider
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Re: 10 Oct 2006 kja myspace blog; More on the Talifan

Post by SandRider »

Jabecca Molesta wrote: My own objections (and many of Kevin's) to comments/commenters begin when

1. Commenters have not read the material they are criticising
2. Commenters make personal attacks on the author
3. Commenters attempt to damage the career and/or reputation of the author
4. Commenters threaten the author, publisher, or anyone else involved with the material
5. Commenters draw broad negative conclusions about the author (whom they have not met) and announce those comments as fact
6. Commenters forget that the author is a fellow human being and not a monster that they need to destroy in order to score points in Life's Cosmic RPG
1. That dog won't hunt, for obvious reasons ....
2. Keith is a "public figure", with blahgs & twits &etc. -- fair fucking game ...
3. Keith's "reputation" is a penny-per-word SciFi Hack ... no-one in the actual
literary world has ever taken him seriously ... and personally, I would like see
his "career" fucking ended, not just "damaged" ....
4. I don't think any of the True OH have ever "threatened" Keith, altho we have all
collectively prayed for the bear-shaped meteor to crash into his castle ... which I'm
pretty sure is covered under First Amendment Religious Freedoms ...
5. Blowhard, asshat, shitheel, socially inept, &etc ... hard to actually refute those claims ...
6. As a person, Keith is just a blowhard asshat shitheel that I would probably end up
beating the shit out of in the parking lot after a few drinks, regardless of his "occupation";
but I must say I never once considered the metaphor Jabecca puts forth ... interesting
that she would come up with "Life's Cosmic RPG" ...
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Re: 10 Oct 2006 kja myspace blog; More on the Talifan

Post by Omphalos »

"Life's cosmic RPG" was probably a metaphor she swiped from KJA's DnD fanfic.
Something is about to happen, Hal. Something wonderful!

-James C. Harwood, Science Fiction Writer, Straight (March 5, 1956 - May 25, 2010)



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Re: 10 Oct 2006 kja myspace blog; More on the Talifan

Post by lotek »

And a uneducated way to imply the OH are a bunch of nerdy kids with no social skills that still play RPGs, so you see that's why they all haterz not likah us normah peepeulz.

Which is kinda ironic considering the stupid implied here is more a case of the required level to be a preek.
In short, the Jihad is over. It ended just as SandRider predicted it would, not with a bang or even a whimper, by simple attrition.
- D. Pope
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