Changes Come to Cubical Mouse

You guys, I am disturbed.

I am disturbed because some people are being unprofessional and ridiculous. Some people are threatening me. I am a bit frightened that, were people to identify me by name and location, I could be harmed.

About six months ago, I got fed up with seeing a book advertised - in the Metro trains, no less - as being "one great American novel." I wrote about how I thought this was a terrible marketing ploy, because quite frankly, the marketing did, and still does, disgust me. I dislike on principle people who claim to write serious books. I don't like it when people use fiction - made-up stories - to change my worldview. By calling this book a "great American novel", the marketing is saying that this is one of the greatest books ever written, and thus, such a thing will probably change my life. (If "The Great Gatsby," a great American novel, tried to influence me, you can bet that this book probably would.)

Here is the link for the book - I'm sending this via email, so I can't link.

http://www.atimeofseason.com/

Here's the link for my blogpost.

http://cubicalmouse.blogspot.com/2011/07/great-american-novel.html?m=1

So last week, one of the author's friends must have googled the book's title or the name of the author, and then found my blog. Since then, there have been a series of protesting comments - most of them anonymous - that ranged from saying I need to read the book before I pass judgement to calling me a fool to threatening my life. Yes. Threatening me because I complained about the marketing of a book. Most of the comments I left intact are harmless, the worst calling me a fool.

This whole thing however, has got to stop. It's unprofessional, unkind, and just plain trashy. You can bet a mainstream author would never do the same thing. (Can't see Lisa Kleypas or Orson Scott Card - or their friends - doing the same thing. I'm sure they have far more class.)

The marketing turned me off. I wrote about it. So what? Many people will dislike your writing (which I didn't do) and if people do, that's their prerogative. Unfortunately, if the author had a problem with my writing, the worst way to handle it was to threaten me!! He could have easily written a blog post on his own blog refuting me, and we could have gone on our merry ways, never having encountered the other.

So something's gotta give. I have decided that anonymous comments will still be allowed on this blog, but mean anonymous comments will not. If you want to say something that criticizes me, you need to do it using a valid Google login or name and valid URL. You need to be accountable for what you say.

You can still leave a mean comment somewhat anonymously if your Google login uses a pseudonym, not your real name.

Any threatening comments will be deleted no matter who makes them.

All comments will be subject to review before being posted live on the blog.

Sorry this is how it has to be, but apparently some people are incapable of acting professionally and maturely.