Reviews

[Jules Siegel]

At 07:38 PM 05/14/97 -0400, "Gary L. Thompson" <glt at tardis.svsu.edu> wrote:

>Wouldn't it be preferable in that case to go to the editor (or in this
case, send e-mail) and say "I really don't think I should write this
review--I can't finish the book, the prose is too turgid," or whatever the
objections were (that was last week and I've filtered too much through my
head by now to remember)? 

Why? It's much more direct and honest to publish the memo as a review. It's
also more interesting. He read enough of the book to make the decisioon that
it wasn't worth reading. That was his opinion on the matter and that's what
he was being paid to express.

>Some of the listers who've read your work seem to think it's responsible
use--but the 
>way it appeared on the list was bound to raise hackles (deliberately?).

I think you'll have to see the book and note what I used and how before
making any judgments. I did not deliberately wish to raise any hackles. That
was just assumed as part of the cost of publishing the book. As I said in an
earlier message no formal announcement was made to the list. Dale privately
notified the people whose material appeared in the book and asked them not
to re-post his message until he had time to make a formal announcement. One
person did so anonymously anyway (I think the person in question had a
one-line item in which he was actually quoting me) and from then on all we
could do was react.

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