Author |
Message |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.169.219.51
| Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 05:12 pm: | |
I've now started two new real-time reviews for 'Cold To The Touch' by Simon Strantzas and 'The Exaggerated Man' by Terry Grimwood. Linked from here: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/recent_reviews_of_books_by_dfl.htm Is this form of reviewing valid? Or am I wasting my time? |
Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch
Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.72
| Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 05:44 pm: | |
I enjoy it, Des. You do it well. Just have to keep remembering to look regularly, though... |
Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec
Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85
| Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 05:58 pm: | |
I enjoy it too, Des - you're definitely not wasting your time. So far, I've ended up buying two books on the strength of your reviews, and there are a few more on my "must have" list. |
Steve Bacon (Stevebacon)
Username: Stevebacon
Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.210.209.169
| Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 07:38 pm: | |
I, too, enjoy them, Des. You always uncover a different angle, or identify a theme which would otherwise lie undetected. Keep them up, please. |
Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej
Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233
| Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 07:41 pm: | |
Des, your reviews are absolutely superb, a cut above most others; even the authors themselves find your intuition uncanny. _____________________ http://stevejensen.eu |
Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry
Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.26.90.161
| Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 08:42 pm: | |
Des, keep it up: they're fab. They help authors, too. I know I've sold books of my stuff on the strength of your comments. |
Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej
Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233
| Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 09:01 pm: | |
Besides, if you stop writing reviews, I'll never get to find out what 'gestalt' means! |
Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry
Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.26.90.161
| Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 09:09 pm: | |
One day you'll see the big picture, Steve! |
Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej
Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233
| Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 09:18 pm: | |
Ich bin ein dummkopf... |
Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick
Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.118.49
| Posted on Friday, July 31, 2009 - 09:18 pm: | |
|
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.169.219.51
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 09:54 am: | |
Thanks for your comments above: Did I invent this type of reviewing? (Based on a forty year study of Wimsatt's 'The Intentional Fallacy' and the actual reading of fiction texts with both enjoyment and rigorousness...) Self-doubt creeps in, just as easily as extraneity creeps in. Neil Williamson, I think, first called them 'Real-Time'. Some have also called them 'stream-of conscious' reviews. Others, perhaps with a (intentionally?) pejorative purpoase, have called them 'interactive' reviews. They have not yet become fully interactive becase most authors have taught themselves to be reticent about reactions to reviews. Which is a shame, as my view (in tune with Wimsatt) is that each reader owns a fiction text, and the author, once the text is posited in the audience arena, is just another reader, equally empowered to comment upon the text he or she once created. A few authors I've real-time reviewed have not commented at all, either to me personally or publicly. Many of the authors have commented on the real-time reviews that I've given their books and I quote them here: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/recent_reviews_of_books_by_dfl.htm |
Simon Strantzas (Nomis) Username: Nomis
Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 99.227.90.149
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 10:36 am: | |
A short dip into Cold to the Touch reveals I barely remember the stories, let alone writing them, so perhaps you're right, Des; perhaps my comments would be just as legitimate as any other readers on the book. But when I don't comment on your review it has less to do with my being reticent about commenting on reviews and more to do with my being reticent to be perceived as the sort who would comment on his reviews. Does that make sense? I think, barring those who are only casual readers, most readers with any sense of the wider world of writing view authors who comment on reviews (especially negative ones) as being a bit suspect. Shouldn't they simply smile politely while taking their lumps and move on? Maybe or maybe not, but as long as that's the general feeling it seems unwise to go against it and alienate people. After all, you're unlikely to gain readers by commenting, so the best you can hope for is to lose no one. Thus, it makes more sense to shut up and not risk anything at all. That said, I of course appreciate your real-time interactive stream-of-consciousness reviews (especially where my fiction is involved!) |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.169.219.51
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 10:41 am: | |
Thanks, Simon. A very considered view and one I understand. In fact, I knew already that was the reason. I was just saying that it was a 'shame' ... especially in the light of what underpins this type of reviewing. |
Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert
Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.21.234.133
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 12:02 pm: | |
I'm more used to the Joshi school of reviewing and always looked a trifle askance at, say, Donald Burleson's Derrida-based analyses, but after a fashion I did see the point of them. As long as there is substance . . . A review shouldn't deteriorate into something which cannot be understood unless it is in turn dissected by yet another reviewer. |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.169.219.51
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 01:13 pm: | |
I don't think there is any technique of reviewing that should not be subject to peer group examination, and, if so, further examination of that examination by the original reviewer ... perhaps ad infinitum, ad absurdum. It just seems to me, some techniques can bear more fruit, controversial or not. And uncluttered by Biography of Extraneity-Creep. |
Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert
Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.21.234.133
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 02:38 pm: | |
Yes, it certainly can get pretty ad absurdum. Imagine regular journalism - the kind one encounters in one's daily newspaper - lapsing into stream-of-consciousness: I think the paper would lose its readers pretty quickly. And to me a review is an instance of journalism first and foremost. |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.169.219.51
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 02:43 pm: | |
Other people refer to 'stream of conscious', not me. Whatever I do is aspirationally based on the text and nothing but the text. So perhaps mine is the purest form of journalsim. More 'Independent' than 'News of the World'. |
Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej
Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 03:04 pm: | |
Des, have you read George Steiner's Real Presences? |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.169.219.51
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 03:08 pm: | |
No, but I am intrigued by your question. I've heard of him, I think. |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.169.219.51
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 03:10 pm: | |
BTW, Hubert, my reference to 'ad absurdum' was in response to your suggestion of reviewers checking each other, not to any other aspect. |
Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert
Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.21.234.133
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 03:11 pm: | |
Whatever I do is aspirationally based on the text and nothing but the text. Well, correct me if I'm wrong but all I see is Des, Des, Des . . . I mean no offense, of course. |
Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert
Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.21.234.133
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 03:13 pm: | |
Whatever I do is aspirationally based on the text and nothing but the text. Well, correct me if I'm wrong but all I see is Des, Des, Des . . . I mean no offense, of course. |
Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert
Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.21.234.133
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 03:14 pm: | |
*oops*, sorry about that. |
Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej
Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 03:14 pm: | |
Well, your reviews (even those of books with which I'm familiar) often remind me of Steiner's essay on the arts; the styles are very different, but the insights are both brilliant and striking. Reading your review of Mostly Monochrome Stories, I was reminded of this, from Real Presences: We are, at key instants, strangers to ourselves, errant at the gates of our own psyche. We knock blindly at the doors of turbulence, of creativity, of inhibition within the terra incognita of our own selves. |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.169.219.51
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 03:16 pm: | |
That's an interesting point. I try to give the text a positive spin based on what I see in the text, as filtered through the reviewer, me. Filters can work both ways, as I have said in many of these reviews. It seems to work. Although it is an experiment. And as soon as I feel the experiment is not working, I will cease. |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.169.219.51
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 03:19 pm: | |
Steiner said it much better than me! Thanks, Steve. His words can be seen to relate to my last post that was in response to Hubert's 'Des' Des, Des...' |
Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej
Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233
| Posted on Saturday, August 01, 2009 - 03:29 pm: | |
Des, judging by the comments of reviewed authors and also what I've heard from writers like Ally Bird, I can tell you that your work is very much appreciated. Sometimes it takes an 'outsider' to divine the meaning of any fictional work, something which the authors either recognise themselves or fail to notice until you light the way... Your work, whatever style you adopt, is important - to the authors, to readers in general, and would-be reviewers like me. |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.169.218.21
| Posted on Sunday, August 02, 2009 - 09:45 am: | |
Thanks, Steve. And thanks, Hubert, for giving me food for thought... I did ask for positive and negative reactions to these reviews. More reactions would be welcome, as I seem to be spending more and more time on these things. |
Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert
Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.21.234.133
| Posted on Sunday, August 02, 2009 - 10:35 am: | |
Don't see it as a negative reaction, Des, I'd rather you see it as a constructive one. |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.169.218.21
| Posted on Sunday, August 02, 2009 - 10:40 am: | |
Yes, Hubert, negative reactions can be more constructive than positive ones. And yours is. |
Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej
Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233
| Posted on Sunday, August 02, 2009 - 01:01 pm: | |
Des, how on earth do you handle reviewing a book you don't care for? I have to review a novel written by a 'name' author, which has received fantastic reviews and, quite literally, I seem to be the only person who thinks the work is rather poor, and derivative... |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.169.218.21
| Posted on Sunday, August 02, 2009 - 01:04 pm: | |
Well, I only review books I've bought. And I do have a good instinct, I think, for what I like. So far, luckily, it's only been individual stories here and there in various collections that I've had to be relatively negative about. |
Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej
Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233
| Posted on Sunday, August 02, 2009 - 01:14 pm: | |
^That's a good method^, thanks for that. Regarding my review, it may be the case that I lack the knowledge needed to properly judge a modern novel's standing in comparison to past horror classics (I grew up reading nonfiction, mainly). Despite the fact that my own writing is rather amateurish, perhaps I expect too much from modern authors. |
Stephen Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw
Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.4.20.22
| Posted on Sunday, August 02, 2009 - 01:58 pm: | |
Regarding my review, it may be the case that I lack the knowledge needed to properly judge a modern novel's standing in comparison to past horror classics You took the words right out of my own mouth Steve. I'm gradually working my way up to recent horror by intensively reacquainting myself with all the favourites from my youth and reading all those classics that passed me by. After I've finished all the old Pan & Fontana anthologies my plan is to start the Best New Horror volumes from No.1 on... the only way I feel I could give modern authors a fair reading. |
Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej
Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233
| Posted on Sunday, August 02, 2009 - 03:58 pm: | |
Excellent idea, Stephen. ________________________ http://stevejensen.eu |
Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird
Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 80.47.88.29
| Posted on Sunday, August 02, 2009 - 05:50 pm: | |
Just got back from Scotland, Des - so couldn't reply earlier. Just to confirm what Steve mentioned (and you already know too) it was quite a wonderful experience and one to treasure. |
Richard_gavin (Richard_gavin) Username: Richard_gavin
Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 65.110.174.71
| Posted on Monday, August 03, 2009 - 01:34 pm: | |
I'll echo the above sentiments, Des. I greatly enjoy your Real Time Reviews, which serve both as reviews of the texts as well as teasers that make me want to buy and read the books. Not only is the format unique, your insights are unlike anyone else's. I hope you continue with them. |
Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b
Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.165.182
| Posted on Monday, August 03, 2009 - 04:03 pm: | |
And I echo what Richard's said too, Des. As a reader they're invaluable- and as a writer, they're fascinating. |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.153.238.26
| Posted on Tuesday, August 04, 2009 - 12:39 pm: | |
Thanks, everyone. If any interested, I've started reviewing another truly remarkable book here: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_nightfarers__by_mark_valentine.htm |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 81.155.107.41
| Posted on Saturday, August 08, 2009 - 10:55 am: | |
I've now finished my detailed review of COLD TO THE TOUCH by Simon Strantzas: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/cold_to_the_touch__by_simon_strantzas.htm |
Simon Strantzas (Nomis) Username: Nomis
Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 99.227.90.149
| Posted on Saturday, August 08, 2009 - 11:26 am: | |
I'm very pleased you enjoyed the book, Des. I hope "Here's to the Good Life" didn't damper your enthusiasm for imbibing! |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 81.155.107.41
| Posted on Sunday, August 09, 2009 - 03:40 pm: | |
I've now finished my detailed review of THE EXAGGERATED MAN by Terry Grimwood: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_exaggerated_man__by_terry_grimwood.htm |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 81.155.107.41
| Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 03:03 pm: | |
I've now finished my detailed review of THE NIGHTFARERS by Mark Valentine: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_nightfarers__by_mark_valentine.htm |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.153.232.46
| Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 04:32 pm: | |
I’m starting another of my real-time reviews. This time it is of the fiction stories in TTA Press's ‘BLACK STATIC’ - Issue 12 (August/September 2009). http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/black_static__issue_12.htm |
Craig (Craig) Username: Craig
Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.243.169
| Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 04:39 pm: | |
You're the luckiest guy alive, Des - everything you ever read, you love! |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.153.232.46
| Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 04:59 pm: | |
I only buy things I know I'll love. And I try to only review things I buy. |
Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej
Registered: 07-2009 Posted From: 82.0.77.233
| Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 05:01 pm: | |
I review books that I love, and books that I believe are, well, pretty bad. The most difficult thing is reviewing books which fail to move me either way. |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.168.160.222
| Posted on Saturday, August 29, 2009 - 10:17 am: | |
For those interested, I am in media res reviewing the amazing 'ALSISO PROJECT': http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/the_alsiso_project.htm |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.168.160.222
| Posted on Sunday, August 30, 2009 - 08:59 pm: | |
I recently reviewed the fiction in BLACK STATIC #12 http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/black_static__issue_12.htm You can receive a free promotional offer of this issue here: http://ttapress.com/664/free-black-static-12/0/5/ |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.169.220.250
| Posted on Friday, September 25, 2009 - 05:41 pm: | |
Thanks to Roy for pointing it out, but it looks as if I've started a trend. Here's a real-time review on the new Dan Brown from the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/sep/15/lost-symbol-live-reading-d an-brown My real-time reviewing: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/recent_reviews_of_books_by_dfl.htm |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 81.155.107.1
| Posted on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 - 12:13 am: | |
Thanks, Karim, for the real-time review of NEMONONYMOUS TWO (2002) currently going on, on the "What Are you Reading? (3)" thread! |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.163.170.46
| Posted on Thursday, December 24, 2009 - 06:16 pm: | |
My Christmas real-time review here: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/cinnabars_gnosis.htm last year it was 'Teatro Grottesco'. Happy Christmas! |
Richard_gavin (Richard_gavin) Username: Richard_gavin
Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 69.157.35.6
| Posted on Thursday, December 24, 2009 - 07:24 pm: | |
I'm glad you enjoyed "Feet of Clay, Head of Fire," Des. Best, Richard |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 217.43.29.197
| Posted on Sunday, February 28, 2010 - 10:52 am: | |
I've just reviewed: CHILDREN OF EPIPHANY by Frances Oliver: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/children_of_epiphany__by_frances_oliver.htm I have also been speculating upon the 'journey' that I mention in the review above. Was the journey *different* by virtue of the fact that I knew I was intent on publicly writing *about* the journey while making that very journey? I sense that public real-time reviewing -- hopefully giving alternative perspectives to previous readers of the book as well as to its new readers -- also creates a wonderful experience, yes, a different experience from what would otherwise have taken place, i.e. for the person spending time and effort in creating the real-time review. It is perhaps the new way to *read*, one that, *psychologically*, is now only possible through using the internet in this way. One of the more positive things about the internet, among a lot of negative ones. |
Des (Des)
Username: Des
Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 217.43.30.125
| Posted on Thursday, April 08, 2010 - 06:17 pm: | |
In recent months, I have been receiving many requests to real-time review specific books. Although I really enjoy this process of real-time reviewing, my response to such requests has to be as follows: Thanks for asking. I can only real-time review books I've bought (or, in rare cases, exchanged for my own books as payment). And I can't promise to do a review on any of them even if I've bought them. I'll take a look at your book to see if I want to buy it. Good luck with it. |
Des (Des) Username: Des
Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 86.158.237.247
| Posted on Sunday, November 07, 2010 - 10:45 am: | |
Real-Time Reviewing as a ‘work-in-progress’ view of static art. RTR second anniversary thoughts: http://nullimmortalis.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/real-time-reviewing-as-a-way-of-a rt-thinking/ |
Des (Des) Username: Des
Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 86.158.237.247
| Posted on Sunday, November 07, 2010 - 08:26 pm: | |
Just completed a real-time review of the fiction in Black Static #19 - in one day! Phew! And what a set of stories! http://nullimmortalis.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/black-static-19/ |