or perhaps "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is more apt?
Whatever . . . bad start, let's try it again in plain language:
Yesterday my publisher TWCP received an email that pointed to a new review on amazon of Light at the Edge of Darkness (an anthology of Biblical speculative fiction in which I have three stories).
The emailer said that he'd ordered a copy of Flashpoint and because amazon had a "special" offer buy Flashpoint and Light at the Edge of Darkness and save 4 bucks, he decided to check out Light.
Of course, he looked at the reviews. It was the most recent one (and Light's only 3/5 review to date) that caught his eye:
Beware of graphic violence!
I feel compelled to warn future readers that two stories had graphic violence in them. "Frozen Generation" describes fetal mutilation, and "Undeniable" describes physical torture. I had a nightmare after reading these stories, and I wish someone would have warned me. The rest of the stories are relatively tame and interesting.
The emailer explained:
"I knew I had to buy the book when I read the top "negative" review that said it gave the reader nightmares.”
Now, I must admit that I don't like the idea of giving nightmares to someone, but we have to remember that everyone's tastes are different. I get recurring nightmares where I have become a Harlequin Romance author! Brrrrr. I understand.
It is nice, however, when a negative turns out a positive response like this.
In the (almost) words of Carl Spackler (Bill Murray, Caddy Shack):
So . . . we got that going for us . . . which is nice.
