Actual Chronicles of Idiocy 3: [Name Censored To Be In Review] – Thanks Barnes and Noble...

I didn't realize it would be so difficult to get reviews posted for my book. My Mom did it right away without my asking, another writer friend (Frank Balara) did it quite quickly and easily. Both of these reviews were posted on Amazon and/or GoodReads. But there were no reviews at Barnes and Noble, and I knew my friend Kathy, who read the book prior to publishing, and said she could not wait to read it on her Nook. So, I asked her to review it for BN.com, what then transpired borderlines on the absurd.

The review was censored. We tried to correspond with the people at BN.com to get it posted but they said we should change the review. Something was written that broke their rules on posting reviews. When Kathy tried to edit the review, the edit button that they say should be there was not there. This was after quite a few messages between us and what we have to assume were human beings at BN.com although the responses were not exactly original. I then suggested to try to post the review on Amazon.com and guess what...

Here is Kathy's review on Amazon:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommend!, December 12, 2011 By Kodiak Girl - See all my reviews This review is from: The Chronicles of IDIOT (Kindle Edition) I thoroughly enjoying reading this funny, thought provoking, and entertaining satirical book about a secret government agency that provides distractions, everything from video games to big foot, so we do not pay attention to what the government is actually doing. This book is well written and I enjoyed the author's clever play with words, especially names. My only complaint is I am left wanting to read more about what distractions IDIOT created. After reading this book I find myself even more amazed by what is considered "news." Part of me hopes that IDIOT is real!

Does that sound defamatory or mean? Yet, the BN software to censor reviews says it is not acceptable. It seems to be that since the term idiot is there and in capitol letters, she must be calling me an idiot. I guess I would have had to call my book Chronicles of Kittens for it to work for BN. But, make sure not to capitalize KITTENS. That might cause a problem.

The e-mail correspondence continued, eventually telling me to call customer support. Who then hung up on me. Probably not on purpose, but it was yet another irritation from this company.

I also have tried to chat online with them and here is the conversation:

13:17:48 : Erin: Initial Question/Comment: I am the author of "The Chronicles of IDIOT". A friend of mine tried to post a positive review but it was rejected. It seems that stating the title of the book violates terms of use for reviews. Is there any way to change this so reviews can be written for this book?

13:17:53 : System: Welcome to the Barnes & Noble Chatroom.

13:17:53 : System: Bob has joined this session!

13:17:53 : System: Connected with Bob. Your Reference Number for this chat is 347663.

13:17:58 : System: Thanks for joining us.

13:18:03 : Bob: Good day Erin, thanks for joining Barnes and Noble Digital Chat Support. I am Bob. Let me review the issue.

13:19:36 : Bob: Erin, as per our information there no option to change the review status for a book as it is a default setting set by Barnes and Noble.

13:20:23 : Erin: Hi Bob, so there is no way that a review be posted if it just states the name of the book?

13:21:18 : Bob: Yes.

13:22:15 : Erin: This is a serious problem for me, as this is the name of my book. Is there any way to request to change the default setting?

13:23:33 : Bob: Erin, I think you can contact our voice support for this issue as they might help you.

13:23:43 : Bob: Please contact Barnes & Noble Customer Service at 1-800-THE-BOOK (843-2665).

13:24:15 : Erin: OK, I will try them.

13:24:23 : Bob: Is there anything else I can help you with?

13:24:40 : Erin: I guess not as that is my problem.

13:24:54 : Bob: Thanks for contacting Barnes and Noble Digital Chat Support, have a great day.

13:25:59 : System: Bob has left this session!

13:25:59 : System: The session has ended!

So, another call and they then referred me to Publisher Services at BN. Where I sent an e-mail (PublisherAuthorInquiry@bn.com) giving my complaint one more time.

And now I am waiting to hear from them. Will BN be sensible or is this a case of political correctness gone amuck?

Sorry, but you will need to wait a few weeks, as I am going to take Christmas and New Years off from my blog. The blog will be back on January 9^th. A special HELLO to all the readers from Russia, the Netherlands, India and all others around the world who take the time to read this blog. Here is wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyful Kwanza, Sensational Solstice and Wonderful 2012.   

In Praise and Revulsion of A Song of Fire and Ice Books 1 & 2

I have had an addiction lately for certain books, and this is more than your normal addiction. But, let me tell you that I have broke that addiction but may go back later for more. Confused? I read A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin for the past few months and it has been an experience.

These books are of a complete world not unlike our medieval one, with political intrigue, incest, murder, war, but also a little magic. There are many small supernatural elements that would usually be in the forefront of these types of stories but Mr. Martin holds them back, which drives my husband crazy. I am fine with it, because the characters are in many ways more scary and unpredictable than the what is supernatural. Probably the more the supernatural elements are introduced, they will be just like the characters.

It is not to say that there are no gentile, good-hearted characters, but don't predict a long or easy life for them. Anyone with nobility is usually out-maneuvered easily. It seems that the complexity of his world parallels our own and I believe Mr. Martin does this on purpose. And this intrigue definitely fuels the addiction for this series. There are many different types of characters and some of my favorite are not the most popular in their fictional land. Many motivations are hard to figure out and may not get solved till later in the series. It gives me pause to think about some of our real-life villains and whether they did have good intentions but things went all wrong.

If you haven't already guessed, I am not going to get into any of the plot, it is so complex that it would be difficult to explain and would not do it justice. I will discuss the weather of their world because it is quite important to the story line. Our weather is quite predictable in that we have the four seasons. We also do have times called “ice ages” and times when the earth warms up quite dramatically. Luckily, we are not in an ice age but do seem to be in a warming event sped up by human action. Those ages can last hundreds to thousands of years. Mr. Martin must have thought of these ice ages when he came up with the concept of his world but instead had ice ages (winter) and warm times (summer) last from a few years all the way up to at least a decade. Try to think of how we would live our lives if we had a decade of winter to “look forward” to? This anxiety about “Winter is coming” is central to the story.

And maybe because it is winter now that I have to put down this series for now. It is incredibly addictive, but it is also so hard to read when horrible people do horrible things. One review from the Guardian says “...with characters so venomous they could eat the Borgias”. Indeed. In taking a break from the series, I have chosen the literary opposite by reading The Most of P.G. Wodehouse. In many ways a satirist with a very light, gentile manner. That probably won't stop my husband and I from watching the HBO series A Game of Thrones when it comes out on DVD. Like I said, addictive stuff.

Anti-Intellectualism 102 – The Politics of “Climate Change”

It used to be called “Global Warming”. Average air and sea temperatures are on the rise due to extra carbon dioxide in the Atmosphere. This extra CO₂ is causing a Greenhouse effect and is gradually raising temperatures everywhere. That was why it was called global warming.

Unfortunately, it was not so simple. We are seeing temperatures increase, but we are also seeing more extreme weather events, so now scientists call it “Climate Change”. This is a catch all phrase that is almost too general, but this is to try to satisfy the skeptics.

Scientists are supposed to be skeptical, it is one of our best tools to keep honesty and integrity an integral part of the scientific process. Unfortunately, skepticism has been abused in this case as in the case of Evolution. There is a great deal of evidence to show that there is too much carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and that this is a human caused event.

Blaming humans for anything worldwide has always been something that is never easily accepted. We like to think that all of our actions are always positive and good for everyone. Low priced items for Americans seem like a great thing for everyone. What about the American jobs lost to foreign countries, so that companies could charge less for their items because they are now manufactured much more cheaply since they only need to pay their workers $1 per hour instead of $15. So, are low prices the best thing? Well, that debate is pretty much over with the companies and the low prices are winning. You can try to fight against it and get something made in the U.S.A. but you will probably have to do a lot more research to find that item.

As I have said, when it comes to Climate Change, skepticism has been used to vehemently deny that there is anything wrong because a few scientist may not agree with the scientific consensus. The problem with that is that there is always a few scientists who will not agree with consensus. Heck, we still have a “Flat Earth Society,” although I would not call those people scientists. But, consensus means that there is a general agreement among most scientists and that is what we have when it comes to Climate Change. Therefore, we need to agree to do something to change our behavior. That is the hard part.

Just like with the worldwide financial crisis, the easy part is to see that there is a problem and that changes need to be made. The hard part is doing the changing and agreeing what needs to be done. So, if we never agree there is a problem we will never need to change, even when things are getting worse all around us. Yep, we are a bunch of ostriches with our heads in the sand.

The denial of the substantial scientific evidence for Climate Change is anti-intellectualism and the abuse of skepticism to deny it is a very cynical tool of politicians and companies. Hopefully, this cynical viewpoint will be found to not work for them soon. Approval of Congress is at an all time low, for Americans are skeptical themselves of any of Congress' actions of late.

In watching this debate that seems absurd, there are a few things I try to do: 1. Not vote for any candidate that belittles science in any way. 2. Try to change my behavior to lessen our carbon footprint. That is not easy because it seems to be expensive to be an environmentalist, but little things are a start.