Hi--This is my first visit to this site, and I'm here because I heard about the negative rants against Diana Gabaldon and her books which have been showing up on this site. I think this is absolutely fascinating! I also think it is sad!

I recently purchased and read the first two Donati books, but only because fans of Gabaldon who post on Outlandish Central, one of my favorite sites, recommended Donati as an author who may appeal me and other Gabaldon fans. I was further encouraged by Gabaldon's nice jacket comment, saying (in effect) that Donati was a compelling author who crafted interesting characters. I found the books to be interesting, rather fun reads, with some crazy adventure, little bits of romance and some historical "factoids" thrown in for added enlightenment. In no way did I find Donati as compelling an author as Gabaldon, but that's okay, since most authors are not. (For a truly great read, try Audrey Niffenegger's wonderful novel, available in paperback, entitled "The Time Traveler's Wife." You will never forget it.)

Anyhow, I digress. The point I wanted to make here is that nowhere on any of the Gabaldon sites do I see anyone make fun of, tear apart, put down, swear at, rant or generally disparage Sarah Donati or her writing. Such is not the case here, and I simply do not understand why an author of Donati's standing (perhaps not as popular as Gabaldon, but possibly someday could be?) would allow this website to become a forum to "diss" a fellow author, and one who has spoken well of her work at that! To me, it is the ultimate example of "shooting ones' self in the foot," if you will, for to be in Donati's position of hoping to rise to the stature of Gabaldon in the literary world, yet allowing this site to become a "Beat Up On Diana" space is, to me, foolishly shortsighted. (I agree with Dana--your reputation IS at stake and you really SHOULD care about that.)

Granted, A Breath of Snow and Ashes was NOT Gabaldon's finest! But the woman wrote "Outlander," and that book was a masterpiece. Of the six books she has written, only the sixth was disappointing to me. I don't believe that Gabaldon deserves to be trashed here, behind her back. If anyone wants to critique her work, do it on one of HER websites! At least she could answer you! This is simply not the place for it. Maybe I'm wrong, but I would never expect to see a Donati trashpile anywhere near Gabaldon's sites, and this just seems very wrong to me.

--suz

Suz --

Thank you for taking the time to comment, and I appreciate your honesty and concern.

So here's the situation, as I see it.

I have not written anything here that is disrespectful of Diana as a person. What I have been doing (or trying to do) is have an honest discussion about a review that appeared elsewhere. That negative review was about one of Diana's books. Not all her books, not her personally, but about one of her books.

Now some of her readers -- Dana, and you (and others, I'm sure) are upset with me. You are upset enough to come here and tell me so. There are a number of strongly stated premonitions in these posts (I'll stop short of using the word 'threat'):

1. Diana's angry readers will punish me by posting criticisms of me or my work on other sites;
2. I will lose sales and readers.

I have to ask: don't you see how this response is out of all proportion? Compare what happened after I posted a negative review of Hunter's Havana -- nothing. Hunter is hugely successful and has a large following, but nobody stopped by here to tell me I was being rude or disrespectful because I didn't like his latest book. Nobody told me my own sales would suffer because I dared to say I disliked it.

And I didn't even review Diana's book. I opened a discussion about a review. Which I have done in the past, a number of times.

A weblog is an open place. There is a lot of information here about books (for example, a long post about The Time Traveler's Wife, which I dearly loved) and movies and writing, about what's going on in the publishing world and the wider world. For every post I've put up, I'm sure someplace somebody has disagreed or taken exception or even been offended. None of them have ever rallied together to teach me the error of expressing an opinion or opening a discussion.

Hi there,

I would like to comment on Beth's review of A Breath of Snow and Ashes. First, I didn’t read it all because I am only half way through ABOSAA and didn’t want to read any spoilers.

At first her language offended me…but then she had me rolling on the floor laughing. I really like Diana’s books and admit that I’m enjoying this one too, but she did have some points; issues that I also had lingering in the back of my mind. She was very thorough in her criticism and obvious passion for what she was saying. So, in the end (so far) I agree with some of her points and disagree with others. She is entitled to her opinion because she had obviously read the book, unlike Brendan I. Koerner’s interview whose review I found completely infuriating because he had not read the book.

Thanks for letting me put in my 2 cents worth.

Wilma

P.S. I enjoy your books too.

I read the book and I read the review and I enjoyed both of them immensely. I am a huge Cross Stitch series fan and I was one of those loons that was harassing the books stores months in advance to find out when they would have BSA. I am now $40 lighter but a happy reader.
The thing is that while I enjoyed the book I do agree with some of the points made in the review. There are some areas I didn’t love, some directions I thought were a bit pointless, but at the end of the day I still really enjoyed it, trusted Diana to tell it, and still feel like the characters are as familiar as home. My point being, bugger the things that didn’t always stand up to perfection, not every reader is going to care so much that they will fall out of love with the series.
In a round about way I am trying to say that there is more danger in arguing about points of a review than points of the book itself. A review is subjective and a rightful display of a persons opinion but unless we are all sheep there is no reason why another persons opinion should be argued because it will not stop people loving it or hating it.
As for your reputation Sara I think the opposite. I admire the fact that every aspect of the literary world can be discussed here with an open feel to it. I trust your posts because you say what you mean and don’t mince words and you don’t bull us. I think it is unfair that you have been hung for your oppinion and the fact that you have chosen to not read the book.Just because you are a fellow author does not mean you have to read every other book ever writen to keep fans of said book happy.

But hey, thats just my opinion.

Deborah -- you made me laugh. Thank you.

I wish to say "thanks" for the response to my earlier post. I certainly hope that nothing said here has been interpreted as a "threat!" I count myself among readers who have enjoyed both Donati and Gabaldon books, but who are now a bit puzzled about this phenomenon of one author allowing her site be used as a forum to verbally annihilate the other author, an especially strange phenomenon when taking into consideration the fact that each author most likely shares a large fan base. In fact, that's why I'm here--I learned about Donati books through a Gabaldon website, and as I said before, there have not been, to my knowledge, any hostile diatribes re: Donati on Gabaldon sites. (And I would not be smug enough to assume that to be so due to Donati being a superior writer). I cannot explain the phenomenon of Gabaldon haters posting here, but it just seems odd to me; however, if that is the way of things here, well, so be it. I've said my piece(s).

Here's to more great literature, whoever writes it! (Hope it's me!)

--suz

P.S. For the record, I do hope Diana Gabaldon takes the steps mentioned above to keep the same mistakes which happened with A Breath of Snow and Ashes from happening in subsequent books. I, too, would feel terrible if I knew I had disappointed my readers, and that point is well taken. However, I would restate my first suggestion: to everyone with criticisms of ABOSAA or other Gabaldon books, post your critiques on a Gabaldon site. It may actually do some good there. (Hopefully!)

--suz

Suz --

You said: "allowing her site be used as a forum to verbally annihilate the other author"

On this point I think we'll have to agree to disagree, because I firmly reject this charge. Also this:

"And I would not be smug enough to assume that to be so due to Donati being a superior writer"

Now this is where I will draw the line. Up to this point nobody has tried to compare Author X's quality of work to Author Y's -- and I wouldn't allow such a discussion to get started. The discussion is/was about a review, and the merits of that review. Period.

Just a note to say that I skimmed Beth's review only because I promised one of my best friends that I would read this series. Now, since I have owned the first Gabaldon book for about 4 years without cracking it, you may get the sense that my promise is going to be hard to keep. I will keep my promise so I didn't want to run into too many spoilers.

That said, negative reviews are part of a writer's life. Stephen King gets them, Anne Rice get them (yeah she did and wowza, she blew a public gasget - un. cool.) I'm sure Sara here has had her share and yes, even your most beloved author of all time gets them. It's a fact.

An excellent review points out flaws in the story presented to a reader. I believe that Sara has pointed to a review that, even though is fresh in it's anger, lists point by point how the book did not work for the reader. (I skimmed the points but got the gist)

You want to know something. I once believed Julie Garwood was the ultimate queen of romance. I believed. Nothing could have knocked her from her pedestal because she was a goddess. Okay, so her last book set in historical America was...odd and there was something missing but, that's okay, everyone has an off day. Hmmm, this new book, seems to be more about family than about two people falling in love. I didn't read her Rose books because the first was horrible. Another book I didn't even read because I heard it was more about male friendship than about two people falling in love. Huh, last historical? She kinda phoned this one is. Ta Da. Contemporaries - Done.

Does this make me a bad person? A bitchy classless woman who loved, loved, loved the Julie Garwood I had meet in 1989? No. It just means that the books that Garwood writes no longer appeal to me. I have every right to say this and if I had the stomach I could write an entire review on what it was in her first contemporary that was so not right.

My latest fall? Suzanne Brockmann. I blogged about what a disappointment her last book was. Yes, I had expectations that she had built up over 4 books and 4 years. After 4 years I want the story that has been alluded to by the author. Not the cut up mess that was served. Not only was I upset about the book, I was upset that Brockmann had ruined characters that had so much potential in her previous stories.

Needless to say, I know what it is like to be let down by your favourite author. There are some who insist on loving *everything* an author writes no matter what and yes, I did do this with Laurell K Hamilton. What do you mean people want more plotting? Why are they upset that Anita is all powerful? It took me longer but I now see what others could recognize earlier. LKH's books were nothing like the ones she had written before and sadly, another author loses her magic.

Maybe Diana Gabaldon has the ability to write another show stopper and maybe, just maybe the rumblings you are hearing in the distance are those who have found fault before you. If you still love her books then there is no reason for you to feel threaten on Gabaldon's behalf. Trust me, she is doing just fine in her booksales. You do not have to fight for her honour. She earned her stripes and it would take more than just one bad book to strip her of them.

CindyS

CindyS-- I appreciate the thoughtful post. Unfortunately I know you're right, authors often push a series farther than it can possibly go. I'm trying to avoid this fate myself.

Sara, glad to have made you laugh! God willing it was not at my spelling

Just a question about pushing a series further than it can go: is it just the author, or is it also the reader’s fault when this happens?
I was thinking about this last night - I know we readers hound both you and Diana for the next installment with ‘pleasepleaseplease hurry I cant wait for the next book’ all the time. Does there feel like there is a level of responsibility to carry on a story because people love it and still want more? And then bam we blame, hang and cauterize the author for giving us what we want even though the story has lost its spark? I feel a bit responsible when it comes to both yours – not implying at all that the Wilderness series has lost a spark, because I don’t think it has – and Diana’s series’ because I am part of the horde begging for more. What happens when you get to that point where you know the end has come but readers are emailing/writing/phoning/stalking you imploringly for more of their literary fix? Do you hook us up or do you cut the cord?

Deborah, I love your question and it starts to get that 'chicken before the egg or egg before the chicken' sort of feel.

Ultimately it is the author's decision to write a book. Final. Yeah, we can bitch and whine and moan in e-mails and letters but if an author cannot find the muse to write the book then I would think the author wouldn't.

That said, there is the other critter in the room. The publisher. Your last 3 books sold like hotcakes and your readers are clamoring for more and you wnat to what? Abandon a sure thing? Huh. How about this, you write at least two more in your irresistable series and we'll consider publishing another book you'd like to write. Oh and here's some cash to pay your bills and put food on the table. I don't know about others but this would be hard to pass up.

Course, no one said the book had to be a kajillion pages ;)

CindyS

I count myself among readers who have enjoyed both Donati and Gabaldon books, but who are now a bit puzzled about this phenomenon of one author allowing her site be used as a forum to verbally annihilate the other author (...)

I'm not a Gabaldon hater, because I haven't read any of her books, though I have the first four in my TBR. Neither am I a Sara Donati fangirl, because I haven't read any of *her* books either, though oddly enough, I also have the first four in my TBR. I have many things in my TBR, but that's neither here nor there. What I AM interested in is the impact book reviews have on people--especially people who view negative reviews as some sort of assault on their sensibilities, on all that is Good and Right. I mean, there are people here who felt ill after reading Beth's review.

ILL. After reading a negative review that happened to drop a few F-bombs here and there.

Perhaps I have a stronger stomach than some, but seriously? I reserve my nausea for, say, pictures of landmine victims, and the knowledge that the United States hasn't ratified the UN treaty to ban landmine usage. THOSE are the bombs with real power to hurt.

Yes, I know, I sound like a prick. In fact, I sound kind of like my mother. (Am I calling my mom a prick? Well, yes, she can be a prick on occasion. Where d'you think I got it from?) 'Think of the starving children! Think of how they're suffering! What you're going through can't even compare!' etc. etc.

I still maintain that the negative reaction I'm seeing is out of proportion to the offense given.

Seriously now, think back on what is causing this huge emotional reaction from many of you: a negative review of a book, posted on a BLOG.

As for accusation of this being a gathering of Gabaldon haters: Many of the responses have been, by and large, fangirly spewing. Sara hasn't even posted her opinion on the book, and the few things she has said about Gabaldon's work have been largely positive; she just happened to enjoy Beth's review and linked to it.

I still have no opinion on Gabaldon's work one way or another, but I've definitely formed an opinion of some of her fans.

Candy -- thanks for providing some much needed perspective. I do appreciate it.