I got my first 1 star review on Amazon!

This is actually great.

 
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Right wing wack job, August 6, 2009
By  David Keith “FurNTats” (Washington, IN) – See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Check out the author’s blog before you buy. http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/

Looks like another Fox News Junkie / Right Wing Wack Job.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you?  Yes No
Thanks for your feedback.
 

I’m getting 5 star reviews like crazy, and even English professors are giving me 4, and the first 3 I got said he still wanted to read the sequels, but leave it to somebody who hasn’t actually read the book to give it a 1 because of my political beliefs. 

Hey… wait a second… wasn’t it the left that was supposed to be like the party of free speech and enlightenment and tolerance and stuff?  Hmmm…. 

I still watch movies with Tim Robbins in them because despite his being a moron, he’s a really good actor (mostly). I will watch Megan Fox run in a tank top (which is as close as she gets to acting anyway). I do draw the line on Rosie O’Donnel, because she’s so obnoxious and unfunny that even if politcally she was Ron Paul the Second I wouldn’t be able to stand her.  How is it that us “right wing whack jobs” are able to still find enjoyment in life?

I read books by people with drastically different political opinions than mine. I’ve posted plugs to my friend Paul Genesses’ Dragon Hunters series a few times, even though we disagree politically, he’s a really nice guy who is earnest in what he believes, and he is a really good writer.  (Seriously, if you want a good fantasy series, pick them up the Golden Cord and Iron Dragon Amazon).

And why is it that when you disagree with the left, you are some sort of “Fox news junkie”?  I never really got that, as my political opinions were formed well in advance of there even being a FOX, or me even having cable. My politcal opinions were formed as a young man watching his home state fall apart under total democrat control, while the industry (farming) that I grew up in, was molested constantly by a bunch of political hacks, and my favorite hobby (guns) was demonized.  Interestingly enough, when I recently got onto Facebook, I found a couple of my best friends from high school. I hadn’t spoken to them in over a decade, but on our info page we’re all right wing leaning libertarians. Go figure. Must be because of all that FOX. 

Actually, I disagree with Bill O’Reilly a lot, because I think he’s too soft on morons, and he buys into global warming.  I get most of my news off the internet.

Well, at least we got that out of the way. The only other really negative review I’ve gotten was on some web forum, where the guy was so filled with hate for me personally that I suspect I must know him somehow, and probably owe him money.  🙂

EDIT: And on the other hand, I get reviews like this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qtr-rKZxCA  George is one of my early proof readers.  This is good, I hadn’t gotten his Grimnoir feedback yet, but looks like another winner.  George has read a LOT of books.

Book signing in Delta Utah tomorrow
Anybody want autographed copies of MHI?

33 thoughts on “I got my first 1 star review on Amazon!”

  1. Not only that, the dude’s picture has him in a wife beater, so maybe I should just make some stereotypical comments about him!

    I wonder what it’s like to have to live your life ensuring that everything you do is carefully surrounded by bubble-wrap and that you can’t enjoy or partake in anything that may have something to do with “The Other”?

  2. *sigh* Y’know politics just aren’t that interesting, why anyone would allow their political proclivities to bleed into their entertainment choices is beyond pathetic.

  3. I may not agree with *all* of your politics, but that doesn’t keep me from really enjoying your book. Same with John Ringo (my other favorite author) – his views are a little extreme for me at times, but I’ll buy ANYTHING he publishes.

  4. I just don’t understand the attitude of allowing someone’s politics influence whether or not you enjoy their work (as entertainment). I enjoy reading the work of an avowed communist (Eric Flint), and don’t enjoy all of the of the work of a person far to the right of you (Tom Kratman). I still listen to some musicians who have political opinions I find atrocious. There’s only one musical group that I won’t listen even though I like their music (the Dixie Chicks), and that is because they routinely didn’t tip at a restaurant a friend of mine worked at before they were famous.

  5. If I avoided left-leaning authors, actors and directors I wouldn’t have much to entertain me at all. But I don’t, because what matters to me is whether or not it’s entertaining. I wasn’t upset with the movie Troy because they took one of the greatest war stories of all time and filled it with anti-war polemics, I was upset with them because they made it boring.

    And on a more recent note, Little Brother, which got a Hugo nod based on, as far as I can discern, its politics alone, doesn’t bug me because of its politics – it bugs me because it’s poorly written garbage that exists solely for the reason of beating you about the head with its politics.

  6. I mostly find the reviews on Amazon to be useless. Occasionally, there will be a person that puts forth some effort, but too many seem to be from people that never read the book or want to comment on the politics of the author. I wish Amazon made some effort to cull some of the stupid reviews.

    I try to avoid reading about the politics of my favorite authors, but sometimes it is hard to ignore. There are a few that donate time and money to causes I find repugnant, so I just don’t feel that comfortable giving them my financial support.

  7. Friggin’ moron. I’m a liberal, but I still read books by Orson Scott Card despite his being dangerously close to batshit insane (from my view at least) when it comes to politics. Why? Because he’s a good writer, and I’m not an idiot. Not that hard, people.

  8. I added my own two cents in the comments section for this review:

    “Okay… you obviously disagree with the author’s political beliefs. And how does this have *anything* to do with the readability, enjoyability, and quality of the book itself?”

  9. Larry, I just finished your book and enjoyed the Hell out of it.
    It deserves five stars for a first time work alone.
    As for the one eyed monster, bottom dwelling slug, he most likely spends his time spreading Bravo Sierra in other peoples plates.
    We need to get John Milius, who a firearm aficionado, to direct the Awesome Mini Series, Based on your Awesome story, to direct.
    Then we need Creedence Clear Water Revival music to flesh it out.
    I’m not passing my copy on as I usually do; I’m buying all my friends there own brand new virgin copy.
    Stake ’em and Whack ’em.

  10. Oh screw him. He probably can’t read anyway.

    I, on the other hand, don’t leave reviews on retail sites, but I do write my own:

    http://www.thepushybroad.com/2009/08/monster-hunter-international-part-deaux.html

    I cannot find the words to tell you just how much I enjoyed this book. I actually was pissed off that my husband ACTUALLY expected me to help put the kids to bed!! Dammit!

    At no point did my interest wane, not even for a moment. Perfect blend of action and plot sequence. Even better, I did not see the ending coming – usually I can start to formulate the “oh, so that’s where he is going” plotline in advance, but not this time – altho I did get the significance of the poem as it related to Owen the first time I read it. Took nothing away from it tho – I was just proud of myself for remembering the “Owen” and being named by his father for a gun connection!

    It was ESPECIALLY fun reading having being raised in Alabama myself – I found touches of humor that I am not sure everyone else will get, just because I could see the scene in my mind with the benefit of personal experience. You picked the perfect place to set the boot camp – it takes a lot to faze a south Alabama redneck, especially when he has a shotgun or a high powered rifle in his hands.

    And although I mention this in my review, it is worth another mention – thank the good Lord you made the dad a bammer fan and not an Auburn man. You could expect betrayal, lies, deceit and batshit crazy from one of those inbred bammer mouthbreathers. An Auburn man is better than that!

    One question – why DeSoya Caverns? Would DeSoto caverns not give you permisison to use their name? If not, that is pretty stupid.

    And I have to mention – if you ever need a college campus that would fit right into your plot line, you should check out my undergrad home away from home. Judson College, Baptist liberal arts college for women, founded in 1858. Used as a hospital during the Civil War, located right next to the huge cemetery in Marion, AL and right down the street from the Marion Military Institute. I was a member of the 150th freshman class, and Baptist or not, it is haunted to the gills. If nothing else, the confluence of all that highly concentrated young female estrogen in one place has got to be good for at least one rip in the space-time continuum… 🙂

    Well done, Larry, and as much as I read, that is really a compliment. Can’t wait for the sequel.

    1. Why DeSoya, because I didn’t want to get sued. 🙂 I never asked.

      Plus that’s why it is Friendly Fernando instead of Happy Hernando.

      And for your information, Julie went to Auburn and UAB for her masters. Owen may be fearless against monsters, but as a westerner, he is smart enough not get between the War Eagle and the Tide.

      1. I knew I liked Julie. I didn’t think the book could get any better for me – but it just did…

        Funny thing – I dated a guy while at Auburn who could be Owen – big guy, dark hair, hot in a “not classically handsome” kind of way, awesome where it counted ;), totally fearless and still one of my best friends to this day. He taught me to shoot and we spent many an hour on the public range outside of Auburn. He is now a cop/HRT team member in a suburb of Birmingham. I kind of had him in my mind’s eye as I read.

        I think you need to dress a zombie in a ratty old bammer t-shirt sometime… their fans have got to be easy pickings, since they spend most of their lives drunk off their ass, passed out in a ratty recliner in a double wide. Plus, they are already stupid, so maybe being a zombie would be an improvement! I am sure Julie would take an especial pleasure in blowing a bammer attired zombie away – I know I would!!

        (OK, enough – can you tell it’s almost football season? )

        You absolutely rock, and if you ever need help with anything from an Alabama native, just ask!!

    2. AHEM. Someone needs to lay off my Tide, barner, even if the Athletic Department did give me the shaft on my staff tickets this year. 😛

      Larry, I loved the book. Great stuff. Makes me feel like a slacker for not hitting the range more often. Dad’s a member at Steel City in the ‘ham, but the drive from Northport to Hoover and back means that my innate laziness keeps me from going as often as I ought. At any rate, my copy has been making the rounds at the office.

      Sorry ’bout the bammer-barner distraction, BTW, but she started it. 🙂

  11. Says a lot when there are so many disputes of the review by people that have actually read the book. Got my Bean copy and re-reading it. Just waiting for the signing in SLC so I can get it and my self-published copy signed.
    Milo for President.

  12. It’s now been reported to Amazon as inappropriate. That kind of useless “review” just irritates the $#!t out of me.

    I managed to catch the sample chapters at the Webscription site, now I’m waiting till I can scrape enough money together to buy the book. What I read looked good, and I was disappointed when there were no more chapters available.

    Keep writing, you seem to be pretty good at it!

  13. I have always found it disquieting how many people there are — on the Left specifically — who won’t read books by, or listen to music by, or watch movies starring people who aren’t also Left in their political leanings. As if it’s a moral stain to somehow imbibe or enjoy entertainment that isn’t whole-cloth consonant with one’s strident political values?

    Color me WTF.

    If I went around demanding everything I read and watched and listened to be produced by people who agreed with me all the way on politics, it’d be a dull, dull world.

    I think the operative word for this mentality is, in fact, DULL. As in, put down the politics, bub, and nobody gets hurt!

    But for some people, politics is their everything. Asking them to set aside their politics is basically asking for the impossible. They can’t do it. Don’t even want to try. Either you’re in-line with their view of the world, or you’re an Unperson.

    Liberal it ‘aint!

    1. It’s almost like they are afraid to be confronted with something that is different from the message with which they have been indoctrinated – like if they actually had to “think” about the differences of opinion, they might, God forbid, find something that caused them to waiver in their liberal belief system…

      Pitiful. So much for independent thought. We are seeing that right now with the healthcare dissent – the liberals are not used to independent thought and cannot comprehend why the rest of us are so up in arms…

  14. I ordered it, I couldn’t put it down, and all I can say is “What a Ride!” Bravo, my man, and give us lowly mortals more…

  15. I’m getting 5 star reviews like crazy, and even English professors are giving me 4,

    I have to say, I don’t entirely understand why.

    I’ve been seeing buzz on many of my favorite blogs about MHI for weeks now. Last week I bought a copy to take on a trip as an airplane book.

    Now before I go on, a bit of background: I’ve been reading SF/F for thirty years. I’ve read a lot of damn good books by a lot of damn good authors. One or two of them have been mentioned in this comment-thread. Yet with all that, I’m not a particularly ‘sophisticated’ reader. Many authors can and have slipped some pretty obvious stuff past me. I usually don’t see foreshadowing. I don’t usually mind if characters are flat, or stories predictable. All I’m after is a good read.

    Yet with all that, I wouldn’t rate MHI any higher than a 3 either. It’s a bloody good airplane book — but that’s all it is. I predicted the ending almost perfectly as soon as I saw the prophecy on the obelisk. The characters were simplistic, and so was the storyline. The monster-fighting sections were very well done, but everything in between was strained and formulaic. The only unexpected twists involved secondary characters, Harbinger and Susan Shackelford.

    Larry, you’ve got the makings of a good writer, but you aren’t there yet. Keep working on it. Characters in particular. How about a story focusing on Harbinger and his history? I’d find that a lot more interesting and intriguing than “the further adventures of Owen Pitt.”

  16. Wolf, I never really tried to hide that either. Just because the POV character didn’t get it, didn’t mean the reader couldn’t figure it out. Susan and Earl were the twists.

    As for simplistic characters and storyline, MHI was an attempt at taking all of the traditional B movie stories and characters and rolling them up into something better. Every single charcter was based on B movie stereotypes. MHI is a B movie universe. There was the black guy sidekick, the sleazy blond, the smart Asian, the brunnette in glasses who rocks the sexy librarian look, the wise mentor that speaks in broken English, the mad scientist/wacky inventor, the grizzled vet with the dark past, all of them.

    So yes, the characters do start out as simple stereotypes, on purpose, and then I tried to give them all motivations. Of course there is a Chosen One and a prophecy, it wouldn’t have been B movie pulp if it didn’t.

    Bummer you didn’t like it.

  17. Ah, monster head explody goodness. About halfway through, currently busy trying to find a gunsmith willing to build Abomination. No luck yet. 🙂

    Great stuff.

    1. Ted, Larry’s been working with me on some parts-selection refinement and I’m working on designing the specialized components to build a prototype (albeit 19″ barrel semiauto-only) once I find an S12 that meets my price and sale-terms conditions. If it works out, once Larry’s had a chance to pass judgment on the prototype it’ll probably be all over MHN and THR–and some of my engineering consultants are already talking about commercializing the specialty-parts, like a power-assisted bayonet… (yeah, I know Larry’s terms were more for drama than actual description, but I like power-tools, okay?lol)

      1. Saw one on THR for $525, had an ton of magazines with it. Woulda picked it up myself, but don’t have the budget for it. Seller was in Ohio, IIRC.

      2. Ted, unfortunately I’m in PR of Washingtonistan, and while the price is very good my preferred terms are FTF private-sale only.

        Unfortunately, the Evil Queen of Numbers always books the entire weekend of every WA Arms Collectors show for other things… it’s like, “why are we wasting money on our memberships if you won’t let me use mine for its intended purpose?!” Pain is relative…

  18. Maybe one reason that I liked this book so much is because I get Larry’s genre. He’s not ashamed to admit that his favorite style of movie begins and ends with “B” ratings.

    What you read here was basically an awesome B movie screenplay.

    And I mean awesome.

    Matt G sez: stay tuned for the movie.

  19. Wow, Left win nut jobs were bashing you for the book without reading it, way back in 2009? Out-freaking-standing.
    I loved this book from the first time I saw it on the Shelf at the Merced Barnes and Nobles. I enjoyed the heck out of this book, since I was stationed at Gunter AFS for a four year controlled tour. Most of this book was places I knew, and characters I recognized from real life…oh, and I went and bought an S-12, after reading about it here. I tricked it out as close to Abomination as I could get, but I had to return it to stock configuration after Commissar Cuomo slammed through the unSAFE Act in the People’s Autonomous Oblast of New York.
    War Eagle!

Leave a Reply to Tim Covington Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *