Creepy and not great for impressionable children

Posted on July 31, 2011 (Subscribe to Blog)

With the fourth book in the Fog series, Lake of Spirits, due out later in August, I've rekindled my efforts to push the series around on the internet.

To be honest, I've not done a whole lot of marketing for the electronic editions in the past, and I need to, because there are lots of excellent websites and blogs out there that review ebooks just like mine. So I'm currently submitting Island of Fog to various reviewers and hope to start seeing some reviews popping up here and there over the next months or so. I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, I went to visit Barnes & Noble's website today for the first time in a while, and found that I'd garnered a few more ratings. I also got a negative review for Mountain of Whispers:

1/5 stars: "Creepy and not great for impressionable children"
I have always wondered about the mind of someone who writes about the most inocent creature on the face of the Earth, a child, as if they are a focus for attacks from the evil one. Creepy story in a whole creepy series, I would not recommend this for your children.

Assuming this is genuine and not a certain disgruntled pastor from Tennessee rearing his ugly head again (see previous post), it strikes me as odd that a reader would struggle through all three books in a series even though they're only worthy of one star. Or, if all three books were enjoyable enough to read and the only beef is that they're not recommended for children... well, a "poor" rating seems a little unfair. On the other hand, I do like the description "Creepy story in a whole creepy series," so thanks for that, whoever you are!

Of course, there will always be negative reviews, and that's fine. It's up to the reader to decide what are genuinely helpful comments and what are not. The best reviews are those that provide detailed comments about what's good and, where necessary, what's not so good.

Comment by ROGER ESCHBACHER on Wednesday, August 3, 2011...

If I were you, I'd place "Creepy story in a whole creepy series." under the heading of "Praise for the Island of Fog Series."

Comment by KEITH ROBINSON on Wednesday, August 3, 2011...

My thoughts exactly! I've achieved what I set out to do. :-)

Comment by KEITH ROBINSON on Friday, August 5, 2011...

Update: Just from the tone of the so-called review mentioned in this post, I had a sneaky suspicion that M. E. Rosson, the story-thief from that older post I mentioned, was involved here. And now I know for sure. Why else would the same reviewer, by the name [hidden], post a glowing review of M. E. Rosson here and here.

So this sad little man has reappeared, like a rat emerging from the sewer.

Comment by NIGEL ROWE on Friday, August 5, 2011...

Creepy? M.E.Rosson is an expert on creeps! Get over it Rosson and move on. You've been exposed as a charlatan and a rogue. Admit, repent and hope for forgiveness.

Comment by KAY on Saturday, August 6, 2011...

Aha. So sometimes she is [hidden] and sometimes she is [hidden - slightly different spelling]. Mmm. Needs more consistency. I wouldn't let it worry you unduly.

Comment by KEITH ROBINSON on Saturday, August 6, 2011...

From what I can tell, there is a real lady by the name of [hidden] from Kentucky, which is also what Rosson told me an email when he said he had nothing to do with the review in question. But it's too much to believe that [hidden] herself would write three (and ONLY three) reviews on Barnes & Noble — two 5-star reviews for Rosson, and one 1-star review for me. We're to believe that this is mere coincidence?

Or perhaps she followed a link to my site after reading about all this on one of Rosson's sites... and then what? She bought all three of my books and read them, just out of interest? I find that just as hard to believe. Also, as you said, Kay, why on earth would the real [hidden] spell her username as [hidden]?

Not to mention the fact that the words and tone of the review exactly match the sort of thing Rosson would say; his previous reviews had said much the same thing, that I must be twisted to write about children morphing into monsters.

Oh well. Maybe he'll go away eventually.

Comment by ANONYMOUS on Monday, February 25, 2013...

I am the real female person mentioned in this article and it concerns me. I did read the Rosson books and thought they were legit but I have never read your books or commented in any way on them. This concerns me deeply that my name is being used falsely.

Comment by KEITH ROBINSON on Monday, February 25, 2013...

Thanks for posting, Anonymous. Please visit my Barnes & Noble page for Mountain of Whispers and see the review left in your name. And under your name, you'll see a link, more from this reviewer. Digging deeper, if you then click on your name to look at your profile, there are over thirty ratings, many of which are for Rosson's books. How do you explain that? You said yourself that you'd read Rosson's books — so if it was you that reviewed his books, then you reviewed mine too, under the same Barnes & Noble profile.

Or maybe you didn't review any of them, in which case "somebody" is using your name. But then your name (and picture!) is also being used on Amazon. See this review.

If you still feel your name is being used unfairly on this page, please feel free to email at keith@unearthlytales.com so we can discuss it in private.

Comment by ANONYMOUS on Monday, February 25, 2013...

I read the reviews. I did not write any except for sandals in the dust and the five books of the bible series. None others and not yours. Also if you will notice on the one review especially my real name is at the bottom and is not spelled as it appears at the top. Also the author page does not show my picture. It is empty. It should show on my real name. I will check it out. This is really disturbing to me.

Comment by KEITH ROBINSON on Tuesday, February 26, 2013...

It is disturbing — that someone would create a profile in your name on Barnes & Noble, then copy the reviews you did on Amazon... oh, and post a negative review of my book just out of spite. In your name. This is the sort of thing I've had to deal with. Anyway, out of respect for you, since you seem to be an innocent bystander, I've deleted your name from all the posts on this page.

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