SNAKE AGENT review

[lizwilliams]

Well, half of it is, anyway! A slight headbanging moment when the bookshop is mentioned, but otherwise a big thank you to Jonathan Strahan.

I've only just caught up with it. I tend, for the sake of my health, not to go looking for reviews very often. Nor do I check the Amazon ratings very often (about every 3 months). That way madness lies.

http://notesfromcoodestreet.blogspot.com/2005/01/sidebar-aside.html

Also reviews of BANNER here:

http://coffeecrampreviews.tripod.com/id13.html

http://scifi.about.com/od/bookreviews/fr/bannersoulsrev.htm

also from the New York Times:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9407EED91038F93AA25755C0A9639C8B63

Gerald Jonas has reservations about the technology, but that's fair, I think, although the lack of an underpinning rationale was intentional.

I've also just found out that the Kansas City Star (USA) has just listed the top ten science fiction titles of 2004 and very kindly ranks Banner of Souls second (I think! I need to check the rating with them). It's also got a kind mention in the 'Best of' list of The SF Site:

http://www.sfsite.com/lists/greg2004.htm

And an interesting discussion of a STRANGE HORIZONS story here:

http://www.strangehorizons.com//ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=fiction&Number=2167&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1&PHPSESSID=

Thank you, folks. People ought to know - the trouble they take to read a novel and write a review is appreciated, whether the result is positive or negative.

Comments

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Amazon ratings are ... interesting.

For starters, as far as I can tell, Amazon.co.uk resort their ranking every 24 hours. Amazon.com do it hourly, which makes trying to analyze it a pain in the butt.

I've written a nifty little perl script that polls amazon regularly and stashes my ratings in a CSV file so that some time when I'm bored I can import them into a spreadsheet and do some analysis on them. (If you want I can add your books to the watch list and set it up to email you weekly running totals. If you really want.) But I wouldn't take them too seriously compared to what your editor tells you about your sales.

(I'm mostly tracking them because if I spike into the top 100 I'm going to bang off a PR to anyone who might pay attention, then go and crack a bottle of bubbly. Any excuse for a piss-up ...)

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

It varies a lot, and I don't tend to pay much attention to the ratings anyway. There's nothing I can do about them: if they're good, it may mean a handful of books have been sold, and if not, I get despondant for nothing. So I'm just as happy to remain in ignorance.

But good luck for that bottle of bubbly!

[(Anonymous)]

liz, congratulations on the reviews. i'm halfway through THE POISON MASTER and loving it, and i really dig your blog as well.

i posted this anonymous because i have no clue how to use this technology. not to be rude!

trish sullivan

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Hello! :-)

Good to see you here! And glad you're enjoying TPM.

[klingonguy.livejournal.com]

Wow! Clearly you must now go to Kansas City (maybe the folks at ConQuesT will bring you in as a GoH!).