Originally Posted by Taylor514ce
Hi, Marcus.
Allow me to attempt a calmer description of the problem, as I perceive it. The core of PNH's and his friends' mockery of me seems to be they think I'm complaining about "free books", or as he put it, "free ice cream". Well, of course he has the right to laugh at his own jokes, but that's not the issue at all. Why? Because these weren't "free books".
They were:
1. A promotion to a site with vague purpose, which many, many people (not just supremely silly moi) thought would be a place for the "rest" of the books. Not so. Footnote: and Tor has never apologized for that misunderstanding, in fact, Torie and PNH on the tor.com site react in flabbergasted ridicule that anyone could think that was the case, and after all, how could anyone complain about "free books"! A circular, and demeaning, reaction.
2. Book 1 of X of a series. Some of these books ended abruptly. Where is book two? At your bookstore, in print editions - ok. Fine, but that isn't the expectation created by Tor. This was an e-book promotion, umm - a promotion featuring e-books.
3. Not truly "free". Books take time to read. A good book draws the reader in, intellectually and sometimes emotionally. Reading a book is an INVESTMENT, in the book, the plot, the characters, the author. That's what books are for. That's why we read. That's why SF fandom exists, and it's why Tor is in business. If you put time and thought and effort and emotion into a book, that book isn't free. I would expect Tor's Editor-in-Chief to understand this, rather than mock it.
So, when I read a "free" book that's part 1 of a series, and expect to find part 2 of that series on the site that promoted that book, and don't find it, is it really so shocking that I would be frustrated? I suggest that is the natural response, and it is profoundly disturbing to see that the Editor-in-Chief of TOR doesn't understand this.
For someone who claims to be part of "a bunch of skiffy true believers", this seems a shocking disconnect.
His other responses, that hey, Tor's business plans aren't really open for discussion, they have no obligation to reveal anything to anybody, and they've already said something is in the works, and that's all there is to it - well, they are well-taken. Fair enough. Not the answer we all wanted, but that's all the answer we're going to get. I can live with that.
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