Book 'pirate' goes underground after being named by Terry Goodkind

[xg4bx]

kinda OT but i'm curious as to why goodkind draws such a visceral reaction from his detractors in general. do you just think the writing is tripe? do you disagree with his politics? i've read 99% of his books and i don't see what the hubub is about, i found them to be pretty standard fantasy fare.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

kinda OT but i'm curious as to why goodkind draws such a visceral reaction from his detractors in general. do you just think the writing is tripe? do you disagree with his politics? i've read 99% of his books and i don't see what the hubub is about, i found them to be pretty standard fantasy fare.

I've no idea what the reason is. When I was checking stuff out about this issue, it became very clear that he's a polarizing topic. Some very loyal fans and some very rabid detractors. There was an entire thread on a forum basically making fun of his writing.

I've never read him, never really thought about it, so I had no idea until now. I mean, a lot of authors have a similar fan / anti-fan base, but in his case, both seem particularly vicious.

[charlesatan]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

kinda OT but i'm curious as to why goodkind draws such a visceral reaction from his detractors in general. do you just think the writing is tripe? do you disagree with his politics? i've read 99% of his books and i don't see what the hubub is about, i found them to be pretty standard fantasy fare.

If you read his first few books, I'd say his writing was standard fantasy fare.

In the middle of the series, he suddenly went overtly political (I thought Animal Farm was a bit heavy-handed but this was worse) and then repeated it in subsequent books (ummm, there was even one book where the protagonist only appeared in the last 20 pages or so).

And Goodkind is popular, so whether you're good or not, it tends to attract a large target on you.

(In this case though, some people were comparing the ideologies Goodkind was spouting in his books--they were overt after all--versus his actual practice, in this case the actions he took on piracy.)

[JeremyR]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

kinda OT but i'm curious as to why goodkind draws such a visceral reaction from his detractors in general. do you just think the writing is tripe? do you disagree with his politics? i've read 99% of his books and i don't see what the hubub is about, i found them to be pretty standard fantasy fare.

It's his politics. If you are even remotely right leaning, you get attacked constantly, be you a celebrity or just a regular joe.

For instance, Rush Limbaugh not being allowed to be a part owner of a NFL team, but it's perfectly all right for Bill Maher to own part of the Mets (albeit a different sport).

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

It's his politics. If you are even remotely right leaning, you get attacked constantly, be you a celebrity or just a regular joe.

For instance, Rush Limbaugh not being allowed to be a part owner of a NFL team, but it's perfectly all right for Bill Maher to own part of the Mets (albeit a different sport).

Rush is "remotely" right leaning???

[silasgreenback]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

It's his politics. If you are even remotely right leaning, you get attacked constantly, be you a celebrity or just a regular joe.

For instance, Rush Limbaugh not being allowed to be a part owner of a NFL team, but it's perfectly all right for Bill Maher to own part of the Mets (albeit a different sport).

Because of this thread, I've been learning a little about Goodkind today. I was under the impression that the opposite was true, as in being a Randian right wing type himself.

[xg4bx]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

It's his politics. If you are even remotely right leaning, you get attacked constantly, be you a celebrity or just a regular joe.

For instance, Rush Limbaugh not being allowed to be a part owner of a NFL team, but it's perfectly all right for Bill Maher to own part of the Mets (albeit a different sport).

unless i simply agree with his politics to such a degree that they merely faded into the background, i really didn't even notice a political agenda until i saw it mentioned later on. its been a few years since i've read them but i don't remember anything in particular standing out that i can point to and say "yea, hes a libertarian". the politics certainly weren't as overt as in, say, a novel from baen. i just remember really liking the characters and wondering how the story would end. *shrug*

[MikeOxlittle]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

It's his politics. If you are even remotely right leaning, you get attacked constantly, be you a celebrity or just a regular joe.

For instance, Rush Limbaugh not being allowed to be a part owner of a NFL team, but it's perfectly all right for Bill Maher to own part of the Mets (albeit a different sport).

Don't bite the receivers glove that feeds you?

According to Rush Limbaugh, however, those advocating for heightened NFL safety rules are "wusses." He spent much of his talk radio show Friday lamenting that new safety regulations will only "pave the way" for the game's demise. In 2010, when the League proposed a new rule to lessen the number of concussions, Limbaugh mocked the rule, asking if players will now receive awards for "courageous restraint" by not tackling.

Full Article

[MikeOxlittle]

Good job by Terry Goodkind in my opinion.

The dummy who got outed is ruining the reputation of decent pirates like myself.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

Is it honorable to write, and then only allow a select few to read??

Ah, but a living author has to eat just like everyone else and he/she makes their living via the books that they write. So I can see his point in being upset when a new book is being given away free by someone and the author loses income. While I do think that ebooks are often priced higher than they should be (the same or more than the pbook versions) a living author still has to eat in order to have the strength to continue writing. It's not like it was a book that he wrote 10 or 20 yrs ago either. It would still be wrong, but such a book could be obtained by legal methods at a lower price (a used book store or garage sale) and while the author wouldn't see any income from that sale he wouldn't be cheated because he received a portion of the sale price when it was originally sold. A new book is a different matter altogether.

[xg4bx]

"According to Rush Limbaugh, however, those advocating for heightened NFL safety rules are "wusses." He spent much of his talk radio show Friday lamenting that new safety regulations will only "pave the way" for the game's demise. In 2010, when the League proposed a new rule to lessen the number of concussions, Limbaugh mocked the rule, asking if players will now receive awards for "courageous restraint" by not tackling."

lol i don't listen to rush (too liberal for my tastes . jk) but pure, blunt, sarcasm like that makes me laugh. thats a very funny quote.

[Rizla]

Ignoring the moral issues of piracy for the moment, why does Goodkind care? He's a very successful author and presumably doing very well financially.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

kinda OT but i'm curious as to why goodkind draws such a visceral reaction from his detractors in general. do you just think the writing is tripe? do you disagree with his politics? i've read 99% of his books and i don't see what the hubub is about, i found them to be pretty standard fantasy fare.

Mostly, it's because he comes across as a bit an ass. The "I don't write fantasy" quote comes to mind.

First of all, I don't write fantasy. I write stories that have important human themes. They have elements of romance, history, adventure, mystery and philosophy. Most fantasy is one-dimensional. It's either about magic or a world-building. I don't do either.

And in most fantasy magic is a mystical element. In my books fantasy is a metaphysical reality that behaves according to its own laws of identity.

Because most fantasy is about world-building and magic, a lot of it is plotless and has no story. My primary interest is in telling stories that are fun to read and make people think. That puts my books in a genre all their own.

Usually, I'm pretty successful at ignoring authors' personal sides, but every now and again... one comes along who manages to show off his "assi-ness" at every opportunity. Terry Goodkind is one of those authors whose personal smarminess, I have trouble overlooking/ignoring. I suspect I'm not alone.

And while I'm OK with subtle, social subtext in my escapist literature, I'm not particularly fond of being preached at by an author though one of his characters in that same escapist literature. If you're not writing fantasy... then tell your publisher to stop putting your work in the fantasy section. Your little self-pub experiment is the perfect opportunity to put your mouth where your money is, Mr. Goodkind. You may not write fantasy, but you sure as hell don't mind selling it.

[spindlegirl]

This author has a right to feel how he feels after all his hard work.

However, if piracy is going to be called a crime, then there is protocol for how to deal with crime. It's either to be taken seriously as a "real crime" or it isn't. If it's a crime, treat it like one and follow procedure.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

Is it honorable to write, and then only allow a select few to read??

More so than to take what doesn't belong to you.