Click on the image to see it full size.

Edited to add: the scanned letter I’m showing you cuts off the last two sentences, which read: “Okay, enough of the serious stuff. If you have any questions, my contact information is below. Thanks again, and thanks for your support!”

Natasha from Maw Books pointed out on Twitter this morning an article posted at Flavorwire entitled How to Alienate Bloggers and Boost Book Sales. Apparently, some copies of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith came with the letter pictured above. While I didn’t receive either this book or this letter, there are a few things I’d like to point out.

First, just out of curiosity, why would you not want reviewers to post a review of the book until April 1, 2009?

But here’s what really got me going this morning: “Excerpts: The book you’re receiving is copyrighted material. In no way, shape, or form do I want to see any text or images from the book up online.”

I immediately start screaming when I see people ask other people not  to do something that is COMPLETELY LEGAL. Quoting text from a book is what is called Fair Use and doesn’t need permission from the author or the publisher.

I know that Quirk Books is one of a kajillion publishers. All the publishers I’ve had the honor of working with have been gracious, giving, and pleasant to deal with. But that doesn’t change the fact that this particular publicist is a royal jerk who is trying to bully book bloggers into not using excerpts by saying, “If you don’t abide by the above terms, we will never work together again.” I’d guess that most book bloggers will be turned off by this letter, though many (if not most) will follow the request to not use any text or images in their review.

I’m here to say it’s wrong for Quirk Books to request this of book bloggers.

Perhaps what has my blood boiling over this whole letter is that bullies like this exist for the mere fact that nice people would NEVER send a letter like this. And most nice people won’t say anything, choosing instead to let it slide. So here’s my response to the person who wrote this letter:

It’s WRONG (and in my opinion immoral) of you to insist that bloggers not use excerpts from a book they’re reviewing, threatening that you’ll never work with them again if they do so. You should be ashamed of yourself. If I had received this book, you can bet I’d post a review with an excerpt to ensure we “never work together again” because you are not the kind of person that I want to have anything to do with.

In closing, I’d like to thank all the wonderful authors and publicists I’ve had the pleasure to work with thus far. I haven’t appreciated you as much as I do after reading the above letter.

(Second) Edited to add: Other people have added their opinion of this letter, and they really round out my limited rant:

• How to Alienate Bloggers and Boost Book Sales is the original post from Flavorwire
• Working With Bloggers and Good PR Practices from Author Marketing Experts, Inc.
• The Curious Case of the Flippant Release Letter, Part One from Still Life with Book Maven
• The Curious Case of the Flippant Release Letter, Part Two from Still Life with Book Maven
• If you want to follow the discussion on Twitter, the hashtag is #quirkppz.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson is a creepy little book. Well, maybe the book’s not creepy, but the characters sure are.

Mary Katherine (Merricat), her sister Constance, and their frail Uncle Julian all live together in the house where, 10 years before, all the family members excluding these three were poisoned when they ate sugar laced with arsenic. Constance was tried and acquitted for this crime, but the townspeople know one of the sisters must have been the culprit so shun the whole family, even allowing their children to taunt Merricat when she ventures out on her weekly trip to by groceries. Constance has become a recluse and Uncle Julian is bound to his wheelchair.

Their rather compulsive routine is rattled when their Cousin Charles comes to stay with them for a while. Cousin Charles can barely hide his real motive of wanting to find the family’s hidden fortune. Merricat is beside herself trying to get Cousin Charles to leave, as he is messing up the life she and her sister and her Uncle Julian have set up. Merricat decides to do whatever necessary to make him leave.

It’s rare to encounter characters as well crafted as Merricat. She’s 18 years old but acts and has the emotional maturity of a pre-teen. You think she might be evil, and you’re not sure what it exactly it is about her that doesn’t sit right, but there’s just something sitting just below the surface, something the characters seem privy to but not the reader.

It’s also rare to encounter writing like Shirley Jackson’s, writing that, while you’re reading it, you know it’s great. It’s not pretentious, yet it’s complex and nuanced. This is a fun and quick novella that does not disappoint.

Rating: 88 out of 100

Buy We Have Always Lived in the Castle from Powell’s | Buy We Have Always Lived in the Castle from Amazon

Other reviews:

Book Addiction

Bold. Blue. Adventure

Fizzy Thoughts

Care’s Online Book Club

nothing of importance

A Work in Progress

In this video, Jessica, from Both Eyes Book Blog, and I debate what people should list in their LibraryThing. And I should say, that I don’t care anymore what people put in their LibraryThing. I did care at one point, but that’s just part of my personality and being obsessive compulsive and wanting everyone to follow the rules. I’ve ceased caring about what people put in their LibraryThing and have moved on to equally mundane obsessions.

This is a fun thing to do…check the search terms that brings people to your blog. I used to call it How Did You Get Here, but then I changed it to What Are You Doing Here (and Part 2!), because, frankly, I don’t know what the heck many of my visitors are doing at my blog.

sexy lady pooping farting – I poop and fart, but I’ve never thought it was sexy. Neither does Dave, even though I try to convince him otherwise.

is the story confessions of max tivoli t – I’m going to guess the whole search engine term was this: “is the story confessions of max tivoli true?” I believe Max Tivoli is a similar story to The Curious Case Benjamin Button (person is born old and dies young), in which case, if you have to ask if the story is true, I have a bridge to sell you.

pay it forward, inspiration – Aww!! I’m so glad you stopped by, but I don’t think I’ve ever blogged about what might inspire you to pay it forward, or to whom you might be inspired to pay it forward to. I’ll think about that and get back to you.

trish olderwomen.com – Hmm…I did say recently I like older women, but it was in a like-to-hang-out-with-them kind of way, not in an attracted-to-them kind of way. I won’t be putting the olderwomen.com in the address bar for fear of what will show up. Anyone braver than me? Let me know what’s there via the comments!

the poopy diaper game – I think I’ll sit this one out.

hey ladie watcha reading – Should I be sad this person can’t spell or glad they were looking for my website?

what are we teaching asian kids? – I dunno. Good math skills?

how to stay up for 24 hours straight – That is a dang good question! Especially since the 24-Hour Read-a-thon is coming up. I think my best answer, though, is you have to be a teenager. At least, that was the last time I was able to stay up for 24 hours.

james marsters as spike – HE’S TOTALLY HOT. How about a little picture? Hm?

does electrolysis scar? – If you pick at the scabs it will. I mean, the scabs are so freaking tiny that I don’t know why you couldn’t ignore them for the few days it takes them to fall off, but whatever.

hey julie look what they’re doing to me – Huh.

hey lady! – Hi! *waves*

It must have been pure coincidence that I won Geek Love by Katherine Dunn from softdrink at Fizzy Thoughts, because of all the books in the world, we ended up picking it for our book club. And if I told you the premise of the book, you’d be all, WTF*? You picked THAT? So just lay that thought aside and hear me out.

Geek Love is about the Binewski family, Aloysius and his wife, Lillian (Lil for short), who decided to create their own “freak show” or circus act by “experimenting with illicit and prescription drugs, insecticides, and eventually radioisotopes” while Lil was pregnant. Their innovations netted them five children: Arturo, whose hands and feet were flippers that grew right out of his body since he had no arms and no legs…it’s no stretch that his nickname was Aqua Boy; then there was the Siamese twins, Electra and Iphigenia, joined at the waist, with separate torsos but sharing one set of hips and legs, who were beautiful and did piano duets; Olympia (Oly), the narrator, is a hunchback albino dwarf who isn’t quite freakish enough for the family she’s born into, so instead of having her own show, she sells tickets to shows her siblings put on; and finally, there’s Forunato, nicknamed Chick, who appeared normal at birth, causing his parents to consider giving him up to a “normal” family, until they found out he was telekinetic.

All that information just gets you going into the story. Right away you find out that Oly has a child that she gave up for adoption but is living in the same house with, both of them renting separate rooms. Oly is remembering her history, all the while trying to help her daughter without revealing that she’s her mother. As Oly reveals more and more of her family’s dynamics, you find out just how dysfunctional her family was as her parents cede more and more control to her egomaniacal brother, Arturo.

When you peel back all the freakish layers the author has piled on, at the heart of the story are very basic themes: sibling rivalry, love (motherly love, love towards your siblings, etc), the desire to fit in coupled with the desire to be unique, etc.

General opinion about Arty varies, from those who see him as a profound humanitarian to those who view him as a ruthless reptile. I myself have held most of the opinions in this spectrum at one time or another. Watching Arty pine for Iphy, however, I come to see him as just a regular Joe – jealous, bitter, possessive, competitive, in a constant frenzy to disguise his lack of self-esteem, drowning in deadly love, and utterly unable to prevent himself from gorging on the coals of hell in his search for revenge.

We had what I thought was a really good discussion over this book at the book club meeting. Unfortunately, even though there were people who didn’t care for the book, they didn’t really have a reason other than being unable to get past all the freakishness. If you can suspend disbelief (because really. Aqua Boy?) and just let the story be, then there’s so much there to think about!

I pointed out how similar Arturo and Kevin from We Need to Talk About Kevin were. Both of them were psychotic and had an uncanny ability to charm those around them. Last year we read Stones From the River, which is about a German dwarf, and Geek Love has Oly, also a dwarf.

What I also found fascinating was how Oly, while proud to be different, proud to be a freak, was at the same time constantly searching for acceptance and a sense of belonging. Being unique does not preclude someone from wanting to fit in.

I thought the author’s writing was excellent. She has the kind of writing that will make you think it’s effortless. The writing isn’t pretentious, but I wouldn’t say its simple, either. Katherine Dunn deftly weaves an intricate family story that keeps the reader engaged and fascinated.

Rating: 92 out of 100

This is a great interview with Katherine Dunn.

GUESS WHO’LL BE AT THE LA TIMES FESTIVAL OF BOOKS??? I’m so stoked because I’m hoping she’ll talk about the novel she’s currently working on, The Cut Man.

Buy Geek Love at Powell’s | Buy Geek Love at Amazon

Other reviews:

Both Eyes Book Blog

Books for Breakfast

Dog Ear Diary

Fizzy Thoughts

*WTF translates, in my head, to what the frack. Or what the fudgesicle. Or what the eff.