So….
Based on my last post, one might think I was riding high in the saddle. Not only did Pilgrimage get a stellar review but was also selected as Booknest‘s finalist in the 2017 SPFBO. It’s quite an honor and I still keep waiting to wake up and realize it got thrown out and a more deserving book took its place. No matter what else happens, I can savor the moment.
And then that happened.
Muse: Lemme guess: someone peed in your pool?
A little, yes. Prompted by the good review I got in the contest, another reader picked it up and left a decently scorching review on Goodreads, pretty much finding fault with everything about the book. I think they got bored and wrapped it up before saying my grandfather was a baboon, but it was a near-miss.
Muse: Would you accept the argument that Stephen King is probably the most consistently-popular spec-fiction writer of the last forty years?
Sure.
Muse: Based on Goodreads reviews, his best-rated book is The Stand. It still has about 3% one and two star ratings. The latest edition on Amazon has about 6% one and two star ratings. No matter how good you are, bad reviews are gonna happen.
I know. Bad reviews happen. It’s easy to know that intellectually. It’s tougher on the heartstrings. I didn’t curl into a fetal position or anything but the tone and content of that review was quite a contrast from the previous one, and did get a bit of a wince out of me. If nothing else, it is a reminder that not every book is everything to all readers.
So….ego raised up, and then brought back down with a little reminder.
This book didn’t win over that reader. Perhaps my next one will. Only way to find out is to keep writing.
In the meantime, I again send heartfelt thanks to the folks who did enjoy it.
The Flint Hatchet 