The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

[jamieem]

I was also at the signing/ Q&A (didn't realise Chris Wooding was there...) and also had a great time. Pat seems like a really nice guy and funny too, as Wert mentioned.

Wert, I recognised Gillian Redfearn, who else from Gollancz was there?

Didn't realise it was you that Rothfuss pulled the surprise hug on, it made me chuckle...

[Werthead]

Originally Posted by jamieem

I was also at the signing/ Q&A (didn't realise Chris Wooding was there...) and also had a great time. Pat seems like a really nice guy and funny too, as Wert mentioned.

Wert, I recognised Gillian Redfearn, who else from Gollancz was there?

Simon Spanton was around and a couple of the publicity people as well, I think, plus there was a couple more at the Q&A.

[KatG]

What in the world is with the beard? First Scott Lynch with the hair, now this. Is there a Viking tradition going on?

[jamieem]

This doesn't really scream Viking to me...

http://www.patrickrothfuss.com/blog/...of-spring.html

[KatG]

I say put Scott Lynch, Scott Bakker, Rothfuss and China Mieville together and we have a Viking/pirate team!

Couldn't resist this: http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/

[Psylent]

Dang! Those are some impressive beards!

[rsullivan9597]

Interesting post - sounds like a good time had by all. It will be very interesting to see what happens with Wise Man's Fear - I loved 99% of the book but really was not pleased with the way it ended - I realize that they had to "split the giga-book" in to 3 but I prefer series that are "structured" to be multi-volume. I really didn't like the way it just stopped.

I'm sure I, along with many people will be re-reading when a "real" date is finally announced.

[Werthead]

Okay, now this was pure surrealism.

Last week Pat Rothfuss made a comment on his Facebook about how THE NAME OF WIND suddenly started getting a rash of one-star reviews over on Amazon.com. Whilst the book has gone down quite well, it is understandable that, even on just a purely statistical level, some people out there don't like the book and are vocal about it, especially given the 'hype' it has received in some quarters. Fair enough.

But what was odd was that all of these one-star reviews were written one after another in a very similar tone by newly-created profiles and all seemed to be making the same, highly questionable, claims that the book was 'objectively bad' and that all of the 500+ positive reviews on Amazon had been written by Pat himself, his friends or family. They ignored the fact that the book has been an international bestseller, is published in multiple languages by reputable publishers, and just continued making questionable claims about the author's moral character. It was very weird. They then tried to get the Rothfuss' Wikipedia page eliminated and also made a very half-hearted effort to level similar complaints against Abercrombie, although I get the impression this was solely to make it look like they weren't just picking on Rothfuss.

All of this smelled like a rat, most notably when one of the reviewers started saying that Pat Rothfuss should go to Iraq to get the 'moral character' that only comes from serving in the armed forces. This was VERY familiar. Then I remembered that the legendary self-published, alleged author Robert Stanek kept making a huge fuss about how serving in the armed forces had been an important character-building exercise.

I dismissed the idea it could be Stanek though, as the critics weren't using Stanek's normal MO of ripping into the author and going "This guy is rubbish, if you want to read real fantasy, go read Robert Jordan, George RR Martin and Robert Stanek!"

Then today one of the other commentators following the situation on Amazon pointed out that almost all of these suspect reviewers had started 'tagging' Robert Stanek's books (you could see this on their profiles). By the time I checked them out, only three had them left, the rest having apparently removed them when they realised they were rumbled.

So there you have it, it appears that self-published, low-selling author Robert Stanek, infamously responsible for one of the biggest scams in SF&F history on Amazon (which Amazon still hasn't sorted out), is using his multitude of alias accounts on Amazon to tear down a new, fresh and critically-acclaimed author for petty and disturbing reasons.

Honestly, you could not make this up.

One of the same reviewers concerned has gone on to rip into David Louis Edelmen and Jim C. Hines' books as well. For those not in the know, both of these authors have posted blog entries about Stanek's activities in the past. Astonishing.

[Cranky Hamster]

That is awesome, and by "awesome" I mean "terrible, but hilariously so."

It's been clear for a while that Stanek has mental problems (nobody who populates an entire forum with sock-puppets to praise his own works is all there upstairs), but this is a new twist in the story. Wow.

I'm just going to hope he's delusional about having been in the armed forces too, because good lord it's frightening to think about that guy being allowed anywhere near a pointy stick, let alone actual weapons.

[rsullivan9597]

Wow - that is a fascinating post -- Name of the wind is a great book by a new fresh voice - even more remarkable since it is his first.

[Rob B]

Originally Posted by Werthead

"This guy is rubbish, if you want to read real fantasy, go read Robert Jordan, George RR Martin and Robert Stanek!"
.
.
.
One of the same reviewers concerned has gone on to rip into David Louis Edelmen and Jim C. Hines' books as well. For those not in the know, both of these authors have posted blog entries about Stanek's activities in the past. Astonishing.

ARGH! He who must not be named!!

You might have a "lawyer" contacting you to cease and desist now that you've invoked the revered name of Mr. Stanek in such a negative light.

[Werthead]

You mean like David Langford did? He received a 'threatening' letter from Mr. Stanek's lawyers, only to find that Stanek himself had written it posing as a lawyer and using lots of legalalese-sounding terms that didn't actually exist. Disturbing.

[PeterWilliam]

Ah, any press is good press. Maybe I'll put it up on my blog. If one must go through the grief (Rothfuss), one might as well get some credit/publicity. Thanks for the deep look, Wert.

Just to be on the legit side of things, is it okay to quote you (i.e. Werthead) on my blog re: this development?

[Rulkez]

If that guy put his clearly massive troll like powers to good use, he could likely rule the world.

Anyone with the time and patience (or like Wert suggested , isn't quite the full bag of spanners ) could easily create the greatest meme's the internet has ever seen.

I think I really have seen it all now.

[PeterWilliam]

Werthead is a newsbreaker, that's for sure. Wert's post here brought some fast acting attention around the 'sphere. Werthead was cited by both Pat's Fantasy Hotlist and myself.

I suppose we'll see whether or not there is any further examination, or explanation, of the matter. If I were Rothfuss, I'd be right royally pissed. Then again, I've always had something of a shoot first and entertain-regretting-it later approach to things.