My Blood Runs Cold: An Objective Review

Also, just for the fun of pointing it out, Rockford is a real first name, if an incredibly rare one. Might not be that rare 80 years from now, though.

To expand a bit; Your opening sentences has to grab the reader, make him interested. Take this example:

Michael Moorcock
Elric of Melniboné:
"It is the color of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair which flows below his shoulders is milk-white. From the tapering, beautiful head stare two slanting eyes, crimson and moody, and from the loose sleeves of his yellow gown emerge two slender hands, also the color of bone. "

Or this from Roger Zelanzy:
Nine Princes In Amber:
"It was starting to end, after what seemed most of eternity to me.
I attempted to wriggle my toes, succeeded. I was sprawled there in a hospital bed and my legs were done up in plaster casts, but they were still mine.
I squeezed my eyes shut, and opened them, three times.
The room grew steady.
Where the hell was I?"

No one should use last names as first names. I know every stupid 19 year old single mother does it but still...

And in more "improbable character names" fun:

http://www.healthgrades.com/provider/barbara-dahl-2nw8c

Of course, the joke about China Dahl is, it's the name of a midget porn actress.

Have I ever struck you as the type to care overly much about 'should'?

I find it astonishing that this thread has been used as a thread to attack Castle as an incompetent hack. How hypocritical can you lot be??

This is an interesting comment. Think back, real hard, see if you can remember what started the feud. No, can't remember? It was your refusal to take honest criticism when you published some samples of your writing at TrekBBS. You flipped out about it then, and have so far not shown any signs of recovering. And here we are, once again, you are refusing to take honest criticism. You might be able to improve your results if you didn't simply reject every negative uncritically.

Nitpicking, but many traditional family names began as first names, such as Cullen and Jackson and Davis.

Better those than some of the stupid shit celebrities give their children (like Pilot Inspektor, spelled exactly as is )

Wow, it's at 3,40 now. It's almost like eBay. Is that even legal?!

Anyway, I don't own a Kindle so I can't read any of it. However, Johnny... you said something interesting up there:

For ten years, a book on vaping (which seems well received), a 40 page story that seems to be written with the skill of a teenage boy typing down his fantasies and writing credits to a no-budget movie nobody has ever seen isn't much of a body of work.

Not trying to pile on. Just curious. That's maybe 400 pages of work. You're writing something like two paid lines a day. What are you doing for, let's say, food? Ghostwriting? Copy? Trust fund?

I have seen constructive criticism -- genuine constructive criticism -- and acted on it before. But I've never seen it on this board. What I've seen on this board, as well as on TBBS all those years ago, was a lot of empty crap flinging. Well, when in the monkey habitat, do what the monkeys do. And don't expect them to suddenly start using Oxford diction and waxing eloquent about literature. Or even pulp fiction. The reactions you get from me are the reactions a decade of shit flinging has bought you. That's what I expect you to do, in turn, which is why all I see from the vast majority of this crowd is flung shit. That's what you've led me to expect, it is what I expect, and it's what I give back. You've earned it. Enjoy.

As much as a lot of what you say is right, if you can't see this thread for what it is then you disappoint me. This is a "troll Castle" thread just like any other, but it's being passed off as constructive. At least when I tried to give Castle a bit of feedback I did it in the Workshop with genuine thoughts (and I'm talking about when he first posted months ago). But the very fact that this was posted in the Red Room shows that WAB has literally tried to buy himself an excuse to troll the fuck out of Castle while pretending to be immune because he's thrown Castle enough cash for a pint of milk...and what's worse is that you're going along with it. What's more is that WAB has seen Castle's recent third meltdown and is clearly doing this in the hope of another.

So, all I'll say is that this proves that the superior bullshit that has been played out on this board over and over again is pretty unfounded, and WAB is worse than either Castle or I.

Any honest assessment of JC's fiction writing will come down to finding him to be an incompetent hack. It can be said more kindly or less so, but if it's not said then there's a disservice being done to him. If he's writing because he loves to do so, that's great; there's a horde of NaNoWriMo writers doing the same thing at a similar level of competence. If he believes that his big break is just around the corner, as he seems to believe, then disillusioning him is a favor. If he wants to write for a living he should be writing manuals for vaping products, maybe ad copy if he improves his writing a bit. Whatever he does he should stay far away from writing fiction if he wants to make money.

Terrible, awfully bad advice.

Um, okay. Is this a troll thread? Of course it is. Is it worse than yours? No, it isn't, because this one directly resulted from Castle's behavior in your thread, whereas your thread was unsolicited. People can and will differ on this interpretation, but it's pretty rich for you to call the kettle black.

Second, whatever issue you have with WAB, that really has nothing to do with how people perceive Castle's work. Like you, I have presented input on his writing in the Workshop. That doesn't make this thread go away, nor does it mean we can't present input here. Have you read the pamphlet? It's open for discussion, give us your thoughts.

Finally, I'll point out that you are commenting on a post in which I directly responded to a statement made by Castle in this very thread. Should I open a new thread somewhere else to make that point? As you note, the point is correct, so it's not like I should hide it away, when he opened the door right here.

...starts with reading it. I'm not remotely convinced that you have; not recently, not ever. You've demonstrated no knowledge of the subject whatsoever, which is why all these grand pronouncements from you are taken as seriously as they are. Which is to say, not seriously at all.

No, it isn't. We all have our disagreements around here, but there's usually a mutual respect. The unique component to your situation is you.

Nah, course not. You get to behave like a crusty anus toward me regardless of my behavior because you're just special. Holier-than, in every way. What was I thinking.

If I don't retaliate when I'm shat on, well that's just fine. But if I do retaliate, that only proves I had it coming.

That, more than anything else, is the lesson John Castle needs to learn.

I'm assuming either Castle or Chup are posting here, because some of the replies I'm reading wouldn't make sense otherwise. As I indicated in the other thread, I put those two morons on ignore some time ago. I temporarily lifted the ignore yesterday when I heard about Chup's utterly failed attempt to troll Castle and couldn't resist reveling in their mutual inanity.

I'm not surprised this thread turned into mud-slinging so quickly, but I had hoped to at least get my review up before that started. I realized if I posted this thread in the Workshop it would have been locked quickly anyway because of the inevitable shitstorm that would follow when the review was posted. Oh, well. Whatever anyone believes, this was not started as a troll thread. As long as I continue to be a member of this community I will put my money where my mouth is and buy the publishings of Wordforge members. (I believe after Paladin I was the second person to buy Diacanu's graphic novel when it was first published.) How many of you have actually purchased works by Wordforge authors?

That being said, I do sincerely hope nothing but the worst for Castle and Chup. If their real-life personas are anything remotely like what they post here, they are complete asshats and failures. If I behave like a giant prick, it is only because I'm responding to them in kind. In short, fuck them. I'm done wasting any more time on them.

As was already pointed out, why do you think people relate to you differently to the way they relate to, say, Dan Leach or Tuckerfan?

Which, interestingly, is exactly what Castle says.

If this thread were genuinely constructive, why wasn't it posted in the Workshop where Castle posted his thread?

Three dollars for 40 pages. Which is part one of eight. So that's $24 for 320 pages. That better be one good book.

Because they enjoy my retaliation. They must, or they wouldn't consistently work so hard to earn it.

Just like the tread you claim to have on ignore that you posted in copiously

Some0ne who goes to such lengths to remind people they're on ignore doesn't actually have them on ignore.