Foucault could have been writing about Buonfiglio when he wrote this about Jacques Derrida:

He writes so obscurely you can’t tell what he’s saying, that’s the obscurantism part, and then when you criticize him, he can always say, “You didn’t understand me; you’re an idiot.” That’s the terrorism part.

Personally, she makes me giggle. She’s so full of herself, she has ceased to be able to see she’s starting to really believe in her own hype. As she’s swanning around the halls of Princeton and being published hither and yon, Ms Buonfiglio should beware that she doesn’t fall into the trap outlined by Samuel Johnson:

“When once a man has made celebrity necessary to his happiness, he has put it in the power of the weakest and most timorous malignity, if not to take away his satisfaction, at least to withhold it. His enemies may indulge their pride by airy negligence and gratify their malice by quiet neutrality.”

She’ll find it a very hollow victory as she alienates all but the Yes Men/Women.

I have found that some folks who beat the “nicey nice” drum are some of the meanest shits you could ever hope to meet.

Bwa! It’s like a law of the Internet. Any time I see the “If you can’t say something nice” contingent join an argument, I automatically look for amped-up bitchery.

Thanks. I believe there are others who haven’t read any of the In Deaths. Eventually I will hunt them down and–that is, hopefully some of them will give the series a try and enjoy it, too.

Hey, I respect higher learning. It just has to be linked with some common sense, too, to be of some use in the long run and if one ends up coming off talking down to the very people one is trying to communicate with -’ what in the world is the point?

@ Barb
HELL YEAH! Common sense seems to be the one thing missing from this woman’s speech, not to mention common courtesy.

I'm not an academician, but I play one on the internets, where I try to sound like a homey usin da internets lingo… Which is it? I'm confoooosed. And dayum, as she said, nice of her to mention those who didn't make it through high school. Sportin.

@Ciar Cullen:
Us and mes agrees so well. Almost like we’re related huh? Hmmm….come to think of it…who’s yer cuzzin? Maebee we’s related like. Wudn’t that be sumthin? Its just so nice to now that she’s so excepting of me gradeatin’ the 5th grade and all…almost made it to that there big high school. Maebe next year.

I think the Cassie Edwards thing would be one of the more infamous. Some people thought that even discussing the issue was picking on an old lady.

I have noticed that often people think that things are hot, simply because so many people are discussing it. If it was reported on, but not commented on, it wouldn’t seem to “hot”….

I have been called a troll or a flamer before, simply for disagreeing with a poster… ehh… its par for the course…. Of course I came from a family that pretty much any statement at the dinner table had to be defended… so I am pretty thick skinned about discussions, but not everyone is that way. Which is why I am here, and they are somewhere else…

Surely that commenter on MB's site is even now being chastised with sugar rimmed vats of chirping sun and invited to once again turn fully to the light.

Actually, no. Which tells me that, after all that pomp and circumstance, it’s just a blog like any other. Go figure.

She said it all wrong, but some of what she says follows. Not that we’re sheep, we know what we want and we go for it, but that doesn’t make us sheep-like, any more than my adherence to Monsoon shops makes me anything more than a shopper who knows what she wants and where to buy it. Neither does it make publishers cynical manipulators, it just means they know their markets. I’ve come across this before, and it doesn’t impress me any more than it did before.

Surely that commenter on MB’s site is even now being chastised with sugar rimmed vats of chirping sun and invited to once again turn fully to the light.

As someone that wholeheartedly leapt into category romances for the first time this year back in January, I can safely say that particular Bella’s comment is a big, poo rimmed vat of barf. I’m all for the right to an opinion, but when an entire group is lumped together in such a way and blatantly insulted it fires up my bitchdar.

Lori, I recently had a reviewer call one of my Blazes grocery store checkout trash by essentially interchangeable, nobody, no-name authors

Wow. If there isn’t some form of sour grapes involved there, I’d be surprised. Usually, I find those types of comments coming from people who are frustrated with their own writing careers and are looking for someone to attack. “The Bella” above being a prime example, onacounta her comment included a link to her website and I looked.

Lori (who also has Leslie Kelley and Nora Roberts categories on my keeper shelf)

PS I have a confession to make, I just recently read my first JD Robb book and of course it was Naked in Death and of course I LOVED it! I know I am the only human being on earth that hadn’t read any of the series and I can only ask forgiveness and am currently amassing a huge pile of ‘IN Death” series. I feel better now. :-)

I had no idea they were throwaways. I’ve also remained ignorant of the fact that most publisher think readers are stupid!

It’s very considerate of this ‘nice girl’ reader to let me know.

The ability of people to so casually scorn others, and then plead the wide-eyed, Bambi excuse, “But, you’re just taking it the wrong way, I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feeeeeeeeliiiiiings!” never ceases to amaze me.

Call me a bitch or an untalented hack to my face. I might not like it, but I’ll respect you more for it.

PS: Lori, I recently had a reviewer call one of my Blazes grocery store checkout trash by essentially interchangeable, nobody, no-name authors. So, uh, want to write my current wip for me? I’m swamped! Nobody’ll notice, I’m sure…after all, we’re interchangeable.

I did say ‘old-fashioned’ Mills ‘n’ Boon, which lets today’s writers off the hook. I meant the small books you used to see at supermarket check-outs, which were literally throwaway items.

I reckon that if you don’t try to write books that people really want to keep on their bookshelves, you are not trying hard enough.

Of course, that’s not the whole story. I think most publishers believe their readers are too stupid to enjoy anything that ventures into three dimensions. Arrogant b*****s!

Uhh, that’s being nice? Thanks, but I’d rather hang out here with all the alledged bitching and fighting where people aren’t completely slamming category romance authors as “too lazy to write a real book” by our too-stupid publishers.