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Jenny Trout: Gangster Bully

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gangsterbully1 gangsterbully2 gangsterbully3

 

I’m not sure what I’m more confused about. The fact that I’m not an author, or the fact that I can’t remember my gang initiation.

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84 Comments

  1. Laina
    Laina

    Ugh. Anne Rice.

    April 28, 2014
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    • Laina
      Laina

      *comment to subscribe, ignore this*

      April 28, 2014
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      • JennyTrout
        JennyTrout

        *stares at it intently in open defiance of orders*

        April 28, 2014
        |Reply
    • JennyTrout
      JennyTrout

      Yes. Yes it is.

      April 28, 2014
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      • DancedAllNight
        DancedAllNight

        That saddens me. I like Anne Rice’s books and she has always seemed cool. However, that makes give her the side eye. Granted I don’t know all that much about what y’all are discussing, so maybe when I do I won’t give her the side eye.

        April 29, 2014
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        • She gets very upset at fanfiction writers too. She’s well-known for not wanting any of her characters used for fanfiction. And I don’t even read or write it myself!

          April 30, 2014
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      • Evillyn
        Evillyn

        Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo………ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…..oooooooooooooooooooo.

        Well shit! Proceeds to dig out AR books and stomp on them.

        May 3, 2014
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  2. Angie
    Angie

    Thanks for this. I had to sit on my hands to keep from commenting there, because my facebook has my full name. And STGRB links to my profile on Amazon (I’m an “Amazon fora troll”). I really do not need them getting my full name, since I know precisely what they do to people.

    I’m so pissed.

    April 28, 2014
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  3. Lisa
    Lisa

    Yes, I see that any evidence offered contrary to Anne’s opinion is dense, and confusing. Which says more about Anne than it does about anything else, I think.

    *attempts complicated bully gang handshake and fails*

    April 28, 2014
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  4. has
    has

    I find it ironic that she finds a well respected blog which covers industry and publishing news and explains issues well – that she cant understand the post because its dense and confusing. But finds the STGRB site is easy to understand which is just meandering mess of sockpuppetry by people who tried to get people sacked and outed which is dangerous.

    I got a feeling that she may regret being so gung-ho in defending this group especially now its given them new life and injection of support.

    April 28, 2014
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  5. Some Hussy
    Some Hussy

    I don’t even…

    Is it only an “honest” review if it’s all sunshine and rainbows? Personally, as a reader, I find the negative reviews to be most helpful in deciding whether or not a book is going to suit me. I find it slightly demeaning that people think readers can’t distinguish between a well-written negative review and “this book suuuuccccks” reviews. And if seeing a negative review hurts you that much either avoid review sites or rethink being a publicly published author.

    April 28, 2014
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    • One of my friends celebrates his negative reviews which I find a great way to handle it. None of my writing has yet to garner any negative reviews (probably because few people have read anything I’ve written) but I’ve been receiving negative reactions to my artwork for years. Does some of it hurt? Yeah, it does, but so what? Not everyone is going to like what I produce and bad reviews are nothing compared to real bullying.

      April 28, 2014
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      • Nichole A.
        Nichole A.

        Bravo! Well said. I’m a professional photographer and if people didn’t review an critique my work I’d be doing something wrong.

        April 29, 2014
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    • DancedAllNight
      DancedAllNight

      Bang to all of this! I would like to think That I’m intelligent enough to distinguish between trolls and an actual negative review. Also, if you can’t take criticism constructive or negative then stopping putting your art out for public consumption.

      April 29, 2014
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  6. Very courageous of you to speak truth to power like that. She has no respect for intellectual honesty.

    What a shabby person she is.

    April 28, 2014
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  7. Mojitana
    Mojitana

    She can’t be bothered to read the article? It’s incomprehensible to her? I wonder if she’s just not used to people telling her she’s wrong.

    April 28, 2014
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  8. Old Rocker
    Old Rocker

    What Anne Rice and STGRB are doing is nothing less than trying to intimidate current and potential reviewers into not writing anything critical in a review by using a tacit threat of public humiliation to those who do.

    April 28, 2014
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  9. Caitlin
    Caitlin

    I don’t understand how some people can’t take negative criticism. How are you supposed to get better at something if you are only told how wonderful you are at it? You can be a good writer and still turn out a shitty product. I don’t understand humans sometimes.

    April 28, 2014
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  10. Lani
    Lani

    Ms Rice writes Facebook comments as well as she writes books (which is to say, I nodded off two sentences in and just tried to guess context based on replies).

    April 28, 2014
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  11. Cherry
    Cherry

    …”gangster bullies?” That’s a very strange thing to call anyone.

    April 28, 2014
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  12. Akri
    Akri

    Is anyone else reminded of the scene from South Park where the guy is like “we have to stop pointing fingers at each other! Carl! Stop pointing fingers!”

    April 29, 2014
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  13. LOL “gangster bullies” is reminding me of the epic Rihanna/Ciara twitter feud, when Rihanna was like “U gangsta?”

    LOL Jenny, you’re so gangsta

    April 29, 2014
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  14. She needs a kind person to lead her away from the internet, preferably forever. If she’s not able to see what’s right in front of her on the STGRB front, she’s not well enough to be posting where people can see and mock her.

    As for the actual bullies, I spit on them and their hateful campaigns.

    April 29, 2014
    |Reply
  15. Jess
    Jess

    Why does this strike me as very much like Crazy Amy from Amy’s Baking Company on the infamous episode of Kitchen Nightmares? She’s ranting about haters where there are only people expressing their experiences.

    April 29, 2014
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  16. (All Hail) Grimlock
    (All Hail) Grimlock

    Hey, I can find/link screen caps where they call me a tranny. Seeing as Anne Rice is, supposedly, for LGTB rights would she liked to explain why she supports a site where calling me Tranny Manface is considered the epitome of comedy? I mean, they found this /hilarious/.

    I call it sexual harassment. If they don’t take my picture down from that site, I am involving a lawyer next Monday, too. I refuse to let them use my intellectual property – I took that picture – just so that they can continue to sexual harass me. And possibly libel me about another picture that they haven’t yet posted, but love to mock.

    April 29, 2014
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    • Dee Ream
      Dee Ream

      I looked at that site for the first time two days ago, following AR post. I must say, although some bits sort of made sense, others stank to high heaven of slander and far fetched made up rubbish.

      Has anyone put a petition together to their ISPs to get that site taken down?

      BTW I too have been banned from AR for presenting evidence that I had just found of authors bullying genuine one time reviewers on Amazon. (I feel like a should get at badge to wear with pride!)

      I found what I witnessed two days ago truly shocking!

      May 1, 2014
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  17. The DA post was too dense? Really? REALLY? I’m dumbfounded. Wow.

    April 29, 2014
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  18. CJ Lemire
    CJ Lemire

    I bet your gang initiation was awesome, and there were tattoos.

    April 29, 2014
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  19. Lieke
    Lieke

    I especially like the ‘If you really think you’re in danger, then don’t review!’ line of argument. Apparently, Anne Rice thinks freedom of speech is only for her or something. What a blowhard.

    Good on you for taking them all to task for their ridiculousness, Jenny!

    April 29, 2014
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  20. I think both sides of the house in this debate are beyond the pale. There is a bunch who will turn up on threads on Amazon.com and completely ruin them. Half are ‘reviewers’ who seem to blanket class all authors as charlatans and cheats, the other half are ‘authors’ out to get this bunch. Both sides should just get over it. They’ve made the Amazon.com forum almost unusable.

    For me, too, the most useful review I’ve had was a negative one. The reviewer enjoyed the story but raised a lot of issues about the way it was listed and presented. It opened my eyes to a whole gamut of stuff that it had never crossed my mind to add to the listing.

    Cheers

    April 29, 2014
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    • This is the most sensible thing I’ve read on this “debate” yet.

      April 29, 2014
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  21. Anne Rice is criticising someone for a dense, incomprehensible blog post

    Anne Rice is criticising some for dense, hard-to-follow writing…. well damn, that sporks itself

    Alas, Anne Rice has always been of the idea that anyone who dares to criticise books is evil and needs to be punished – it’s no surprise at all that she would flock to these hateful people.

    April 29, 2014
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  22. Binnska
    Binnska

    Holy damn, did she ban you for your comments? I don’t see them in that thread and you were FAR from rude or attacky. Has she always been this delusional, and has her head always been crammed this far up her ass, or is this a new and exciting development?

    April 29, 2014
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    • JennyTrout
      JennyTrout

      I know she deleted my comments. But if she banned me I wouldn’t know, I stopped following her page.

      April 29, 2014
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      • Binnska
        Binnska

        This comment was too dense and confusing for me to follow.

        April 29, 2014
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        • JennyTrout
          JennyTrout

          I get that a lot.

          April 29, 2014
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    • derrolyn anderson
      derrolyn anderson

      I vote for the ass option.

      April 29, 2014
      |Reply
  23. Why is she deleting comments that argue with her? Something to ponder…

    April 29, 2014
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  24. Ilex
    Ilex

    Is STGRB still around? I’ve been determinedly ignoring them for two years now.

    Nobody likes bad reviews or having their beloved novel mocked, but you just can’t control what other people think about your book(s).

    And I’m with Dear Author on this — there’s too much effort from women being put into controlling other women. Can’t we put that energy into getting some genuine power instead?

    April 29, 2014
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  25. Cate
    Cate

    Anne Rice is about as overrated as Dan Brown in my opinion, she caters to the lowest common denominator. I outgrew her writing by the time I was in high school. How is anyone taking her seriously??

    April 29, 2014
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  26. Jane
    Jane

    Dear god, the irony, it burns. Anne Rice rants on about the ‘denseness’ of your post but ALL of her posts are so dense, that no one can get through them with a machete. Your posts went the way of anyone else who does not kiss AR’s ass. That is to say, into the great abyss of cyber space, never to be seen again.

    April 29, 2014
    |Reply
  27. Ann
    Ann

    I… have not heard about any of this. It seems really weird. There are people who are going around hunting down negative reviewers? And official groups about this? Huh. …At least there are enough people still passionate enough about reading to make this an actual thing? I guess that’s the silver lining of this unnecessary cloud.

    As many other people have said, negative reviews really help me decide whether to read a book. Sometimes the negative review makes me *want* to read it. You think it’s facile and non-substantive? Awesome, I’m looking for a great beach read! You think it delves too much into “political correctness” (ugh, that phrase)? Awesome, I love social issue analysis! You think it was hard to read because it was too flowery? Great, I’m totally looking for a purple prose imagery-laden novel. You think there’s too much magic and not enough Christ? Awesome, this is probably the book for me!

    Good luck with all this, Jenny.

    April 29, 2014
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    • derrolyn anderson
      derrolyn anderson

      These “official groups” are a bunch of malcontents that have nothing better to do with their time. They blacklisted me (tee-hee), and I do not review. I’m not even a gangster, LOL.

      Anne Rice has lost her marbles and is embarrassing herself.

      April 29, 2014
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    • SandorClegane13
      SandorClegane13

      Exactly! That’s what got me on the “Divergent” series, all the reviews criticizing it for having a poor concept, one-dimensional characters, and a flimsy plot. After sludging through dry as sand legal textbooks for school, I needed the escapism. And I did end up enjoying them for what they are.

      April 29, 2014
      |Reply
  28. Reading Wolf
    Reading Wolf

    She is stubborn about her support for STGRB. And this isn’t the first time she has posted a status about them. I really wish she wouldn’t dismiss people who disagree with her with such a tl;dr attitude. I mean that was extremely rude. No if, ands, or buts about it. That was unbecoming. I read through her statements and all I see is someone who refuses to listen and looks down on others. It is so sad.

    April 29, 2014
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  29. Poor old Anne Rice. Not her finest hour.

    I liked her and her books, until one of her characters (who was intended to be a sympathetic protagonist) had a typically Rice-like reflection about how depressed and disappointed he was that all the white people in his New Orleans neighbourhood moved out, and that the place had “decayed” without all those good people.

    April 29, 2014
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  30. Sushi
    Sushi

    Oh, Anne Rice. She doesn’t want reviewers. She wants cheerleaders. I’ve not read a single one of her books and I have no intention of doing so purely because of the way she reacts to negative reviews. Have you heard about the time she sicced all her Facebook followers on a blogger who decided to review Pandora while she was cutting it up for a craft project? Horrible person, you couldn’t pay me to pirate her books.

    April 29, 2014
    |Reply
    • Heather (@TorrinPaige)
      Heather (@TorrinPaige)

      Ha! I remember that. I have read Anne over the years, they’re quick easy reads for me and I generally enjoy her older stuff. After reading about the whole Pandora debacle I made the decision that I couldn’t support her with my hard earned cash any longer since she seems to have no sense of humor whatsoever.

      April 29, 2014
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  31. You… you got into an argument with Anne Rice? I don’t think I’ll be buying any of her books anymore. How can someone so ignorant put together enough coherent words for a novel?

    April 29, 2014
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  32. Flo
    Flo

    If she thinks this crap doesn’t exist, she is living with her head in the sand. It is everywhere on the internet and has been for years, not just in this type of situation. She’s totally detached from reality, apparently she doesn’t watch the news either because this kind of behavior is everywhere.

    You Gangsta Bitch Jenny!

    April 29, 2014
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  33. Anne Rice has gone through some … interesting phases in her life. I’m not really surprised by this. What did surprise me was the way she wrote a lot of her posts compared to the way she writes her books. I’m thinking she has a very good editor somewhere.

    April 29, 2014
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  34. C.M.
    C.M.

    Scary. “Gangster bullies” is such an insanely strange thing to call anyone that I can’t help but wonder if something is seriously amiss with the woman. Like, “perhaps someone who knows her should check up” levels of amiss. Because using that phrasing six times in the space of two comments (and managing to misspell it once) looks like a major red flag.

    April 29, 2014
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  35. Moira
    Moira

    This makes me sad, really. I’m tired of people confusing criticism with bullying. Just because it isn’t sunshine and daisies doesn’t mean it needs to be suppressed. And if they really are resorting to tactics similar to revenge porn sites to control negative reviews? That’s just sick.

    April 29, 2014
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  36. Ashleigh
    Ashleigh

    I miss when the worst things Anne did were tell readers they were interrogating her books from the wrong perspective and claim she didn’t need an editor. The thing with the classy bordello and the other thing with her letters getting her dragged back into court were good too, but the former two are classics for a reason. She’s not really funny anymore.

    April 29, 2014
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  37. Alison
    Alison

    I stopped reading Anne Rice when she decided she no longer needed an editor. It’s too bad, I was a huge fan of her early novels when I was a teenager.

    April 30, 2014
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    • When did she stop having an editor? I’m curious because I really liked some of the earlier Vampire Chronicles, but my facial expression throughout some of her later books was a constant pained grimace – so I’m guessing The Witching Hour, Pandora time.

      April 30, 2014
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        • That sounds about right to me. I haven’t been able to get through anything she wrote after that.

          April 30, 2014
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          • Agreed, Memnoch was a disaster from start to finish.

            April 30, 2014
    • Jane
      Jane

      God save us from authors who don’t need editors, no matter how famous they may be. *SMDH*

      April 30, 2014
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  38. I think it’s adorable that Anne Rice is accusing other people of writing prose too dense to follow.

    April 30, 2014
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  39. Arti
    Arti

    Anne Rice is such an asshole.

    I made the mistake of reading her autobiography a few years ago, and basically the whole second half is just her repeating over and over how great her books are and how much everyone loves them. She does take a brief pause to deny that Exit to Eden exists, though…

    April 30, 2014
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    • Jane
      Jane

      LOL! You may be onto something. That was a scary place to be.

      April 30, 2014
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  40. I think it’s really great that you posted this. When someone first pointed her post out to me, I was shocked. Now that I’ve found out that other people have been subjected to this same treatment, I feel a little less alone. 🙂

    May 1, 2014
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  41. 16 year old Rhapsody who loved the Vampire Chronicles is in a corner crying “WHY?!?!”. 26 year old Rhapsody who has been reading Anne Rice’s self indulgent Facebook posts for the last year or so is thinking “what the hell happened to this lady?”.

    It feels like one of those moments where you’re told “never meet the people you looked up to as a kid, because they’ll disappoint you” kind of deal. But if we’re honest, Rice has been a train wreck for a very long time and with the availability of social media the train wreck becomes public.

    This situation is disappointing, but it did prove one thing. Jenny is a badass and a far better role model than Anne Rice ever was.

    May 2, 2014
    |Reply
  42. Mandi Rei Serra
    Mandi Rei Serra

    Oh fuck. Anne Rice is on par with the whole 50 Shades of Abuse twitter thing– remember that? Now I want to ask her how she feels about the low rated review. I didn’t go brutal, but that she supports STGRB… sigh.

    She just lost her space on my book shelf.

    Jenny, you so are an author and Anne is ignorant.

    ((off to reread The Bride)) 😀

    May 2, 2014
    |Reply
  43. Sorry you had to go through this, but at least you got a good laugh out of it. You almost feel sorry for Rice, because this is gonna be a long, hard fall when it comes. Linked and tagged on my blog: http://wp.me/p2iZIk-Ep

    May 5, 2014
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  44. Debbie
    Debbie

    I know. Dear Author = dense and STGRB = clear and coherent? Has she become I’ll? What alternate reality is that? Has anyone tried contacting a family member who could check up on her? Or who might be willing to research STGRB since the poor dear finds it all so dense and confusing?

    I actually used to think Rice could write coherently (admittedly I stopped reading her when she stopped having an editor) but apparently she no longer can comprehend what she reads or be bothered with a brief overview of internet search results that do provide instances of STGRB activity, both good and bad. And yet she feels comfortable throwing her weight behind an organization because of what she read on their site. All hate group sites say their way is the right way. Most bullies do engage in victim blaming.

    And for the love of all you hold dear, can’t they all please stop demeaning bully victims? Call it trolling, libel, attacking, harassing, mean, nasty or whatever but not “bullying.” How on earth can an online star rating bully anyone?

    Don’t even get me started on the author who right after real name petition started noticed a lack of rating activity on her books which at launch had all 4-5 star ratings. She got exact ONE negative rating and went screeching on the blogosphere how she was being cyber-bullied and gang-raped. Yes, a single online star rating was making her a rape victim. (Reporting the rating as abusive did get amazon and goodreads to review the matter and lots of the suspiciously similar sounding rave reviews were removed along with the sockpuppet accounts.). I’m not naming to avoid providing the attention apparently wanted.

    May 5, 2014
    |Reply
  45. danyael
    danyael

    In anne’s opinion negative reviews of her novels, even when they are respectful and well thought out, should not be taken seriously because the reviewer is to stupid to understand and appreciate her “complex, intricate and deeply profound” prose.

    I enjoyed her early books when I was in highschool. I stopped reading the vampire chronicles after Memnoch the Devil. While the book had its entertaining moments I personally felt that Lestat made a confusing transformation from being interesting to being the ultimate Mary Sue. I fully admit that this is my opinion and that others may disagree with me, but, I do bristle at the author’s implication that my dislike of her work somehow means that I am stupid.

    I was actually really excited when I heard about the forthcoming Prince Lestat as it is apparently supposed to be a direct sequel to Queen of the Damned (not sure how that works in light of the novels that were written after Queen?) Anyway, I went online to look for any info about Prince Lestat and I came across her increasingly bizzare rantings.

    The final straw was when I found out that she used her FB account to basically sic her fans on a small time blogger who did not like her book pandora. I was also totally disgusted by the fact that she totally misrepresented what the blogger said.

    I wish I had never bothered to look for info about Prince Lestat as her behaviour has totally turned me off and I now have no intention of buying the book. Honestly, in light of discovering what she is really like I doubt that I will ever be able to read any of her past books that I have enjoyed without having the experience sullied by my new found knowledge of her petty, insecure nonsense.

    August 2, 2014
    |Reply
  46. Sissy Balderdash
    Sissy Balderdash

    I think a lot of readers found Rice’s latest offering dense and confusing, too.

    November 15, 2014
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  47. Brian
    Brian

    Dense and confusing? She was accidentally reading Lasher at the time, wasn’t she?

    January 11, 2015
    |Reply
  48. Blep
    Blep

    How many different times can Anne Rice used the words “gangster bully”? She sounds like she’s trying to force a meme. I almost want to say she also sounds like a 12-year-old, but honestly I’ve met kids who can put up a better, more coherent argument than this woman.

    May 23, 2017
    |Reply
  49. Aza
    Aza

    Kudos on your informative and clear blog post. I think you wrote very maturely in an attempt to educate about STGRB, with no emotional accusations or anger for supporters to get defensive about or to dismiss your words. That Anne Rice immediately dismissed all your points or denied they existed just shows her determination not to hear anything she disagrees with and her own childishness. I honestly don’t know why she responded when she’s so in denial. She’s ‘lost’ with the ‘vague accusations and gossip’? You provide a link with proof laid out, not to mention STGRB actually brags about the harm they do to people’s lives and mental health even if not physical attacks, so there is plenty of evidence laid out. I’m also very disappointed in her blatant hypocrisy. She is passionately against bullies and negative reviews but supports written harassment and threats? And if her advice is ‘if you think you’re in danger don’t review’, just enough plausible deniability that the danger isn’t definite, but admitting she’s pleased that reviewers are frightened enough to be silent and condoning the horrible treatment and threats against reviewers who say things she doesn’t like to be quiet from fear of consequences against them.

    I’m so sorry for the treatment you received from those who shared your and your family’s personal information, and that Anne Rice somehow feels the authors not doing the crimes themselves makes condoning strangers on the internet doing so on their behalf not her responsibility or even concern. And apparently unlike her, I believe in free speech and am sorry you had to suffer for a fair and nonconfrontational post.

    June 11, 2017
    |Reply

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