Disclaimer: I was a Louis L'Amour junkie for many years. I think I have read all of his cowboy novels and short stories, most of them at least five times. Louis died a number of years ago, and his son has long since run out of unpublished manuscripts to keep the publisher going, so there aren't any new Louis L'Amour books to be had. As a result, I occasionally grab something else to satisfy my western/cowboy genre cravings. I did that recently, to my regret. I bought a pair of books from Amazon that were supposed to be the first two books of a planned trilogy. They had "Cowboy" in the title, so I didn't pay much attention to the rest. It turned out that they were not mid- to late 1800s cowboy westerns, they were modern-day novels. And, although they were supposed to be about cowboys -- they weren't. But that's not the point of this post. The point is: If'n yer gonna write a series, at least try to keep the basic elements consistent from one book to the next. The male protagonist in the first book is a former Marine who is now the sheriff of a county in northern California. His best (and apparently only) friend is a reclusive former Army Ranger who lives in a remote cabin in the hills and who works as a mercenary. The name of the town is apparently fictional; the county is real, and it is in northern California. Which makes all the references to "rednecks," "southern charm," and "southern hospitality" totally inexplicable. The sheriff is supposed to be a bad-ass dude, but the two times in the book when the chips are down, his posterior is saved by a female (not the same one in each incident). That's bad enough. Book two is worse. Book two is set in the same small town in northern California. The male protagonist this time is the former Army Ranger. Remember that he was the Sheriff's best friend in Book 1? In Book 2, when the SHTF, there is no mention of the sheriff. None. Wait! Did I say "former Army Ranger"? Scratch that. In book two a person with the same name as the former Army Ranger is now a retired CIA operative who runs a profitable ranch (in northern California?) but who doesn't seem to do any actual ranching. The back story is that he enlisted in the Marines (not the Army), and that he was recruited into the CIA right out of Marine Boot Camp. (Hint: That doesn't happen.) Mr. Army Ranger/retired CIA is also supposed to be the ultimate bad-ass yet, when he is cornered, he is saved by a pair of other guys from the town who seem to be his best friends -- but who didn't appear at all in Book 1. Need I say that I won't be buying Book 3 when it comes out? Sheesh!
CIA explains it all. Everyone is in the witness protection program and all names and places have been scrambled to protect the innocent or guilty or whoever it is that's in the program. The third book will feature the female who saved the sheriff's ass in the first book only this time she will be a former ATF agent who decides to start her own restaurant called The Rocky Mountain Oyster. She'll wrangle horses and bad banditos on the side. Sometimes books are so terrible one reads them out of sheer morbid curiosity.
I don't expect anyone to say anything. I posted this as a reflection on things authors should keep in mind if/when embarking on a series. Why did I keep reading them? Because I had spent money to buy them, and I had nothing better to do for a few hours. (They were quick reads.) Also, because while you can learn a lot about what to do by reading good authors, you can learn a lot about what NOT to do by reading bad authors.
Ever since @Cave Troll first pointed me to "Empress Theresea" by Norman Boutin, I keep dancing around the idea of buying it just for that reason. I know one day curiosity will make me cave. Even reading all the hilarious reviews about it doesn't diminish the idea, it just builds up in your head as to how bad it can be. People who watch RedLetterMedia's "Best of the Worst" on Youtube will know exactly how amazing bad things can be if they become so bad they're funny.
I have zero tolerance for bad writing. The words literally repel my eyes from reading the page. I recently bought a science fiction trilogy with every intention of reading all three books. But I couldn't manage to finish the first chapter.
It is posted on a website, and you can save your money by reading it for free. If you should feel the need to read that atrocity.
Have you read the 'sporking' of the Maradonia saga? I'm usually against trashing low quality works by people that just didn't know better, but the author and her family resorted to some rather unscrupulous methods to promote their books, even making false claims that she was the youngest published novelist. The movie is even worse. I'm still undecided if they actually thought the books and the movie were on par with other published or even good quality self published books, or if it was sort of a troll. But it looks like they actually thought it had high artistic merit.
Bruce, you just made my day. I had never heard of Gloria Tesch or the Maradonia books. I just spent some time studying up on her, the books, and the criticism of both the books and her family's marketing and promotional tactics. I also read a scrap out of the first book. Just ... WOW! Compared to that, no one on this site need ever feel unworthy.
Having written and self-published the Worst Novel Ever Written and Published, I feel pressured to weigh in. How bad is it? So bad it didn't even make it to the Goodreads Worst Fiction Books list. It is comforting to know I have some competition. Although not a series, it was supposed to be. I may have prevented many outbursts of rage by limiting the series to a one-book-wonder. Self-deprecating humor is not for everyone, so I apologize ahead of time to anyone who is offended by, or takes exception to, my remarks. To paraphrase The Bard, "methinks they doth protest too much." No, I will not reveal the real title because I don't want to be banned for advertising/spamming the site. I don't mean to be discourteous or dismissive when I say, "Reading this thread has been almost as much fun as writing my reply to it."
Congratulations! Not everyone can reach such a pinnacle of anti-achievement and live to laugh about it.
