What is the name of your state? NY
recently I wrote a letter to a university complaining about continuing and repeated vicious attacks on a book I published,(a biography of a famous historian and a graduate of this university many years ago and deceased some years ago) by a known friend of the university. These repeated and unrelenting attacks on my book have upset me greatly -- so much so that I had to be hospitalized recently. Normally a reviewer reviews a book ONCE -- not over and over and over.
But have I commited extortion? Letter is below...
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I hope [name or person omitted] of [name of university omitted] has had fun with his vicious and sadistic attacks on my book...name of book omitted...
But now it is my turn. When I interviewed X's colleagues at ...name of school omitted.. and his opponents elsewhere I heard some VERY lurid stories about his dalliances with students and other faculty. However, when I wrote my book I decided not to include this material as [name omitted] was still alive and I had no reason to embarass him in this way.
Now however, because of [name of person omitted] vicious and REPEATED assaults on me, I am thinking very seriously of revising my biography and republishing it...Then I WILL include this material. Additionally I will make a YouTube video adding all the material I mention above. The latter is very easy to do of course, taking at most about ten minutes and with YouTube's new editing features, about 45 seconds.
Now you can forestall all of this in one of two ways: either you can get [name of close friend of university omitted] to RETRACT and APOLOGIZE in PRINT for his wholly uncalled for assaults on me -- or you can mention my book PROMINENTLY as a recommended reading about [name of subject of biography omitted]. I would prefer the former, but I will accept the latter as compensation. I don't think this is a very big demand.
I abhor having to go into the gutter like this, but [name of offending person omitted] has left me no choice. If he thinks my book is slime and belongs in a 'National Enquirer' book club, then I won't hesitate to disappoint him.
Now please understand that I don't begrudge a reviewer the right to give an honest opinion of a book. [name of another reviewer omitted] e.g. also reviewed by book poorly -- but he did it only ONCE -- which is fair enough. [name of offending person omitted], as I say, has not only done so REPEATEDLY but insinuated that my book belongs in the cesspool.
I will wait until summer's end before taking any of the actions I mentioned above.
P.S. Just for the record, please note that my book also had numerous very excellent reviews: here are just a few: [reviews omitted for now, but will add them if it seems relevant]
.What is the name of your state? NYWhat is the name of your state?
recently I wrote a letter to a university complaining about continuing and repeated vicious attacks on a book I published,(a biography of a famous historian and a graduate of this university many years ago and deceased some years ago) by a known friend of the university. These repeated and unrelenting attacks on my book have upset me greatly -- so much so that I had to be hospitalized recently. Normally a reviewer reviews a book ONCE -- not over and over and over.
But have I commited extortion? Letter is below...
--------------------------------
I hope [name or person omitted] of [name of university omitted] has had fun with his vicious and sadistic attacks on my book...name of book omitted...
But now it is my turn. When I interviewed X's colleagues at ...name of school omitted.. and his opponents elsewhere I heard some VERY lurid stories about his dalliances with students and other faculty. However, when I wrote my book I decided not to include this material as [name omitted] was still alive and I had no reason to embarass him in this way.
Now however, because of [name of person omitted] vicious and REPEATED assaults on me, I am thinking very seriously of revising my biography and republishing it...Then I WILL include this material. Additionally I will make a YouTube video adding all the material I mention above. The latter is very easy to do of course, taking at most about ten minutes and with YouTube's new editing features, about 45 seconds.
Now you can forestall all of this in one of two ways: either you can get [name of close friend of university omitted] to RETRACT and APOLOGIZE in PRINT for his wholly uncalled for assaults on me -- or you can mention my book PROMINENTLY as a recommended reading about [name of subject of biography omitted]. I would prefer the former, but I will accept the latter as compensation. I don't think this is a very big demand.
I abhor having to go into the gutter like this, but [name of offending person omitted] has left me no choice. If he thinks my book is slime and belongs in a 'National Enquirer' book club, then I won't hesitate to disappoint him.
Now please understand that I don't begrudge a reviewer the right to give an honest opinion of a book. [name of another reviewer omitted] e.g. also reviewed by book poorly -- but he did it only ONCE -- which is fair enough. [name of offending person omitted], as I say, has not only done so REPEATEDLY but insinuated that my book belongs in the cesspool.
I will wait until summer's end before taking any of the actions I mentioned above.
P.S. Just for the record, please note that my book also had numerous very excellent reviews: here are just a few: [reviews omitted for now, but will add them if it seems relevant]
.What is the name of your state? NYWhat is the name of your state?