Simultaneously entertained and appalled

[annathepiper]

solarbird pointed me to this link over on nihilistic_kid's journal--a gag eBay auction for someone selling their manuscript for $150,000.

At least, I HOPE it's a gag. ;) I wonder if this is some editing intern somewhere who has decided to vent some frustration after reading one too many really badly written query letters! What makes this particularly priceless is the repetition of how "English teachers" told the writer this and that, and oh yes, the offer to give bidders his address so they can "come over" and read the manuscript before purchase.

Comments

[wildshadowstar.livejournal.com]

I know that my spelling and grammar is far from perfect, but even I caught several mistakes. I think this dude needs to recheck what he wrote before lobbing big, well-known names around like he does. Also, isn't $150,000 a hefty amount for an unknown, unpublished author's manuscript?

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

It's an impossible amount. :)

No, not impossible. But very, very unlikely.

[annathepiper]

*grin* I think that's part of the point, hon--there's the question of whether this is in fact a deliberate hoax. ;)

I HOPE it's a hoax! But after some of the stories I've heard about the kinds of things that actually get submitted to publishing houses, I'm just NOT ENTIRELY SURE!

[annathepiper]

And by the way, I LOVE that icon. It's particularly apt for this thread! *LOL*

[wildshadowstar.livejournal.com]

Isn't Calvin one of the best. I'd be sorry to hear if Bill Waterson no longer produced any Calvin and Hobbes comics.

[annathepiper]

Oh, he stopped doing that a long time ago, sadly. I think that was long enough ago that you would have been too small to remember. I remember the last big colorful Sunday strip he did, which was very apt, of Calvin and Hobbes sledding off into the sunset.

It was, I think, very much a matter of his quitting while he was still ahead rather than going on and on till he burned out. Though I am sad that there hasn't been any more Calvin and Hobbes, I'm glad he made the deliberate choice to end on a high note.

[wildshadowstar.livejournal.com]

Oh, I just know about the books, which Marc got me addicted to. I didn't know he actually stopped, or maybe I did and forgot. Oh well.

[annathepiper]

*nodnod* Yeah, he very deliberately stopped writing new material.

*pokes around a bit* Ah, the comic ran from 1985 to 1995. Guess you weren't THAT little. ;)

[wildshadowstar.livejournal.com]

You realize that puts me at it stoping at age 15; but then again, that was almost 10 years ago.

[annathepiper]

Yeah. 15 == not that little. :) But gah, yeah, it was nearly ten years ago, wasn't it. Now I feel old and creaky!

[framlingem.livejournal.com]

I like the way his grammar is poor and the way he misspells people's names. J.K. Rawlings, for one. *snerk*

[rmd.livejournal.com]

also the complete and utter lack of paragraph breaks.

[annathepiper]

And don't forget the photo of the "My Manuscript" title page!