I have no idea where to even start here. I'll save the editing drama for the end though because there is more than enough to begin with. Was the blurb from the publisher on the front cover just a way to sell the book? I saw nothing "chilling and brutal" and, from what I know about drugs and addicts, nothing "honest" either. The publisher claims the book is so much of these things that they "almost didn't publish it".
I keep finding myself staring at the book like it's an AIDS infected three headed monster. Yeah, it's that bad.
I'm not going to go in any sort of order here, just from my memory, so here goes:
1. Point me to the project where I can find a crackhead drenched in designer duds. Because I venture to say that you can't do it.
2. Using "ting" in place of "thing" and screaming "bumbleclot" and "bloodclot" do not a Jamaican accent make.
3. Do any Jamaicans really use those words? The ones I've known don't.
4. From what I read of this book the absolute only thing thing that was "honest" was the how-to on cooking up crack. That's it. Nothing else.
Are we supposed to actually believe that Jarvis was smoking, day and night, for months on end and the one night Kaneesha, all of a sudden mind you, notices the jaw grinding and the huge eyes? Really? That's honest?
On page 101 Baggs gives Kaneesha a "fifty-cent piece". From the context clues I assumed that "cent" was slang for "bill". Because I don't know where you can find that an amount of crack fitting in a dollar bill is "generous" or worth asking "is that all mine".
Page 63 - "Stone was furious about something and every other word that fell from his mouth was a curse word either in Patios (foreign language) or English." Yeah, thanks for the clarification. I needed that.
I can spew forth many more instances of unrealisticness, amateur writing, etc. but I'll stop. Frankly, it's giving me a headache.
The lack of editing. I want to make it clear that I do not expect an author to write a perfected manuscript. I'm not an author but even I know that doesn't happen. I DO expect, however, the finished product to be perfected. The finished product, which the author and publisher want MY money for, should be of sound quality in my opinion. I don't want to buy moldy bread or a broke microwave and I don't want to buy a sloppy book.
I've seen time and time again, with Cartel Publications, that the editing is atrocious. How, and why, would a publisher continue to use an "editing" service after they know they get sloppy results? ('Sloppy' is me being nice by the way.) A few of the mistakes that glared out at me from the pages included incorrect punctuation, missing words, extra words, incorrectly phrased sentences, spelling errors, and many, many more.
I can say this with absolute certainty: I will not longer pay money for any Cartel Publication books. I may read them but I will not buy them and I will not recommend them or spread the word about them. How could I possibly spread the word about this book? I'd be laughed at. I have many friends who take recommendations seriously and will go out and buy a book on a recommendation. What do I look like telling them to read this?
I've said this before and I'll say it again, it is NOT hard to edit a book. Once you have someone or some service edit a book and it's not done right you no longer use them. I'll put an offer out there for you Cartel, pay me half and I'll edit your book. Then you can see what a real editing job looks like.
There is a solid reason why other publishing houses are moving beyond and this is it. I have non-urban-fiction reading friends trying the genre. They read one like this and they're finished. Can anyone blame them? I can't.
Save your time and your money (and most likely your sanity also) and pass this one by. To my friends, seriously, I know you and you will NOT like this.
The cover had it and if the story is here it's in the end because I surely didn't see it. If the story had been there though it would have been tragically weighed down by all of the negatives.
I keep finding myself staring at the book like it's an AIDS infected three headed monster. Yeah, it's that bad.
I'm not going to go in any sort of order here, just from my memory, so here goes:
1. Point me to the project where I can find a crackhead drenched in designer duds. Because I venture to say that you can't do it.
2. Using "ting" in place of "thing" and screaming "bumbleclot" and "bloodclot" do not a Jamaican accent make.
3. Do any Jamaicans really use those words? The ones I've known don't.
4. From what I read of this book the absolute only thing thing that was "honest" was the how-to on cooking up crack. That's it. Nothing else.
Are we supposed to actually believe that Jarvis was smoking, day and night, for months on end and the one night Kaneesha, all of a sudden mind you, notices the jaw grinding and the huge eyes? Really? That's honest?
On page 101 Baggs gives Kaneesha a "fifty-cent piece". From the context clues I assumed that "cent" was slang for "bill". Because I don't know where you can find that an amount of crack fitting in a dollar bill is "generous" or worth asking "is that all mine".
Page 63 - "Stone was furious about something and every other word that fell from his mouth was a curse word either in Patios (foreign language) or English." Yeah, thanks for the clarification. I needed that.
I can spew forth many more instances of unrealisticness, amateur writing, etc. but I'll stop. Frankly, it's giving me a headache.
The lack of editing. I want to make it clear that I do not expect an author to write a perfected manuscript. I'm not an author but even I know that doesn't happen. I DO expect, however, the finished product to be perfected. The finished product, which the author and publisher want MY money for, should be of sound quality in my opinion. I don't want to buy moldy bread or a broke microwave and I don't want to buy a sloppy book.
I've seen time and time again, with Cartel Publications, that the editing is atrocious. How, and why, would a publisher continue to use an "editing" service after they know they get sloppy results? ('Sloppy' is me being nice by the way.) A few of the mistakes that glared out at me from the pages included incorrect punctuation, missing words, extra words, incorrectly phrased sentences, spelling errors, and many, many more.
I can say this with absolute certainty: I will not longer pay money for any Cartel Publication books. I may read them but I will not buy them and I will not recommend them or spread the word about them. How could I possibly spread the word about this book? I'd be laughed at. I have many friends who take recommendations seriously and will go out and buy a book on a recommendation. What do I look like telling them to read this?
I've said this before and I'll say it again, it is NOT hard to edit a book. Once you have someone or some service edit a book and it's not done right you no longer use them. I'll put an offer out there for you Cartel, pay me half and I'll edit your book. Then you can see what a real editing job looks like.
There is a solid reason why other publishing houses are moving beyond and this is it. I have non-urban-fiction reading friends trying the genre. They read one like this and they're finished. Can anyone blame them? I can't.
Save your time and your money (and most likely your sanity also) and pass this one by. To my friends, seriously, I know you and you will NOT like this.
The cover had it and if the story is here it's in the end because I surely didn't see it. If the story had been there though it would have been tragically weighed down by all of the negatives.
