Eric Brown = sour grapes?

He has the shortest review I have seen. 2/3s of it is a summary. I don't think he read it. I have read or listened to the original and the book at least 5 times. It gets better every time.

G-Man

Nine million terrorists in the world I gotta kill one with smaller feet than my sister. - John McClane

Well, I haven't read any science fiction since Splinter of the Mind's Eye, and I don't plan to read anymore (The Rookie series doesn't count because I consider that sports fiction), but I don't understand why someone would want to scoff at new media when new media is replacing old media all of the time. I mean, who's publising in cuneiform anymore?

"Mister Brown" mentions your "three million" downloads in his misguided review, and I think the irony that downloads of Infection was part of that number is lost on him. Instead of delving into the groundbreaking cross-over from new media to print, he dismisses the rabid fan base (me included) that generated those 3M downloads.

Just like radio, newspapers, and magazines have realized the bennies of new media and have begun utilizing RSS and podcasting, allowing me to consume content when and where I want, I thank you Siggie for remaining ahead of the curve and providing my crack hits in neatly packaged doses.

Let the dinosaurs smoke their cigarettes. Their pages are numbered.

I am going to contine my lifelong ban of Eric Brown's books.

I've run into some resistance from old-school scifi guys. First, they can't stand the fact that I give all my content away for free, that I have the audacity to let the customers decide what is good instead of publishers and other writers like themselves. 

Second, there is a big style difference. I stopped reading SF because for the most part, nothing happens in those books. The books are thinly veiled intellectual lectures on either a) what could/should happen in the future, or b) how our horrible culture and evil capitalist ways are assuredly sending us down the path to destruction.

To give you an example, here's the tagline from Mister Brown's latest book, Kethani:
"It takes an alien race to show us what humanity truly is."
Egads! Could that sound any more pompous? Thank goodness he can tell us what humanity is, because, gosh, we're all too stupid to figure it out for ourselves.

What turned me off to most SF was that the books were about the author being an intellectual, a visionary, someone who's ass you should kiss for taking the time to put their brilliant thoughts down on paper so lowly plebians like us could read them. Now as you can imagine, when someone like that sees my work, and sees how many people dig it, it pisses them off -- because my work is about the story. I'm not out to lecture anyone. You all know how to live your life, and if you don't the last person you need advice from is someone like me.

I am here for the reader, the reader is not there to justify my existence as a writer.

I actually met Mister Brown at Book Expo America. Had no idea who he was. I got a free copy of Kethani, which he autographed for me. I haven't read him yet. I am very much looking forward to reading Kethani and learning from a true master.