Getting an e-mail like this, especially from someone like retired police officer TW Robinson, who wrote The Retirement, will make any author’s day: “I am almost done with Dog’s Run. I can see why you are a bestselling author. To date, this is one of the best books I have ever read. I love the way you make each character so unique. I can just see and hear these people. I love the relationship between Robert and Elizabeth the most. I also love the way you end each chapter. Several times I have been pressed for time and said, “One chapter and I’ve got to go.” I’ve ended up reading several more. You have a true gift. I’m actually taking notes of your style. I am on Chapter 43. Elizabeth is telling Robert she has a bad feeling about everything that’s going on after Les arrested Councilman Collett. I figured this would be my favorite book so I saved it for last. It is. Dog’s Run is the best book I have read in the past a very long time… and I’m not even done yet. You’ve definitely made a loyal fan for life. I’m going to buy all your novels. Thanks for the great story!”
I always appreciate reviews and hearing back from my readers, whether their comments are good or bad, and I’ve been at this long enough to know that you can’t please everybody. While I have been fortunate in that the majority of my reviews have been four and five stars, occasionally they are less, and that’s okay. But sometimes I have to scratch my head and wonder if the person leaving the review read the same book I wrote, as in this one-star I got a while back: It’s obvious that English is the second language for the author of this book or else he dropped out of school in the third grade. There are numerous misused words throughout the book, along with many basic errors that leave you shaking your head wondering why you wasted the time to read this far. Two examples are that he has the sheriff driving a Ford Explorer, which no police department in the world uses, and the setting for his story is in northern Arizona where he claims there is snow and even a ski lodge. Duh, it’s Arizona not Colorado, you idiot! Who skis in the desert?
I learned a long time ago to never respond to reviews, but it was hard not to reply to this one, letting the reviewer know that according to a CNBC report: Ford controls more than half the police vehicle market in the U.S., and has since at least 2014, the company told CNBC, citing IHS data. The Ford Police Interceptor Utility, which is the police package version of the Ford Explorer SUV, accounts for a great deal of that.
Or that many areas in the mountains of Arizona get snow. Even the Catalina Mountains near Tucson get a covering now and then, and the Mount Lemmon Ski Valley is popular with people from Tucson who can spend the day skiing and go home and relax in their swimming pools that evening. Or about the popular Snow Bowl Ski Resort in Flagstaff or Sunrise Park Resort in the White Mountains, where my granddaughters go snowboarding. But what do I know, being a third-grade dropout?
Of course, any business can get goofy bad reviews. I saw a one-star review for a popular steakhouse once that said: I never ate here, but it’s where my girlfriend broke up with me, so I never would.
And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. This is another one courtesy of Jim Harper.
Congratulations Doris Cunningham, winner of our drawing for an audiobook of Watching Over Me: A Psychological Thriller, the first book in the heart-racing Crime After Crime series by M K Farrar and M.A. Comley. We had 42 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.
Thought For The Day – I have to say that, in my opinion, Dove chocolate tastes a lot better than their soap.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
When I was a child (in the early 50’s), my family visited my aunt and uncle in Tucson. We drove my dad’s ’54 Ford Station Wagon up Mount Lemmon and stopped at the lodge (there was no ski resort at that time. It was snowing madly and my dad rolled two huge snow balls and put them on top of the station wagon and we drove back down the mountain and took them to my grandpa who had stayed behind at my aunt and uncle’s. Dad thought that was a great joke! Recently my Mom died and we were going back through her photo albums and I saw those pictures again. What fun! The next day my aunt took us on a picnic in Sabino Canyon at the base of those mountains. Snow on the mountain and warm temps below!
Wish that the person who said no snow in Az. had been at our place in the middle of Az at 6000 ft. elevation a couple of years ago. Had 40 inches of it. Took 3 days to shovel out one of the cars and 125 ft. of driveway to get to the road. Had to wait another 2 days before they got it plowed out.
re: bad review
The big problem with idiots is that they don’t realize it.
re: snow
East Valley Tribune Mar 13, 2006 (Mesa AZ)
“What started as a weekend hike for a Mesa Boy Scout troop ended Sunday in a mountain rescue. Nine boys, ages 11 to 13, huddled together to keep warm for more than 24 hours, after 3 feet of snow forced them to stop their 6-mile hike through the Superstition Mountains, said David Perkins, leader of Troop 716. Despite freezing temperatures, no one was injured.”