Overrated authors

[Krelious]

I would like to make a thread about authors people dont like or leave a bad taste in their mouths afterwards. Ever feel kind of alone where you just dont like someone's work but everyone else does?

 

I'd start off with the king of hacks, Dan Abnett. Honestly I try to give this guy the benefit of the doubt or try to enjoy his books and then I sit on them let them digest and realize that I absolutely hated the novel afterwards. If I had one work to describe Abnett id say hes self-indulgent. This is a man who loves to smell his own farts and thinks referencing other people's works by association makes him a good author.  Quite frankly I think The End and the Death in its entirety is like one man worshipping Slaanesh, his own ego. Saturnine was just the appetizer for a three course meal of absolute vomit on 1800+ pages. I can quite firmly say that I have not liked one book this man has written including Horus Rising, False Gods was much better and I think Mcneil is more of like a meat and potatoes guy in terms of his writing quality. 

 

The worst part is that I think as a coping mechanism and having an optimistic outlook I really wanted to like The End and the Death, I wanted to see the silver lining but after several months of just slowly digesting it I realize I hated them and Dan Abnett single handedly ruined The Siege of Terra by wagging his dick around and saying im the best this needs to be this long. Seriously if you read the afterward in Vol 3, its a total show case on what delusion looks like. 

 

If I had to describe Dan Abnett's writing to me its like if you went to a 5 star restaurant ordered a steak and it comes out nicely except the waiter comes over with a gravy made of literal diarrhea  pours it all over the steak and smiles at you saying "Compliments of the Chef". You look dismayed and then are further horrified seeing other patrons of the restaurant eating steak with sauce, they are smiling and talking as if nothing is wrong and you start to wonder if you are wrong, you take a bite and try to convince yourself the isnt all that bad because of the nice steak underneath. However when you come home afterwards the poop taste is still there and it wont go away even after brushing your teeth and rinsing it out with mouth wash, weeks later you still taste and smell faint traces of it and shudder.  Months later you are left with the traumatizing memory that trying to conform to peer pressure from of a mountain of morons convinced you that might be good. 

 

A rather obscure English author by the name of Billy Jitterpike said "Brevity is the soul of wit." What that really means is don't waste my :cuss:ing time. 

Edited Friday at 04:08 PM by Krelious

[cheywood]

This post is in extremely poor taste. I’m all for critiquing authors, god knows I bashed Kyme and Thorpe and Annandale at times, but it needs to be done with a little bit of respect. I also really don’t want to read about poop smeared steaks on B&C (or anywhere else). 

[LemartestheLost]

44 minutes ago, Krelious said:

I would like to make a thread about authors people dont like or leave a bad taste in their mouths afterwards. Ever feel kind of alone where you just dont like someone's work but everyone else does?

 

I'd start off with the king of hacks, Dan Abnett. Honestly I try to give this guy the benefit of the doubt or try to enjoy his books and then I sit on them let them digest and realize that I absolutely hated the novel afterwards. If I had one work to describe Abnett id say hes self-indulgent. This is a man who loves to smell his own farts and thinks referencing other people's works by association makes him a good author.  Quite frankly I think The End and the Death in its entirety is like one man worshipping Slaanesh, his own ego. Saturnine was just the appetizer for a three course meal of absolute vomit on 1800+ pages. I can quite firmly say that I have not liked one book this man has written including Horus Rising, False Gods was much better and I think Mcneil is more of like a meat and potatoes guy in terms of his writing quality. 

 

The worst part is that I think as a coping mechanism and having an optimistic outlook I really wanted to like The End and the Death, I wanted to see the silver lining but after several months of just slowly digesting it I realize I hated them and Dan Abnett single handedly ruined The Siege of Terra by wagging his dick around and saying im the best this needs to be this long. Seriously if you read the afterward in Vol 3, its a total show case on what delusion looks like. 

 

If I had to describe Dan Abnett's writing to me its like if you went to a 5 star restaurant ordered a steak and it comes out nicely except the waiter comes over with a gravy made of literal diarrhea  pours it all over the steak and smiles at you saying "Compliments of the Chef". You look dismayed and then are further horrified seeing other patrons of the restaurant eating steak with sauce, they are smiling and talking as if nothing is wrong and you start to wonder if you are wrong, you take a bite and try to convince yourself the isnt all that bad because of the nice steak underneath. However when you come home afterwards the poop taste is still there and it wont go away even after brushing your teeth and rinsing it out with mouth wash, weeks later you still taste and smell faint traces of it and shudder.  Months later you are left with the traumatizing memory that trying to conform to peer pressure from of a mountain of morons convinced you that might be good. 

 

A rather obscure English author by the name of Billy Jitterpike said "Brevity is the soul of wit." What that really means is don't waste my :cuss:ing time. 

A bit heavily worded I’d say, but I share much of the same sentiment re: Abnett. He very much let the hype go to his head after the successes of the original three Eisenhorn novels, Early GG, Double Eagle, and Horus Rising. The original trilogy of the Eisenhorn series, plus The Magos, is still (imo) the pinnacle of 40k fiction, but how far the mighty have fallen. 
 

Now that we’ve seen full, unbridled Abnett at his worst, I’m actively dreading the release of Pandaemonium and what that means for the setting going forward. His idea and insistence that everything he writes has to be somehow interconnected can go to hell. The Heresy and 40k actively suffer for it. Self-indulgent is quite apt as a descriptor.
 

Imagine how fleshed out the HH could have ended if every writer in the stable actually got to write what they wanted, instead of having to carry Abnett’s Perpetual water. 

 

I’m also agreed in regard to vast swathes of the fandom just :cuss: each other because “IT’S ABNETT! He can do NO wrong! Remember how good Eisenhorn was? Remember? I ‘member!!” It is all so very tiring.

 

To his credit, half of the Abnett issue is solved if the BL editing team would actually grow a spine and say, “NO, DAN, we are doing this instead” but Kyme won’t do it because the suits say Abnett sells, and they don’t want extra inventory in the warehouse, IP integrity be damned. 

[SvenIronhand]

Abnett is the intellectual filter of 40k novels, even if he totally ripped off Nemesis the Warlock with the Cabal.

[SteveAntilles]

This feels like a troll post.

[Joe]

It's precisely this sort of behaviour that led to other authors (see; ADB) quitting the forums. It's borderline harassment.

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

I'm almost tempted to use this opportunity to apologize to Gav Thorpe for things I've said about his work in the past that might not have been entirely fair...

 

...but I'm not sure the thread will exist long enough to make it a decent vehicle for said apology.

 

Perhaps another time.

[Ioldanach]

5 hours ago, Krelious said:

I would like to make a thread about authors people dont like or leave a bad taste in their mouths afterwards. Ever feel kind of alone where you just dont like someone's work but everyone else does?

 

I'd start off with the king of hacks, Dan Abnett. Honestly I try to give this guy the benefit of the doubt or try to enjoy his books and then I sit on them let them digest and realize that I absolutely hated the novel afterwards. If I had one work to describe Abnett id say hes self-indulgent. This is a man who loves to smell his own farts and thinks referencing other people's works by association makes him a good author.  Quite frankly I think The End and the Death in its entirety is like one man worshipping Slaanesh, his own ego. Saturnine was just the appetizer for a three course meal of absolute vomit on 1800+ pages. I can quite firmly say that I have not liked one book this man has written including Horus Rising, False Gods was much better and I think Mcneil is more of like a meat and potatoes guy in terms of his writing quality. 

 

The worst part is that I think as a coping mechanism and having an optimistic outlook I really wanted to like The End and the Death, I wanted to see the silver lining but after several months of just slowly digesting it I realize I hated them and Dan Abnett single handedly ruined The Siege of Terra by wagging his dick around and saying im the best this needs to be this long. Seriously if you read the afterward in Vol 3, its a total show case on what delusion looks like. 

 

If I had to describe Dan Abnett's writing to me its like if you went to a 5 star restaurant ordered a steak and it comes out nicely except the waiter comes over with a gravy made of literal diarrhea  pours it all over the steak and smiles at you saying "Compliments of the Chef". You look dismayed and then are further horrified seeing other patrons of the restaurant eating steak with sauce, they are smiling and talking as if nothing is wrong and you start to wonder if you are wrong, you take a bite and try to convince yourself the isnt all that bad because of the nice steak underneath. However when you come home afterwards the poop taste is still there and it wont go away even after brushing your teeth and rinsing it out with mouth wash, weeks later you still taste and smell faint traces of it and shudder.  Months later you are left with the traumatizing memory that trying to conform to peer pressure from of a mountain of morons convinced you that might be good. 

 

A rather obscure English author by the name of Billy Jitterpike said "Brevity is the soul of wit." What that really means is don't waste my :cuss:ing time. 

 

So what you're saying in 3+ paragraphs is that you don't like Dan Abnett. I think that your closing quote and statement are really appropriate, but in an ironic sort of way. 

[Brother Tyler]

If someone can provide compelling arguments justifying complaining about authors, feel free to do so via reports. In the meantime, there is very little in this topic, both in its title and in the tone and intent established by the first post, that meet the basic criteria of this community's mission statement:

 

Quote

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