In our last post, Beautiful Blunder we received this comment from anon-a-bus:
Did anyone check out the names on Queen Jane Litte’s thread? It has names like Ridley, Jill Sorenson, Jackie Barbosa and the ever so silent biggest bully of them all…the exhaulted one, “Sirius.” You can’t get that group of bullies into a more perfect nest if you tried
I find this “Sirius” most interesting. No real platform or background anywhere. Just “Sirius.” And yet she/he has such grand opinions and makes wide generalizations without having to be held accountable for it. She/he has also written stellar reviews for Looney and has been bullying indie authors and small publishers for years on the sly. And always in a clever way, just below the radar. I’m not a fan of exposing good decent people, and I see nothing wrong with having fake names for the right reasons. But I find it corrupt and shady when someone like this “Sirius” is constantly bullying and starting trouble and remains exempt from exposing his/her real identity. I would have at least some respect for him/her if I knew who she/he is. But to go around complaining about injustice and infringement and not have the balls to stand behind your own name is worse than anything I’ve ever seen any author or publisher do. I say if you’re going to complain so much, tell us who you are and stand behind your name.
The stellar reviews written by Sirius for Looney that anon-a-bus is referring to here is, for example, this one on Dear Author: Guest Review: Cold Front by Ann Somerville. You can see more of these reviews in a post we published November 14, 2012, on Looney and her circle of I’ll-scratch-your-back-if-you-scratch-mine, glowing-review-writing authors/friends-of-authors.
Post is below. Enjoy!
**************************************************************************************
Just recently, we’ve received several spot-on comments about Looney Tunes that we’d like to share with you. This one from Anon:
Somerloon’s latest post is a gem. That whack job actually thinks no one’s taking the bully issue seriously. What I’m hoping is people who’ve been slammed by Somerloon in the past, before all this started, start to realize they don’t have to be afraid of her anymore and they can go after her. She’s losing credibility with each post she writes. And I know some who are ready to pounce on her for all the destruction she’s caused in the past.
For those reading this blog for the first time, please understand that Ann Somerville is not new to this. She has been bullying authors and readers for many years and getting away with it. She will go after anyone without provocation. Only recently has she been challenged in a way that’s showing who she really is.
…
Somerloon is even attacking Ann Romney now and making fun of her face. Romney has MS, which is a crippling disease controlled by medication that causes things like facial swelling. The woman has no moral fiber and I don’t think anyone can get any lower than that.
This one from Dougie:
Somervile has to be the most deluded and unintentionally hilarious individual I have ever come across on the internet.
It’s worth poking her with a stick every so often just to see what fresh drivel she spouts.
And one from another anon:
She’s actually frightening. I’ve never before seen one single person spout so much unadulterated venom at such a high frequency. She appears to be frothing at the mouth over so many issues and her language must be among the foulest outside of skid row. It’s hard to believe she is educated.
Now, knowing all of this about her, I literally had coffee come out of my nose when I read this:
Nice? *rubs temples* Nice?! That’s like saying, “Aw, what a nice little scorpion. I think I’ll take it home and keep it as a pet.”
Uh… okay… there’s a reason we have Looney listed under “Scary. Run. Fast.” I think most people who read our blog know this reason already, but you have to understand that Elly is a newly recruited member of the and is new to all of this. Yes, unfortunately, she was seduced by the dark side, so it might take her a while to catch on and see the light, which is why we haven’t yet listed her on our sidebar. Elly met Looney on the Amazon fora where she was pimping her books (a violation of Amazon TOS, btw, and sanctimonious hypocrisy strike one!):
Now, I think what made me really choke on my coffee was her hilarious “” for authors that she published a while ago:
If you believe:
1. Reviewers should not be attacked for critical reviews
2. Paying for reviews is fraudulent
3. Shill and fake reviews devalue the review system
4. Readers have the right to say what they want about your book because they’ve paid for it (either in time reading or in actual money)
5. That it’s wrong and counterproductive to make wild and unsubstantiated allegations about ‘Review Mafia’ and ‘Bully reviewers’
Then sign this post.
If you disagree, feel free to start your own discussion elsewhere. There are plenty of disgruntled authors whining about reviewers here on Amazon for you to play with.
Why is this hilarious? Keep reading. We’ll show you.
Just recently, while checking out some of , we came across some very interesting reviews of them by a Tamara Allen (note: for the long reviews we took only clips of the beginnings to save space):
Why are they interesting? Well, first of all, you’ll notice they’re all glowing, five-star reviews (with one four-star.) But of course, this just could be someone who really, really likes Looney’s books. It could just be that Tamara thinks she’s SUCH a great writer that she feels the need to post all of these wonderful reviews.
Ya think?
Not.
Turns out Tamara Allen is also an author. Surprise! Surprise! And gosh, guess who has written several glowing reviews of . That’s right! You guessed it:
Hmm… *scratches chin*
But wait! That’s not all. Check out who else has reviewed Tamara’s books:
There’s several more reviews of her other books by these people but we’ve only included these to save space.
Now, check out who has also reviewed Looney’s books:
Do the names look familiar?
Why, yes, they do. They’re the SAME people.
So, what is this? What does this tell us? Simple. These people are a circle of friends who review one another’s books with glowing reviews. They are authors/friends-of-authors who scratch each others‘ backs in order to sell and promote their work.
And what does Looney say in her “code of honour”?
3. Shill and fake reviews devalue the review system.
Yep, that’s right, Looney. They sure do. You ought to know. You’ve been guilty of this for years.
Now, when we told you her “” was laughable, we weren’t kidding (no pun intended.) Given her track record, it’s a total joke. It’s almost unbelievable. Almost. But this is Somerloon we’re talking about after all. So, that’s sanctimonious hypocrisy strike two!
But wait! There’s more. Keep reading.
While scanning the fora, we came across this conversation between Looney and Irish Reader about her doing the author back scratch thing with Frank Tuttle (keep in mind that we have no idea who Irish Reader is and have no affiliation with him/her):
And…
*drumroll*
That’s strike three, folks!
Three strikes, you’re out, Looney. Your credibility is shattered and your “code of honour” revealed for what it really is: sanctimonious hypocrisy.
