The Amazing Tales of Wildcat Arrows
Note: This got longer than I thought it would. There are links at the bottom to further information if you want to skip my rather lengthy ranting.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
As many of you are doubtless aware I have not updated this web site in some considerable time. I apologise for this and hope to do better in the months to come.
However there is one book that will not be being reviewed here any time soon: Dara Joy's The Amazing Tales of Wildcat Arrows. This is because I am one of many who has never received their copy of this book.
Now I have always been, or at least tried to be, enormously fair when writing my reviews for this site. I don't write reviews in order to be cruel to authors and when I have a complaint about a book I make it clear why I am saying what I do. The reason for this stems from the fact that I initially built this site in order to get book recommendations of what I like. If I don't like it, I say why and leave it at that. It has worked marvellously and I now have a huge book collection to get through.
I have never, to my recollection, ever personally criticised an author or been cruel, vicious or mean in my reviews. I have even been contacted by the author of one of the books for which I gave a low rating and she was thoroughly understanding of why I rated it as such.
I have never used this site as a "sounding off platform" with regard to anyone in the industry. Until today.
Today however, my patience with tha fiasco surrounding my attempt to get my copy of The Amazing Tales of Wildcat Arrows is at an end. Here is my story which should serve as a word of warning to any reader who finds themselves in my situation. Or to anyone who is, even now, tempted to purchase the aforementioned book via Dara Joy's web site.
MY STORY
I first discovered the novels of Dara Joy when I purchased Rejar, part of Dorchester's Timeswept series, which (as you may have noticed from my site) I have been attempting to complete for some years now. I loved the book, purchased Knight of a Trillion Stars (which I believe was my first venture into the pure futuristic genre) and waited with eagerness for Mine to Take. Those three books had me hooked on the series. I also purchased her other books including Ritual of Proof which is about the time I first heard about the law suit.
Now for those of you who don't know me, I have worked in the legal profession in England for over ten years and being curious as to how things differ (or not) in the US I decided to read what was happening for curiosity's sake. My first instinct was, oh hell, how long am I going to have to wait to read Traed's story?
But having a background in law I knew that realistically the wait could be a very long one and figured that there was nothing to do about it so why worry?
Then word got around the internet that Dara was still able to publish novellas and was releasing one such book through self publication. I went to her web site and saw the details. I didn't order right away though, I was cautious having seen more than enough people get caught by internet scams in the past.
But then I reasoned, this is an established author with a large fan base, this is her web site, not one that has just suddenly materialised...what could possibly go wrong?
After much deliberation I ordered That Familiar Touch and waited patiently for it to arrive. There were delays, of course. But I made allowances, this was something they had never done before, they had no idea how many orders there were going to be, I was in the UK which makes things take even longer anyway...and eventually my patience was rewarded and my copy of That Familiar Touch finally arrived.
Then came the news that a second novella was going to be released in the same way. I still hadn't got around to reading the first one (due to personal and unrelated reasons) but this time I didn't hesitate to place my order for a copy of The Amazing Tales of Wildcat Arrows. I had no idea whether there would be any available in used books stores later on, and have still to track down books on my recommendation list from this site from as long as ten years ago. I didn't want to find myself unable to get a copy later, and despite the delays with the first book, it had arrived...they had delivered.
The letter from Dara at the front of That Familiar Touch showed her appreciation for the readers who had stuck with her, who had taken the risk of paying up front for a book that was not yet printed. For readers like me, who will pay more for a book because that book is the one they want to read.
So I ordered my copy, on the mistaken assumption that this time around things would run more smoothly.
I placed my order in February 2005 and settled down to wait patiently once more.
Spring arrived, summer followed and I started to anticipate the date that the book would arrive. I knew I would have to wait longer than most people, you get used to that when you live in the UK. But the weeks dragged on with no sign of a parcel (or at least not that particular one).
Then in October 2005 I received an e-mail from Dara's webmaster and the man who handles the orders for her books through the site. Cory explained that there were delays due to the large print run, heavy scheduling at the printers and the devastation wrought by hurricane Katrina.
The large print run I had half expected and scheduling could not be helped. But when I read about the hurricane I actually felt guilty for being so impatient. There were people who had lost everything in that devastation and I was worrying about one little book. I only found out this week that the printers are allegedly in Massachusetts and not New Orleans, though whether there was a genuine connection to the problems I can't rightly say.
And so I sat back to wait once more, resolving to be less selfish and impatient. I would leave them to fulfil the orders and eventually I would get the book.
On 9 November 2005 I received a further update e-mail from Cory with the good news that the books were going to the press the following week. The wait was nearly over and, not knowing a great deal about the printing and publication industry, I wondered if it might arrive in time for me to read over the Christmas holidays.
Then on 14 December I received another update e-mail from Cory explaining that the books were printed but that there was a problem with some of them being misprinted. I have known this to happen and have had several books with this problem in the past. Three with some pages printed twice and others missing and one actually printed back to front. As I know these things do happen, I didn't question it and waited for them to check the books carefully before they sent them out.
The next I heard from Cory was the mass e-mail sent out in February 2006 confirming that the books were shipping.
Now I have known shipments from the US take up to twelve weeks to get to me, so I was resolved to be patient and not expect it to arrive too soon. Manually sending out all the orders individually sounded like a monumental task and I was sure that the book would soon be with me and the wait would be worth it.
By the start of May I was anticipating the book arriving at any time. It couldn't be much longer surely?
By the start of June I was starting to worry. Sometimes things do get lost in the post...it is one of those things and can't be helped.
So I decided that busy or not, I would drop Cory a line and ask him whether he could check if my order had been dispatched yet, and if he had sent it - where it was. Paying the extra for priority mail that can be tracked at this point seemed to have been a wise decision.
I wrote a polite e-mail asking if it could be looked into. I received no response. I wrote again...still nothing.
By the end of August I was starting to wonder (and worry about) what was happening and decided to go to Dara's web site and check the forum to see if anyone else was having problems.
Nothing on the forum since mid April 2006 and a note that the forum posts were being moderated.
Suddenly, finally, the alarm bells started to ring. I checked the site which was supposedly updated in mid August but could find nothing new. The guestbook had been spammed, no one was moderating messages, and it looked much like the webmaster had abandoned ship.
I decided that I would have a look around the net in a few of my old haunts and see if anyone else was having problems with the book. It took less than 24 hours before the first response to my questions provided the answer that it wasn't just me. Not by a long shot.
By this point I knew that copies of the book were available at used book stores online decided that I would see about getting my money back. It was clear that Cory was either too busy to respond to my e-mails or simply couldn't be bothered. As I have never received so much as an "I'll look into it" message I cannot say for sure.
So I went to PayPal to see what could be done.
Unfortunately very little. I opened a dispute in the Resolution Centre but unfortunately received the immediate PayPal response that "Your seller is currently unable to respond to this dispute."
Another alarm bell went off in my head - the ringing was starting to get rather loud. It offered me two choices - close dispute or escalate to a claim. Well I figured there was nothing to lose and escalated it to a claim. An e-mail was sent by PayPal to Cory that same day.
I have still received no response.
Unfortunately for me though, PayPal has a policy that disputes must be started within 45 days of payment. And despite the point in my message to them that there was no way for anyone to anticipate the problem back in March 2005 PayPal could do nothing but close my claim due to my claim "Does not comply with filing policies".
Or at least I assume that the 45 days rule is the reason why my claim was closed, they have not had the courtesy to tell me and I only found out when going to the site to check on the status.
Maybe they will be able to do something later on - there is a note saying "We are temporarily unable to determine the status of your case", which might insinuate that the temporary problem might be just that.
But from my perspective there is nothing more I can do now except cut my losses and learn from the experience.
And what have I learned from this?
I have learnt that I will NEVER again order a book from Dara Joy's web site or from the web site of any author. It is not worth the trouble.
I am generally a patient person.
I like to think the best of people and give people the benefit of the doubt whenever possible.
I don't like to use my web site as a sounding off platform but in this case I am going to for two reasons.
1. Because Dara Joy's web site still has the PayPal link and information on it and people may still be tempted to order The Amazing Tales of Wildcat Arrows from it. Let my story serve as a lesson of caution.
2. Because I realised that whilst this web site was set up in order to get book recommendations it is also widely visited and if this message stops even ONE person from losing their money in this way then it will have been worth it.
Okay, and 3. Because I am thoroughly disgusted about the way I, and other readers, of Ms Joy have been treated.
If Traed's story ever does become available I am not sure if I will even bother to buy it. If it is through the web site I won't. Nothing on this Earth could induce me to part with any more of my money in this manner. If Ms Joy resolves her disputes and releases it through a legitimate publisher I may consider purchasing it...but I can't guarantee it.
Ironically, today I have had to write to Amazon UK about a book they dispatched to me last week that appears to have been lost in the post. I sent them a message early this morning, they have replied by mid-afternoon confirming that they are sending another copy. A lesson that Ms Joy and her so-called publishers might learn from.
When your readers and customers ask you to look into something for them - DO IT.
If you are too busy - TELL THEM.
If there is a problem - BE HONEST.
Or if not you risk alienating all your readers, including those like me, who have web sites to sound off on for the entire internet community to see.
Louisa Brown, WebMistress
As an addendum to the above. I eventually received my copy of the book after taking the advice of Elizabeth who ran the joycomplaints service until the end of September. See the link below for her advice to those who are still having trouble getting a response from Cory.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Authors Behaving Badly, Episode 1, Dara Joy - this site contains information regarding the various problems people have had with regard to getting this book and with regard to the law suit. And until the end of September 2006 there is an e-mail address for someone who is prepared to help look into your order if you are one of those who has not yet received it. She has been there herself and you can read her story and what she has found out (that being far more than I have) with regard to the issue.
joycomplaints - a site with advice on getting your copy of the book if you are in difficulties.
Dorchester's Official Response re: The Lawsuit - you will need to scroll down the forum a page a little way to get to the reply.
Dara's Lawyer (re: the Lawsuit) - he does not respond to e-mail enquiries regarding her self-published book, however he may be able to forward correspondence onto her.