I have to ask this as this is becoming a huge issue at another site.

If there was a huge site dedicated to you and your works, and some people found criticisms with your books and posted them, would you want them to be deleted? Or would you rather see what they had to say? Imyself think criticisms can only help you. But I just wanted your thoughtson this because this seems to be a problem. It just helps inflate the author's ego that does not seem right...

NOTE: I can honestly find no flaws with your books. They are among my favorites, but Dante's Inferno tops that list :P

Hi Kenny,

Well, if you're going to have discussion about your work, you'd better be prepared for some criticism somewhere along the line! As you say, criticism is often useful, particularly if it uncovers some actual bona fide mistakes in the text. It's pretty much impossible to do a series this size, and not have some slip-ups. The previous question I just answered drew my attention to a minor one (Shubit's level on the demonic hierarchy). Over the last few years I've been shown loads of small ones - often by readers I meet, sometimes by translators (who obviously read things VERY closely). Recently my Croatian translator spotted a weird bit of dialogue in GE or PG (I forget which) - when I went back I discovered that 2 lines had been sandwiched together so a character effectively answered his own question. So we'll put that right in the next printing.
Anyway, small errors aside it's interesting to hear people's comments on the books generally. If someone really began slagging them off I wouldn't necessarily want to get involved in a debate with them though - at some point it becomes a matter of taste, and if they don't like it, that's up to them.

Anyway, so far Bartiforums seems an uncommonly civilised sort of place. Thank goodness!

Bye,

J