chabot@miles.DEC (L S Chabot) (03/27/85)
I suppose I incorporate past behavior of cover-blurb authors when thinking about a new cover blurb. But names like "Cleveland Plains Dealer" (all my Cleveland friends must have mispronounced "Plains", then) and "L A Times" are pretty anonymous--usually you don't see who it was at the paper who made the review, whether they've left since the last reliable review. I prefer to trust the reviews of the informed, or at least the interested, in whatever the particular field is--a review indicating the reviewer doesn't understand the field or the conventions of the genre isn't going to help me much if I'm fluent in the field or the genre, although it may be of use to those considering making a reader's entrance. The status of the cover-blurb author may not be information I have, whether the person is famous, known, unknown, unpublished, or not an author; also, fame doesn't necessarily imply or deny critical ability or thought. I've never seen any paper from Cleveland (or Minneapolis). I just named an oft seen newspaper, which is why I chose it, not to put down Cleveland. Does it have reliable reviews? The kind of person who recommends friends indiscriminately is often easy to distinguish. And I'm unpublished which is easy to be when one is not a writer. (I had a vague feeling I was being accused of print-envy.) L S Chabot UUCP: ...decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-amber!chabot ARPA: ...chabot%amber.DEC@decwrl.ARPA USFail: DEC, LMO4/H4, 150 Locke Drive, Marlborough, MA 01752