Author friends or relatives?

[charlatti]

My BIL's second book will be published in June and I'm really excited to read it (need to snag the ARC from MIL). It sounds like it's up my alley and I enjoyed his first book of short stories. But if I don't like it.... how awkward. At least he lives across the country!

Do you have published IRL friends or relatives? How do you handle reading their stuff? (Feel free to name names or not. I'm not, just because this board is so public. You can PM if you're dying to know. )

[feedthecrocs]

My dad wrote a game book kind of like Sudoku (is that considered writing?) and my boss's brother is a horror writer. I feel guilty every time his brother's books come up in conversation because I haven't read one yet.

[rootbeerfloat]

My FIL has self-published a couple of books. He sent us a hard copy of one, and another is available on Amazon. I'm embarrassed to say I haven't read them, but then neither has H (though he's not as much of a reader as I am). His stories are about kids and teens, and SIL commented that it was awkward reading a teen romance written by her dad.

[chicacocodrilo]

I know a couple. My college roommate published last year. Our review founder also published last year. I know a few more people thanks to the review site, but we're not close.

I read their stuff because I'm interested, but never discuss the books--not because I didn't like them, but because we usually end up talking about other stuff. I do try to rec their books to those who might be interested, though.

[msmerymac]

My husband has a friend from college who is an entertainment journalist/movie reviewer and has published 2 novels. They talked about optioning the second one. Supposedly the first one is a thinly-veiled autobiography, mostly about high school. My H and his other friend wanted to look at it and see if they recognized anyone from college. :-) I don't think they've read it yet though... and we'll be seeing the author this weekend. And both books have been out for a few years. Oops.

[PinkSquirrel]

My Dad just had his first book published. He's been in anthologies before and has don't college hockey writing for who knows how many years now.

He was interviewed for a local access channel's book show recently and I was essentially referred to as his first useful reader. My mom is always the first reader, but she'll say she likes everything. I was born without the "sugar coating" gene. We were talking about the interview at my cousins graduation and my Dad was like it's pretty obvious when you don't like my stuff so for you to be excited about it was when I knew it was good. Now, in his defense, a lot of what he writes isn't really in my preferred genre, but I'm known as the brutally honest one.

[2curlydogs]

I know Stephanie Snowe ("Meeting Mr. Wrong") and Michelle Hodkin ("The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer" and "The Evolution of Mara Dyer", which is coming out this fall).

[dorothyinAus]

One of my friends in college has written a mystery novel -- it is supposed to be the first of a series. I hope it does continue, the characters are real and it was a great deal of fun to read.

[ChillyMcFreeze]

My cousin co-wrote a book on vegetarianism with some veggie-guru. My dad writes textbooks, but those don't really count.

[alleinesein]

One of my friends has been published in an anthology of short stories and he also writes for various websites.
www.amazon.com/Anthony-David-Jacques/e/B005FU51R2/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_9
manarchymag.com/core/author/adj/

I have yet to read his short story in the anthology but I read his online stuff all the time.

[aurora]

I only have non-fiction (how-to and scientific type) friend/relative authors (but actually a number of those). All the books I've read by these people are good.

Ethical question: is it OK to give these people 5-star reviews on Amazon, assuming you've read their books and really like them? Does it matter if you review books in general or just those by people you know and like?

[MrsAxilla]

My brother (who is very smart but a total idiot. Like four years to complete an associates degree idiot) has been working on his first book for a while. He sent me the first few chapters and I was shocked at how good it was. Who knew? Of course, we are related to Mark Twain, so maybe he inherited some talent...?

[PinkSquirrel]

May 21, 2012 22:28:22 GMT -5 MrsAxilla said:

My brother (who is very smart but a total idiot. Like four years to complete an associates degree idiot) has been working on his first book for a while. He sent me the first few chapters and I was shocked at how good it was. Who knew? Of course, we are related to Mark Twain, so maybe he inherited some talent...?

Wait... what? You're related to Mark Twain? Um ya, you win the cool author relative contest.

[taylormillgirl]

May 21, 2012 22:53:49 GMT -5 PinkSquirrel said:

May 21, 2012 22:28:22 GMT -5 MrsAxilla said:

My brother (who is very smart but a total idiot. Like four years to complete an associates degree idiot) has been working on his first book for a while. He sent me the first few chapters and I was shocked at how good it was. Who knew? Of course, we are related to Mark Twain, so maybe he inherited some talent...?

Wait... what? You're related to Mark Twain? Um ya, you win the cool author relative contest.

No shit! Like anyone can top that.

[5kcandlesinthewind]

I hang out on another message board/am Facebook friends with each of the Fug Girls, does that count? heh.

When I was in college, I babysat for Jill McCorkle's kids.

[duckduck]

May 22, 2012 8:21:41 GMT -5 taylormillgirl said:

May 21, 2012 22:53:49 GMT -5 PinkSquirrel said:

Wait... what? You're related to Mark Twain? Um ya, you win the cool author relative contest.

No shit! Like anyone can top that.

Seriously! Though taylormillgirl is an author, herself, which is pretty cool.

I work at a college and a lot of our faculty are published. Several of the professors in the English department have written "real" (i.e., non-textbook) books, but I've actually never read any of them. One writes middle-grades fiction, one writes paranormal YA, and one writes horror. We have some adjuncts who write romances, etc., but I don't see them as much.

I had a weird day once when an adjunct walked into the library to donate a couple of her books to our collection. One was a Christian romance, and she wrote it and signed it with one name. The other was a Harlequin Blaze and she wrote and signed it with a different name. If only the sweet church ladies knew!

[taylormillgirl]

LOL! She writes inspy and Blaze? That's awesome. I know an author who writes Amish inspirationals, and as much as she wants to return to the romance market, she keeps writing Amish because it pays BIG, BIG bucks. There's a lot more $$ in the Christian market than most people realize.

[bluelikejazz]

My aunt published her journal from when she was in recovery from her alcohol addiction. Its mostly prayers and poems I think, but I haven't read it.

[MrsAxilla]

May 22, 2012 8:21:41 GMT -5 taylormillgirl said:

May 21, 2012 22:53:49 GMT -5 PinkSquirrel said:

Wait... what? You're related to Mark Twain? Um ya, you win the cool author relative contest.

No shit! Like anyone can top that.

haha! Yes, I am - he was the uncle of one of my maternal grandmothers up the line. Dev on PCE is also related to him in the same way (I think she is descendant of one of MT's siblings), so I guess we're very distant cousins.