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Five Rivers Publishing

Taran

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I searched and didn't find a thread on this publisher. Small Canadian press specializing in science fiction and fantasy.

Five Rivers Publishing

Covers range wildly in quality but they have published some authors I like and at least one of their books has been reviewed on Strange Horizons (though not positively).

Anyone have experience with them?
 

kaitie

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Reading that review, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with them.
 

Torgo

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"This book was selected for review by Robert Runte as a donor reward for a contribution to last year's fund drive. (Thanks, Robert!)" made me chuckle.
 

jennontheisland

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WTF. I went to high school with the Art Director. lol

eta: not useful, I know, so I'll add this: The qualifications of the staff listed under "about us" seem kinda meh.
 
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Alice Xavier

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If they can't be bothered to get their own web hosting, then you shouldn't be bothered submitting to them. Seriously, who in the hell runs their publishing website on Blogger? Even that godawful Freedom of Speech Publishing place had the wherewithal to acquire hosting.

The covers range from pretty bad to horrifically bad.

And oh god that review.
 

ShyWriter

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Let me see if I have this correct:

1. The Editor in Chief of Five Rivers is Dr. Robert Runté

2. Because he made a donation to Strange Horizons, they offered to give an honest review of a book of his choosing.

3. He chose a book written by the Owner of Five Rivers, Lorina Stephens

4. They gave the book a bad review (really bad) to which he responded in the comment area about how and why he disagreed with the review and included a link to his own favorable review of said book?
 

Filigree

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You nailed it, ShyWriter.

Responses like his are one reason I am thrilled to see such discussions in online forums. Because if an author follows that bit of extra-special street theater, and *still* submits stuff to publishers like this, there's nothing I can or should do about it. Talent seeks its own level.

What particularly blew my mind was when Runté compared this book to Guy Kay's Tigana. Um. no. I read samples of Lorina's book. The comma issues and run-ons are more of a 1970s/1980s style common to several erudite British fantasists. They don't bug me as much as the disconnects in the story (as I skimmed, I couldn't help but feeling I was reading a romanticized take on Victor von Doom) and that awful, horrible cover.
 
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Torgo

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Let me see if I have this correct:

1. The Editor in Chief of Five Rivers is Dr. Robert Runté

2. Because he made a donation to Strange Horizons, they offered to give an honest review of a book of his choosing.

3. He chose a book written by the Owner of Five Rivers, Lorina Stephens

4. They gave the book a bad review (really bad) to which he responded in the comment area about how and why he disagreed with the review and included a link to his own favorable review of said book?

That would appear to be the case, though the way Strange Horizons worded (2) suggests that it's something they do routinely. Which, considering the nature of the review, doesn't seem to be a problem.
 

robjvargas

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I put the two reviews up side-by-side on my screen. Where the Strange horizons review was specific and gave example, the other one was vague and had no excerpts from the book at all.

Cover quality, highly negative third-party review, and poorly done publisher review all speak ill of this company.

To borrow from "Shark Tank," I'm out.
 

Filigree

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I'm saddened and amazed that they are publishing Dave Duncan. The prose and set-up to Lorina's book immediately reminded me of a couple of Dave's fantasy books, which I read about a decade ago.

But I am seeing more and more of this - formerly well-known genre authors appearing to fall away from the Big Five, and either going into self-publishing or small press. It works for some, not so well for others. ETA: Duncan is at least working with other publishers, too, so I don't feel so worried.

Five Rivers seems to have some modest success with several humor novels. I'm still gun shy of sending work to them based off perceived editorial quality, and apparent low sales.
 
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Taran

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Oh wow, I somehow missed that Runte wrote that first response to the Strange Horizons review (I'm a huge fan of Liz Bourke's reviews, by the way). That's not professional behavior at all. And yes, dat cover.

I was curious because they publish Dave Duncan and Susan Forest, and I heard about them because Susan MacGregor (whose blog I follow) recently signed on with these folks.

Also an unusual amount of their authors are named Susan.
 
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