Don't knock it

[shunn]

I was reading a major novel from a major genre publisher last night (okay, it was Half the Blood of Brooklyn by Charlie Huston, from Del Rey), when a character suddenly "knocked" an arrow into his bowstring.

Not to knock the book's copy editor, but the nock is the notch at the end of the arrow into which the bowstring fits. When you slide the arrow into place against the string, you have nocked it.

But this was also a book where "puss" leaks from one character's eyes, so maybe I shouldn't snatch at hopes that the copy-editing will improve.

Comments

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Damn.

[karen-w-newton.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't blame the "puss" one on this (it must hurt to have a cat come out of your eye!) but sometimes it seems copy editors don't always know the genre. I heard of a copy editor who turned the 19th century slang expression "Coo!" into "Cool!"

[nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com]

Listen you, are these complaints going to help install a new gold-plated Jacuzzi in Bertelsmann Castle's maid's quarter's dog house? No! They got rid of their salaried copyeditors years ago, and those dumb freelancers take on as much as they can and more, because you never know when some German billionaire will turn off the spigot just to laugh at the sport of seeing someone wilt and starve, hahahaha! So keep your head down, keep buying, and stop complaining.

It's what we're all here for, after all. Your job in particular is to poop out some nerdbabies and rebuild the genre's audience, not complain about "major genre publishers" (those gracious sorts who are kind enough to own your soul, if I must remind you).

[(Anonymous)]

Hopefully no one shutters in the cold later in the book.

The real question is, does the book still rock?

John Klima