Book Reviews
IR Staff •
Aug 16, 2011 “The reason this one stands out to me”, says Jim Thomsen, “is because it is from “Dangerous Admissions” (Avon), by Jane O’Connor, and it’s a cozy mystery about a freelance copy editor turned sleuth who frequently brags about her ability to find what everybody else misses:
“Rannie caught what other copy editors overlooked. … No book she worked on had ever needed an errata slip. It was just a knack she had-mistakes leaped out from the page. Hotshot editors with fat Rolodexes and expense accounts might dismiss proofreaders as punctuation-obsessed fussbudgets, gnashing their teeth over split infinitives. But reading was such a crazy process when you thought about it. At some point you stopped being aware that you were decoding squiggles printed in black ink on white paper. Suddenly you entered
another world. It was all an illusion, and misspellings, inconsistencies, anachronisms, wrong dates-whatever-wrecked the illusion.”
That assertion doesn’t stop her from misspelling psycho as “pyscho”.
Also, later, she commits a more grievous sin, attributing the song “I See Red” to Crowded House rather than Split Enz.
Thx Jim! Everyone else…please send ‘em when you spot ‘em!
Awesome article.
PS: I think you misspelled psycho.
HA! You’re right! Well, in spite of spell-check, no one is perfect!
I had a guy order a pastrami sandwich and eating corned beef. And going to sleep in September and waking up in October.
Both caught on the final proof.
So much for the myth of the infallible gatekeepers!
Haha–love this!
My first book taught me quite a lesson, when AFTER publication, one of six beta readers, AFTER editing found my MC riding his horse back to the farmhouse, but when he took it into the barn to brush it down, it had become…a donkey!
Embarrassing but true! Thank GOD for digital POD production. I only had to replace six and dump ten copies. The review is still on Amazon, and they still liked the book!
How about Robert Parker’s BAD BUSINESS? “Our guide was a heavy-set woman in a blue dress named Edith.” Makes one wonder what she named her other dresses. And Steve Allen in MURDER ON THE GLITTER BOX refers to “Adolph Hitler.” Steve must’ve been looking at the bottle of meat tenderizer. Pete Palamountain
Great Pete! Thx!