Oh My Stars

The infamous "Yeard", now sadly gone.

We all get by with a little help from our friends.

If I were a published author, there's no question I would hope my friends would support me. Especially if they worked for me. What I wouldn't expect, in fact what I hope would not happen, is that they would lie for me.

That is not the case for Terry Goodkind. Remember back in the chat transcripts, where he talked about his friend and former webmaster for Prophets, Inc., the infamous "Mystar"? Remember how he said Mystar was "scrupulously honest" and how I said that would hurt later?

Welcome to the pain.

Mystar, whose real name is Ron Wilson, is almost as infamous in fantasy circles as Goodkind himself is, and likely responsible for a lot of the reputation that Goodkind has earned. This character, who we'll get to in just a moment, is apparently the only kind of person Goodkind would listen to. And what kind of person is that? An obsequious fawner who talks about Goodkind as one would a god.

Anywhere online that fantasy is being discussed, talk about Goodkind long enough and Mystar will show up, guaranteed, armed with alternative facts about the man, his books and his impact on the genre and readers. Or, at least, this used to be the case.

Mystar believes, or at least wants you to believe, every hyperbolic claim Goodkind has made. The entire fantasy genre is crap, except Goodkind. Goodkind sells better than anyone who writes fantasy. Goodkind has more pull with publishers than any other writer because he's acknowledged to be their meal ticket. Other authors are threatened by Goodkind, and they're lashing out at him. Fans of those authors are doubly so.

Here are some quotes from Mystar (it should be noted that most of the content Mystar has posted over the years has been deleted from just about everywhere).

Here's Mystar on Goodkind's sales compared to other authors.

And yet, Goodkind's back list continues to sell more and more, his series has out sold (by a far margins) GRM, Jordan, Hobb and the rest...

This quote is from 2008, and George RR Martin (that's GRM, in Mystar's language) was doing quite well already, almost as good as Goodkind and soon to surpass him. You already know he's lying about Jordan. In the same thread he says "Tor has made no secret that Goodkind's numbers have surpassed Jordan’s" but he offers no proof. Werthead, who was in that thread as well, offered links to Publishers Weekly that showed:

Worldwide sales of Sword of Truth according to Tor upon the occasion of Raimi buying the TV rights: 20 million.

Worldwide sales of Wheel of Time according to Tor upon the occasion of Universal buying the movie rights: 44 million.

The link is dead now, as it's way out of date, but Werthead has a very strong reputation and I believe him. That being said, I have searched quite far on the web to find evidence that Terry Goodkind was ever TOR's biggest seller, and I haven't found anything that implies this was ever the case. All official numbers I can find for Goodkind vs. Jordan show that Jordan was always ahead.

I recall myself getting into a long "debate" with Mystar (thinking he was just some dude, not realizing he new Goodkind personally) and I couldn't believe some of the things he was saying; launching accusations left and right about my motives and connections, making crazy assumptions about my character and my intellect. Unfortunately the thread is gone now, but it was entertaining. Fortunately, his behavior kept up, and thanks to Pat from fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com, we have an entertaining story as to how he handled learning that Pat was not a fan of ol' Terry.

Some background: Patrick St. Denis is a blogger whose blog is one of the longest running and most visited fantasy lit blogs online, especially considering it's privately run. The Wertzone is another. Pat, like myself, is a former Goodkind reader who thinks very little of Goodkind as a writer or a person, but he's fair-minded and wanted to give Goodkind a chance to explain himself when it came to some of the more outrageous things he's said. Mystar was the intermediary between the two, but then he saw a glib remark about The Sword of Truth from Pat on westeros.org (the largest message board for fans of A Song of Ice and Fire and fantasy lit in general), and to put it lightly was not pleased.

He sent an email to Pat. Here are some excerpts, with commentary from yours truly:

And as for "detractors" the 5 people at your westros board don't really count as "detractors", more along the lines of hecklers and gits. But I've got better things to do with my time than spend reading or interacting with people who are incapable of any kind of coherent thought. Attacking Goodkind for what they admire in GRRM or Bakker etc... sorry pot calling the kettle black simply doesn't warrant time from me.

Note the peevish insinuation that Westeros.org, one of the highest-trafficked fantasy message boards ever, has only five users. Is Mystar five years old? Also note the name-calling "hecklers and gits", "incapable of any kind of coherent thought". Yeah, when you don't have an argument, insult the intelligence of your opponent. "They don't warrant time from me" so I'll keep trolling that board until they ban me (yes, this happened).

I've read many of your reviews for some time now. While I will admit you have wrangled a few interviews, they came not from anything "you" did but rather you asking (most persistently I might add, so says the people offering these reviews) to do them and trying to sell yourself to the task. Mediocre at best. I've seen worse interviews, but I've seem much better as well. You seem to get hung up on "your view of things, from your perspective only", and not allowing that opposing views have any merit.

Bloggers asking for interviewers is kinda how it works. What did he think, that the authors contact the interviewers and say "I have deigned to allow you into my presence for a precious few hours"? It's pretty rich for a Goodkind bootlicker incapable of seeing past the interior view of ol' Terry's anus to accuse anyone else of getting hung up on only their own view of things.

Yet, you not only lower your self by your close association with these trolls, but the quality of your work. You forget to remove yourself from a neutral standpoint and rather encourage the shtick. Bad form! I can only imagine that publishers getting excerpts of your behavior and lack of professional demeanor are going to be frowning at your so called ability to be fair and respectful.

Yep, because he's not a fan of Goodkind, publishers won't want to work with him anymore!

These poor pathetic people have no clue as to anything Goodkind is writing about. Faith of the Fallen in any poll out there is always 9 out of 10 top favorite of the series. That you and these lemmings of discord find it reprehensive is telling indeed. Telling everyone that you indeed have missed the whole point of the book as well as the series. No wonder you cannot tell good literature from mindless drivel. These people of Westros et al. read a paragraph, them proceed to eliminate anything they do not want to be there, and instead focus on only what they wish to see. [...] Sorry these people you hang out with have no idea about any thing other than their mindless attempts at twisting the series into something unrecognizable and vile for their own sick entertainment.

First thing I noticed is that he suggests Faith of the Fallen, the sixth book of the series and the one where Goodkind truly stopped trying to tell a story and was purely ranting at his audience, is always "nine out of ten top favorite of the series". He says this as if he's bragging on it but doesn't that mean that there's only one book the readers like less? I'm betting it's Naked Empire at the very bottom. So...even the fans call it his second worst? Or did he mean to say second best? Confusing. The term "lemmings of discord" has taken on a life of its own. Mystar is doing the same thing Goodkind himself has enjoyed for a long while; playing victim to some sort of conspiracy among readers of "typical" fantasy. I also have to laugh at Mystar's continued assertion that our problem isn't that we find the content of Goodkind's writing to be poor, we just "don't get it". This is the language of losers, which is kinda weird since I've already pointed out that Goodkind has been successful.

You seem to be under the impression that because you read a wide Varity of "Fantasy" that you are the rule,when nothing is further from the truth. The "small" number of vulgar voices at westros et al, is but a scattering of sand in a vast sea of readers. Having just gotten back from the book signing and Meet the Author" I arrange for Terry, I have come away with some new insights. Goodkind readership is vast and world wide. These people are not only willing to travel from all parts of the world to get a book signed but to meet the man himself and tell him face to face what truly phenomenal work he has done. I've been to many many book signings by Goodkind and never once have we ever heard anything but praise and adoration of Goodkind and his work. This weekend has shown that you and your band of troll are not only wrong, but far far in the minority. Something I honestly think you are aware of but refuse to admit.

Seth Meyers once suggested that politicians should stop mentioning that they met a voter at their rally who was in support of all the politician's stances. Because of course they are, otherwise, why would they be at the rally? So, if someone's coming to a Goodkind signing, chances are they're a Goodkind fan. But all writers who have reached anything approaching Goodkind's level of success will have a large amount of fans show up. Does Mystar really believe that Goodkind's crowd sizes outnumber any other fantasy author? He seems to suggest so here. The crazy thing is, while Goodkind might have a lot of readers, he also has a ton of detractors, and like Mystar says, fantasy readership is vast. I don't have numbers for it, but it seems to me there actually are more people who dislike Goodkind than like him.

Let's put it this way; people who dislike Goodkind might read a large number of other authors, most of whom either haven't been around as long as Goodkind or are more niche and less accessible. If I can use myself as an example, I loathe Goodkind but love Tolkien, Cook, Wolfe, Martin, Hobb, Feist, Jordan, Gemmell, Sapkowski, Keyes, Erikson, Butcher, Wooding, Rothfuss, Sanderson, Abercrombie, Lynch, Lawrence and Sullivan, among others, and while few of those names have outsold Goodkind, assuming there are millions of other fans like me, there are a lot more fans reading something other than Goodkind than there are fans reading Goodkind.

Pat, the thing about all of this is honesty and respect. You show neither. You may well not care for Goodkind, fine. I've no problem with that. But you not only do yourself a disservice, but you fail all of your readers when you refuse to see that there are more positive aspects to Goodkind and his works that you are willing to let on. You do yourself a disservice when you try to dismiss the facts that are so clearly evident and rather try to diminish them by refusing to admit that Goodkind and his series has merit. Trust me when I say, you will never achieve your goals until you embrace that which you refuse to admit...the truth. I do think you have potential, as long as you can keep your focus and stop letting your friends direct your thoughts.

Oh, you've got a problem with him not liking Goodkind, alright. Considering how often Mystar showed up in various places to defend him, it's clear he couldn't stomach the thought of anyone disliking Goodkind. And yet he keeps talking about how we are the ones who feel threatened. The sentence "you will never achieve your goals" is laughable as Mystar seems to be suggesting that nobody will come to his site unless he changes his opinion and embraces Terry Goodkind. I mean...wow. Not to mention Pat had already achieved his goal, and it's only grown since.

You can imagine Mystar didn't enjoy being exposed. He wrote back, in a lengthy essay that Pat let us in on a bit later, and it's safe to say he didn't win Goodkind any more fans throughout this endeavor. If you read through the comments, it's clear that Mystar brought a few Goodkind supporters with him...or, as they all remain anonymous, maybe they're all him.

It's interesting to note how Mystar accuses Pat of things he didn't do and tries to make himself appear more important than he is by name-dropping people that may not even exist.

That same link will point you to a claim by Mystar that Goodkind's success leading to a TV series based on his books was so gosh darn threatening that George RR Martin was now "looking to get in on the mini-series action too" as if Martin's sole goal was chasing Goodkind's success. But, speaking of Game of Thrones, let's move on to what is probably Mystar's crowning moment of dishonest idiocy.

Back in the late 00's when Sam Raimi's TV adaptation of Sword of Truth, the quickly-cancelled and even-more-quickly-forgotten Legend of the Seeker was in post-production and about to air, some board members over at sffworld.com wanted to know if any progress was being made on the adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire that HBO had been considering. Now, we all know how that turned out, but back in 2008 or 2009 it was kind of an open question. We knew it had been proposed and that HBO had optioned it, but we didn't know when, or if, it would be greenlit. There was some threat that a proposed King Arthur series was also being considered (this became Starz's Camelot) with HBO suggesting they would only do one or the other, not both.

Mystar popped in with this:

Actually, I was talking to a friend at TOR today, the TV/mini-series deal for ASOIAF fell through. HBO decided not to take it and the production company was said to have discontinued with the option In other words, they backed out. I was truly looking forward to seeing how this would be adapted to cinema. 

It is a pretty reliable source, but like any only time will tell 

Hopefully someone else will be able to pick it up... 

Note he's not suggesting it's a rumor. He's saying it's a done deal. Over. Finito. Kaput. Of course, most responders questioned why a friend at TOR would know anything, considering that GRRM didn't publish through TOR and TOR was in no way involved.

But he continued: The problem is the breath and scope of the story line. Condensing that down into a project for the TV is not an easy task. That and the fact that there really is no demonstrable reason to the story line that woudl appeal to the masses... No hero figure..who doesn't get killed, to many random killings for no more than someone was in someones elses way...things like that. HBO kicked it out, but that doesn't mean another could take it and make it work... 

No demonstrable reason the storyline would appeal...at this point GRRM's sales were very high and rising. This is why HBO was considering an adaptation to begin with.

Eventually Paris Martin, GRRM's girlfriend and the time and now wife, chimed in herself to say that nothing of the sort had happened; there had been no ultimate decision made and she was disgusted with this random person who had no inside info suggesting he was privy to more information than the writer himself was.

Mystar wasn't deterred: While I understand it GRRM's GF may offer her opinion, we also have to understand her possable reluctance(sp) to let out the fact that it did in fact get dropped....and perhaps having dinner with several agents in New York and jabbering about projects and books my information could also be rhumor heard and passed along. 

Did you catch his subtle insinuation that she was lying?

Later he changes his source, saying he was talking to HBO directly, as again they apparently will spill the beans to someone in no way involved while not telling Martin himself: I was however in Vegas a few weeks ago at the convention, while bidding, discussion and other news was being bantied about, So I would guess my information is just as creditable, as I was specificly asking HBO, agents and the money reps... 

~shrugs~ 

But thepoint is, I don't have to offer any proof... the proof will be know when it never happens.

I gotta wonder how he feels today. For that matter, how he feels about this bragging on how successful Legend of the Seeker has been, bearing in mind it hadn't even aired yet: BUT ABC/Disney would not be denied. "We know a block buster when we see it"... This also is fleshed out in the aspect that even BEFORE any hype, trailers or much of anything, this series has been picked up in over 98% of the markets...again a record breaker, and stunning ABC/Disney. 

All because this is a story about Hero's...TRUE heros!. Heroic people acting in a manor that underscores the true Nobility that is mankind. It proves what Goodkind has been telling us for over 15 years now... People want heros... TRUE Heros. This is the same thing Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert Ned Nallie, ABC and Disney all agree on... This is why you see something like George R R Martin's A song of Ice and Fire always failing by comparison, why it is still sitting on the shelf, why the screen play has had to have been rewritten several times already, and it is still sitting there... It has no true hero's and no honor for life... People want to feel good about their heros, they want Heros, they can believe in!!! 

Yep. Poor, poor George RR Martin. No one likes his multi-million selling novels. No TV series for him. No eight-season-long multiple Emmy-winning blockbuster hit series (the first fantasy series to win Outstanding Series). Goodkind is the success story here; two poorly rated, poorly reviewed seasons and a quick cancellation.

I guess they've changed the meaning of "scrupulously honest", because Mystar seems to really enjoy lying. I think was Goodkind meant was "tells me what I want to hear".

In recent years, Goodkind appears to have kicked Mystar to the curb. We haven't heard from him in years, and during that time, Goodkind has softened, at least to a degree, on some of his harder stanced, leading me to believe that it's entirely possible that most of the worst behavior we witnessed from ol 'Terry was being encouraged by Mystar. When you only keep yes-men around you, determined to never let you hear anything that might upset you, you start to get an inflated sense of yourself.

But then again, if you didn't already have an inflated sense of self, you wouldn't be surrounding yourself only with yes-men in the first place. In the next few posts, we'll see that Goodkind's douchebaggery merely altered form. It didn't go away entirely.