Because I talk a lot about #writing on Facebook, I get a bunch of book ads on my feed. At least I assume that's why I'm getting them. I know when I've been talking about other topics, I tend to get ads for things related to those topics. Not with dinosaurs, oddly, even though I know there's a bunch of paleomerch out there. Everything else, yeah.

Most just come across as mediocre, and a few as quite good. I've bought at least one book due to a Facebook ad, and been pleased with the results.

About a third sound absolutely awful. Mind-bogglingly bad. The characters and situations are irredeemable cliches. The plots are absurd. The writing style, the way words are put together, is cringe-inducing. The dialog sounds like nothing no actual person would ever say.

Yeah, I know: "never judge a book by its cover" is a maxim for a reason. But when the ads are most likely written by the authors themselves, and they include excerpts that read like fingernails down a chalkboard ... well, there are only so many hours in a day, you know? I have shelves full of books I've read many times and will happily read again. Also a fair number I've either never read, or read so long ago I've forgotten all the details, but remember enjoying. It takes a lot to make me add to the book mountain, these days.

Even by those standards ... Larry Correia? Really?

I don't think I'm a great writer. I do think I'm pretty good, and getting better as I knock the rust off my skills. Enough people seem to agree that I plan to keep doing it this time. (Like I did all the other times, but let's not talk about that.) Compared to these clowns, I'm Nebula and Hugo and Pulitzer and Nobel material all in one.

Guess I need to start posting about the Civil War again so I can get more ads for the Stonewall Jackson Commemorative Zippo. Which it would take an act of God to get me to buy, but I'm still more likely to pay for that than "American Paladin." Please.

This is why I still can't be that worried about Skynet.