New Book

Received a box of author's copies of "FD" this morning. As is my custom, I went out on the deck with a cigar to read the first one.

Not happy.

More than MoV or FV, "FD" is about some important stuff. And it was hard to write. It is the kind of thing that will draw fire-- every person who has already made up their minds that cops are evil thugs will hate it but not read it... but also every officer who considered writing something like it will feel a need to find something wrong. The debate is so entrenched and tribal that maybe nothing good can come from explaining the basics. There were a lot of reasons not to write it at all. And some reasons not to publish.

But I did, because it was the Right Thing To Do (tm).

Then the editing process was the first really negative experience I've had with my publisher. It actually turned into an adversarial relationship with my own editor.

The author approval copy I received was riddled with mistakes and I sent a comprehensive list to the publisher who assured me they were all fixed. They never sent a final galley for approval. The book came out while I was waiting for the galley proofs.

And it is riddled with errors. Mostly typos, but some of the errors are glaring. The section on "Levels of Resistance" is titled "Levels of Force". The formatting is inconsistent. Mostly stuff that I pointed out in the last revision, but all the errors appear to have been left in and a few new ones added. Oh, and according to the publisher page my middle name is Kane.

Not happy. If this book does well it is because the data is important and timely and despite everything else.

Sigh. And growl.