Nope, no idea. I took a long hiatus after the convention.
~Jonathan
Both. I'd rather not get into it, but I recall some drama (as I'm sure many people here do) involving Robert's former wife and others involved in the convention planning. Shortly after the convention in 2005 is also around the time that I had a lot going on in my personal life which included my poor health at the time, refocusing myself away from the King community & collecting.
~Jonathan
My biggest take away from the convention was that there was supposed to be a bunch of artwork available for auction to the paying attendees that surprisingly wound up in the hands of Robert, so it wasn't much of a surprise when the Whelan LSOE remarques wound up in the same place.
Yes King got a nice gift package containing the book with a custom made door traycase, a covering letter and personalised Constant Reader sculpture. He sent us photos back of him opening everything in his Florida home and the traycase/book and sculpture all given pride of place on a shelf. I did post all the photos back at the time and I'm sure I posted them here at tdt.org at some point. There was a brief covering letter and an inscribed copy of Lisey's Story too.
"Saying he did "some good" is akin to complimenting a criminal who took good care of their cats/dogs."
Yeah I know, I'm certainly not trying to defend him here. Just telling the facts as they were and as I can recall.
I do seem to recall him accessing people's PM's and all kinds of underhand stuff when he had any beef with anyone.
Tippy, I'm almost certain he didn't like you selling books or there was some big thing about selling books through the forum and eventually they banned you out of spite.
The photos we had seen of him, he looked like a biker with a big thick beard. I don't think he did get to Palavercon in the end.
To this day I still don't know the whole story of what happened with Kali (Michaela) but I am sure Dolan (Kenny) was somehow involved and there was another guy but I can't remember his name, Johnny maybe? Never did find out. I just remember something about Michaela disappearing after Palavercon. Robert saying that no project Michaela was involved in would be entertained by DMG and that Michaela no longer worked there. The next thing was the divorce and tdt.net shutting down.
Selling EVERYTHING! Come and get it!
(Except my Gunslinger First Edition. That ain't going nowhere. It's the only one I'm keeping, can't let that go)
I remember the picture of King holding up the sculpture and smiling, I had just forgotten about the book. Glad all the stuff made it to him.
Me too. After all the time and effort it would have been a real downer if we hadn't got it to King.
Selling EVERYTHING! Come and get it!
(Except my Gunslinger First Edition. That ain't going nowhere. It's the only one I'm keeping, can't let that go)
My selling books from time to time was part of it......but I was banned because Michaela believed (and she was wrong) that I had some secret relationship with the two former employees at Grant.....and that I was feeding them information. I had zero relationship with them.
I snuck back on under a different ID.....but mostly laid low.
I know very little about the goings on at Grant books...but the rumors and speculations are that Robert's new wife did not get along with the two women that worked for Robert, and they either quit or were let go (in the end, the wife will always win over the employee). The new wife then seemed to believe she was a book publisher......not the wife of a book publisher...and proceeded to overstep her bounds....posting pictures of the office and warehouse of DMG (which were promptly pulled down when Robert found out)....and "hosting" that Palavercon (which I believe Robert did not sanction....nor was he there).
She also hired Karen French.......who still owes me $100 to this day......so the Secret Santa recipient she did not send a gift to this year was just another in a presumably long list of people she has fucked over in her life.
FOR SALE OR TRADE
Dark Tower 7 Artist Edition n/a
The Waste Lands 1st Edition in Shrinkwrap $200
1984 Grant Gift Edition of The Talisman $400
Lisey's Story ARC $50
.
.
WANTED
Signed 1st Edition of Storm of The Century (Paperback)
Tippy - Just wanted to chime in that actually Robert was a huge part in PalaverCon and he was indeed there all weekend. I helped plan that convention and actually stayed for a few days leading up to it with Robert and Michaela at their home and office. Was an interesting time in my life but I'm glad that Michaela is no longer in it....so much drama back then!
~Jonathan
Mik and Kellee at Grant didn't get along - but the reason is because she actually wanted to run the place as a BUSINESS, not a place where you got to hang out and do nothing all day...so I knew where Mik was coming from.
Robert WAS at Palavercon, actually - he was on a panel with 3-4 authors (the guy who wrote Towering Inferno). (I see JReitan just posted the same)
But yeah, there was some drama afterwards - but it was awhile before it really blew up.
One of the final straws was the April Fool's prank about the compiled DT I-VII edition being published as one volume by Grant.
Mik didn't post it, but it was posted at DT.net by one of the mods and people called Grant en-masse (I didn't call, but it fooled me), and Robert blamed Mik by association. Apparently, he was furious.
And yeah, Mik had a problem with Tippy - and then banned him from DT.net because somebody sold him a few Palavercon gift bags, and complained that sale was because she was "betrayed" by other people. It got pretty intense - but since her and Robert were having problems, I'm sure it wasn't related to one thing.
I feel bad - I liked Mik, and saw her and Robert as a couple a few times and I thought they were a good match...she's the one who hooked me up as a proofreader for DT VII. But I went to pick up a book once and I could tell there was some tension.
As for DT.net, there was the guy who posed as Stephen King - he never posted that he WAS SK, but implied it - and then ultimately claimed it in a series of messages with somebody who entrapped him, and then subsequently banned him.
I stand corrected on Robert's involvment and participation in PalaverCon.
I was banned prior to PalaverCon (I had no plans on going)....but a very nice member there (and here) did get me a couple of Phile Hale signed copies of DT2...that did wrangle a few folks when they found out. David contacted me and posted my response on the forum.......in which I stated that I thought it was funny that even after being banned, I was still ruffling feathers at DT.NET
FOR SALE OR TRADE
Dark Tower 7 Artist Edition n/a
The Waste Lands 1st Edition in Shrinkwrap $200
1984 Grant Gift Edition of The Talisman $400
Lisey's Story ARC $50
.
.
WANTED
Signed 1st Edition of Storm of The Century (Paperback)
Yeah - I remember all that. It was funny sort of...but uncomfortable, because I liked Mik and felt like she HAD put herself out there, as far as the site and all that (she was partnered in it, I believe) and people were letting her down (not Tippy, who had no relationship as far as I know) through inaction/apathy if nothing truly malicious.
But yeah - Tippy was ALREADY banned - and THEN somebody sold gift bags or whatever - and she acted like she'd been stabbed in the back, like, literally.
I emailed her at one point and was like "um, you might be taking this a little too seriously..." Whatever she responded, it didn't change anything.
One thing I recall was that members could buy a "Ka-Tet of 19" symbol that went on your signature or something for like $10. It was kinda cool and I had one. The proceeds went to the site fees I believe. Tyler (?) administered it if I recall. .Net was a pretty tightly knit group as I recall and if you were'nt one of the "cool kids", watch out!! LOL
28 in 23 (?)!!!!
63 in '23!!!!!!!!!!
My Collection: https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver...ion-Merlin1958
The Houston Astros cheated Major League Baseball from 2017-18!!!! Is that how we teach our kids to play the game now?????
Clarifies a lot of things and reminds me of things I could only vaguely remember.
Selling EVERYTHING! Come and get it!
(Except my Gunslinger First Edition. That ain't going nowhere. It's the only one I'm keeping, can't let that go)
I take Ari at his word that all that occurred, and he's well within his rights to post about it.
But since JReitan also just posted on this thread, I think it's kind of passive-aggressive to subsequently amp it up to Threat Level Greyskull without a more diplomatic first response to Ari's account.
I mean - "hey, JReitan, what's up with this?" would accomplish the same thing, right? If it were me, I would get the point - I wouldn't need a "we'll chase this person down..." to grasp the situation. If Ari should have gotten a prize, he should have gotten it.
Please go back and read the title of the thread.
If Ari received his prize then he and JReitan can confirm that, and hopefully have a good chuckle about something 5+ years old.
If not, then it's an unresolved public commitment and complaint.
JReitan mentioned elsewhere recently that he is trying to rebuild not only his reputation, but his collection. Members have helped him rebuild his collection (often with great pricing), it's now incumbent upon JReitan to make good.
If it was resolved and I missed Ari having said so, then I apologize to JReitan.
No, I totally agree with all of that.
All I see as unnecessarily amping up the drama is the phrasing in the first post - I mean, JReitan JUST posted in THIS thread. I don't think there was a need to say "we'll pursue this person!" Pursue? The person's right here - he posted not even eight hours ago. It's not like the Scream Press situation, which wasn't really connected to this site.
I 100 percent agree that JReitan should clarify what happened - doesn't sound like Ari is chuckling. That's a pretty harsh accusation and if it was directed at me, I'd want to respond to it sooner, not later.
Maybe you're kidding about the car repairs - but I feel like I actually remember that being where the money went...because he raised a bunch of money and THEN decided to close the site. I remember him being very snarky in the annoucement - he was like "say goodbye to your friends because the site's going down in 12 hours."
The car repair thing really happened, I remember when it came out that is what he did and a lot of people were not best pleased about it because the money was supposed to pay to keep the forum running.
Selling EVERYTHING! Come and get it!
(Except my Gunslinger First Edition. That ain't going nowhere. It's the only one I'm keeping, can't let that go)