three ways to tell from the front matter if a book is in trouble

[calimac]

1) There's a prefatory section titled "Forward" (distressingly common)

2) There's a dedication to someone "in memorium" (not often seen in regular books, but a frequent phrase on the back pages of sf convention souvenir books)

3) There's an epigraph from The Faerie Queene by "Herbert Spenser" (I swear, I actually saw this on a library new-book shelf about 20 years ago. I'm only sorry I didn't note the book's title so I could prove it now)

Comments

[pnh.livejournal.com]

"In Memorium" drives me nuts. If you can't spell in Latin, don't use it.

[liveavatar.livejournal.com]

At least it wasn't Marks and Spenser.

[madfilkentist]

The best book dedication I've ever heard of was: "To my parents, God and Ayn Rand."

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Truly the greatest example of a comma fault in the history of literature.