Pumpkin Farmer

by Michael Hughes

The year is 1979. Malaise, stagflation, turmoil in the Middle East, and a gas crunch; these things are but background noise for what unfolds when a lovesick businessman and a sociopathic drifter cross paths. John Nix, business manager of a Silicon Valley semiconductor startup, picks up Horace Fullworth, a ne'er-do -well heir of a wealthy California family, who has returned to San Francisco after surviving the Jonestown Massacre.

After John discovers his girlfriend cheating, he drives to a bar in the small rustic town of La Honda. He meets Ellie O'Neil, a pretty young woman he offers to drive home. Feeling misled by her, he leaves her on the side of the road, where Horace finds her. John hears that Ellie has gone missing and is overcome with guilt. His struggle with his conscience leads him back to those rugged coastal foothills of the San Francisco Peninsula.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction

189 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 10, 2015

Reviews

[Chelsea Humphrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never rate books that I haven't read, but something has to be done about this bully. Commenting on reviewers posts to beg for publicity of your book after you've been repeatedly asked to stop is NOT COOL DUDE. I have reported you and your comments, blocked your accounts, and you just keep creating new accounts doing the same thing over and over. It's a shame that you've chosen to undermine yourself so thoroughly, and I will continue to fight your constant molestation here until you leave us alone. Goodreads, please find a way to ban this dude.

[Maureen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Spammer! I have not read this book and nor will I. This author has used one of my reviews to make a ‘comment ‘ which is actually a link to his book on Amazon. He has been reported but continually opens new accounts! I really find this distasteful and underhand.

[MischaS_]

Dear Spammer,

I get it that you want to promote your book. But the only thing you're doing is destroying it. Because you are neither Edgar Allan Poe nor Alice Sebold.

So, please, take your pathetic self-promotion elsewhere. I'm not really interested in disrespectful behaviour like that.

[Jamie Dacyczyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

SPAMMER. The author of this book has been violating Goodreads guidelines by spamming with his self promotion, posting the identical comment on review after review after review, encouraging the reviewer to go to Amazon to check out his book.

[Matt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps one of the worst books ever penned in all my years of reading. From the horrid title to the silly writing style, Hughes makes it perfectly clear why peddling his vapid novel with unsolicited messages is the only way someone will pay him any attention.

I asked my son to write a synopsis for me. All he could come up with included, "not even Encyclopedia Brown could solve the mystery as to how this one ever got published".

[Felicia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Eat a bag of dicks, dude

[Susanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stop SPAMMING me and everyone else on Goodreads Dude! This is not the way to get people to review your books. You are alienating everyone on here. I’m surprised that you haven’t learned a lesson by now. Leave us all alone. Thank you and goodbye.

[Dianne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full disclosure: No, I haven't read this book. BUT, author Michael Hughes DID add a comment to one of my reviews: "I may be interested in his book," and he added the Amazon link! I find this offensive and disrespectful to the reviewers and authors he commented under.

I can guarantee I will not read or support any author who will blatantly violate the Goodreads guidelines the rest of us try to uphold.

[carol. · Rating 1 out of 5]

At a certain point, one needs to start pushing back. Hughes has reached my pushback point with his umpteenth spam comment on a friend's review. Tacky, tasteless and trashy. I encourage everyone to flag these posts when they see them.

This is what he posts:


Hi,

I saw your review and thought you might like P.umpkin F.armer, my dark psychological thriller. I've put a link below, and it is available in Kindle and physical copy. Thank you and enjoy.

-Michael

https://www.amazon.com/gp/search?inde...

[Tom Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

This author does the one thing I cannot tolerate: Spamming reviewers/readers for self-promotion. I woke up early this morning and got a bunch of notifications from this author. Seems like he's commenting on other reviews by recommending his own work and adds an Amazon link to his book. It's against Goodreads terms and service.

No matter if the content is good or not, I won't bother reading his work at all. Petty, needy and annoying. If you want to make it as an author, this is not how you do it.

Advise: Don't bother acknowledging him or his work.

[Kelly (and the Book Boar) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This space will now be used to keep a running tally of what books reviewers have been spammed in a pathetic attempt to push this no-one-wants-to-read book. So far today it has been:

The Chalk Man (as well as its Spanish counterpart El hombre de tiza)
The Broken Girls
The Cabin at the End of the World
The Death of Mrs. Westaway

I can only assume a Colleen Hoover or Liane Moriarty will be next since he’s running after the Goodreads Choice Award nominees. What have YOU been told this masterpiece is similar to????

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can’t take the authors constant spamming anymore and blocking him doesn’t seem to work. No, I didn’t read this and you couldn’t pay me to read it now after he has continuously spammed my reviews and many of my friends as well. Bye! 👋 #petty

[Elizabeth Mcnair · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am going to admit, I fell for the author's spamming and got the book as he mentioned another book I had reviewed on Goodreads. I did not like the book at all. The plot was not there, nothing happened until the end of the book and it was depressing. Not a recommend on my part.

[Meike · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hello,

as you have been bombarding me and my friends with spam, I thought you might be interested in getting a one-star-rating for your book. There you go.

- Meike

[Karma♥Bites ^.~]

Serial spamming = Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the first time that I've ever written a review for a book that I've not read, but something has GOT to be done about this Michael guy!! About 35 min ago he left another comment on one of my reviews asking me to review Pumpkin Farmer and I'm just livid because I'd hoped we'd seen the last of him!

Stop SPAMMING everyone's reviews!! It's ridiculously rude and we're sick of it!! If I had ever considered reading your book, you certainly have ruined all chances of that now; trying to force your book down people's throats is bullying and obnoxious behavior.

Goodreads, please take care of this guy!!

[Jenna Bookish · Rating 1 out of 5]

Author is a habitual spammer.
No respect for using posts about other author's works to self-promote. Ugh.

[Krystal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh hey, look, ANOTHER GR DOUCHEBAG.

I had no idea how many people are actually jerks on this site. Such a shame.

[Pat · Rating 1 out of 5]

I haven’t read it. I don’t want to read it. Stop hassling me and my friends to read it. Just stop.

[Michael Hughes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Load of crap and I wrote it!

[Tucker Almengor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Michael stop spamming people to get your book read.

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[Therese · Rating 1 out of 5]

STOP SPAMMING ME YOU NASTY LITTLE MAN. This isn't promotion, this is profound dumbassery. If anyone was going to give your book a chance they won't now.

[Peggy Price · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really did not like this book. There was absolutely nothing going on until the very end and that ending was a bit preposterous. Very boring with no tension or plot development. I kept reading thinking SOMETHING has got to happen. But it just carried on with unimportant details.

[Rural Soul · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no intention of reading your book. You cant convince anyone, specially with these cheap tactics by spamming reviewers on their other reviews to promote your book.

[Barbara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad

Writing and story horrible. Totally unbelievable and so we're the characters . Take some classes before attempting to write another book.

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't read the book. I wasn't going to even write a review until I saw others posting about the same thing: the author commenting on random reviews and encouraging them to buy this novel. Now, I am not gonna say how good I felt when I saw someone commented (for the first time) on one of my reviews, and then how my heart dropped when I actually saw the self-promo, and then how I laughed my head off when it all clicked--

Ok, but moving on: knowing that this is against GoodReads policy, and seeing how this guy just will not quit, I am rating his book one star and trying to raise awareness of what this guy is doing. His comment has been flagged, and I will not be reading Pumpkin Farmer.

[Melissa Koser · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have not read this book. I have, however, been spammed by a complete stranger trying to get me to read his book. Michael Hughes "liked" my reviews of two separate books and then posted links to his own book in a comment. This is not how you build up a community around your book, Mike. And I'm not interested in ever reading it.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read this book but feel bad for this guy for getting slammed for being a shameless self promoter.

Like many, I got spammed by this guy in a review and it honestly did me no harm. I may even read his book.

Keep on keeping on

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could give this book no Stars, I would. I never read it. It’s not my type of book which is why I didn’t come by it on my own. The author makes multiple Goodsreads accounts, as others below have mentioned, and comments on users’ book reviews to link them to buy his book on Amazon. It’s tacky. It’s unprofessional. It’s annoying. And it’s rude. The one good thing about Goodreads is that there isn’t Spam. Now we’ve got cheap authors out here linking unrelated books

You want to spread the word? Do a giveaway. Take a financial hit to get some copies from it for honest reviews. Instead you are leaving a bad taste in people’s mouths about your level of professionalism. Let your work speak for yourself. Stay off peoples reviews if you don’t have something related to what they are saying about the book they are reviewing. And leave your own book out of the review. Soooooooo tacky.

[Kay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Will this stop the spamming? Here goes nothing.