ANOTHER 'BOOK' - NOT SEEN THIS ON SALE ANYWHERE

The guy [bret]is ignorant and doesn't take bad reviews well. Personaly I think he should take some courses in book writing, then maybe just maybe do a little bit of research, Then he might just have a good review and people may want to hear what he has to say. If you can't take criticism then you shouldn't be writting. That's my view anyways.

The guy won't stop harassing me

And hes threatening to get a lawyer to shut down the board on claims of defamation. Check it out:

Joe,
I will leave you alone providing you stop making unpleasant comments about a book you have not even seen.
Phrases like "uninteresting crap" are by law defined as defamatory: they encourage people not to buy the product, and this effects the livelihood of the author.
I am already seeing Jonathan Coad, my lawyer, about matters such as this on 11 August. If these kind of defamatory comments persist about a book which has not been seen, I really will take steps, at whatever the personal cost, to attempt to close down the forum and seek compensation for whatever loss of sales my lawyer determines because of these negative postings. Meeting such comments, like-with-like last year, was both wrong and irresponsible of me. This time I will put my money where my mouth is, and let the lawyers deal with things.
There is nothing derogatory in my biography of Nick Drake, and if you take the trouble to at least borrow the book from your local library, you will see this for yourself.
Sincerely,
David Bret

I wouldn't pay too much mind to David Bret's emails or threats. He has no merit to sue you or this message board for fair comment on a matter of public interest. To sue for libel (defamatory), someone must blatantly construe facts that are not objective to one's opinion.

In 2001 Alexander Vassiliev sued Amazon.com for libel over a review that someone made about his book. Naturally, he lost the case. There is no precedence of an author winning such a case based on these circumstances, let alone against a message board which is created for "comment on a matter of public interest."

Lastly, there are plenty of posts by David Bret on this message board that are far more defamatory than anything you've said about his book. I feel that he would have a tough time shutting down this board.

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:53 pm
Nick Drake Biography
My biography of Nick Drake is to be published early next year by JR Books, London. I would love anyone who has any interesting anecdotes to come forward and share them with me. Naturally you will be acknowledged in the book. I missed Nick by just a week or so when we were both engaged at an event in Sheffield. During my research for the book I also came across some very interesting people who had never been interviewed before--mostly in France, including Nick's last lover who showed me photographs of the "gig" he did there just before he died. I also interviewed people who knew him who explained the real story behind some of his songs. In conclusion, my impression of Nick (and theirs) was that he was far removed from the "misery guts" legend perpetrated by some journalists...Nick liked to have fun and let his hair down just as much as the next man. The only time he was truly unhappy, I leaned, was when he was at home in that big, depressing house. To me,
Nick Drake was an inspiration, sent before his time, taken away from us way too soon. I also got hold of the hospital reports, and I can tell you that he very definitely did NOT take his own life.
Many thanks in anticipation,
David Bret

Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:43 pm Post subject:

I'm sorry but this has to be said. lol
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

It has come to my attention that our favorite author is on a crusade, seems this time he has taken on the fans of Lombard, I don't know why he does this, Doesn't he want to sell books. Well For this one I am keeping well away. But just thorght you guys and girls would be amused by this. One is not starting another flame wars with the man. And I posted this for anyone who is interested.

If you want to read more, It is plastered on his front page. As we all were when he visited here for that week of carnage.
have fun reading all...

Have a look at the reviews of his books on Amazon and the nerve he has at replying to people daring to write something negative while giving himself 5 stars in meantime! Very amusing!

Think I hit the mark when I said I would write a book about him, And just make the stuff up. But that would lower myself to his level. And I am above that.

I really wasn't going to bring the subject of him back up. But he does seem to do this quite a lot, going into fan forums and shoving a knife in, Then wonders why he gets this type of treatment. If he came in and was nice he may have found out a few correct and actual things about who he was writing about. But hey!!! thats my 2 pennies worth. May think about doing a book burning at the next gathering if the organizes will let me, so we could throw any copies of any of his books onto a fire... That was a joke, Just in case any of you thought I would buy one of his books.

As I said at the time, this seems to be the way he gets publicity for his books, a bit of a self destructive plan in my opinion, but I suppose it takes all sorts...

Tue Sep 16, 2008

"Some critics[who?] say that Bret's writings, promoted as biographies, are salacious in describing the sex lives of their subject, often bisexual or homosexual. In his biography of Maurice Chevalier,sanctioned and approved of by the French star's family, who are close friends of Bret, he reveals letters proving that Chevalier had a relationship with a British soldier during World War I. His writing on Freddie Mercury was criticised for being mostly about the late singer's supposed sexual excesses as was his book on Rudolf Valentino that dwelled on numerous homosexual affairs as well as the lesbianism of Tallulah Bankhead." - from Wikipedia entry on David Bret

I suspect we may be in for a very different biography from those already released.....

David Bret
Location: west yorkshire
Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 1:42 pm

Just to put the record straight. I did write those things about Maria Callas, George Formby and Elvis because they were true--well, I didn't say that Elvis was gay, just that he had a one-off fling with Nick Adams. I have never said that Morrissey hated gays--I don't think he would have approved the book had I written that!
Regarding Nick. Until now, journalists and biographers have mostly been interested in dismissing him as a morbid, maladive depressive, when in fact he was nothing of the kind. He was a warm, vibrant, and hugely talented young man who actually enjoyed most of his tragically too short life. It was always a case of jumping on the "misery bandwagon"--I am sure that many of those who have shared "anecdotes" have felt that, unless they made their Nick "experience" maudling, no one would have been interested. Therefore it does not seem appropriate to many people that he should have so much as smiled, let alone had fun and--dare I say--sex. People associate Nick with gloom in the same way as they associate Morrissey with all the different characteristics he foisted upon himself to create an image. I have people who remember Nick getting drunk, walking out of the bathroom with just a towel draped around his waist, getting onto a stage in Paris and singing, etc. Maybe I was wrong to describe the longterm lover as such--the relationship lasted two or three years, but it very definitely took place. I have the impression though that the only people who will not believe this are those fans who WANT Nick to have been a sad loser, which he was not. His problems began and ended with his family, and others who gave the impression that they were on his side, whn truthfully they were interested only in themselves. You need look no further than that to find the root of his so-called "misery"

David Bret
Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:29 pm
My profound apologies to h******* and to j****. I'm just getting used to these forums and believe me, if you have had any experience with the Morrissey fans, it makes you very cynical!
Nick's last lover was a man. but I don't dwell on the physical side, only on how this affected his music--in other words, made him happy because by being with this man he was able to get away from that oppressive house and parents who were driving him to distraction with their nagging. Sadly, there are no photos and I only wish there were some more tapes. I know there was probably more stuff in Aix-en-Provence, but I fear this will now be lost for ever. What the lover told me that is important, more than any sexual content, is about those of Nick's influences who have never been mentioned before. I move in the chanson field as opposed to the pop music field, which means that I have developed a coterie of friends in France. Both Nick and Jeff Buckley were ardent francophiles--Jeff even was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque. Both he and Nick sang in French, though finding tapes of these songs is again like knitting with water. The nearest we have is him playing "Plaisir d'amour". Also, what you have to remember is that Nick was what we call in France a "chanteur realiste" in the tradition of Piaf, etc. This means that, though he may have written and performed works which some regard as gloomy, he was not necessary a "marchand du cafard"--far from it, my researches have found. An example is Piaf: she often sang about death and suicide, but only because these subjects, like eating and sleeping, are part of life's patterns. Black-Eyed Dog is a supreme example, I firmly believe, of Nick taking the world for a ride.