Here's a case where author references go awry. I found this amusing. It's a bit roundabout, but worth the ride.
Some years ago, I was a fan of the “Left Behind” series (by Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim F. LaHaye). The Amazon review:
Piloting his 747, Rayford Steele is musing about his wife Irene's irritating religiosity and contemplating the charms of his "drop-dead gorgeous" flight attendant, Hattie. First Irene was into Amway, then Tupperware, and now it's the Rapture of the Saints--the scary last story in the Bible in which Christians are swept to heaven and unbelievers are left behind to endure the Antichrist's Tribulation. Steele believes he'll put the plane on autopilot and go visit Hattie. But Hattie's in a panic: some of the passengers have disappeared! The Rapture has happened, abruptly driverless cars are crashing all over, and the slick, sinister Romanian Nicolae Carpathia plans to use the UN to establish one world government and religion. Resembling "a young Robert Redford" and silver-tongued in nine languages, Carpathia is named People's "Sexiest Man Alive." (This reviewer, a former People writer, finds this plot twist plausible.) Meanwhile, Steele teams up with Buck Williams, a buck-the-system newshound, to form the Tribulation Force, an underground of left-behind penitents battling the Antichrist.
So, you get it? The “Left Behind” series tells the tale of future history, a history after the Rapture. Naturally, I'd expect referrals to “The Omen”, “666”, “The Late Great Planet Earth” and the like.
My latest Amazon recommendation (loosely based on some sort of authoring relationship between Messrs. Jenkins and LaHaye): “Understand Your Man: Secrets of the Male Temperament” by Tim F. LaHaye. The email arrived with this writeup:
Dear Amazon.com Customer,
As someone who has purchased books by Jerry B. Jenkins, you might like to know that Understand Your Man: Secrets of the Male Temperament will be released in paperback soon. You can pre-order your copy by following the link below.
I'm not sure what Amazon is implying, about me, or Messrs. LaHaye and Jenkins, but clearly, their reference generator needs some tweaking. Not only am I the wrong gender to be a primary target for this book, the reference to an author whose books I've purchased is linked in rather than to the author himself. Very, very odd, and not in a good way.
Probably just a series of unfortunate events. Or maybe they're trying too hard.