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This book is like the Hunger Games, if the Hunger Games was super racist.

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T

Thud

Member
They said Hunger Games was a downgraded Battle Royal.

Ridiculous plot and I suspect bad writing skills. Still, it's so awful it might be good. Better start raising my mate rate.
 
Q

qizah

Unconfirmed Member
What in the actual fuck is going on?

How is this shit real. The videos on YouTube ... smfh. I honestly thought this was something from the Onion.
 
C

Cyan

Banned
Thud said:
They said Hunger Games was a downgraded Battle Royal.
Click to expand...

I think the only actual point of comparison here is future dystopia. That and "I want my book to be a huge hit like the Hunger Games."

You can tell it's a dystopia because the Coals are in charge.
 
E

Esch

Banned
I'm trying to imagine being in a board room listening to this getting pitched as a publication idea....
KuGsj.gif


im not even mad, this is hilarious
 
I

iammeiam

Member
Cyan said:
John Scalzi's Old Man's War is the only one that immediately comes to mind. Though I've heard really good things about Hugh Howey's Wool series.
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Wool is pretty great--I remember being surprised while reading it that it wasn't just good for a cheap self-published Kindle title, it was actually good overall.
 
A

akira28

Member
cloudwalking said:
some more gems for your reading pleasure, courtesy of tumblr (who are tearing this book apart):
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don't stop there, please. but here I am clicking the shit out of the last graphic, no idea why. goddamn..highlight..won't... go away...


holy shit at having the ambition to create such a fictional place, but not the chops or cultural exposure to actually pull it off. I admire the ambition if anything. The rest is like...I dunno if I should be mad, or just shake my head and let it roll like water off a duck's back. It's like, how can so much criticism be totally valid, and this still be a commercially viable thing.
 
S

Slayven

Member
akira28 said:
don't stop there, please. but here I am clicking the shit out of the last graphic, no idea why. goddamn..highlight..won't... go away...


holy shit at having the ambition to create such a fictional place, but not the chops or cultural exposure to actually pull it off. I admire the ambition if anything. The rest is like...I dunno if I should be mad, or just shake my head and let it roll like water off a duck's back. It's like, how can so much criticism be totally valid, and this still be a commercially viable thing.
Click to expand...

It's like being mad at a 4 four year old for drawing on the wall. There is a quick flash of anger until you realized they just don't know no better.
 
E

Effect

Member
ivysaur12 said:
Yeah, well, there might be a story here, somewhere with this concept. But if you're going to do a story like this, you need an incredible amount of tact and intelligence about the very real themes you're playing with. This author lacks both of those qualities.
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This. The story concept by itself could in theory be interesting if handled right. It has to be handled extremely well. However the naming she uses shows me where her mind really is and it's sending my racism detector into overdrive.

Edit: The excepts. OMG *shakes head*
 
C

Cyan

Banned
ElTopo said:
Who buys this shit ? Seriously, who buys it ? What's the target audience ?
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Some people in this very thread, apparently.

The biggest challenge in selling a self-published book is that since it's so easy to self-publish a book, there are millions of them. It's really hard to cut through the noise and get your signal heard. That's why this woman did stuff like those Youtube dating profiles, trying to get a sort of viral campaign going.

The irony is that all this outcry about racism is probably massively boosting sales of her book. Not because people are like "oh, racism! awesome!" but because more people will hear of it, and there will inevitably be people who are interested in the story and not too bothered about potential racism. Leaving aside the people who are buying it for the lols.
 
E

EmCeeGramr

Member
"What do we have here?" asked the Grand Inspector, shining his flashlight on the three boys. Each of them knelt on the floor, their wrists tied in plastic restraints.

"We got reports that a couple of Pearls were trying to pass without permission," replied the CivOff.

The Inspector crouched down and peered closely at the young faces. The boys couldn't have been older than 16. They definitely straddled the line though. Perhaps a parent or grandparent had been a Coal? The one on the right definitely looked Coal, but perhaps with some Tiger's-Eye ancestry. In any case, it was irrelevant. He stood back up and put his dark hands on his hips and smiled.

"Well, boys, we're gonna have a little test to see if you're who you say you are. What shows do you like to watch on the World-Band?"

"Ooh, Breaking Ba-" started the one on the left. The bullet to the forehead cut him off. The others screamed and cried.

"Take this one away," grunted the Inspector. He wasn't smiling anymore. "Now then. Let's see if you two have better answers."

The middle one gulped.

"Uh... I... The..." he stammered. After a short pause he said with a newfound sense of certainty: "The Wire!"

The Inspector smiled widely. He was still smiling as he pistol whipped the young man and motioned to the CivOff to take the prisoner for processing.

"Now then. Let's wrap this up."

The last one could barely speak through his sobbing.

"I- I don't know man... like, like, old D-Dragon Ball Z episodes and- and shit?"

The young man felt a firm hand on his shoulder and looked up at the warm fatherly face of the Inspector. He nodded sagely.
 
F

FlashbladeGAF

Member
EmCeeGramr said:
"Now then. Let's wrap this up."

The last one could barely speak through his sobbing.

"I- I don't know man... like, like, old D-Dragon Ball Z episodes and- and shit?"

The young man felt a firm hand on his shoulder and looked up at the warm fatherly face of the Inspector. He nodded sagely.
Click to expand...

I'm laughing and shaking my head at the same time
 
G

G-Fex

Member
I'd really like to think this won't become popular.

Sure 50 shades is smutty and all but people can't be this stupid to support this.
 
T

The Adder

Banned
Am I the only one whose first thought was "Wow, this would be incredibly less terrible, still terrible, but less so, if the two groups were 'Pearls' and 'White Pearls.'"
 
T

theignoramus

Member
so the Guardian ran an article on this. the inevitable controversy seems like it's exploded in the last four weeks.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/aug/21/racism-row-novel-coals-pearls

damn....lol

Now the publisher of Weird Tales has weighed in, removing Kaye's original editorial from the site – it remains cached on Google – and issuing a blanket apology for the piece. "I deeply apologise to all who were offended by our association with this book. I am offended by it. I fully respect those who have been writing negative things about us today. You are correct," wrote John Harlacher. "I have not read the novel, but have gone over its online presence today. I have no need to read it. I saw the blackface video and read the excerpts the author and publisher chose to make available. I must conclude that the use of the powerful symbols of white people forced to wear blackface to escape the sun, white women lusting after black 'beast men', the 'pearls' and 'coals', etc., is goddamned ridiculous and offensive. It seems like the work of someone who does not understand the power of what she is playing with."
Click to expand...
 
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