i've been following this story on twitter... they're gonna need to rewrite that entire book and even that won't be enough because of the initial comments about the author. what a fucking asshole tbh.

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Yup. That book is bad down to its fundamental premise. If the word 'uncivlized' in scare quotes is part of the blurb, you know that shit's a mess. She just needs to go on to the next book in her contract and shelve this one.

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i think her writing career is pretty much coming towards its end. people will be more inclined to look for racist undertones in her books, and if she can write such racist bullshit, she'll most definitely have those undertones.



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they should just do what they did to the Opal Mehta plagiarism chick or at least seriously rethink all plans to come out with this book.

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"To ensure that the themes in her book are communicated in the way she planned"



I mean, she tried to pull the "none of them are based on real races!" card but in a different tweet said she had (among others) Japanese and Native American 'sensitivity readers' (why would you need them, then?) so... I don't really believe what she or the publusher claims she planned.

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I didn't know how much fuckery there was in the book world until this year. Between "The slave baked a cake for George Washington", the person with the fake AAVE, and this.



I shouldn't be surprised, people all have biases in all fields of life. But wow.

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What is the controversy?



For her sixteenth birthday, Vaela Sun receives the most coveted gift in all the Spire—a trip to the Continent. It seems an unlikely destination for a holiday: a cold, desolate land where two “uncivilized” nations remain perpetually at war. Most citizens tour the Continent to see the spectacle and violence of battle—a thing long vanished in the Spire. For Vaela—a smart and talented apprentice cartographer—it is an opportunity to improve upon the maps she’s drawn of this vast, frozen land.



But an idyllic aerial exploration is not to be had: the realities of war are made clear in a bloody battle seen from the heli-plane during the tour, leaving Vaela forever changed. And when a tragic accident leaves her stranded on the Continent, she has no illusions about the true nature of the danger she faces. Starving, alone, and lost in the middle of a war zone, Vaela must try to find a way home—but first, she must survive.



...Nevermind.



Edited at 2016-11-08 08:55 pm (UTC)

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Yikes

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I read this 'summary' of the book which just makes it SO MUCH WORSE OMG.



Here is the complete summary for racist garbage fire #TheContinent spoilers abound: — Justina Ireland (@justinaireland) November 4, 2016





Edited at 2016-11-08 09:08 pm (UTC) Right? How no one looked at that summary and thought 'yeah we should not be publishing that, is beyond me.I read this 'summary' of the book which just makes it SO MUCH WORSE OMG.

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I want to say something disparaging about YA, but just as many shitty racist (/sexist/homophobic, etc) books get published in all the other genres too.



Speaking of, I finished 'As I Descended' which was a modern queer teenage MacBeth. All four of the main perspective characters weren't straight, two were Latinx, and one was disabled. It was my exact niche story I've been wanting to read and I really enjoyed it.

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That is a very, very good point. YA does seem to inspire more social media presence, which can go badly quickly.

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I didn't realize what As I Descended was about until really recently. It sounds perfect for me. I think as soon as I hit 25k on my NaNo I'm going to buy myself that book to celebrate.

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Sounds like almost everything I could desire.

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ohh i wanna read As I Descended now!

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ooh I really wanna read that book now!

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it's definitely not only YA. one of the nice things about YA readers is that they will call out this bullshit tho. and publishers actually listen (or pretend to at least). there are many books in other genres with problematic elements, but a lot of times it doesn't get noticed until they get higher profiles (like that Nazi-themed romance from a little while ago)

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Adding that to my list.



I read "Love in the Time of Global Warming" cause I'm really into the idea of modern retelling of classics (the Odyssey in this case) with LGBT characters but my god was it bad.

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There's a ton of amazing YA by POC out there, it just unfortunately doesn't get the six-figure deals

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I'm still surprised that Harlequin Teen is a thing, even though I read Talon from them.

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My friend has a YA book published under harlequin teen, i still haven't read it tho oop lol

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Did she get a good deal?

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I'm working my way through The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector, and re-reading Faithful Place by Tana French on my way to work.

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I'm reading Something Wicked This Way Comes (in love with it, about 60% done) and I started my first ever Dean koontz book called The Darkest Evening of the Year.

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I LOVE Tana French. That whole series is so good.



I'm reading Missing You by Harlan Coben right now.

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Still reading Escape by Carolyn Jessop. I want to finish it today, we'll see. Also have to catch up on my Nano.

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I'm like 10,000 words behind on my nano, this is totally not happening.

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Nothing right now. I'm trying to find a job instead. But I'm trying to pick the book club option for my month and waffling. So I'll probably read a little bit later tonight.

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Goldenhand - Garth Nix



I wish I had re-read the original series because there's so much I've forgotten.

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i'm working my way through The Disaster Artist. it's just. i can't.

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La Casa de los Espiritus by Isabel Allende.



I'm tired tho, Infinite Jest burned me out and I definitely think I won't make my 50 books a year challenge.

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the first Witcher book, Blood of Elves

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The Hour Of The Star is one of my favourite books ever.

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currently reading the nix by nathan hill! i quite like it so far considering its his debut

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I liked Faithful Place but I thought the ending was a little meh? I got The Likeness recently, which seems to be the favorite among her books.

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With NaNo I'm not reading much of anything. Still My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante but I gave up on Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma. I just wasn't feeling it.

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I started reading Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien because it won the Giller prize

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i'm reading The Call of the Wild by Jack London & also The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie.

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Barely making a dent in Under the Dome, and I just finished Ash by Malinda Lo, which is a retelling of Cinderella but the main character is a lesbian instead, and there's a bunch of fairies in it? Idk it was weird.

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I just finished The Hating Game by Sally Thorne. and I'm about to reread it lmao it's just so nice



I love the hour of the star

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I'm currently reading Lost Gods by Brom, who not only spins a hell of a yarn with his stories, but is also a crazy talented illustrator.



And I'm also currently listening to The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss on Audible, which isn't bad per se, but does NOT live up to the hype so far. Not sure what I expected though, it's typical high fantasy fodder: *white guy with ALL THE TALENTS has amazing adventures.*

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The Female of the Species

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Dorothy Must Die



I hope it gets better because while it's not terrible, it's just slow.

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under the skin by michael faber. just recently finished americanah by chimamanda ngozi adichie and i cannot recommend it enough.

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how's the nanowrimo bb?

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how is she gonna fix it tbh? it sounds like such a train wreck.

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I hope this thing dissapears like the one about Pearls did.

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just toss it tbh. even if the author is magically able to make this book not racist, the damage has already been done. i mean, how can anyone trust her or her publishers if they saw nothing wrong the original novel to begin with?

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Because, according to a ontder, HT dropped 6 figures ("from a quarter to half a million dollars ") on this shit and they're too stupid to just take the L.

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What is a sensitivity reader?

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From what I gauged in the last post it seems to be someone that reads works to red flag/make sure themes in them aren't stereotypical or racist.

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Looks like she failed on that end. And it looks like all of sensitivity readers had to have been friends and family because you can't tell me not one person found the material questionable.

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someone who reads through your stuff for issues of representation and for instances of bias on the page.



Like say your main character is black and you are not you may have a black sensitivity reader who could point out things like stereotypes or microaggressions that your writing may have. Or if you are writing about a trans character have someone who is trans read it and they could add a perspective/struggle that the author didn't address that is important. Or just "Hey I read your book and why are they all white? Or why do you not have any [group] characters"

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I hope it never sees the light of day

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The last ya book I read that really touched me was Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Anybody has more recs of gay books to send my way? I read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and thought it was enjoyable if a little predictable.

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The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller <3

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my heart still hurts

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this book destroyed me omg



still one of the best queer books i've ever read, though. i love it when people actually take myths and make them fresh and new instead of just rehashing whatever the most famous surviving ancient version happened to be.

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I actually read that recently. I really enjoyed it even though not a lot seems to happen, the character interaction makes up for the lack of 'events'.



Also I really enjoyed Song of Achilles as well as the other user mentioned.

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The big ones circulating on Tumblr, if you trust their judgment, include the Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, the Captive Prince series, The Foxhole Court series, Been Here All Along by Sandy Hall and I feel like I'm forgetting something but those are the bigger ones I've heard recently. Ah, Carry On by Rainbow Rowell.

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The Captive Prince trilogy by CS Pacat. It's romance, and the first book seems like it's going to go down a problematic road re: consent issues, but doesn't end up going there. I read it on a lark after it was recced by a friend, thought I was going to hate it, ended up being one of my favorite reads of the year.

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