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random tangent but can we PLEASE stop supporting the problematic authors 😭 just to name a few popular ones people LOVE
Elle Kennedy
Lauren Roberts
JK Rowling (kinda obvious)
Rebecca Yarros
Sarah J. Maas
Colleen Hoover
Like there are so many other authors out here 😭 that create beautiful books but a book that’s written by AI and copies lines and plot points of multiple different books being a TOP SELLER is fucking ridiculous. Genuinely pisses me off.
Imagine this. (Long rant, woo)
(Take note that I'm Black African so there's no arguing or disagreeing on this topic. It won't be the first or the last time I see sexualization of my race). And this has been rotting in my drafts for a while.
Imagine a world where fantasy authors don't sexualize Black people, Arab people, Indigenous people, or any POC/ethnic group that they deemed as ✨exotic✨ or ✨wild✨ but actually see them as a human being.
Notice that I said imagine because that will never happen unfortunately.
I really don't understand what is so tantalizing about people of color to white authors. I'm going to assume it's the stereotypes. It's even worse when an author writes about a male love interest who is apparently "a person of color" when in reality, they're just tanned or Mediterranean.
Rebecca Yarros in that one interview about how Xaden won't be White in the TV show yet doesn't even say what he actually is. Mind you, the crowd clapped at that. The thing is if it's vague in a book, you can say or announce what the character is based on in real life. You can say that a character is a certain race IRL and boom, all done. This ideology of wanting to tame the vicious, angry, and violent man (Black or Brown) and reform him into being gentle and kind is disturbing. I know it's out there but I'm lucky not to stumble on it.
Because of this, the fans get so upset on fancasting. "Xaden isn't White but he isn't Black either!" What the fuck is he then? You can't say he's Mediterranean because where in the region is he from? You can't say he's Middle Eastern where in the region of the Middle East is he from? Skin colors can range from the lightest to the darkest. Unrelated (if you consider it unrelated) but authors need to let the Gaelic language go.
DON'T WRITE ABOUT A LANGUAGE OR A CULTURE YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! DO YOUR RESEARCH, LEARN PRONUICATION, OR MAKE IT UP! Take from old languages, not languages that are at risk of disappearing/dying. It's even worse to take a real life culture and base your made-up one on it if you're just going to be stereotypical about it. No, that culture is NOTHING like the one in your book (Cough, Illyria, cough). Ilyria had a queen regnant who's name is Teuta;
Queen Teuta of the Illyrians was a badass Classical Age warrior queen who oversaw a fleet of hardcore pirates, antagonized the Spartans in their own backyard, led armies and navies that conquered cities and islands along the Adriatic coast, told the Romans to go fuck themselves, and then went out in a blaze of glory by hurling herself off a mountain after reportedly burying 6,000 pounds of gold in a secret location at a place called Devil’s Island. (Queen Teuta of Illyria)
And the Illyrians written by SJM are misogynistic and practically despise women. Something that the creator said is "Sexual attraction, fetishization does not equal allyship. It's just another form of dehumanization." This is what I'm taking about. Do you actually care? Or do you only care about what gets you hot and bothered?
(Original video here: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8S9b2PY/)
Bonus points if there's a character who generalizes and hates their entire race/species.
TLDR: STOP FETISHIZING MEN OF COLOR!
This was rotting in my drafts for some time, gotta clear it up.
So please don't attack me for this, but I feel like Good Omens the book is overhyped and intensely problematic.
I know what happened with Neil, and I don't read or recommend his books for several reasons. But I was reading it before the allegations came out and I was like there is some racist and misogynistic stuff in here and as someone who grew up in Christian household and wouldn't consider myself Christian anymore, I didn't even enjoy the premise as much because of rapture and end of the world anxiety from the story and my past church experience especially as someone who was brainwashed and the end times was one of my hyperfixations.
Like I feel like this book is overhyped and more beloved because of the show with Tennant and Sheen. Honestly, I would rate the book more at a 2.5 not because of the writing quality but because of the prejudice I saw throughout the book, which made me not surprised when the allegations came out. Also, the fact he was a Zionist didn't make the allegations surprise me either. Was I disappointed in him and devastated for the victims, of course, but after reading Good Omens, it didn't surprise me.
colby wilkens coming back onto the scene with a book she's claiming is simply "inspired" by ofmd when the cover is LITERALLY ed and stede is uh. well. and i'm not even being a little jokey about that. it's literally ed and stede:
Something I will never understand is, why do people think it's okay to buy media by problemeatic authors scond hand.
Like for me, if the author is problematic, I loose all interest.
Why do you even want to read that?
There is so much unproblematic stuff out there, why do you actively seek out the stuff that's not okay?
If you can no longer stand to have Neil Gaiman books on your shelves and/or the work of other problematic authors, and not sure what to do with them, I have a suggestion.
If you don't want to donate them to charity and then bought and consumed by others, there is a way you can still donate them.
Charity shops get money for sending books to be pulped and recycled. They usually pulp books that are not good enough to sell.
Cause damage to your problematic book, hand it over to your local charity shop, and inform them it's for pulping and you know they get money for this.
You get to help a charity, and get rid of that shit.
This is for UK people. Not sure whether it's an option for people in other countries.
IRON FLAME SPOILERS
i cant wait for xaden's villain arc. maybe he won't even be a villain, but i want him to TRULY get revenge. now that he's venin, i need to see him feral. im not talking about in love feral, im talking about REVENGE, ANGST, TENSION, ANGER feral. someone i also can't wait to see in onyx storm is sgaeyl. as a professional sgaeyl defender and stan, i want to see her interact more with violet and talk to her. i truly love sgaeyl, even more after reading the bonus chapters in xaden's pov, so i really want to see more of her. in my opinion, sgaeyls better than tairn. i love them both but at the end of the day, my cunty dragon, sgaeyl, will always win. in conclusion, i want to read more about sgaeyl and xaden in onyx storm
After trying to be edgy in my youth for a little while, I’ve long since come around to solidly feeling I’d much rather be known as a good person whose art is sometimes cringey than as a great artist who’s a problematic person. Hands down, easy decision.
