Comments on: I Swear, this Shit is True

By: L

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 21:23:31 +0000

“it’s not like authors are falling all over themselves to give the world more children’s books on Palaeocene mammals or Cambrian arthropods.”

It would be so awesome if they were. “Trilobites: Extreme Arthropods!!” is one children’s book title so beautifully terrible that it must exist, somewhere.

By: Paul Riddell

Paul Riddell — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:09:52 +0000

L., we could spend years looking at this subject, and as I pointed out, we’d all be right. It’s not just the subject matter itself: it’s that so many people figure that they’ll write a book on the very same subject, in many cases copying perfectly suitable previous books, and somehow distinguish themselves from all of the other crap on the shelf. That’s why I brought up the dinosaur books, because it’s not like authors are falling all over themselves to give the world more children’s books on Palaeocene mammals or Cambrian arthropods.

By: L

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:06:58 +0000

Oh Lord, I remember the dinosaur books. When I was a tiny tot back in the 80’s, my parents bought me a beautifully illustrated, yet hopelessly out-of-date, book about different kinds of dinosaurs. (I sometimes wish I still had that book just for the illustrations–there’s something about that “1960’s science textbook” style that always appealed to me.) One page mentioned Brontosaurus, who “waded in prehistoric lakes and ate aquatic plants.” A year after getting that book, I went to the local science museum. It was like finding out there’s no such thing as Santa Claus.

The only decent dinosaur book I remember seeing as a kid was published by the Royal Ontario Museum and sent to my brother as a Christmas present from our Canadian relatives, who failed to notice that the family dinosaur lover was female.

Also, you forgot a very important category: the Creation “Science” books. I was brainwashed into that one by the local Christian school, and I still have my copy of The Answers Book as a reminder that I am not immune from doing and thinking very stupid things.

The funniest part about those delightful bits of drivel is they attempt to combine science, which is based on the collection of evidence, and religion, which is based on faith without evidence. That, and their dogmatic insistence that an ancient Babylonian creation/flood myth is the ultimate source of truth.

By: Sean Lindsay

Sean Lindsay — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:38:14 +0000

I nominate the genre of popular forensic science for the next round of culling. Where once there were only FBI reference texts and endless retreads of Jack the Ripper theories, there are now dozens of full-color manuals on how best to eliminate any forensic trace when you find yourself standing over the mangled corpse of your boss with a knife in your hand. Dear God, Forensics for Dummies? Why not just hand them out at parole hearings?

By: Paul Riddell

Paul Riddell — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:21:59 +0000

Lou, I wasn't even going to touch all of the "How To Be A Writer" guides, because they're written for the Writer's Digest market. The people buying Writer's Digest, The Writer, and the SFWA Bulletin don't want to hear about the realities of writing: they're wanting to hear that they can quit their jobs tomorrow and make a six-figure income by writing short stories. (I speak from experience on this: I once submitted a proposal to Writer's Digest on the proper way to go through legal action if a publisher refuses to fulfil contractual obligations, and the response letter made me wonder if I'd crapped in a box, put four live rattlesnakes on top, and mailed it to the editor via Fourth Class Mail instead of mailing that query.) The fact that more and more small publishers and agents are jumping in on the "You, Too, Can Be A Writer!" market tells me an awful lot about the state of publishing right now: after all, why have to deal with all of the morons trying to sell their novels to you or through you when you can sell them reams of worthless or irrelevant advice and make a lot more money?

By: This Week in Read-Worthy « Why I Hate Writing

This Week in Read-Worthy « Why I Hate Writing — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:45:32 +0000

[...] Riddell tells us which books aren’t worth writing (or reading) in his post, “I Swear, This Shit Is True,” On 101 Reasons to Stop Writing. No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for [...]

By: People Who Don't Suck (In a Bad Way, At Least)

People Who Don't Suck (In a Bad Way, At Least) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:42:39 +0000

[...] amAnd over at 101 Reasons To Stop Writing, we have the essential holiday book shopping guide…for the people you loathe and wish would die in horrible ways. I know I’m not immune to this: I still plan very slow and methodical vengeance for the individual [...]

By: Lou

Lou — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 03:19:19 +0000

I’ve noticed something in the “writing” section the last few years…

Writers’ Guides used to assume you knew a little about literature and the English language. They were written usually written by teachers or editors, with genre authors for their own niche guides.

But more often today, I see that the books are written by publishers and agents. And they’ve gotten more late-night-real-estate-y. As in, “You too can have a lucrative, fast paced career in Publishing with little or no effort.”

We’ve gone from Gardner’s “On Writing” to “The Weekend Novelist” to “No Plot? No Problem.”

By: Peter L. Winkler

Peter L. Winkler — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:49:38 +0000

Any book with a title like The Incredible Untold Story of the Person/Invention That Changed the World.

By: Paul Riddell

Paul Riddell — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:15:18 +0000

Cerebralmum, both sections need for us to take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.