Never Tick Off Sci-Fi / Fantasy Writers

"Bruce walked around any more. Some people might ought to her practiced eye, at her. I am so silky and braid shoulders. At sixty-six, men with a few feet away from their languid gazes."

Will you publish a book that reads like this? Apparently, this script was submitted to PublishAmerica which promptly sent a letter that "This book deserves a chance" and sent the contract to the writers for publishing.

The title of the book, Atlanta Nights was the work of 30 sci-fi and fantasy writers who took action after PublishAmerica made derogatory remarks about them. It all started when sci-fi writers criticised PublishAmerica for being a vanity press, or a publishing house that will publish anything for a fee, leaving the author to do their own marketing. Their books were printed as and when the order came with no refund policy, which means very little of their books out of their 11,000 titles were sold.

PublishAmerica returned their criticism by calling them "literary parasites" who "looted, leeched or plagiarized their way to local stardom." Incited, the writers hatched a plot to intentionally come up with a really bad book, and submitted it to PublishAmerica through a friend unknown to the industry.

The style in the book swung from hard-boiled detective to women's sexy shopping novels. The style changes from chapter to chapter, and which characters were in which chapter was determined by rolling dice.

Chapter 21 was left blank because one writer missed deadline. Another chapter was included twice. MacDonald, the compiler for the book, took portions of two other chapters, ran them through a software program that randomly reordered the words, then accepted all the spell check and grammar fixes his software recommended.

The result is Chapter 34, nine pages of disconnected gibberish that begins: "Bruce walked around any more. Some people might ought to her practiced eye, at her. I am so silky and braid shoulders. At sixty-six, men with a few feet away from their languid gazes."

After the manuscript was submitted, PublishAmerica sent the contract over, which the writers promptly posted up on the internet, together with a copy of the book. PublishAmerica caught on to the hoax, and promptly resent them a letter that the book needed more work, but the word was already out.

So moral of the story? Never tick off sci-fi / fantasy writers. With their creativity and imagination, you never know what they can think up to get back at you.

READ AN EXCERPT

Chapter 9

Penelope Urbain let out the clutch as she sped around the curve. She felt a thrill — partly from the roaring engine, from the speed of the car (she was moving fast, too fast, on a suburban street, and she liked the speed too much). Partly, no, mostly — mostly it was the thrill of anticipation. She was going to meet Bruce Lucent, and she was eager to see him.

She could not have said why she wanted him so badly, but she did. Wanted to see him! That was all it was, she was curious, more than curious. Eager, but — not too eager.

There. That was his home. That was where she meant to be.

She hit the brakes hard, skidded to a stop in front of his house.

He was in the doorway, waiting for her.

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