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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLooks like the Right Wing is now publishing dystopian novels
With books like The Hunger Games trilogy and the Divergent trilogy being so popular in recent years, I guess it was only a matter of time until we got RW versions of these types of books.
I was browsing "alternative history" books at lunchtime an clicked on one book (forget which now) and then another choice in the "Customers also bought" list was "Axis of Evi", a Post Apocalyptic EMP survival book by Bobby Akart.
The book goes full RWer with a plot summary that says how a weakened America has been surpassed by China and Russia militarily and then something goes wrong with a Deep State plot and America gets hit by a massive EMP bomb that leaves most of the country (except Texas, which protected its power grid on its own) a backwater with no power. Yes, they really did use "Deep State" as an enemy.
I won't link to it, but I hadn't realized the RW had been out there writing for young adult/teens as well. I thought RW literature was limited to badly written stuff on current events and the "Killing..." books from Bill O'Reilly.
whathehell
(29,067 posts)Is it linked to the "Left Benind" series?
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,414 posts)It shuts down electronic devices.
whathehell
(29,067 posts)Shrike47
(6,913 posts)gay texan
(2,453 posts)Its written on an 8th grade level and its quite possibly the most disturbing thing I've ever read in my life.
I was so enraged I could not sleep for days. It whole intent is to rile up uninformed people.
wcmagumba
(2,886 posts)a bastion for the right wing. Think all those futuristic military style societies "protecting" us from the "others".
https://www.thedailybeast.com/from-lucifers-hammer-to-newts-moon-base-to-donalds-wallthe-sci-fi-roots-of-the-far-right
They even tried to take over the Hugo Awards a couple of years back...
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/08/21/right_wing_activists_fail_to_ruin_the_hugo_awards.html
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,862 posts)has been a bastion of liberals. And the reason the Sad Puppies were so unsuccessful in their attempt to take over the Hugos is because of the strongly liberal bent of that field.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)I was a huge scifi reader long ago, but only occasionally later on. Thank goodness they failed to take over by chicanery what they couldn't by producing works worthy of award.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,862 posts)by some real assholes to take over the Hugo Awards. Fortunately, it didn't work, and they seem to have gone away.
If you simply Google "Sad Puppies" you'll find many articles about them and what happened.
Just like Gaming, Science Fiction has a lot of strong women in the field, and a lot of insecure men have been trying very hard to make them go away. So far it's not working, although especially in Gaming, women's lives can be made miserable. I think it's worse in Gaming because that field is still quite new, and apparently at the very beginning it attracted enough dickwad men to make it like it is.
Science fiction has been around for a very long time, and women have been writing in the field since the beginning. Fortunately, we are long past the time when a woman writer finds it absolutely necessary to hide her gender, and I'm glad.
And depending on your current taste in fiction, you might want to take another look at the field. I will recommend regular s-f, not fantasy, which tells you about me. In particular, look at the works by Connie Willis (The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog are her finest in my opinion), Robert Charles Wilson (A Bridge of Years and Last Year are both exceptionally good), and James Van Pelt (mostly short story collections which are fabulous, but also two YA novels Summer of the Apocalypse and Pandora's Gun -- for which he is writing a sequal, hooray!) are three to start with if you have any interest at all.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)my tastes are very similar. I much prefer scifi imaginings of what reality could be. Demons and magic rocks are a little too Dark Ages for me. Exceptions for exceptional writing, of course.
I think the last time I tried a recommended scifi author that book was way too dark and dystopian for me. No matter what conditions change, people will still be people and will still behave like humans always have. Lacking even a shallow understanding of human nature makes a lot of dystopian imaginings silly nonsense.
Your authors sound wonderful. Even Van Pelt's survivor in an extremely grim future understands the treasure of human knowledge, unlike so many others that had mankind destroying and discarding all books long before. I've just ordered one from each.
I'm not all gray yet, but close enough.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,862 posts)If you need more recommendations just PM me.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)I believe. However, he was against Obama and pro McCain and strongly against gay marriage.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,321 posts)...
The leader of the "Progressive Restoration" rebellion movement in the book, Aldo Verus, is often seen as corresponding the real-life liberal financier George Soros.[2]
The novel's political stance has received both praise and derision. Booklist commended the novel for being "heartfelt and sobering" and expressed approval for "the author's message about the dangers of extreme political polarization and the need to reassert moderation and mutual citizenship."[3] Other critics were less favourable. "Right-wing rhetoric trumps the logic of story and character in this (...) implausibly plotted departure from Cards bestselling science fiction," wrote Publishers Weekly.[4] Library Journal assessed the novel as "entertaining, though not one of Card's best efforts," and expressed reservations about its tendency to "lean heavily to the right" and sound "more like social commentary than fiction".[5] In Locus, Gary K. Wolfe faulted the novel for constructing a world where "insanity is mostly the province of liberalism" and compared the characters and dialogue to "Mattel action figures" and "bumper stickers and political-convention applause lines."[6] He also dismissed its afterword's claim of impartiality as a false centrism.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_%28Card_novel%29
Card appears to be a registered Democrat in the same way that Lyndon Larouche is. Not just "against" Obama:
A member of the U.S. Democratic Party since 1976,[40] Card supported Republican presidential candidates John McCain in 2008[41] and Newt Gingrich.[42]
In an August 2013 essay, presented as an experiment in fiction-writing called "The Game of Unlikely Events",[43] Card described an alternative future in which President Barack Obama ruled as a "Hitler- or Stalin-style dictator" with his own national police force of young unemployed men; Obama and his wife Michelle would have amended the U.S. Constitution to allow presidents to remain in power for life, as in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Hitler's Germany.[44][45] Card's essay drew criticism, especially for alleged insensitivity in its reference to urban gangs.[46][47][48]
Card has publicly declared his opposition to homosexuality and same-sex marriage.[39][49]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card
hurple
(1,306 posts)They've always published their own versions of every genre...
For example...
The "Monster Hunter" books are about a privatized mercenary force that charges clients to hunt down and kill paranormal monsters (vampires, werewolves, etc) and their biggest rivals are the incompetent gov't controlled group.
And most of the zombie genre is clearly RW propaganda where the rugged indivualist gun-totting macho types survive and the weenie liberals are toast.
NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)he's generally considered the founder of the genre. The biggest novel in the genre in years was World War Z, which openly mocks the "Survivalist" types - calling them LMOEs (Last Man on Earth), which I thought was pronounced Lame-Os. (the movie is completely different from the book)
And,the formerly popular TV show "The Walking Dead" is a mixed bag politically, which one could argue shows how quickly the laws and societal norms of a liberal democracy can evaporate in the face of such a huge apocalyptic crisis.
So, while there may be a lot of RWers in the genre, the leaders are not right wing.
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)Dawn of the Dead is a satire on America's consumer culture and also on the gun violence that permeates American society. He was also good friends with Stephen King, a hard core liberal.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,182 posts)get the red out
(13,466 posts)All that Religious terror mumbo-jumbo.
gay texan
(2,453 posts)In the dinky little church town where I grew up, this was practically required reading.
It was just abysmal.
get the red out
(13,466 posts)My parents aren't Evangelicals and their beliefs screwed me up enough. These people are scared of kids having sex ed in school but make them read, and believe, horrific crap like that. It's child abuse.
Exotica
(1,461 posts)I hope you are far away and in a far better place!
gay texan
(2,453 posts)It was the best entertainment one could ever hope for!
It all got kicked into high gear when in 1992 I was accosted by a Xtian jerk for blaring Boston's "Don't look back" from my car stereo (still love that album). After spewing a bunch of crap and telling me I was on the road to hell and/or suicide, he was told to fuck off.
It was at that point that I decided to be quite annoying in terms of the norms in that place. I developed a habit of telling proselytizers to "eat shit" when they started their nonsense.
I read their books and listened to their music just as a crude way of people watching. It was how I learned about confirmation bias and how easily entertained they are.
I was a relatively unknown person and my parents didn't care about the religious end of things so I more or less cast fate to the wind
Azathoth
(4,610 posts)There used to be a whole sub-genre of "men's action adventure" pulp novels that catered to right-wing fantasies: vigilantism, military fetishism, righteous tirades against subversive liberals, etc.
Hekate
(90,714 posts)I can't remember the details, but a quick google search just now shows it is a thriving subgenre.
whathehell
(29,067 posts)came home peeved with the book he'd just finished on his flight home. Seems he picked up a paperback at the departing airport, thinking it was a thriller. He was annoyed because he actually liked it until he came to what he saw as it's ridiculous "Left behind" ending.
Demovictory9
(32,457 posts)Cover was modernized too like Sci fi.
whathehell
(29,067 posts)Lol.
Demovictory9
(32,457 posts)matt819
(10,749 posts)But I've come to learn to check the author. I avoid all RWers. William Forstchen is one such writer, having co-written books with Newt Gingrich. (Or, more likely, he used Gingrich's name and paid him for it to boost sales from RWers.)
Back in the 1990s I started reading the Left Behind series and got a few books in before I realized that Tim LaHaye was a wingnut.
MuseRider
(34,111 posts)read one and it was not too bad but then I saw that he was writing with Newt. Nope, no more.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)all through the book in his MIL's vintage car helping NO ONE as they carry water and everything else they need to live home. This supposed admirable ex- military leader sees demented people wandering into the woods from a rest home but instead of herding them back drives off without helping, hours later reports it to acquaintances in the town government so they can now send out search squads, which do not include him. He takes a single drink of water past other suffering elderly to two vets in the nursing home then salutes them and leaves everyone, except his FIL, to suffer until the town leaders organize rescue efforts, which do not include him. Etc., etc., etc.
What's up with this author? The remarkable thing is I was tearing my hair about the hero more than wondering about the author's personality, and these days I'm very prone to wondering and labeling.
This first book is, of course, one of the very best of a genre filled with terribly quality, right-wing product (no left-wing Hitlers, no zombies, no sociopathic protagonists). But unlike so many that are basically vehicles to display ideological ignorance and bias and let their heroes kill at will, One Second avoids both and intelligently tries to imagine what we'd face and the responses of our communities when the power stayed down. Its apparently inadvertent revelations about its author's conservative personality are only through his actions.
I suspect Forstchen was clueless about his hero's contemptible behaviors until enlightened by responses because he made some effort to rehab him a bit in his next book.
MuseRider
(34,111 posts)I listen to my books while I do my farm work. I have a tendency to just listen very non critically because if I was truly interested in that book I would not be doing it while I work. It took me a while to figure out that while slightly intrigued by the story it did not sit well with me. I figured it out once I thought about it and decided to take the others by him off my list.
Basically it was great stall mucking material because it was simplistic, followed a familiar line and the characters had some storyline that made you want to follow to see what happened, the daughter in this case.
Live and learn. The very mention of Newt had me queasy about it at best before I even started but someone had told me the book was a good one so I threw caution to the side and read it. Not again.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)people trying to imagine themselves facing that situation, you didn't miss anything with the next. I don't believe I finished it as it took a steep slide into the rest of the violent, right-wing reactionary muck.
I do love the little view into another life, listening to "stall mucking material" as well as better books as you work. I've never listened to an audio book and really should try that. We're back in Georgia from Florida, weeds have made major incursions, and there's still a lot of debris left from Irma that we didn't get to last fall.
MuseRider
(34,111 posts)I find that most readers are pretty good, a mispronounced word now and then but good understanding of the material. Some are horrible. Sometimes I don't like them because I do not like the way they make a character sound. That is my problem but sometimes there are just bad readers. I love Stephen King, he has great readers and having actually read his books I thought the readers brought a great deal to them. There are some excellent women readers. I started once to write their names down but have forgotten to do that and cannot remember where I put it down, likely an old phone that was cleaned. I find it an excellent way to actually do what I love most and still get all my work done. As a busy mother I was always able to find some time to read but now retired but running my own farm with horses and goats and a crop I have no time at all to read consistently. Audio books have saved me by allowing me to continue to read while allowing me to continue to work as much as I need to. Do try it. Do you read Patricia Cornwall? I used to. She has a wonderful reader, very precise just like you would think the character would be. Anyway......no more RW dystopia.
Your local library should be able to fulfill every single desire in audio books. Just check them out online in the app and you are good to go. It is excellent.
Demovictory9
(32,457 posts)with the underlying racism.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,862 posts)Luckily I've been reading the genre forever, and so I pretty much never even pick up anything by a RWer.
VOX
(22,976 posts)...and sold out within hours on Amazon's German site. It marked the first time the book was legally available in Germany since the end of the Second World War.
Initech
(100,081 posts)If its 2018 and 1/3 of the population believes that the holocaust was a myth. Not only that, mainstream media has all but normalized white nationalism and Nazism is making a comeback! The horrors of World War 2 should never, ever be repeated but i fear we are heading back toward that path.
VOX
(22,976 posts)Youre right, we have failed as a people. nothing good will come of white nationalism. (Look what happened last time around.)
Its shocking to think that such a death-cult ideology can have a renascence in the very European countries that bore the brunt of the destruction caused by that same ideology a mere 70-80 years ago.
Like Trump and many other autocrats, Hitler wasnt all that popular with the German people at first. But too few resisted, and it resulted in a global conflagration that consumed at least 80 million lives.
whathehell
(29,067 posts)That percentage seems outrageously high.
VOX
(22,976 posts)...comes from millennials who have never heard of Auschwitz. Its 22%% who are in the dark about the Holocaust. But 22% is still a very significant number.
From the Washington Post, 4/18/2018:
Holocaust study: Two-thirds of millennials dont know what Auschwitz is
April 12, 2018
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/04/12/two-thirds-of-millennials-dont-know-what-auschwitz-is-according-to-study-of-fading-holocaust-knowledge/
<snip>
Twenty-two percent of millennials in the poll said they havent heard of the Holocaust or are not sure whether theyve heard of it twice the percentage of U.S. adults as a whole who said the same.
The study, conducted by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, interviewed 1,350 American adults in February and recruited by telephone and an online non-probability sample.
<snip>
whathehell
(29,067 posts)You do realize that your earlier claim was misleading and that your link completely invalidates it, right?
The study doesn't even address Holocaust denying -- It deals
with a certain level of ignorance among a minority of the populace, and that's a concern, but far less of one than a portrait of a third of Americans as White Nationalist Holocaust deniers.
I'm sure this was an oversight on your part, but the fact that it slanders a huge slice of America and is being repeated by others here, clearly indicates your need to fully acknowledge the mistake.
VOX
(22,976 posts)If I had made an OP on the topic, and if I was mistaken (more on that in a moment), then yes, I would fully acknowledge the mistake, if anyone other than you alerted, or objected, etc.
However, in light of the following, I feel no need to do so:
1) I did not claim the 1/3 figure, I was responding to the post above mine that mentioned it. I said I had read it as well. Take a look for yourself.
2) Since your concern about a figure that slanders a huge slice of America what do you wish make of this?
http://www.newsweek.com/one-third-americans-dont-believe-6-million-jews-were-murdered-during-holocaust-883513
ONE-THIRD OF AMERICANS DON'T BELIEVE 6 MILLION JEWS WERE MURDERED DURING THE HOLOCAUST
Newsweek, April 12, 2018
BY DAVID BRENNAN
One-third of Americans think substantially less than 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, according to a new survey that highlights a worrying lack of basic knowledge about the World War II-era genocide.
The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, or Claims Conference, released the findings of its survey to coincide with Holocaust Remembrance Day. They show a notable lack of understanding among Americans, especially millennials, the group said.
<snip>
Now, the statement above is based on the same study as the one cited in the Washington Post, so this is how mainstream print media is choosing to present this information.
whathehell
(29,067 posts)and attempted to "document" that fallacy by posting a study about a subset of Millennials never having heard of Auschwitz -- It contained ZERO accusations of Holocaust denial, so yes, that was a bogus statement..
The link you just added with Brennan's claim that "One third
of Americans believe that "substanally less than 6 millions Jews were murdered during the Holocaust" is more concerning but, by your own admission, that is NOT the study your initial comments were based on and a lack of agreement on the numbers involved in the Holocaust does not in itself constitute a denial of the event..Sorry, but facts matter.
VOX
(22,976 posts)If you have a problem with how the figures are divvied up, and how the facts are presented, go after the Washington Post and Newsweek. THEY are the sources. My own admission is that the 2 sources ARE FROM THE SAME STUDY. READ!
So very done with you on this non-issue. Your perception of reality differs from mine, so there it stays. And Im putting you on ignore, as we should knock off this back-and-forth. Ive been on DU for 15-plus years, and have never had a flap like this, until today.
whathehell
(29,067 posts)Your "mainstream sources" are NOT the problem, it is your misuse of them as a basis for a false narrative, so please DO put me on your ignore list -- I'm sure I'll be in excellent company!
Initech
(100,081 posts)He is using social media as a tool against us and stroking the fears and egos of the worst among us. The scary thing is how many people turned out in droves to vote for Orange Douche who believe in this sort of thing. White nationalism isn't cool, and hate will get you nowhere.
If you want to see where we're headed if we continue on this path - look at Italy. Putin is looking to strike there next and he's got an ally with Burlusconi. Plus that country is no stranger to white nationalism. Italian white nationalists make ours look like chumps by comparison, and they're a country that has been through this sort of thing before. If they elect Burlusconi, the shit is going to hit the fan.
Initech
(100,081 posts)A couple years ago in the Top 10 I talked about how alt right trolls were trying to cheat their way to the top of Amazon's science fiction best seller list and rig the Hugo Awards. They failed spectacularly but it did shed a light on racism in that world.
Demsrule86
(68,586 posts)gay texan
(2,453 posts)The first movie had Kirk Cameron in it (before the big budget release), and there was a PC video game which was equally as stupid.
Demsrule86
(68,586 posts)My hubs loves end of the world stuff but he couldn't stomach these.
sarisataka
(18,663 posts)Has been around for at least 40 years, arguably close to 50.
It evolves over time to use the current catch words and updates its villains but the roots have then in place a very long time
appalachiablue
(41,145 posts)MuseRider
(34,111 posts)with my love of all things dystopian right now. Gotta be discerning with those descriptions. EMP seems to be really popular too. REALLY popular.
Demsrule86
(68,586 posts)Ilsa
(61,695 posts)End-Timers have published silly books, though they were not novels, just awfully superficial interpretations of The Revelation of John.
But yes, lots of dystopian trash, and what really bothers me is how children are frequently exploited in these books.
Nevernose
(13,081 posts)I must have read dozens of them. Of course, I was a kid, so I didnt realize that they were right wing fantasies. I was just reading stories about good guys fighting against The Russians or The Comminists.
Really kind of insidious indoctrination, now that I think about it. Probably works as reinforcement on unsuspecting (or unsophisticated) adults, too.
ismnotwasm
(41,989 posts)Getting too dated for them?
ThoughtCriminal
(14,047 posts)bought one by accident on Amazon - a really warped right-wing Christian story. Seems the U.S. is in the final stages of defeat by the Soviets. So they invent a time machine and send back an armored brigade to help the Nazis delay Soviet victory in WW-2. (Not surprised - it is no longer available.)
If I tried to write a review describing everything insanely stupid about that book, I would not even know where to begin.
NickB79
(19,253 posts)Also about the effects of an EMP event.
But then it gets all RW nutty. And the sequel was worse.
JHB
(37,161 posts)The Left Behind series didn't even come close to being the first.
Do you even want to guess how many Cold War-era paperback "thrillers" had plots about thwarting Russian moles from getting liberals to just hand the country over to the commies?
Think about Dirty Harry and other vigilante movies. Public officials are always as weak-kneed and feckless as the script calls for, and the lone good guy is always just a hard-ass who has no time for thin-skinned idiots, not bigoted or power-tripping or anything.
Wounded Bear
(58,670 posts)dembotoz
(16,808 posts)Most recently when I had the pleasure of a longer car ride in a new Cadillac with all the electronic doodads and diddlybops. The evil fantasy was a short range EMP device where I could turn the vehicle I don't like into expensive scrap. Could have lots of fun at a gop convention.