YABookgate

[Elite Kipchak]

>visit opening for local bookstore
>one half of one stand for the "classics" (mostly margaret atwood + a handful of copies of the odyssey)
>entire fiction section is divided neatly between "#fyp" and fantasy slop
>special display for "hockey romance"
>the one potential saving grace, comics, is just "as seen on amazon" invincislop plus literal pornographic manga
>the rest of the store is just legos and other random shit for some reason?

 

[Freshawn]

>visit opening for local bookstore
>one half of one stand for the "classics" (mostly margaret atwood + a handful of copies of the odyssey)
>entire fiction section is divided neatly between "#fyp" and fantasy slop
>special display for "hockey romance"
>the one potential saving grace, comics, is just "as seen on amazon" invincislop plus literal pornographic manga
>the rest of the store is just legos and other random shit for some reason?

This is not a defense of foidslop book shops, but the market is entirely directed to retarded foidslop consumers because they spend exponentially more than people who aren't retarded. Same goes for comicslop and nipponslop consumers.

 

[Dragged Into Sunlight]

https://markatwood.substack.com/p/the-voiceover-problem

The result is a generation of readers who are engaged, articulate, passionate about fiction, and functionally illiterate about how fiction works.​

What a fantastic article. Very succinctly explains the issue with modern fiction and readers. And it touches how Tumblr really was one of the most destructive websites in history. It bred so much of the poison we have to deal with today.

Buddy of mine was joking the other day about the buffetification of literature.

https://pjmedia.com/jamie-wilson/2026/03/19/no-ache-no-story-ai-and-todays-publishers-are-producing-the-same-cowardly-fiction-n4950836

Adam Szetela’s book That Book Is Dangerous! (MIT Press, 2025), backed by Quillette reporting, documents the wider pattern. Authors now self-censor before submission; worse, they are required to sign contracts with morality clauses, forcing self-censorship even outside the book. Hard scenes vanish. Moral ambiguity is flattened. Raw longing – the ache of submission, the terror of trust – is replaced with safe, pre-approved dynamics. Writers learn the checklist: avoid offense, avoid risk, avoid anything that might make any reader uncomfortable. A committee approves the story, not a single human soul. The edges disappear. The result is identical to AI output: safe, average, edge-free fiction written by biological algorithms instead of silicon ones.​

​

Real writers are being turned into what AI already is: generators of predictable text. Their agency to choose mercy or vengeance, to let silence cut deeper than explanation, to let the throat choke without metaphor is removed by fear.​

It's really upsetting that we're seeing so much dystopian fiction come true right before our eyes.

We're watching newspeak develop in real time as people contort themselves to get around YouTube censorship rules. The internet was supposed to free us but instead it has allowed corporations to control every facet of our lives.

"It's been years since I last went to a bookstore, I think I'll go check one out. I wonder why I stopped going"
Ver archivo adjunto 8940448
"Oh yeah, now I remember"

Wasn't there some drama around this series/author?

 

[Fcret]

This is not a defense of foidslop book shops, but the market is entirely directed to retarded foidslop consumers because they spend exponentially more than people who aren't retarded. Same goes for comicslop and nipponslop consumers.

foids also buy physical books and are willing to pay the insane premiums on collector's edition hardbacks. Bookstores are almost entirely their domain now.

Some dudes like nice hardbacks but most are fine with mass market paperbacks (RIP) or ebooks.

 

[zeroapexpeak]

Some dudes like nice hardbacks but most are fine with mass market paperbacks (RIP) or ebooks.

You forget the obligatory Encyclopaedia Britannica bookset unopened/unread in their bookshelf to appear more educated.

 

[Kosher Dill]

foids also buy physical books and are willing to pay the insane premiums on collector's edition hardbacks. Bookstores are almost entirely their domain now.

Yeah, a new bookstore started up in my general vicinity and it's all, how do you say, girl books apart from the children's section. You know, Booktok favorites, intersectional poetry, "Resistance" politislop, wall plaques that say "DAY DRINKING IS MY SPIRIT ANIMAL" in loopy cursive. I don't even hold it against them, they clearly know where the money is.

 

[Flexo]

Yeah, a new bookstore started up in my general vicinity and it's all, how do you say, girl books apart from the children's section. You know, Booktok favorites, intersectional poetry, "Resistance" politislop, wall plaques that say "DAY DRINKING IS MY SPIRIT ANIMAL" in loopy cursive. I don't even hold it against them, they clearly know where the money is.

On the other hand, single guys you know where to go now...

 

[Henri Barbusse]

On the other hand, single guys you know where to go now...

I went to a bookstore two weeks ago or so and it was viscerally unpleasant.

 

[Second Missing Primarch]

foids also buy physical books and are willing to pay the insane premiums on collector's edition hardbacks. Bookstores are almost entirely their domain now.

Some dudes like nice hardbacks but most are fine with mass market paperbacks (RIP) or ebooks.

I'll admit I'm a sucker for the occasional hardback with a pretty dust jacket or cool cover, especially if it's an author or series I really like. On the other hand I will happily walk into a used bookstore and come out with an armload of beat-up old books for like a third of what I'd pay at B&N or Amazon. Finding good used books at a reasonable price hits me probably like how heroin hits for an addict.

 

[Fcret]

I'll admit I'm a sucker for the occasional hardback with a pretty dust jacket or cool cover, especially if it's an author or series I really like. On the other hand I will happily walk into a used bookstore and come out with an armload of beat-up old books for like a third of what I'd pay at B&N or Amazon. Finding good used books at a reasonable price hits me probably like how heroin hits for an addict.

Men see books functionally. If you talk to men about ebooks vs physical, the talking points will almost exclusively revolve around accessibility, price, and worries about DRM/vendor lock-in. The aesthetic value of the book is kinda secondary to its contents.

Women see books aesthetically. The ebook vs physical discussion to them is all about feels and vibes. The actual packaging and binding and delivery of the book is intrinsically part of the experience for them.

 

[Old King Koaleamos]

Men see books functionally. If you talk to men about ebooks vs physical, the talking points will almost exclusively revolve around accessibility, price, and worries about DRM/vendor lock-in. The aesthetic value of the book is kinda secondary to its contents.

Women see books aesthetically. The ebook vs physical discussion to them is all about feels and vibes. The actual packaging and binding and delivery of the book is intrinsically part of the experience for them.

Oh yeah, it's why I tend to look at pricing, quality, edition, and all that. Hell, the aesthetic value isn't even too high as long as it's worth my money. I've bought books just for a Frazetta or Vallejo cover. But the books are often worth reading. Will I get book specifically for edition? On occasion, sure. But I admit that the ONLY reason I have Haffner Press' Manly Wade Wellman volumes on John Thunstone and John the Balladeer are solely because Wellman's works are a bitch and a half to find and I don't always want to use an e-reading option.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Women see books aesthetically. The ebook vs physical discussion to them is all about feels and vibes. The actual packaging and binding and delivery of the book is intrinsically part of the experience for them.

Women who're like this are functionally illiterate and are killing literature. I don't fucking care if it looks aesthetic, either relay to me the composition on those spray-painted pages in detail or stay away from books altogether.

 

[Flexo]

Men see books functionally. If you talk to men about ebooks vs physical, the talking points will almost exclusively revolve around accessibility, price, and worries about DRM/vendor lock-in. The aesthetic value of the book is kinda secondary to its contents.

Women see books aesthetically. The ebook vs physical discussion to them is all about feels and vibes. The actual packaging and binding and delivery of the book is intrinsically part of the experience for them.

This applies to a lot more than books....

 

[Sinner's Sandwich]

Women who're like this are functionally illiterate and are killing literature. I don't fucking care if it looks aesthetic, either relay to me the composition on those spray-painted pages in detail or stay away from books altogether.

Translation:

"I'm not like all the other girls!!1"

 

[Henri Barbusse]

Men see books functionally. If you talk to men about ebooks vs physical, the talking points will almost exclusively revolve around accessibility, price, and worries about DRM/vendor lock-in. The aesthetic value of the book is kinda secondary to its contents.

Women see books aesthetically. The ebook vs physical discussion to them is all about feels and vibes. The actual packaging and binding and delivery of the book is intrinsically part of the experience for them.

That's what makes it easier to hook women into being readers as a lifestyle, which is way more profitable for publishers than readers who just want books to read.

Oh yeah, it's why I tend to look at pricing, quality, edition, and all that. Hell, the aesthetic value isn't even too high as long as it's worth my money. I've bought books just for a Frazetta or Vallejo cover. But the books are often worth reading. Will I get book specifically for edition? On occasion, sure. But I admit that the ONLY reason I have Haffner Press' Manly Wade Wellman volumes on John Thunstone and John the Balladeer are solely because Wellman's works are a bitch and a half to find and I don't always want to use an e-reading option.

I've definitely bought some books for far too high prices just for the illustrations (huge hardcover Czech translation of the Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini illustrated by Cyril Bouda), but I'm lucky that things I find aesthetically appealing in books are things that often drive a price drove. I'd rather have a book signed by the kid that owned it 90 years ago than a pristine copy.

Book aesthetics like covers and illustrations have gone completely to the toilet though, so if I'm buying a new book, I usually have a hard time trying to find the least repulsive version.

 

[Old King Koaleamos]

I've definitely bought some books for far too high prices just for the illustrations (huge hardcover Czech translation of the Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini illustrated by Cyril Bouda), but I'm lucky that things I find aesthetically appealing in books are things that often drive a price drove. I'd rather have a book signed by the kid that owned it 90 years ago than a pristine copy.

Book aesthetics like covers and illustrations have gone completely to the toilet though, so if I'm buying a new book, I usually have a hard time trying to find the least repulsive version.

Oh yeah, there's some editions I wait to find just for the quality add-ons, like the various Donald M. Grant editions of classic SF/F/Pulp works and authors. They usually had quality hardcovers, art, and illustrations by artists such as Stephan Fabian. The issue is that resellers tend to overestimate their buyer-base and forget that not everything is going to be widely sought after. I.E. Robert E. Howard may be evergreen on the collectible books market, but fewer people care about Harold Lamb or Talbot Mundy these days.

The other beneficial thing is buying books from platforms that are heavily customer focused. I've had little issue with Ebay or Amazon and getting books in not-advertised condition, and what often occurs is a flat full refund.

I don't mind used copies at all. Where I do draw the line are things like pen/ink highlighting and notes, moisture damage, and things I can't mend on my own. I scooped up like 40 vintage crime novels by Simenon, Symmons, Van Gulik, Buchan, and others all at once in an estate sale. They just needed a lot of lineco to mend them all. I like old cover art and all that.

Fortunately, classic genre fiction fans that love the old illustrators and cover artists from the pulps and paperbacks often have the option to just buy an artbook of said artists' works. All of the major notable artists in that category have these books, from Vincent di Fate to Hannes Bok to Lee Brown Coye. Sometimes you just need patience to find them in used bookshops, or you can wait to find a used copy for a cheapish price online.

 

[Kosher Dill]

Haffner Press

I preordered something from them in like 2018 that's still not printed. I wonder if they'll even remember me when (if) the time comes.

 

[Godzilla@1989]

I used to love reading the Inheritance Cycle series growing up. Yeah, it felt like Star Wars with dragons, but they were fun to read.

I tried reading the 100 and couldn’t finish it. Not sure why they had the protagonist bang a woman on the show when she wasn’t bisexual in the books.

 

[Flaming Carrot]

I preordered something from them in like 2018 that's still not printed. I wonder if they'll even remember me when (if) the time comes.

Having dealt with Haffner Press pre-orders in the past, you will get your book eventually but you will end up waiting ten years to get it. The guy doesn't rip you off, but he is unapologetic about making people wait.

 

[Old King Koaleamos]

I preordered something from them in like 2018 that's still not printed. I wonder if they'll even remember me when (if) the time comes.

Having dealt with Haffner Press pre-orders in the past, you will get your book eventually but you will end up waiting ten years to get it. The guy doesn't rip you off, but he is unapologetic about making people wait.

Haffner is apparently going through a ton of issues in trying to get a proper printer to do the high quality work. You can easily get the stuff they've got in stock, and then you just need to figure out how to send a message to them if need be. I ordered their John the Balladeer set and had to find multiple avenues to email them. They did send it along with a spare set of dust jackets, which was nice.

But as for their stuff that's not been shipped yet? You're better off never preordering shit since they take forever. I'm sure there's all sorts of interesting chapbooks and goodies from them, but you may as well wait for the print runs to be finished and sent out.

I got the info on Haffner from an acquaintance that went to Pulpfest. I'd love it if Haffner would also just make a print on demand option too, but I seriously doubt that'll happen. Their Jack Williamson and Leigh Brackett sets are incredibly hard to get, but they're reprinting the Captain Future books for some reason? Honestly wish they'd just go and make print on demand editions like Steeger, Armchair Fiction, REH Foundation Press, and even Hippocampus.

The one blessing I have had is finding Haffner books on oddball places like Mercari, for really cheap, and scooping them up.