Atlanta Nights – Wikipedia
from Wikipedia, L’Encilopedia Libera.
Atlanta Nights (in Italian The nights of Atlanta ) is a 2004 novel written in collaboration by a group of American science fiction and fantasy writers, with the declared purpose of producing a bad quality work, to verify whether the Publishamemerian paid publishing house, which later became America Star Books America , would have accepted it the same [first] : In fact, it was accepted, but, after the joke was revealed, the publisher withdrew the offer [2] .
The main objective of the initiative was to test the affirmation of the publishamerica that it is a “traditional publishing house” that only accepts high quality manuscripts. His critics, on the other hand, have long claimed that publishamemerica was actually a paid publishing house (in English vanity press ), which did not pay particular attention to the possibilities of selling the published books, since most of the earnings came from the authors, rather than by readers. Publishamerica had also made highly denigration observations on science fiction and fantasy authors, since many of its critics belonged to those groups; These judgments influenced the decision to publicly test that original way the statements of the publishamemerica [3] .
Publishamerica, now America Star Books, defined itself as a “traditional publishing house”, which agreed to publish only quality material: on its website she claimed to receive more than seventy manuscripts per day, and to bask most of them.
At a certain point, the publishamemerica published, on its authorsmarket site, of the articles that, among other things, said:
| ( IN )
«[S]cience-fiction and fantasy writers have it easier. It’s unfair, but such is life. As a rule of thumb, the quality bar for sci-fi and fantasy is a lot lower than for all other fiction. Therefore, beware of published authors who are self-crowned writing experts. When they tell you what to do and not to do in getting your book published, always first ask them what genre they write. If it’s sci-fi or fantasy, run. They have no clue about what it is to write real-life stories, and how to find them a home. Unless you are a sci-fi or fantasy author yourself.» |
( IT ) «For science fiction and fantasy authors it is easier. It’s not fair, but life is so. In general, the qualitative level of science fiction and fantasy novels is much lower than that of other novels. Therefore, look at the published authors who self -proclaim writing experts. When they tell you what to do and what not to do to see their book published, always ask before what they write. If it is science fiction or fantasy, run away. They have no idea what it means to write real life stories, and how to find them a house. Unless you yourself are science fiction or fantasy writers [4] . » |
| ( Author’s Market: Never Trust the “Experts” ) | |
| ( IN )
«But, alas, the SciFi and Fantasy genres have also attracted some of the lesser gods, writers who erroneously believe that SciFi, because it is set in a distant future, does not require believable storylines, or that Fantasy, because it is set in conditions that have never existed, does not need believable every-day characters. Obviously, and fortunately, there are not too many of them, but the ones who are indeed not ashamed to be seen as literary parasites and plagiarists, are usually the loudest, just like the proverbial wheel that needs the most grease.» |
( IT )
«But, alas, the genres of science fiction and fantasy have also attracted some of the minor deities, writers who mistakenly believe that science fiction, since it is set in a distant future, does not require credible weaves, or that fantasy, since it is set in Scenarios that have never existed, does not need credible characters. Obviously, and fortunately, there are not many, but those who have no shame of showing themselves as literary and plagiarized parasites are usually the noisier, just like the proverbial wheel that needs more to be oiled [5] . » |
| ( Author’s Market: Only Trust Your Own Eyes ) | |
In response to these attacks, a group of science fiction and fantasy writers, under the direction of James D. Macdonald, has collaborated in a deliberately low quality work, full of clear grammatical errors, senseless passages, and completely without a coherent and logical intertwining. The effort was partially inspired by another literary literary flavor, the result of a collaboration, Naked Came the Stranger : in fact, the temporary title of Atlanta Nights era Naked Came the Badfic [6] .
Among the most macroscopic defects of Atlanta Nights , different chapters written by two different authors on the same segment of plot (13 and 15), a missing chapter (21), two identical chapters Word for word (4 and 17), two different chapters with the same number (12 and 12) and a chapter “written” by a software that generated text randomly based on pattern found in the previous chapters (34). The characters change gender and ethnicity, die and then reappear without any explanation. The spelling and grammar are incorrect and formatting is variable. The initials of the characters mentioned in the book form the “Publishamerica is a vanity press” phrase [7] (“Publishamerica is a paid publishing house”).
Behind Macdonald’s suggestion, in the end it is revealed that all the previously narrated events are nothing more than a dream, but then the novel continues for various chapters.
The completed manuscript was offered to the publishamerica by a person who remained anonymous and accepted for publication on December 7, 2004 [2] .
The authors of the mockery examined the contract with their lawyers, and decided not to continue beyond the fraud until the actual publication of the book: on January 23, 2005 they revealed everything publicly. The next day, January 24, Publishamerica withdrew his consent to publication, stating that, after “further exams”, the novel had not reached their minimum requirements [8] .
The authors then published the book through the ON Demand Lulu.com publishing house, behind the pseudonym of “Travis Tea” [first] , donating all the profits to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Emergency Medical Fund. The presentation of the novel drawn up by Lulu.com reads: ” Atlanta Nights It is a book that could only have been produced by an author very well paid in conceiving credible plots, set in very current conditions, with perfectly credible characters. Accepted by a traditional publishing house, it will certainly make a sensation between the public “.
The authors of the various chapters are:
- ^ a b Travis Tea, Atlanta Nights ( RTF ) [ interrupted connection ] , Lulu.com, 2005, ISBN 978-1-4116-2298-2.
- ^ a b Meg Phillips, PublishAmerica accepts Atlanta Nights manuscript ( PDF ), are University of Denver , Publishamemerica, 7 December 2004. URL consulted on January 26, 2007 (archived by URL Original January 5, 2007) .
- ^ Ah, signs of damage! Filed On 30 October 2008 in the Internet Archive.
- ^ Author’s Market: Never Trust the “Experts” . are Authorsmarket.net . URL consulted on 8 September 2009 (archived by URL Original December 17, 2003) .
- ^ Author’s Market: Only Trust Your Own Eyes . are Authorsmarket.net . URL consulted on 8 September 2009 (archived by URL Original December 12, 2003) .
- ^ Denise Howell, James D. Macdonald, Vanity Presses: Sound Policy with Denise Howell (Podcast), are ITC.ConversationsNetwork.org , The Conversations Network, 15 novembre 2006. URL consulted on 24 July 2008 .
- ^ Absolute Write Water Cooler: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a TURKEY! . are ABSOutewrite.com .
- ^ Science Fiction Authors Hoax Vanity Publisher , January 28, 2005.
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