Is anyone bothered by the sudden popularity of mediocre, 3rd rate heroic fantasy that's being churned out for the kid's market at the moment?
Last week, 'Eldest' the second book in the epic (yawn) trilogy by that Christopher Paolini kid came out (it was also the second most highly marketed and anticipated seller in the kids market, after HP of course). I had a flick through it at work the other day and (I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised) it was pretty much identical to the sort of pedestrian heroic fantasy epics that are 10 a penny on the books shelves of the typical Sci-Fi and fantasy section. The usual Tolkienesque rip-off - dragons, elves, orcs etc.
Its amazing what a difference marketing can make - a book that would sink without trace in an already saturated market can become an instant bestseller.
To be honest it pisses me off a little - that someone can write a passable, derivative story, get it published and sell tonnes more copies than the authors' whos work was plundered to provide the source material.
I guess it was inevitable that in the wake of the massive phenomenon that is Harry Potter, that other publishers jumped on gravy train looking for a way to make a quick buck.
Makes me wonder if popular authors would sell a lot more books if their publishers simply aimed their work at the childrens market...
Last week, 'Eldest' the second book in the epic (yawn) trilogy by that Christopher Paolini kid came out (it was also the second most highly marketed and anticipated seller in the kids market, after HP of course). I had a flick through it at work the other day and (I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised) it was pretty much identical to the sort of pedestrian heroic fantasy epics that are 10 a penny on the books shelves of the typical Sci-Fi and fantasy section. The usual Tolkienesque rip-off - dragons, elves, orcs etc.

To be honest it pisses me off a little - that someone can write a passable, derivative story, get it published and sell tonnes more copies than the authors' whos work was plundered to provide the source material.
I guess it was inevitable that in the wake of the massive phenomenon that is Harry Potter, that other publishers jumped on gravy train looking for a way to make a quick buck.
Makes me wonder if popular authors would sell a lot more books if their publishers simply aimed their work at the childrens market...
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