2010-07-01

briarwood: (Dollhouse Sierra Wipe)
2010-07-01 11:31 am
Entry tags:

Signal boost

Signal boost for [personal profile] inkstone's post about bookstores refusing to stock a novel because the cover depicts an asian woman and that won't sell.

What gets me is how completely false the presumption is. "Asian fantasy" doesn't sell? Good heavens, when I was the age this book is targeted toward, it was my favourite thing! There may have been a less than politically-correct dimension to my interest as a teen but I would have loved this novel. Anything set in the Far East always caught my interest. This book? I would have devoured.

Even today, one of my favourite fantasy novels is Sasha Miller's Ladylord. And - shock, horror - it features an Asian woman on the cover. Which is why I bought it. (Note: not a novel to read if you're triggered by sexual violence or coersion.)

To the booksellers referenced in [personal profile] inkstone's post: it should be bloody obvious that something won't sell if you don't even stock it. Damn you for forcing the publisher to turn what looks like a glorious novel into something bland and uninteresting.

(And for the record, I have now ordered a copy of the novel. With its original cover.)