We once read a book called "Feed" in high school - a ham fisted anti-capitalist book. Wherein citizens are 100% connected to an internet like service that only exists to sell them products. 90% of the class couldnt get it. Even when the teacher sat down and explained the entire plot of the book they still couldnt wrap their head around it.

  • Utter_Karate [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    David Eddings was an absolute monster who abused his adopted children bad enough that both he and his wife went to prison for it. I tried rereading some of his books as an adult and it gets very, very uncomfortable very quickly.

    • GenderIsOpSec [she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      The couple adopted one boy in 1966, Scott David, then two months old. They adopted a younger girl between 1966 and 1969. In 1970 they lost custody of both children and each were sentenced to a year in jail in separate trials after pleading guilty to physical child abuse. Though the abuse, the trial, and the sentencing were all extensively reported in South Dakota newspapers at the time, these details did not resurface in media coverage of the couple during their successful joint career as authors, only returning to public attention several years after both had died.

      fucking hell man, can't trust any of these authors anymore :sadness:

      I sure hope Steven Erikson hasnt done anything fucked up I'd like to re-read the Malazan series one day

    • abc [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      The Eddings married in 1962. They adopted a son in 1966 and a daughter several years later. In 1969, alerted by neighbours to the sounds of mistreatment at their South Dakota property, police arrived to find the adopted son locked in a cage in a dirty basement (the basement shared with several animals) and being beaten by his parents with a belt. The Eddings were arrested and the children removed into protective custody (subsequently their adoption of the children was revoked). During the subsequent trial, exacting details of physical and emotional abuse emerged, with the

      spoiler

      children imprisoned in the cage for the slightest perceived disobedience and corporal punishment being regularly administered. Both children were traumatised by their experiences Newspaper from the arrest: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33401936/david-eddings/ (Cage part can be found right above the subheading No Light near the top middle):::

      Holy fuck :homer-bye:

      Glad I have never actually purchased any of his books & used the library.

      • Utter_Karate [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Yeah, it's bad. Good job on digging up the newspaper, hadn't seen that before! Maybe add a content warning since you are describing details of child abuse.

    • SaniFlush [any, any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      How much did he pay to get that story buried? Or did the patriarchy do it for free as a favor to a marginally useful entertainer? This information ruins something I love, so the chances of this being slander are near zero.

      • Utter_Karate [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        This is pre internet, so I think they just moved and pretended that it had never happened. That was enough back then. You don’t have to let it ruin the Belgariad for you since he is long dead and cannot benefit from you reading/enjoying/buying his books any more.

        What I tried rereading was the Elleniad, his more grimdark work with a more mature, more self inserted main character. Sparhawk is very, very, very problematic in every way, but as far as I remember Belgarion was not a child groomer and hardly spent a chapter talking about the horrors of race mixing, so those books are probably more ok!