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If anyone is looking for some
goodfucking amazing books by an awesome and genuinely fun and good natured dude, check out Jason Pargin, he is awesome and not problematic and his books are all bangers, and he also enabled and actively supports the careers of many other super awesome and creative people. Also, listen to Bigfeets.I've been wanting to read his books for a while. I have quite a few that I own and still need to read, though. Any particular book recommendations from him? John Dies at the End? Zoey Ashe series?
There really are no wrong answers. The JDATE books are cosmic reality bending lovecraftian horror, and the Zoey books are a Bladerunner-esque sci-fi about a future you can see from here. The first thing i read of his was John Dies At The End, and I think that is a really good place to start.
If we're recommending authors, my favorite is Jasper Fforde. He wrote this book called Shades of Grey (which unfortunately came out around the same time as that book) that's about people who can only see one color (sorry, colour), and the hue that they can see determines their social standing. I have been waiting over a decade for the sequel and he just released it (Red Side Story) last year. My brain has been bad at letting me read books, so it sits on the shelf but I loved the first one.
I really hope there's no problematicism around him (as that's the subject of the thread), but reading his books it's hard to imagine there could be.
Thats a really cool concept, thanks for the rec, I’ll check them out.
I also love Jasper Fforde, and it is because he was guest of honour at a Jodi Taylor event that I also got into her books. She writes a series about time-travelling historians which I would recommend.
She also writes at a much faster pace than Fforde does these days, so that's a plus. I was never half as annoyed waiting for GRR Martin to write A Dance With Dragons as I was waiting for Red Side Story!
ooo, thank you for the recommendation. I look forward to it. i was recently gifted Grady Hendrix's The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. I know they say don't judge a book by its cover, but i judged this one by its title and d(-_☆).
The last three books that weren't technical manuals i tried to read, i got 100 pages in and realized i hadn't retained anything. working on it, but i'm not exactly excited about reading so much. goddamn grad school broke my brain.
The tiktok guy?
The very same
not problematic
I love the guy but I'm sure you could find an instance of him being problematic. Like his pen name, David Wong, is questionable given he's not asian.
He stopped using it for that very reason, and took accountability. People are allowed to self correct, if he understands the problem with what he did and course corrected without being called out for it what would throwing more stones accomplish?
Edit: Also, not a big enough deal to say you shouldn't read his books. Especially considering the narrative reason as to why he was using it.
I'm not throwing any stones, yo. I'm just pointing out you can't exactly say he's not problematic. I have a tolerance for problematicity so it's of no bother to me.
The word problematic is kind of weasely used this way. The pen name had an in-universe rationale that made sense and was funny because of the incongruity. Merely alluding to the existence of ethnicity isn't "problematic" in itself.
I'm not the on who brought the word problematic into this conversation. But I bet you if I put a poll on, say, tumblr, asking about different potentially problematic things, "pretending to be asian" would score highly on the problematic scale.
He wasn't pretending to be asian, though, the book John Dies at The End makes that very clear and gives a silly in universe reason for the now dead pseudonym. It really was not problematic, even at the time of it being used.
Just a few comments up you said
He stopped using it for that very reason, and took accountability. People are allowed to self correct, if he understands the problem with what he did and course corrected
Now that you were pushed on it a bit you're saying
It really was not problematic, even at the time of it being used.
Something about this interaction feels really dishonest.
Was there a problem he needed to take accountability for or not?
Two things can be true.
Also.
Read into the guy if you’re so fucking concerned and I’m so fucking dishonest. Cunts like you are why I'm two seconds away from being done with this stupid site.
Then I will rephrase -- asking tumblr "is it problematic for a white person to go by an obviously Asian name as a pseudonym," I feel that even phrased that way they would still say "yes."
I don't really use the word 'problematic' in the social justice sense myself because it's incredibly vague, but if you're going to specifically use the word problematic and claim that Jason Pargin isn't, then I feel that it's a pretty cut-and-dry "yes that was 'problematic'" scenario.
If he was still using the pseudonym and making excuses to keep using it, sure, but I’m of the opinion that once someone understands what they have done wrong and took the opportunity to learn from it and do better there is no more wrong doing. There are, of course, exceptions to this, but a pseudonym that someone came up with in their 20’s and had the wherewithal later to say, “That’s not ok, I need to stop doing that” and stopped doing that for the right reasons is pretty far from a reason to call them problematic, especially when it wasn’t a decision made under any form of duress and he has made no attempt at defending his choice to have used that pseudonym and stated it was not ok for him to have used that pseudonym.
Edit: Also, it was used in a narrative context of the main character trying to throw off his identity, if They’re looking for David Wong then they wouldn't assume it’s the burnt out white dude.
I've heard him on a bunch of podcasts and keep meaning to try his books. I've got a copy of this book is full of spiders, I'll have to give it a go.
Where's a good place to start with his stuff?
John Dies At The End was his first book and where I started. It’s also neat to watch his writing style evolve. I’d say John Dies or Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits, those are the first books for his two ongoing series, if you’re feeling more into horror or sci-fi.
What podcasts? Are you a Dog Zone 9000 fan by chance?
Stephen King is Scots-Irish and he used the pen name Richard Bachman despite not being German.
there is a long and respected history of mocking germans.
Mocking Germans is okay but using a traditionally Chinese name isn't?
Yes, that aligns with my understanding of the word problematic.
Why is that questionable?
Stolen Valor
Stolen valor refers to the act of falsely claiming military service or awards that one did not earn, often to gain respect, money, or other benefits.
?
How does being or not being Asian plays into this?
"Stolen valor" can be used in a humorous way beyond its original meaning as someone pretending to be a veteran. For example, there's a funny Youtube video about a tradesperson encountering a hipster wearing Carhartt workwear and using the phrase "stolen valor" to describe him.
Ok, so it was a joke?
English is not my first language so I'm asking for clarification not trying to be snarky.
I like to think my comment qualifies as clarification. I'm not trying to be snarky either.
OK, maybe a little snarky.
What? :D
I'm asking if you are implying that the person replying "stolen valor" to my question was making a joke or if I don't understand something obvious.
Why is it stolen valor to have an Asian pen name? As I see it, you don't want people to know that it is you, so it is another layer of obfuscation. Which is good if your goal is to be undercover.
Being asian is awesome so pretending to be asian is stolen valor. Also the idea that you're awesome just because you're asian is ridiculous so the joke works on many levels.
Oh John dies at the end is in my top ten all time favorites possibly even #1 and I don't even like horror.
That whole series is as good as it gets for me, hands down. John, Dave, and Amy are the mother fuckin’ GOATS.
Edit: The Zoey Ashe and The Suits series is every bit as good if you’re into sci-fi, and Black Box of Doom is a fantastic stand alone story set in the modern world. Neither are connected to the reality or events of [UNDISCLOSED]. He’s also currently working on the next book in the JDATE series which will release next year.
