# Buying evil books. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 27, 2001, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-evil-books/59726 "2001-03-27T20:04:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2001, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-evil-books/59726/1 "2001-03-27T20:04:56Z")
No, not like the Necronomicon or The King In Yellow; more like The Return of the Turner Diaries. I’m torn. This looks like it could be a “Plan 9 From Outer Space” of SF novels, on the other hand, it’s almost certainly a racist, extremist rant. I want to get it for the “traffic accident fascination” of this book, but I don’t want to give this guy my money. I’m not sure which urge is stronger. [Hold Back This Day](http://wrkendall.homestead.com/c.html) is the book in question. Since the author’s site takes 10 minutes to load, I’m reprinting his advertising blurb below (Since it’s the same blurb that’s on [SFSite.com](http://SFSite.com) and a few others, I assume that reprinting his advertising is covered by fair use): (Sorry about the all-caps thing, that’s how it is on his page) > [@](#): > > A CHILLING TALE ABOUT THE LAST WHITE PEOPLE LEFT ON EARTH. > > IT IS 85 YEARS AFTER THE UNIFICATION, AND MANKIND HAS BEEN FORCIBLY UNITED UNDER ONE GOVERNMENT, ONE RELIGION, AND ONE RACE. > > YET, A HANDFUL OF WHITES STILL EXIST, AMONG THEM SKOOLPLEX ADMINISTRATOR JEFF HUXTON. AS HE WATCHES HIS SON SLOWLY DESTROYED BY A RACIALLY-HOMOGENIZED WORLD THAT WILL NO LONGER ACCEPT HIS KIND, JEFF COMES TO MEET KARL RAMSTROM. > > RAMSTROM HOLDS OUT ONE LAST HOPE FOR THEM—BUT ONLY IF THEY CAN ESCAPE THE GLOBAL-WIDE POLICE STATE RULED BY THE IRON-FISTED LEADERS OF WORLD GOV. > > AND THE ONLY PLACE LEFT TO RUN IS MARS I mean, with writing like this (SKOOLPLEX? GLOBAL-WIDE POLICE STATE?) it’ll be a great rant-book. And it doesn’t only sound like pure cheese, we’re at limburger level here. At the same time, I don’t want to give him money. I doubt this’ll turn up used, as I have a sneaking suspicion that his publisher “Publish America” is a very, very, veeeeery [sub]small[/sub] press. I might note, that if you search on Altavista for “Ward Kendall” and “Hold Back This Day” your first link will be to a David Duke/White Pride site. I want this book but I don’t think I want to support this guy’s writing career. Opinions? Fenris ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2001, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-evil-books/59726/2 "2001-03-28T00:09:26Z")
Could you ask your library to order it for you? (Use someone else’s library card or a phony ID, of course.) Now I know why The Turner Diaries came up in a censorship discussion on a book list awhile back. I’d never heard of it before then. I thought they were talking about The Confessions of Nat Turner and I wondered “what the hell?” Aw, go ahead and buy it. Read it, rant (here, of course), and then mail it back to the publisher with appropriate comments. ---
**Author:** ![Jenericho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Jenericho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenericho)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2001, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-evil-books/59726/3 "2001-03-28T00:20:48Z")
Look at it this way - if you buy the book, that’s at least one copy that won’t end up in the hands of someone who might use it for the cause of Evil. It does sound truly vile, and I can’t justify his use of “GLOBAL-WIDE”, but it’s not necessarily a racist rant - it sounds like he might just be doing a “race reveral” thing, switching the usual white-oppressor and black-oppressed clichés to emphasise the imbalace between races. If there was equality, then nothing would seem out of place about the reversed rôles. Go on - buy the book and tell us all about it. ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Fiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lux\_Fiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Fiat)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2001, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-evil-books/59726/4 "2001-03-28T02:22:52Z")
I wouldn’t buy it. I have an aversion to paying people for being idiots. Maybe you can find it on the web somewhere? Barring that, if it were me, I’d have to grit my teeth and wait until the bastard dies to buy the book, so that I’m not giving him my money. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2001, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-evil-books/59726/5 "2001-03-28T08:02:02Z")
See if you can find a used copy…that way the idjit doesn’t get any royalties. There are some authors that I will only buy in new books, even if I’ve already bought one new copy of that book. Other authors are purely “used book” buys. ---
**Author:** ![Rue\_DeDay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/41988e/32.png) [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2001, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-evil-books/59726/6 "2001-03-28T12:49:00Z")
Please don’t buy this train-wreck. It won’t even be as good (in the bad way) as you think it will be. It can’t be. If you’re trying to imagine what it would be like, the Mighty Fenrian Intellect (MFI) will be trained on the idea. The MFI could come up with better stuff than the hack who actually wrote this…thing. Oh, I know…you and Scylla could collaborate on your own “chilling tale of the last white people on Earth”. Just a thought. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2001, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-evil-books/59726/7 "2001-03-28T13:10:42Z")
A couple of comments: **Auntie Pam** I figure I have more disposible money than my library. If someone’s gonna waste their money on this crap, it should be me. **Jenericho** and **Lynn** , as far as I can tell, “Publish America” is a print-on-demand outfit. If I don’t order a copy then there’s one less copy printed. This makes it extremely unlikely that it’ll show up in a used bookstore too. And given the piddley amount of copies that they use as thresholds for royalties hikes, I actually stand a slight chance of being the one to give this guy a raise > [@](#): > > 8 pct on the first 2,000 copies, to 10 pct on the next 8,000 copies, to 12.5 pct on all copies over 10,000. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rue DeDay \* > \*\*Please don’t buy this train-wreck. It won’t even be as good (in the bad way) as you think it will be. It can’t be. \*\* Sorry to disagree RDD, but I have a certain low taste for this sort of garbage. I’ve read crap like this and had a ball tearing it apart. I suspect (given the excerpts of his other novel) that it’ll be exactly as bad as I think it’ll be. I’m trying to rationalize this buy promising to write a long, “avoid this” review afterwards in the hopes of stopping someone from buying it. But if I’m honest, a review’ll give it more publicity than I suspect it’ll get otherwise. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Rue\_DeDay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/41988e/32.png) [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2001, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-evil-books/59726/8 "2001-03-28T13:17:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > **I’m trying to rationalize this buy promising to write a long, “avoid this” review afterwards…** Oh, that’s O.K. then. As long as we get to see the review.