# They published this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 3, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-published-this/398620 "2007-04-03T21:47:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-published-this/398620/21 "2007-04-04T00:14:31Z")
Is a Drug Barren someone who can’t reproduce pharmaceuticals? ---
**Author:** ![Mouse\_Maven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-published-this/398620/22 "2007-04-04T00:16:06Z")
[QUOTE=CaerieD] Is a Drug Barren someone who can’t reproduce pharmaceuticals? [/QUOTE] Or has to take them to prevent conception? ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-published-this/398620/23 "2007-04-04T01:06:11Z")
My vote for “Biggest Waste of Trees” has to go to the [Perry Rhodan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan) series of science fiction novels. The original series, in German, has passed 2300 installments. An English version of the early installments made it to a bit over 100 paperbacks. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-published-this/398620/24 "2007-04-04T01:22:18Z")
While the early works of V. C. Andrews weren’t exactly Shakespeare, at least they were good, entertaining trashy lit. When she died, and the ghostwriter took over, all of her creepy gothic, over the top stories became stupid, sentimental claptrap. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-published-this/398620/25 "2007-04-04T03:52:53Z")
I’m pretty sure that every word Dean R. Koontz ever coughed up onto a sheet of paper has been published. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-published-this/398620/26 "2007-04-04T06:00:24Z")
Oh, man. Life is too short to read bad books. Not when there are so many good ones out there. That being said, I did read a Robin Cook novel to the end, once. I just couldn’t believe it had been published. You know how someone rolls their eyes in disbelief? I rolled my eyes so much, I got a headache. I didn’t realise that one could roll one’s eyes that much. I wish I was a better writer in order to properly describe how very badly it was written. Any rules of good writing that one learns of, all were broken in this book. It was so bad, I should have kept it as an example of how not to write. I never throw books away. That’s wrong. I give them away, donate them, sell them, whatever. This ‘novel’ went into the garbage. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-published-this/398620/27 "2007-04-04T06:30:14Z")
Not that I’ve ever read either of these, but one look at them and all anyone could possibly think is that the editors were on goofballs when they approved the books. The first is _Scarlett_, the “sequel” to _Gone With the Wind._ Not only is it a Bad Idea[sup]TM[/sup] to hire some other writer to make a sequel to a classic work, but apparently, the original manuscript was so bad, that it took several “book doctors” to raise it to the level of bilge water that most people found it to be. The next is _My Turn_ by Nancy Reagan. The autobiography of an unpopular First Lady. I was working at the main warehouse for one of the largest bookstore chains in America when this came out. Some _idiot_ (and I’m being kind here) ordered zillions of those things, my job for several months was to restock the returned copies of the book. I quit counting when the total crossed 70K. I also found KSR’s Mars Trilogy to be almost unreadable in it’s stupidity. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-published-this/398620/28 "2007-04-04T12:09:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I also found KSR’s Mars Trilogy to be almost unreadable in it’s stupidity. Please elaborate on this. I’ve been thinking about picking it up, and yours is the first negative criticism I’ve heard. I’m curious. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-published-this/398620/29 "2007-04-04T12:21:04Z")
I’m not Tuckerfan but I can confirm that I found the first one dull and unreadable. The setting was interesting (I eat that stuff up) but the characters bored me to tears. Which is a shame. Many of KSRs books seem interesting but every time I try to read one I give up less than halfway through. I’ve thought about starting a thread entitled "When am I going to start liking KSR books?’. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-published-this/398620/30 "2007-04-04T12:31:06Z")
Uh… KSR? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-published-this/398620/31 "2007-04-04T12:32:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Uh… KSR? Kim Stanley Robinson. Author of (among others) **Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars** (but not **Rainbow Mars** – that was Larry Niven.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-published-this/398620.md?page=1)