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25 September 2010 @ 02:34 pm
My 1st post!! The Secret of Ka  


An adventure on flying carpets with genies and cute boys? What more could a girl ask for?
um... How about not getting my heart crushed by an incompetent author who couldn't even be bothered to do research. An author who believes that his readers are so stupid they wont even question any of the inaccuracies he pots on his pages. I'm still mad so I'm going to copy-paste my amazon.com review here under the lj cut.


I was thinking 'yeah, finally a fantasy book that will use the rich tapestry of Turkish culture to weave an exciting tale!' What I got was a story about some girl and a dude named Amesh. AMESH!@!! Amesh is not a Turkish name! Couldn't the author google 'Turkish names' for two minutes and come up with a TURKISH NAME for the TURKISH character? Really? He couldn't? Was naming the guy Ali too hard? I guarantee you the only Ameshes living in Turkey are immigrants from India. The word "Ka" doesn't mean anything in Turkish either.

Okay, page 1. PAGE 1!!!! Istanbul is NOT THE CAPITAL OT TURKEY (Ankara is!)

Page 2. TURKEY IS NOT AN ARABIC COUNTRY! Turks are not Arabs the same way Japanese people aren't Chinese! It's two completely different cultures!

STILL ON PAGE 2. it is not a crime in Turkey to say the word "Hell." Turkish people do not wear TURBANS.

Page 3. TURKEY IS NOT PALESTINE. There are no bloody wars being fought outside of the Hilton every night!

Page 4. The vast majority of Turkey's population DOES NOT HAVE CURLY HAIR. They have straight hair.

Page 13. "Grandfather" in Turkish is DEDE not PAPI. Mira is NOT a Turkish name.

Page 14. THERE ARE NO DESERTS IN ISTANBUL It is completely 100% impossible to take a taxicab in instanbul(in any direction) and arrive at a desert! it simply DOES NOT EXIST.

Page 17. There is no such thing as male/female segregation while eating lunch in Turkey. Both genders eat together, the same thing applies at a work cafeteria, there is no such thing as separate cafeterias for males and females.

Page 23. Spielo is not a Turkish name (I have not seen one Turkish name in this book so far except Amesh's lastname Demir.)

Page 24. TURKISH WOMEN DO NOT WEAR VEILS. Some people (old ladies) might wear headscarves but nobody wears a VEIL. No, just NO!

okay, i'm not doing the whole book, i'm just getting madder and madder. christopher pike should be ashamed of himself. this is the most ignorant garbage about turkish culture i have had the displeasure to read. it really bothers me that people are reading this thing and probably trusting pike and believing all the cultural inaccuracies he put in the book.

Shame on you Christopher Pike! i wish i could put you in a box and mail you to that imaginary turkey in your head so that the veil and turban wearing arabs with indian names can CUTOFF YOUR HANDS.

---
As it turns out, This Christopher Pike person is a YA author from the 80s/90s who is jumping on the magical adventure bandwagon. As an experienced author HE HAS NO EXCUSE for not sitting in front of the computer for half an hour and doing research.

Honestly, after "Midnight Express" came out, the people of Turkey are nervously waiting to see what foreign authors will say about them next. Although Christopher Pike's book will probably not be seen by most readers, it will certainly make a completely inaccurate imprint about turkey in those readers minds. books like this influence where people travel and where people avoid. What tourist wants to go to a country where wars are being fought outside of hotel rooms? a tourist looking for a seaside escape might avoid istanbul (a city that is surrounded by water on THREE SIDES) because christopher pike said it was a desert. after reading pikes book people will imagine all turks walk around in turbans and veils. The opposite is true. turkey is a secular country where people wear whatever they want, they had their 1st female prime minister back in the 90s!

I am just so outraged that this author just couldn't be bothered. he just used the name of turks like a rag and tossed it away when he was done with it.

Edit - please be sure to read the next post where a sockpuppet named Michael Brite appears pretending to be Christopher Pike's editor but is revealed to be none other than Christopher Pike himself!

http://community.livejournal.com/bookfails/200781.html
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( 41 comments — Leave a comment )
findserendipity: books-not-toiletsfindserendipity on September 25th, 2010 09:54 pm (UTC)
Wow, this seems to be a really horrible book. I'll stay far far away from it. Thanks for the warning!
we're on the edge of a golden world.: tv | queen anneraleway on September 25th, 2010 10:26 pm (UTC)
Christoper Pike has always been terrible. Haha.
Albizia Julibrissin, who... uh... good question.: Chocobroalbijuli on September 25th, 2010 11:25 pm (UTC)
I request we get a Hate on C.Pike post goin' on.

One of those "Dear Author..." ones.
we're on the edge of a golden world.: tv | lady perseveranceraleway on September 26th, 2010 12:03 am (UTC)
Haha.

I will confess, however, that I do still enjoy his Last Vampire series... mostly because for the fact that I used to stay up very very late reading them when I was a teenybopper.

*shame*
Albizia Julibrissin, who... uh... good question.: Terra Telealbijuli on September 26th, 2010 01:43 am (UTC)
Oh, I liked those too! Probably still do; haven't read or thought about them until I saw it on the shelf with the cover re-design (yuck!).
we're on the edge of a golden world.: tv | pamraleway on September 26th, 2010 03:27 am (UTC)
I bought them. They're so baaaad. But I can't help myself. XD
Albizia Julibrissin, who... uh... good question.: oh helloalbijuli on September 26th, 2010 03:54 am (UTC)
How bad are they? Admittedly I could be blinded by nostalgia. They're up for a re-read.

You should make a post!
we're on the edge of a golden world.: tv | queen anneraleway on September 26th, 2010 04:04 am (UTC)
It's pretty bad. Mostly just lame YA stuff, you know? I think he has at least some of the Indian mythology right. The vampire stuff, no. Hahaha.

Maybe. I don't think I'd be able to write a very good entry. XD
Albizia Julibrissin, who... uh... good question.albijuli on September 26th, 2010 04:05 am (UTC)
GO FOR IT
As long as it isn't a long incoherent string of syllables, I don't see why not XD
we're on the edge of a golden world.: tv | pamraleway on September 26th, 2010 04:06 am (UTC)
Re: GO FOR IT
Bahaha. I'd probably give up halfway and draw stupid pictures. I'm a designer, and not great with words.

Although that does kind of have some merit...
Albizia Julibrissin, who... uh... good question.: Dog Bean Bean Dogalbijuli on September 26th, 2010 10:39 pm (UTC)
Re: GO FOR IT
That'll be interesting! Pictorial evidence of SUCK.

Do it! I'll needle you til you do.*




*I won't actually.
we're on the edge of a golden world.raleway on September 27th, 2010 12:39 am (UTC)
Re: GO FOR IT
Hahaha. I might. It just depends on how I can find time to do it.
chickadee1607: silly walkchickadee1607 on September 27th, 2010 09:03 pm (UTC)
I remember his books as being really great . . . but then again, I haven't read them since I was about 10.
Thoughts of a nerdy feministidemandjustice on September 25th, 2010 10:51 pm (UTC)
I think Christopher Pike was one of those "goosebumps" type authors, wasn't he?

And yes, it sounds really horrible.
Albizia Julibrissin, who... uh... good question.albijuli on September 25th, 2010 11:17 pm (UTC)
Something like that.

I remember pouring through book after book of his in that same fashion as Goosebumps. In middle school.
87degrees87_degrees on September 26th, 2010 07:52 am (UTC)
I used to really enjoy the Goosebumps-style books he wrote.

But this one sounds like an example from How Not To Write A Novel. There is no excuse for not looking at the city on a map and checking a few photos online before setting your story there. Heck, you've got a great excuse for a week's holiday to check the place out!
batty_galbatty_gal on September 25th, 2010 10:55 pm (UTC)
Holy shit talk about failing.
Albizia Julibrissin, who... uh... good question.: caw caw bang fuck im deadalbijuli on September 25th, 2010 11:17 pm (UTC)
Fucking HELL!
Puri: Flint/Volkner :: Afros Everywhereinsanepurin on September 26th, 2010 01:19 am (UTC)
Oh wow. dsjgkdhsg This has to be the biggest research fail in a published book I've seen yet. I'm not even Turkish (I don't think) and this book pisses me off.
A Phantomcogitoergoilusi on September 26th, 2010 01:21 am (UTC)
I haven't read his books, but my mum tells me that in his Last Vampire series there was some interesting information in regard to India and its mythology. So he clearly has the capability to research.
we're on the edge of a golden world.: tv | dexter and the slidesraleway on September 26th, 2010 04:05 am (UTC)
That's one of few good points about those books. From what I had researched, most of it seemed right. I was kind of amazed a YA writer actually did some research.
A Phantom: Boogiepop: Because nocogitoergoilusi on September 26th, 2010 01:25 am (UTC)
On the topic of Turkey, have you read 'Cybele's Secret' by Juliet Marillier? It's the second in the series, but it's set in Istanbul, in the past. Would you know how well it does with research?
lady_fellshotlady_fellshot on September 26th, 2010 03:12 am (UTC)
Not sure how it did with research, but the book itself was quite dull.
Gwenyveregwenyvere4 on September 26th, 2010 03:05 am (UTC)
Of course, what's really sad is that there are probably a lot of people out there who will completely buy that this is what Turkey is like. EPIC fail.
A Strain of Music: A Love Storyryl on September 26th, 2010 03:31 am (UTC)
I used to read Christopher Pike back when I was a teenager. I dropped him after The Starlight Crystal sucked so hard it created a black hole in my bookshelf. I was thoroughly sick of that title by the time that book came out, anyway--every single character in his books who either wrote a book or designed a video game or did something in the entertainment field that was completely mind-boggling and awareness-enhancing titled their project The Starlight Crystal.

The first Remember Me book was great, though.
Grand High Supreme and Mighty Empress Connieconuly on September 26th, 2010 03:59 am (UTC)
You got farther than I would've. I would've put the book down after Istanbul-is-the-capital. (Just last month I picked up a book and put it down when it had Robin Hood eating a potato. Not unless Robin Hood has moved to Peru, honey!)
Tilja of the Deep Lake: Cry Eng Langtiljaunique on September 30th, 2010 04:48 pm (UTC)
Well, I do still watch Merlin even after Merlin got hit by potatoes around mid first season. The entire series is such an inaccuracy greatness I just love it. No kind of historical reality whatsoever, pure fantasy. Maybe that's why I think Pike fails in every degree.
The Empress of Ice Creamicecreamempress on September 26th, 2010 04:31 pm (UTC)
Well, barf!

Yeah, the "Istanbul is the capital" obviously sets the tone for a whole bunch of failing. The thing about doing urban fantasy is that the author needs to get the "urban" part right so that the "fantasy" stands out by contrast--you can't just throw in magical carpets and thus make it an alternate universe where Istanbul is the desert capital of an imaginary Turkey.

Grand High Supreme and Mighty Empress Connieconuly on September 26th, 2010 09:01 pm (UTC)
Well, you could, but that's a lot more work to do right. Doing the research and setting it in THIS world is easier.
The Empress of Ice Creamicecreamempress on October 1st, 2010 08:58 pm (UTC)
Yes! You have to do more work than just adding magic carpets to change everything about a world--if you say "Turkey in 2010" then the capital either has to be Ankara or there has to be a reason why not that you reveal as part of the plot.
dalaatdalaat on September 26th, 2010 10:18 pm (UTC)
wow, that's just... really, really sad on pike's part. his book is obviously proof as to why websites like wikipedia exist.
chickadee1607: eye rollchickadee1607 on September 27th, 2010 09:02 pm (UTC)
This is so depressing. I used to love Christopher Pike books. He was great at writing scary/creepy stories with some really good twist endings. Looks like he should have stuck with what he knew.
time is all she has to kill: ethereal | reaching toward daylightlady_moriel on September 28th, 2010 02:56 am (UTC)
Here from unfunny_fandom on Journalfen where I can't comment, so...I just wanted to ask a couple things, I guess. I absolutely agree that this is full of fail and Pike is a self-important idiot, and obviously you know a lot more about Turkey than I do since I only visited it for two weeks, but...well, I saw loads of women wearing headscarves there, even in Istanbul but especially the further into the interior we traveled (in Konya, for instance, I'd say the majority of women were wearing headscarves, regardless of age), and their age range was all over the map. And...I guess I'm not totally clear on what is and isn't considered a veil, but while I was there, I did see women in full-face covering, with only their eyes visible, like in this picture I took at Topkapı Palace. My Wikipedia skillz say that's a niqāb, for whatever it's worth. I definitely didn't see many women dressed like that, but I did notice some.

As for there being no deserts in Turkey, I guess that depends on the definition of a desert? I thought a good portion of the interior was pretty desert-like as many people understand deserts, especially Cappadocia, although that could be partly because I live in a place that tends to get a lot more precipitation than I'd like. >_< Istanbul...not so much. Lots of trees and water there. I mean, it's drier than, say, New York City, probably, but it's sure not a desert...

Please don't think I'm siding with Pike here or trying to discount your objections to his book, because I'm really not, I just wanted to clarify these particular points since it may well be an issue of definition. Or...something. Turkey was fascinating and beautiful, and if I have some misconceptions about it, I don't want to hang onto those--plus Alaska tends to be misrepresented like crazy in nearly every book, movie, and TV show that supposedly takes place there, so I have some idea of what your frustration feels like, even if it's to a much lesser degree.
bs_08bs_08 on September 28th, 2010 03:18 am (UTC)
hi!

i'm thinking those ladies are tourists. Turkey gets a ton of tourists from the middle east and Iran.

actually when i was in the 4th grade a girl transferred to our school from saudi arabia (i think?) and either her mom or her nanny wore one of those, so i guess it isn't impossible for a lady living in turkey to be wearing one, but a turkish person wouldnt, it would be the equivalent of wearing lederhosen or a cheongsam, not part of turkish culture.

i'm not an expert on turkish geology, i honestly even looked it up online to be sure i wasn't mistaken before i commented that there are no deserts near istanbul or any deserts in turkey. i know that it can get very hot in turkey in the summer and some areas are dry and arid but nothing exists that fits the definition of a desert or is officially designated as "such-and-such desert" by whatever turkish entity that designates those things. That's why i keep asking the dude to show me where the desert is but he cant. i mean if he showed it to me and i saw it on a map i'd be like 'okay, you're right.'

You're from alaska? i feel your pain. i often have to remind people that alsaka is the biggest state (not texas) and it's NOT the 52nd state (there is no 52nd state and no guam and puerto rico are not states arrrgghh!) i want to visit anchorage so badly!! it looks very beautiful from pictures!

thank you for commenting. a question for you though, i'm not familiar with 'wanking' (except for the other kind) but i did look it up on the internet when i saw that link this morning. i just wanted to know what "unfunny wank" means.
bs_08bs_08 on September 28th, 2010 03:21 am (UTC)
i mean "unfunny fandom" not wank lol, that word is stuck in my head now.
time is all she has to kill: dw | oh this is failtasticlady_moriel on September 30th, 2010 03:04 am (UTC)
Heh, yeah, I was thinking "Oh gee, I need to explain the idea of fandom wank, that's...awkward..." I'm pretty sure Unfunny Fandom is a very new spinoff of Fandom Wank specifically for things that aren't funny--that's the whole point of Fandom Wank, that people basically bring popcorn and get some lulz out of fandom being crazy. Stuff like this ends up on Unfunny Fandom because it's...really not funny.

And yeah, that makes sense--I went on a road trip from Ankara to the Mediterranean coast and considered a lot of what we drove through to be desert, especially in Cappadocia (apparently some of the Tatooine scenes were filmed at one of the places we stopped? Although...I recognized nothing and the area had a lot more vegetation than any part of Tatooine did, so...okay), but a lot of that is just because I've never lived anywhere that dry and hot. And technically, at least according to Wikipedia, even Cappadocia is "semi-arid". So yes. He pretty much fails at everything.

I suppose I tend to take Anchorage a little for granted after living here so long, especially now that we're heading toward winter (yes, already) and it's almost time to start scraping the ice off my car and the temperature's falling (today, 45F and rainy, although yesterday it started out 35F and calm). But the mountains and trees are pretty gorgeous year-round. The problem isn't so much people forgetting we're the largest state and that yes, we exist, but just...assuming stupid things, largely based on how Alaska's been misrepresented in nearly every movie and TV show based here, and nobody cares enough to try to represent it accurately because after all, only about half a million people live here. That's less than most cities. Nobody else knows if it's wrong, so who cares? I got especially mad at the graphic novel 30 Days of Night: Return to Barrow for all its fairly specific misrepresentations of Alaska in general and Barrow (northernmost town in the US, where I lived for five years) in particular, many of which could have been dispelled with a little more research on Google...so when I complained about it on the IMDB board for the then-upcoming movie, people jumped all over me. Basically this response plus the obvious implication that look, it's a tiny little town of 4500 people (the graphic novel put it at something like 500 "after most folks left for the winter") on the northern coastline of Alaska, and no one outside of those few thousand people will know or care that it's wrong, so I needed to grow up and get over it. Can't find that posting, but my Amazon review is still there, and...look at that, 15 out of 73 people rated it as helpful. Because no one could possibly see why it could possibly be reasonable to get mad at significant misrepresentations of a place I'd spent about a third of my life at that point.

...yeah, apparently I'm still mad about this, and...derailing the Pike culture-fail with my Alaska-fail. >_< At least when people perpetuate stereotypes about Alaska, it...doesn't affect as many people as this sort of thing does? Although given the cultural importance of the Alaska Native population in places like Barrow, the fact that the numbers are smaller shouldn't be a reason for people to not care.
bs_08bs_08 on September 28th, 2010 03:33 am (UTC)
http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Ka-Christopher-Pike/dp/0547342470/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_i#reader_0547342470

you can read the first 90 something pages of the 400 page book here.

i think what bothered me about the turban guy and veil lady was that they were presented in a 'this is what a typical turkish person looks like' way not a 'this dude is wearing a turban and this lady is wearing a veil and both of those things are unusual and totally out of the norm,' way.

what i'm trying to say is i think he is lying, i think when he wrote about the guy in the turban and the lady in the veil he was writing those things for atmosphere's sake to give the story a more Aladdin-esque feel. now he's backtracking. let's change the setting, the story is now set in china. why are the guy in the turban and the lady in the veil there?
Transe Macabretransemacabre on December 29th, 2010 10:13 am (UTC)
When I lived in Istanbul, I saw a total of one woman wearing a burqa (not a niqab; a proper burqa with the full facial covering) walking down the street. She was almost certainly a tourist, likely from Saudi Arabia or thereabouts.

I'm not going to say that in the ENTIRE COUNTRY of Turkey that you couldn't find a single woman who wears a niqab -- I mean, it's a huge country and there's millions and millions of people there, and you can find women in my neighborhood in Queens, NY who walk around in niqab -- but it'd be very, very weird. You'll find Turkish women in mini skirts before you'll find them in niqab.
Dyael_heiman on September 28th, 2010 03:17 am (UTC)
If you're going to make up a bunch of information about a city, wouldn't it just be easier to use a non-existent city instead? You know, to avoid awkward gaping looks from anyone who actually knows how to read a map?

If I were going to write about another real city, I think it would be awesome to actually live in that city for awhile. Writing a book would be a really good excuse to do travel!
Francesca Fiore: dreamy girldolphingirl on September 29th, 2010 05:26 am (UTC)
That makes zero sense. If you're not interested enough in a place to even get the basics right, why bother setting something there? I mean, at least read a book about the place before you write one.
tinyrevolutiontinyrevolution on October 1st, 2010 07:04 pm (UTC)
THERE ARE NO DESERTS IN ISTANBUL

I squirted juice out my nose.
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