Author John A. Douglas visited a Target recently and had some opinions to share with his Twitter followers.
In a clip that he filmed and then posted, he showed the Fantasy section of the book shelves at the big box store, which was full of books that he claimed were mostly by women and for women.
In the clip, he went on to complain that there are no books for boys in the fantasy publishing world anymore, and lamented that there wasn't a preponderance of that type of representation in the fantasy genre.
He actually went further, deriding the books on display at Target as being "Chick Lit and BookTok slop."
"Happened to be in Target again and decided to check in on the “Fantasy” section. Unlike last year, any male-centric fantasy is nowhere in sight. It’s all Chick Lit and Booktok slop. Modern publishing hates male readers."
Many people pointed out that he was committing a literary cardinal sin: judging books by their covers.
Some commenters apparently were not familiar with the history of the fantasy genre and its huge skew towards male protagonists.
Some people noted that learning to empathize and identify with a protagonist unlike oneself is a skill that everyone who has not been traditionally represented as a main character in fantasy had been doing for the entire history of the genre.
Others came up with examples of the books that they thought Douglas might have been looking for.
Others brought current discourse from other realms of cultural and political commentary into the mix.
Many pointed out that Douglas was shopping for books at...a Target.
Targets and other big box stores aren't there to curate literature.
Some people argued in support of Douglas, but more about the quality of the books he showed.
Many commenters suggested that Douglas was probably trying to drum up buyers for his own self-published books.
Douglas' debut, self-published novel is available for purchase on Amazon exclusively.
