Snakes Reads A Terrible Book: Manhunt, by Gretchen Felker-Martin - An utter waste of everyone’s time inspired by the Tranny Sideshows thread and its new favorite author

[moseph.jartelli]

@blue gopher snakes

Please do the needful. Please to finish book, habibi.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

I'm getting real super tempted to just read the chapter myself just so I can then post my assigned chapter review (spoilers, oh noes) that's been ready for like a good week-and-a-half now, and I'm real antsy about it because I can't blow my load a chapter early. I don't even think it's actually @blue gopher snakes' turn for chapter 11, might've been passed on to someone else.

 

[lady stoneheart]

i’ve lost track of this thread, but which chapter is up next? i might be able to help, i have succumbed to the coof and therefore have a lot of free time the next few days

 

[trekkor]

Just caught up with the thread and props to all the users here for the interesting conversations, they've been a treat to read.

I was wondering how the story could be improved upon while still keeping with the theme of trannies being the focal point of the story and one thing that came to mind was something dear Grootchen would never approve on - a MtF seeing the world going to absolute shit, all the regular men zombified and deciding that, because of "she" doesn't want humanity to die out, it would be time for "her" to become him again. It would ofc mean the disease or virus should be modified a bit. Maybe it's something that only activated temporarily and infected all the men with a set amount of testosterone, leaving out the soys and trannies or the women do find a cure for it eventually, but it doesn't reverse the men's affliction so there's still the question of how they can find suitable sperm donors (throw in a quick line about it affecting the sperm already kept in banks as well, maybe the virus made it useless or in the overall mayhem no one took care of the storage they were in and they uh, died?). In any case, enter the MtF who struggles with his gender image in a world on the brink of extinction and the question of if it matters when the future of the human race rests on his shoulders. Maybe he initially felt like he'd entered some sort of utopia by having a women-only society be the status quo, but the years making him afraid of his mortality and him becoming very jaded and tired when he realises this is pretty much the end of humanity.

Something like that would be much more appealing to read. No stupid and gross sex scenes, no going around killing actual women because you hate them for not wanting to fuck you IRL, actual struggles and moral conundrums. You can throw in some social justice stuff with the women being very put off by their only choice in men being these gender benders, but written with more finesse that doesn't completely shit on the reason why the women would be upset by all of this.

 

[moseph.jartelli]

Just caught up with the thread and props to all the users here for the interesting conversations, they've been a treat to read.

I was wondering how the story could be improved upon while still keeping with the theme of trannies being the focal point of the story and one thing that came to mind was something dear Grootchen would never approve on - a MtF seeing the world going to absolute shit, all the regular men zombified and deciding that, because of "she" doesn't want humanity to die out, it would be time for "her" to become him again. It would ofc mean the disease or virus should be modified a bit. Maybe it's something that only activated temporarily and infected all the men with a set amount of testosterone, leaving out the soys and trannies or the women do find a cure for it eventually, but it doesn't reverse the men's affliction so there's still the question of how they can find suitable sperm donors (throw in a quick line about it affecting the sperm already kept in banks as well, maybe the virus made it useless or in the overall mayhem no one took care of the storage they were in and they uh, died?). In any case, enter the MtF who struggles with his gender image in a world on the brink of extinction and the question of if it matters when the future of the human race rests on his shoulders. Maybe he initially felt like he'd entered some sort of utopia by having a women-only society be the status quo, but the years making him afraid of his mortality and him becoming very jaded and tired when he realises this is pretty much the end of humanity.

Something like that would be much more appealing to read. No stupid and gross sex scenes, no going around killing actual women because you hate them for not wanting to fuck you IRL, actual struggles and moral conundrums. You can throw in some social justice stuff with the women being very put off by their only choice in men being these gender benders, but written with more finesse that doesn't completely shit on the reason why the women would be upset by all of this.

It's unsalvageable and gay as fuck

 

[Trianon]

Just caught up with the thread and props to all the users here for the interesting conversations, they've been a treat to read.

I was wondering how the story could be improved upon while still keeping with the theme of trannies being the focal point of the story and one thing that came to mind was something dear Grootchen would never approve on - a MtF seeing the world going to absolute shit, all the regular men zombified and deciding that, because of "she" doesn't want humanity to die out, it would be time for "her" to become him again. It would ofc mean the disease or virus should be modified a bit. Maybe it's something that only activated temporarily and infected all the men with a set amount of testosterone, leaving out the soys and trannies or the women do find a cure for it eventually, but it doesn't reverse the men's affliction so there's still the question of how they can find suitable sperm donors (throw in a quick line about it affecting the sperm already kept in banks as well, maybe the virus made it useless or in the overall mayhem no one took care of the storage they were in and they uh, died?). In any case, enter the MtF who struggles with his gender image in a world on the brink of extinction and the question of if it matters when the future of the human race rests on his shoulders. Maybe he initially felt like he'd entered some sort of utopia by having a women-only society be the status quo, but the years making him afraid of his mortality and him becoming very jaded and tired when he realises this is pretty much the end of humanity.

Something like that would be much more appealing to read. No stupid and gross sex scenes, no going around killing actual women because you hate them for not wanting to fuck you IRL, actual struggles and moral conundrums. You can throw in some social justice stuff with the women being very put off by their only choice in men being these gender benders, but written with more finesse that doesn't completely shit on the reason why the women would be upset by all of this.

This is a much better plot. I keep getting distracted thinking about the future of humanity, and it feels like the brief nods toward having children are treated like luxuries that only the spoiled Sophie can afford instead of an all-hands-on-deck crisis to stave off extinction. Although it sort of sounds like the TERFs have been having children ... somehow.

But having an MTF "detransition" in an apocalypse scenario would be interesting and would actually bolster the idea that gender is not dependent on your outer appearance, that you can find ways to be a woman even with a penis and a virile need to preserve the species. It would challenge all readers without outright betraying troon ideology by presenting a world where everyone has to make sacrifices while still trying to support each other's identities.

Instead we got a clunky polemic against modish Twitter politics that won't be relevant even a year from now.

 

[Lazy Printer]

Just caught up with the thread and props to all the users here for the interesting conversations, they've been a treat to read.

I was wondering how the story could be improved upon while still keeping with the theme of trannies being the focal point of the story and one thing that came to mind was something dear Grootchen would never approve on - a MtF seeing the world going to absolute shit, all the regular men zombified and deciding that, because of "she" doesn't want humanity to die out, it would be time for "her" to become him again. It would ofc mean the disease or virus should be modified a bit. Maybe it's something that only activated temporarily and infected all the men with a set amount of testosterone, leaving out the soys and trannies or the women do find a cure for it eventually, but it doesn't reverse the men's affliction so there's still the question of how they can find suitable sperm donors (throw in a quick line about it affecting the sperm already kept in banks as well, maybe the virus made it useless or in the overall mayhem no one took care of the storage they were in and they uh, died?). In any case, enter the MtF who struggles with his gender image in a world on the brink of extinction and the question of if it matters when the future of the human race rests on his shoulders. Maybe he initially felt like he'd entered some sort of utopia by having a women-only society be the status quo, but the years making him afraid of his mortality and him becoming very jaded and tired when he realises this is pretty much the end of humanity.

Something like that would be much more appealing to read. No stupid and gross sex scenes, no going around killing actual women because you hate them for not wanting to fuck you IRL, actual struggles and moral conundrums. You can throw in some social justice stuff with the women being very put off by their only choice in men being these gender benders, but written with more finesse that doesn't completely shit on the reason why the women would be upset by all of this.

But to witre something emotional like this one needs to have real empathy and experience with socilization, real socilization with normal people that aren't like you,so, something that a sociopath like him is incapable off.

 

[trekkor]

I keep getting distracted thinking about the future of humanity, and it feels like the brief nods toward having children are treated like luxuries that only the spoiled Sophie can afford instead of an all-hands-on-deck crisis to stave off extinction. Although it sort of sounds like the TERFs have been having children ... somehow.

Yup, that's what I've been wondering as well. Almost all of the people in the book seem so uninterested in what they should actually be doing - saving humanity - and instead focus on tranny death squads while the trannies themselves just wander around and have very unhygenic sex. Finding viable sperm donors and a cure for the virus should be the number 1 priority, everything else is only to support society not collapsing straight away and giving them time to fix this mess. Like, at this point I'm hoping the rest of the world (hell, the rest of the US even) is being more sensible and have every single geneticist and whatnot working non-stop to find a cure for the men or at least sperm that doesn't create Xenomorph babies.

It's frustrating because like other people here have said, the TERF part of the story is far more interesting (though with its faults since we're focusing on a tranny chaser and Grootchen doesn't know how actual women act) and in the hands of a better writer their side of the tale should be at the forefront with all the elements of "okay, how do we save humanity?". I still don't understand what the purpose of the tranny characters are - what do they want? Acceptance? Do they truly understand what is going on in the world or are they still acting as though everything is normal (yes)? They haven't really progressed any part of the plot and actually hinder its development, what little there is.

 

[taintmisbehavin]

Just caught up with the thread and props to all the users here for the interesting conversations, they've been a treat to read.

I was wondering how the story could be improved upon while still keeping with the theme of trannies being the focal point of the story and one thing that came to mind was something dear Grootchen would never approve on - a MtF seeing the world going to absolute shit, all the regular men zombified and deciding that, because of "she" doesn't want humanity to die out, it would be time for "her" to become him again. It would ofc mean the disease or virus should be modified a bit. Maybe it's something that only activated temporarily and infected all the men with a set amount of testosterone, leaving out the soys and trannies or the women do find a cure for it eventually, but it doesn't reverse the men's affliction so there's still the question of how they can find suitable sperm donors (throw in a quick line about it affecting the sperm already kept in banks as well, maybe the virus made it useless or in the overall mayhem no one took care of the storage they were in and they uh, died?). In any case, enter the MtF who struggles with his gender image in a world on the brink of extinction and the question of if it matters when the future of the human race rests on his shoulders. Maybe he initially felt like he'd entered some sort of utopia by having a women-only society be the status quo, but the years making him afraid of his mortality and him becoming very jaded and tired when he realises this is pretty much the end of humanity.

Something like that would be much more appealing to read. No stupid and gross sex scenes, no going around killing actual women because you hate them for not wanting to fuck you IRL, actual struggles and moral conundrums. You can throw in some social justice stuff with the women being very put off by their only choice in men being these gender benders, but written with more finesse that doesn't completely shit on the reason why the women would be upset by all of this.

Personally, I think the part about the bunker and Sophie using women as science experiments to make a baby with her zombie lover is infinitely more interesting than the tranny escapades. It is the only plot point I found intentionally disturbing.

The issue of hierarchies and class plus the TERFs having to militarize to survive make for a more compelling novel that unfortunately keeps getting interrupted by a bunch of whiny bitches talking about their hard-ons for everyone who wants to kill them or they want to kill.

 

[mrae]

What a delight this thread has been to binge read today. I've known about GFM for awhile now and never would have known what shit tier prose he was capable of without you all. It's funny, he and his ilk all turn to prose and novels because of the relative low cost of entry, (compared to movies/tv, which they wish they were writing instead) but have zero talent or interest in the actual art form. This novel is the work of a brain completely infested with twitter brain rot. No subtlety, no thoughtful world building, just pure word vomit. I enjoyed reading the different ways some of you proposed approaching this same idea and I would happily read any of those books.

I am very MATI about it all.

And, I know he said choosing Baltimore amounted to throwing a dart at a map but I have doubts. I first learned of GFM through an artist I followed on twitter. They were pretty chummy for awhile, and the artist even did a generous (meaning she didn't portray him quite so ogre-ish) portrait of GFM. Said artist was from Baltimore and at some point the two stopped interacting on SM, full stop. Always wondered what, if anything, went down. Seems a bit too coincidental but who knows. I'm gonna try to do some more digging.

 

[AMHOLIO]

The issue of hierarchies and class plus the TERFs having to militarize to survive make for a more compelling novel that unfortunately keeps getting interrupted by a bunch of whiny bitches talking about their hard-ons for everyone who wants to kill them or they want to kill.

Any character who mourns about not being on twitter anymore should have died in the apocalypse. Or even before then.

though with its faults since we're focusing on a tranny chaser and Grootchen doesn't know how actual women act)

Micah would scream about us being cockroaches who don't expand our mind and are too stupid to. It wasn't made FOR cis people, he's talking about HIS favorite women, HIS queers goddammit (and fat slave Indi who always reminds us of how INDIAN she is with her name alone because Micah's creatievly bankrupt). We are retarded and need to be eliminated like eugenicist did in the old days to tard babys like us. We're too retarded to live (but too autistic to die) and are subhuman mongoloids to the queer ubersmench like him.


Micah is fat and emotionally stunted psudeointellectual and I would not have sex with him.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

I'm wanting to say "Fuck it" and just do the damn eleventh chapter myself, but I'm reading it out loud with my fiancé (probably a mistake) and I'm honest-to-God struggling to read, and I haven't gotten to the gross stuff just yet in this chapter. This is real janky writing that you may notice when reading it to yourself, but when you hear it, it shows just how sloppy the writing is. Good writing doesn't make you tongue-tied and slip up on your reading on the regular.

I will point this out, though, so show I was reading it before throwing my hands up at this chapter:

First off, that's Fran and this Viv chick making out on the dancefloor as Ramona watches, and that's gross, but those are song lyrics to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer", which was mentioned a few paragraphs previously. Hey, Micah, did you get permission to use song lyrics in a book, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

 

[Least Concern]

I'm wanting to say "Fuck it" and just do the damn eleventh chapter myself, but I'm reading it out loud with my fiancé (probably a mistake) and I'm honest-to-God struggling to read, and I haven't gotten to the gross stuff just yet in this chapter. This is real janky writing that you may notice when reading it to yourself, but when you hear it, it shows just how sloppy the writing is. Good writing doesn't make you tongue-tied and slip up on your reading on the regular.

I will point this out, though, so show I was reading it before throwing my hands up at this chapter:
View attachment 3296029
First off, that's Fran and this Viv chick making out on the dancefloor as Ramona watches, and that's gross, but those are song lyrics to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer", which was mentioned a few paragraphs previously. Hey, Micah, did you get permission to use song lyrics in a book, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
View attachment 3296046
View attachment 3296048

That seems right if the entire song's lyrics are quoted, but surely just using two lines in a full-sized novel would be protected as fair use.

 

[Commissar Fuklaw]

This is real janky writing that you may notice when reading it to yourself, but when you hear it, it shows just how sloppy the writing is. Good writing doesn't make you tongue-tied and slip up on your reading on the regular.

This is why oral editing is the most important part of polishing your prose, and it's satisfying to do. His editor should be shot for this, but since she's a woman he probably threatened her with rape if she tried to get him to make any changes.

 

[capsaicin]

That seems right if the entire song's lyrics are quoted, but surely just using two lines in a full-sized novel would be protected as fair use.

Yes, it would be. However, I can say that an author friend of mine had her editor basically plead with her to remove some lyrics content about that long. It would be legally defensible, but they did expect to have to deal with it if it went to print as-is.

It wasn't Tor. So maybe Tor is less concerned about potential litigation than my friend's publisher. Or maybe publishers are more willing to potentially go to bat for the ~unsullied creative expression~ of a troon.

 

[Treasure Champs]

Yes, it would be. However, I can say that an author friend of mine had her editor basically plead with her to remove some lyrics content about that long. It would be legally defensible, but they did expect to have to deal with it if it went to print as-is.

It wasn't Tor. So maybe Tor is less concerned about potential litigation than my friend's publisher. Or maybe publishers are more willing to potentially go to bat for the ~unsullied creative expression~ of a troon.

I can't see how it could possibly count as fair use. It's not transformative of the work. It's not a commentary or criticism of its content. It's literally a cut and paste job done so that the reader's prior knowledge of Sir Elton John's song will do the work of setting the tone instead of our lazy author bothering to do it himself.

Further, were I any artist with half an ounce of dignity, I would not want to be invoked in a schlocky, rapey, misogyny spank-bank 'novel' like this one, as I would consider that quite damaging to my brand.

Did anyone check? Did he seriously not get permission for it? Because I have never seen that. Normally even one line from a song and there will be a thank-you in the front somewhere for being allowed to use it. Surely tranny armor isn't that thick.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Did anyone check? Did he seriously not get permission for it? Because I have never seen that. Normally even one line from a song and there will be a thank-you in the front somewhere for being allowed to use it. Surely tranny armor isn't that thick.

Nope, no acknowledgement of it. We have this instead.

And to every trans woman I’ve ever loved, to all your perfect shoulders and the arches of your necks, to your lovely wrists and fingers, to your cocks and cunts and lips, to the feel of your skin against mine and the sound of your voices, low and urgent, in my ear; all of you are in this thing, in one way or another. I could never have written it without you.

So fucking classy.

 

[Two Gorillion Dollars]

That seems right if the entire song's lyrics are quoted, but surely just using two lines in a full-sized novel would be protected as fair use.

Nope. Fair use doesn't really work like that. The author or their publisher would need to have an explicit permission credit in the book. As someone in the industry, getting permission for anything like lyrics, poems, etc. can be a real pain in the ass. You could try 'fair use' as a defense if you were ever called out by it but I don't think it'd likely work out. I've had to edit out all kinds of things you wouldn't think about. Not because the publisher didn't think it couldn't hold up in court, but because it just wouldn't be worth the trouble/time/money to fight it. It might hold up in court, it might not. But the publisher should've grabbed permission and if they're simply hoping that they won't get noticed - well, that's a bad look!

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

Nope. Fair use doesn't really work like that. The author or their publisher would need to have an explicit permission credit in the book. As someone in the industry, getting permission for anything like lyrics, poems, etc. can be a real pain in the ass. You could try 'fair use' as a defense if you were ever called out by it but I don't think it'd likely work out. I've had to edit out all kinds of things you don't think about. Not because the publisher didn't think it could hold up in court, but because it just wouldn't be worth the trouble/time/money to fight it.

I'm continually amazed at how this got through legal and published as-is by a mainstream publisher. Just flabbergasted. If they're letting through use of copyrighted material like that it's unlikely that this had any oversight at all IMO.

Millions of decent/good writers get turned down every day because of things far less egregious than anything in this book. It's infuriating. (But then again EL James and Twilight also got published, so the industry is probably just fucked up across the board. But at least Twilight was a fun read, mostly because the plot was laugh and dumb)

 

[TheMonkeyMan]

If they actually got permission there’s usually an acknowledgment on the copyright page.