/lit/ - Literature

New Tales issue: https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Unreal-Vol-Miles-MacNaughton/dp/B0CHGLPWGB/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1694088507&sr=1-2

First issue: https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Unreal-Vol-Guy-Hayes/dp/B0BVTFZ1TF/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1694000663&sr=8-1

>>22486664
free doxxing with every submission

More like unreal piss lol

You already made a thread for this shit. No one cares that your discord slapped a book together with AI.

>>22486664
Very nice, good to see people from this board actually trying to create something instead of just endlessly bickering over books they’ve never read.
I’ll see if can put something together to submit, should be interesting

>>22486781
Zulu Alitspa... I know your name, now! I'm coming for you!

I just wanted to let you know that when you try to self-improve, there are always people that will try to stop you. Those people are usually marxists or black. What it they are: keep doing it, man. I believe in you.
>>22486781
>doxing
If this is a concern for anyone here: use an alias and submit using the tor browser. It's always good to practice good persec / opsec, so look up some tips on this. Although, keep in mind that /lit/ users cannot even finish reading a whole book, so they probably won't put too much effort into trying to find you.
Do your best, everyone!

>>22487533
>What it they are: keep doing it, man.
Whatever ever they are: Ignore them and keep doing it, man*

>>22487533
You're right anon, this is clearly an us vs them scenario. No one actually dislikes AI slop that has constant shill campaigns that take the form of Discord raids. No one at all. In fact, I think it's one guy making every post against you. It has to be. He wants to tear both of us down!
Now /lit/! It's time to make your choice! Are you with us (purchasing a copy of Tales of the Unreal 2 for $14.99) or are you against us! (not purchasing a copy of Tales of the Unreal 2 for $14.99)

>>22487605
making fags seethe is my favorite unreal project

>>22486664
>roastie on cover
stopped reading there

>>22487605
>$14.99
The fact you were too angry (or dumb) to even check the price makes this post even funnier

>>22487656
The fact that you were so mad you felt the need to correct the price makes this even funnier.
>N-No! We're not that greedy! We're only asking for $11.99!

>>22487656
This is a very rational reaction to my above post and not someone deeply buttblasted due to his connection to the project.

>>22487680
Correct

>>22487605
>>22487656
>>22487667
Is this a regional thing? I'm in the US tho

>>22487605
>>22487656
>>22487667
Is this a regional thing? I'm in the US tho

Quickly read Hartley's tale: - zany and lynchian, engaging and well written.

>>22487737
>Reading age 9 – 12 years

>>22487730
>$14
I made that post as a joke. I thought they'd price it something reasonable, like $4-$5. You'd have to be shameless to charge that much for something that wasn't even properly edited.

>>22487737
It's 8.99

>>22487770
13.99 for me unless this is cause my state has weird taxes? I dunno how amazon does the price for books

>>22487759
Nigga it’s $2 for an ebook and the .pdf is free, what the fuck are you even crying about?

>>22487848
>reading digitally
That explains everything. Only a retarded zoomer would be so entitled to believe this slop is worth $14.

>>22487871
Genuinely struggling to get on this level of stupidity and actually address your complaints. Seethers gonna cope I guess…

>>22487605
>You're right anon, this is clearly an us vs them scenario
You completely missed the point of my post.
>No one actually dislikes AI slop that has constant shill campaigns that take the form of Discord raids.
>In fact, I think it's one guy making every post against you
Is this schizophrenia..? Please elaborate further, I'm out of touch when it comes to whatever you are talking about here. I've only recently started to pay any attention to Tales of the Unreal (As in one threads ago) and I'm just trying to encourage people to write more instead of dealing with the anti-self improvement shit. The idea that someone wants to help create a quality journal/magazine is noble. Is it quality? Probably not, but I'd rather people try than not.
>Now /lit/! It's time to make your choice! Are you with us (purchasing a copy of Tales of the Unreal 2 for $14.99) or are you against us! (not purchasing a copy of Tales of the Unreal 2 for $14.99)
I'm not saying this.

>>22487983
>one threads ago
one or two* threads ago.

>>22487983
>Please elaborate further
NTA but Unreal Press have fallen off hard in the last 6 months and are not very popular around /lit/. They got caught doxing other writers from here and spent months spamming one guys face around /lit/ in unrelated threads. Now when they shill their work, if anyone attempts to tells them to fuck off they'll accuse that person of being the guy they doxed, eventually escalating to posting his face and other parts of his personal life. That's probably what he's referencing with that.
I agree that we need to cut out the defeatist attitude that so many of our anons have but Unreal press are not the answer to that.

>>22486665
the bathtub reader guy reviewed our book?? thats dope. I will submit.

>>22488045
scratch that I read the rest of the thread. I will no longer be submitting.

>>22488045
>>22488058
You won't be missed.

>>22486665
link to steve donoghe's review?

>>22487639
actual homosexual

>>22487983
There's a lot that gets lumped into the bickering. Questions or comments about editing incite the same kind of response (or no response, given how the last thread ended). The "quality" part is what I see missing from the current projects aligning themselves to /lit/, where there tends to be a superficial desire to look like the real thing, while under the hood you're still reading a lot of mediocre writing without proper editing.

The trouble seems to be in getting enough done to appear legitimate, which leads to people pushing out work with the aforementioned problems. I really see lack of editing as the sure sign that something is missing, since even if it takes time to accumulate enough interest and good writers, proper editing being missing from the start shows a lack of desire on the part of the editors to go beyond the simple appearance of producing a book/magazine/anthology.

The rest of the job behind one of these is still real work, but it's relatively easier than editing, or at least of a different nature that isn't really rooted in the art of producing or collecting good writing. &amp was somewhat forthright about ignoring editing altogether, but that loses its charm once you've read enough of it. They also started to put on airs about being something they're not; or it's more accurate to say there have been waves of that since the start. Unreal seems to pretend at being serious business.

Maybe the idea is that after some tipping point, editing and other more real problems will be taken seriously; garner enough interest and staying power before you start putting in the difficult work. For a lot of people there's a lot of excitement in being a part of something and seeing others notice your work. But I think that's often a naive outlook that melts away quickly once you see certain things not being done or considered, that you're still sending your work into a void where the organizers still don't take it seriously yet. The cart is being put before the horse; it has to be taken seriously before it can grow. I don't know what that requires in total, but it's clear that it's not being done yet.

Maybe it's a problem with vision, where nobody organizing these things really knows what this is supposed to be apart from a way to see yourself and your friends name-dropped every few months. You could say it's about critique and self-improvement, but that's an individual interest, and falls short in the final product. It's really many different things, but not enough of any of them to fulfill a proper vision.

>>22488025
>doxing people
Oh man, that is completely depressing.
>but Unreal press are not the answer
Considering what you and the other anon said, I'm inclined to agree.
>>22488144
>mediocre writing without proper editing
>proper editing being missing from the start
I was skimming over the first pdf and I noticed it does seem to be a bit of a rush job, but I assumed they were just trying to figure out how they want to operate and it would be a learning process. I didn't care for the stories that I did read, but I'm also aware that my general disdain for modern literature will cause me to lean more towards not liking what I read. I'm not perfect, I can't always prevent my bias from impacting me.
But I try to be a fair person and I understand that other people have opinions and all that. I also understand they probably can't be too picky about what they accept due to limited submissions. There's not much excuse for poor editing, however.
>I don't know what that requires in total, but it's clear that it's not being done yet.
To be honest, it probably requires paying people for their submission (usually per word) or offering some percentage of profit, as well as proper editing.
>critique and self-improvement, but that's an individual interest
I hold the belief that self-improvement can help elevate the bar and it's not always exclusively an individual interest. If we saw two or three guys pop up that were cranking out stories like Lovecraft, Howard, and Smith that would set a bar and allow for quality submissions. Either way, I doubt we'll see it with this magazine. I'll keep an eye on it for awhile, but if the next issue comes out and it's not great, I'm going to just ignore it entirely.

>>22488144
>For a lot of people there's a lot of excitement in being a part of something and seeing others notice your work. But I think that's often a naive outlook that melts away quickly once you see certain things not being done or considered, that you're still sending your work into a void where the organizers still don't take it seriously yet.
Not to continue the bickering, but you've summed up a lot of thoughts that have been bothering me for quite some time. I was published in one of the older Unreal anthologies, something that was definitely a sobering experience in what, at the time, I thought was my "artistic career". As with every second draft that you duct tape into shape, my submission was a mess. Punctuation and fucked up tense were the two biggest contributors to the absolute state it was in. To this day it remains that way. Not a single editing pass was done to it.
As bad as this is, you know what feels even worse? I'm seemingly the only person who has ever noticed these mistakes. Not only did none of the editors read enough of my submission to notice, but neither did any of their supposed readers. But you know what's even worse than that? my name is still tied to this magazine, and to what they've done since "publishing" me. The only reason I didn't come out and denounce the Ari stuff is because I don't want my name tied to this magazine anymore than it already is.

>>22488289
On one hand, I'm sympathetic because no editing is a serious problem in so many modern publishers. Actually, I even catch errors in big name publishers that have been around for ages, but it's even worse in no-name or mass produced stuff that lasts for just a year or two.
On the other hand, you really should be editing your own work first. I noticed that a lot of writers just shit out content and then move on, expecting whatever issues to get corrected later. The more eyes that get on your work, the better, and the first pair should be your own. When they send back the revision, you check over it yourself.
I understand where you are coming from, with regards to not wanting to have your name more attached to it. Even if you did edit your own work and such, it still would suck to be associated for reasons people continue to bring up.
To be honest with you, the amount of genuine and honest feedback being given in these threads should not be taken as a attacks, but as the genuinely constructive criticism that it is.

>>22488278
You could call the lack of editing growing pains, or say it's a matter of setting a deadline and rushing it, but this isn't their first or even second release, and far from the first time that the lack of editing has been called out. I remember seeing a big error being pointed out right on the first page of a poetry collection they did of one guy (resident trip Frater Asemlen).

>it probably requires paying people
I don't think pay solves the issue of writing quality, since they're ultimately still pulling from the same pool of people (which is very small). There's no money to pay people in advance, nor even after (I put together the numbers in the last thread very optimistically, but they're apparently in the red on account of ads and other shit).

>If we saw two or three guys pop up that were cranking out stories like Lovecraft, Howard, and Smith that would set a bar and allow for quality submissions
I disagree. Again, it's a limited pool and you're still going to have to fill up the rest of the pages somehow. &amp has/had this exact problem, and it's brought up every now and then to excuse slim issues or hiatuses or whatever (though I don't mean to say it's not a legitimate issue). Pay may encourage the people already writing to work harder, but (in the near term) since you're dealing with a limited crowd you're still going to have a limit on the skill you're dealing with.

While qualifying that with "near term", I think time is another problem. You could say that pay and building up an image will eventually pull in new and better people, but you're also talking about trying to attract people to 4chan, not just attracting people to the magazine. Is that possible? Is that desired? Excessive reach killed Lit Quarterly, which had money, although that was about who was submitting and from where.

It's also my impression that for serious regulars, there's inevitably some kind of personal exodus. A forum can shape someone's early interest in a subject, but once you grow in knowledge, unless you're able to find the right kind of specialized discussion that you want, you'll inevitably move on. There are exceptions in both people and certain topics, but I really believe that for people who do more than dip their toes there comes a point where you grow out of or grow beyond the kind of discussions you can have with a wide community. I don't know whether that's a real thing with /lit/ or any of the projects that graft themselves to it, but I think it's a logical appraisal of the situation in general and at least sets a cap on how far these things can be taken.

The projects on here have to churn out or engage often enough to keep attention and attract new people (where "content" and engagement are orthogonal to real quality), meaning they work on schedules that aren't fit to put in sufficient work, putting them in a constant cycle of mediocrity that they can hope attracts a few (relatively) stand-out pieces of writing to prop their image on.

>>22488328
>On the other hand, you really should be editing your own work first.
I'm a high school dropout. Not something I'm proud of and not something I use as an excuse often, but I'd be lying to myself if I said it wasn't applicable here. When you find a new passion, something that you feel you might be great at, you tend to ignore self critique until that initial high wears off. Combine that with my lack of education, something that not only would have given me the skills required for self critique, but would almost definitely have tempered that high, and you have my mindset at the time. Every spelling mistake was drowned out in the the sound of delusional self-congratulations.
I was dumb, and I have only myself to blame for that. But as dumb as I was, I was just as impressionable, something that I feel they took advantage of. You're not wrong in your assessment above.
>Unreal seems to pretend at being serious business.
Consider me tricked. I thought Unreal was something more than it was. I wanted to be one of those big names lol they interviewed. I wanted to be a published author. They said they loved my writing and I loved it too. That must be why they never gave any critique or editing. It can't be that they're complete posers.
I think what really dredged this up in me was their post last thread saying the lack of editing was a stylistic choice. It made me wonder if, somewhere, on some other forum, the mistakes of my story were acknowledged before being promptly hand waved away as a stylistic flourish that was entirely my fault.
Thank you for reading my blog. It's embarrassing to put all of this into words, but it's also kind of cathartic to vent.

>>22488499
>I'm a high school dropout
All you need to do is pick up a grammar book or two. It's not too hard. I don't want to dox myself here so I'll say the absolute minimum to convey this properly, but let's just say I'm a high school dropout that works in academia. I bring this up because you can easily improve yourself. I also want to mention that I understand the struggle and how easy it is to want to give up, but you need to want it more than wanting to be lazy.
>I thought Unreal was something more than it was
As time has gone on in this thread and reading through archives, I'm seeing a low effort money making scheme and it's bothering me. But don't feel too bad about being tricked, I thought they were something they weren't, too.
>the lack of editing was a stylistic choice
They're supposed to edit and send the edits to the author specifically because of stylistic choice. There are circumstances where a typo, italics, and so on are intentional -- So the back-and-forth communication is fairly important here.
>Thank you for reading my blog
It is important for you to share this so other people could read it, too. You're possibly saving someone from making a mistake.

>>22488278
>>22488430
As a final word I couldn't fit in:
people could do this kind of thing for fun and leave it at that.
But that's clearly not all it is to the people trying to helm these projects.

(And addendum 2: I think money and rights are things that need to be taken really seriously and carefully, and with foresight, if these projects have any ambitions regarding cash or fame. I don't personally see signs of either of those outcomes occurring, but if people are going to involve dollars above zero then it deserves caution from both writers and editors.)

>>22488289
>>22488499
What you're saying is exactly what I meant by sending your work into the void with these things. Ultimately I don't think it does real harm to the people writing, just that it's a lame and misleading way for these things to run. You zeroed in on that.

Regarding the doxx stuff, I kind of view it as inevitable but also insignificant. Obviously a bad look, but you're talking about people who have no real skin in the game. Nobody is making money, nobody is getting recognition, nobody is going to have any consequences. It's a lame internet spat that revealed that none of this really matters, which was apparent before but is sad to see in action.

The same goes for a lot of little things that pop up. All this happens within a relatively small clique at the end of the day, and involves the same kind of insular pettiness. These projects are outgrowths, not board-spanning culture-makers, but that in itself isn't a bad thing.

>>22488328
I agree with you, but there's supposed to be an editor for these sorts of projects. It should also go beyond mere corrections and into improving the writing, but real copy editing may be something that can be fairly placed as a goal for after basic editing can be done consistently.

>genuine and honest feedback
You see that here and with &amp, and I never know what to make of it. With &amp I almost think it was a mistake to move beyond the old threads where everything was just "cool!" and "this one was my favourite!" before shutting up for the next month (or months). That magazine in particular always seemed to me like a thin section someone had taken of /lit/ and then put under a microscope, where every flaw was still an honest characterization in the end. That was interesting to me for a while, but eventually it got stale. It's still the same way now as far as I can tell, but with some veneer about being serious business. The review of Tales 1 that the &amp editor did was hard to listen to. Maybe part was just the way the dude talks, but it felt like an ad.

For both Unreal and &amp, when it comes down to it most people are not good at providing critique. And by the time a release happens, everything is already done, which puts a backwards relationship on the readers and writers/editors: readers are expected to be there regardless to chew up whatever is put out rather than the work being made to convince someone to read it.

>>22488108

>>22486664
Unreal Schlock 2

>>22488541
>Ultimately I don't think it does real harm to the people writing
I don't mean to be melodramatic, but when I said it was sobering, I meant it. It almost cut my love of writing short right there. I stopped writing for months after seeing my work thrown into the void. It was only when I came back and saw that I wasn't alone in being mishandled by these schmucks that I took another look at my writing and saw their mistakes instead of just my own. Failure happens to every artists in every medium, but how that failure is contextualised is everything. I didn't have the tools to contextualise my failure.

Let this thread die so I can remake it without the "constructive criticism".

>>22488663
Why? This effortposter is immensely retarded (he thinks people actually make money shilling five copies of self published crap on 4chan smdh) but at least he’s got opinions and can articulate them.
This board is for discussion, let the people discuss

>>22488674
His retarded opinions are distracting from Unreal's accomplishments. I don't care how well he's articulating them.

>>22486781
How would you even get doxxed? Use a burner email and say your name is Mahalakala Ferguson. Are people actually using their real information?

>>22488689
“Doxxing” is just the go to criticism of unreal used by retards to discourage others from submitting. No one’s been doxxed and even if someone’s actual name was posted here nothing would happen. This isn’t /pol/. A bunch of larping guenonfags don’t give a fuck about where you live or where you flip burgers for minimum wage

kiss my bloody arse if ya er worried about getting doxxed this ain't it lads. My wife kicked me out and I'm drunk, but am still on me feet. Argh. I used to only have cider on Christmas, but my wife kicked me out and I only drink Fosters.

>>22488708
Why do you still deny the doxing stuff when everyone with even a passing knowledge of these threads knows what you did to Ari and can immediately point to posts of you admitting to it? Do you get off on being a villain? Do you just want people to bump your thread? I'm so confused.

>>22488713
Onya Rhyme

Let this thread die right now. That's an order. No more responding to shit. Stop.
Go again tomorrow.

kiss my blood arse ye fucks ye fucking basterds doxxed ari and I'm sick of itt. kiss myr ase

>>22486665
>>22488108
>>22488542
"I got one because I wanted to show it to you, recommend it to you."

https://youtu.be/6Oby5uJ1HXU?si=iWz6OTm1PGxjO7L5&t=1093

kiss my arse rhyme kiss my arse kiss my arse kiss my arse

>>22488734
>>22488713
>>22488739
Thank you for your contribution Woolston.

rhymw qAS IMPERSONtting me and i caught him i called him on now kiss my arse. It is embarassing as hell explaining to parents on holiday why I'm drunk so I tell them to kiss my arse. fuck you rhyme

>>22488740
im not lewis im just a fan of his he helped me iyt si nyuch and is a nice guy. ges anb aystrakuab kuje ne im so drufkcing drunk help me please please lewis help me

rhyme fucked with lewis and I am not going to tolwere it kiss my arse kiss ny arese fuck im drubjk ib a oark bvench fuck this arvo durnbk

man kiss my fuckin arse I'm sick of this shit fuck all of yous. I need a fucking drink.

>>22488735
Thanks! Steve seemed to really like it

im sleepy kiss my arse goodniugth stop doxxing lads

>>22488766
kiss my fucking arse death to you unreal you took the spotlight from talented writers like Lewis and Gardner

>>22488772
>talented
>Gardner
lol

>>22488776
Yeah how about I send over another DMCA for slander. Hope you can find a good lawyer bucko. My sales suggest otherwise.

>>22488719
>everyone with a passing knowledge
Nah it’s just you
>Ari
what happened to Ari? In the last &amp thread editor anon said he’s still working on best-of? Take your meds you fucking obsessed faggot lol

>>22488025
why did they dox those writers?

>>22488779
Whoever you are, stop fucking posting. Let this thread die. You're giving them what they want.

>>22488779
kiss my fucking arse maite youy know what ye did.

>>22488785
You'll never take down unreal ! Fight to the end!

>>22488785
>let the thread die
Do you think that’s going to happen? This same retard is just going to spam shit in any thread calling for submissions. Might as well call a retard a retard

>>22488674
>he thinks people actually make money
Am I the retarded effort poster? If so I do not think this and I didn't mean to convey that if I did. I was thinking more of a long term strategy using 4chan as a spring board. This has been a successful strategy in several industries, but I've just never seen it done outside of an individual basis for literature. Of course, this was just conjecture and I'm not particularly interested in pursuing this idea. I don't even have an actual problem with this concept, the main problem is low effort/quality output.
>>22488683
>distracting from Unreal's accomplishments
I don't mean to do that. I was criticising the publishing industry as a whole, in a lot of ways here, and I'm trying to help push you guys in the right direction. I would love to see people succeed in an area that I care a lot about. Anyways, please, enlighten me on the accomplishments.
>>22488708
>No one’s been doxxed and even if someone’s actual name was posted here nothing would happen.
But it does not respect their privacy, which is a problem in and of itself. Technically, having your name associated with 4chan specifically could cause damage in the future, even if just because of overzealous journalists.
>>22488779
I'm actually not entirely sure what happened with this Ari individual, I'm told they were doxed. Keep in mind that my background does have some overlap with cybersecurity, so my idea of "doxed" is outright a text dump involving addresses, SSNs, family, etc... Although, I do understand that people use the term "doxed" rather liberally. Perhaps his name was used without his explicit permission or against his wishes, this could constitute a dox, I suppose.

>>22488778
Aren't your mommy and daddy lawyers, you little maggot? No wonder you're such a litigious specimen. Deal with your problems like a man for once.

>>22488784
"Disrupting our discord". I'm not even joking.
Rhyme (the black guy who hosted the podcast) really hated Ari and that was the official excuse given for his fatwa. Him and another guy named Melville found out the school he went to, along with his school profile with his class information, school photo and full name, all of which was posted around 4chan.

>>22488796
The next thread won't have as many people effortposting about the quality of the book. I don't care if they want to bitch about doxing. Let them. It's old news. You idiots didn't post fast enough so it got drowned out in "constructive criticism" that no one is going to read past. Now stop it.

>>22488735
Still the happiest I've been about this project. Did not anticipate him liking it!

>>22488832
Do I need to ping the entire fucking Discord to make you guys listen. Stop it.

>>22487747
My expectations are dashed. From his name on the listing I was hoping it would be perhaps more Joycean or Rim-baudian. Is Hartley the one with the anal fixation or have I confused him with another Unreal brother?

>>22488841
Lol, youre larping too hard anon

>>22488822
>scare quotes around "constructive criticism"
Then show me that I'm wrong. All I criticised was:
>Lack of editing
And I don't mean the "stylistic decision", I mean your 2nd release literally had placeholder text in it that wasn't corrected until someone else pointed it out.
>Lack of PR
Ignoring things are a genuine option, but ignoring genuine criticism is a disaster.
>Lack of explanation about the accusations
Once again, I'm just asking for clarification about this supposed doxing and as time goes on as you guys just shout at the guy, the more I, and other people here, think he's on to something.
>>22488841
Your attempt to bury this is disturbing.

>>22488713
the AI Woolstonbot is out of control.

>>22488844
>anal fixation
He's the ex-felon, yes.

>>22488854
Woolston has cloned his own brain and uploaded it to a cloud thus making his shitposts immortal

>>22488849
I'm not indulging the pathetic begging to have your "constructive criticism" acknowledged. Take a hint.

>>22487848
Bro some of those stories are print-only see pic

>>22488844
If Hartley wrote [sic] Muriel's Inturder you might be right

>>22488866
>ex
Is somebody an ex-felon as soon as the felony is over?

>>22488874
Odd. I suspected it earlier but now I'm certain that you write like a negro or a female and so now I'm suspicious. So, I will currently operate under the assumption that you are a malicious actor intending to subvert the staff's goals. So, I will keep an eye on things, such as a genuine response from the staff or an indicator of such. Afterall, we had good correspondance initially.
For the time being, however, I will archive the PDFs, but I will refrain from purchasing, contributing, or promoting this publisher.

>>22488878
>editing screenshots
WEIRD move here. I downloaded the .pdf at the start of this thread and nothing is print only. Have you considered seeking help, this is alarming behavior…

>>22488905
>malicious actor intending to subvert the staff's goals.
You got me. I do this in every thread because they rejected my writing. I bet you actually believed that they doxxed anyone.

>>22488910
Sorry I'm too busy reading Heckin Real Witch to bother with this foolish slander you're accusing me of. Luckily my $20 premium copy of Tales of the Unreal: Vol. 1 No. 2 will arrive next week

>>22488905
>I'm certain that you write like a negro or a female
Unreal was founded by a black man and trans woman who is in an open relationship with another trans woman. While perceptive, your assumptions don't point to what you think they do.

>>22488910
I can corroborate this information (pic related.) I even more so suspect, but not confirm, that >>22488874 >>22488878 is likely the same individual.
>>22488919
I'd been asking for clarification on this supposed doxing. You'd have known this if you weren't illiterate. I suppose if I'm wrong and you are a staff member, you'd be the editor, if they had one.

>>22488905
I'll respond to this post since it seems in good faith

I do genuinely apologize for the quality of Shah of True Bay. Not just the editing, but the release and everything surrounding it was horribly mismanaged, everyone appropriately gave me shit for it, and I was not the editor or involved in any constructive capacity with Islamagood, which is our highest quality release.

Now, I was Head Editor for Tales. What specific issues did you find with the editing? We've recieved a good amount of reviews, on Amazon and GR, but also off platform from people who either purchased or downloaded a PDF. Lots of mixed feedback, which we appreciate and The Editor for Tales 2 did strive to address
However, none of the feedback was about the editing. And as we know from the "riffle" incident, people will let you know if typos or grammatical errors halted their enjoyment

If you mean more dev editing, I don't do that. I also don't go crazy with commas. They're writers, and as long as understanding is preserved, they can stretch the rules of punctuation. Although, blatant misuse is a no no.
Also, in legitimate mags with actual subscribers, nitpicky grammar editing is a rarity, and dev editing is not a thing. If the editor feels that type of thing is needed, the story will not be accepted.

>>22488919
Damn, you jumped some quick at that opportunity.

>>22488910
>>22488928
They're now removed the evidence
Typical...

>that immediate shift to humbly answering the effortposter's questions as soon as he accuses you of being someone you hate
I'm actually impressed by this level of shamelessness. I'm buying a physical copy the second I'm done kneeling.

>>22488931
Well, I appreciate the response, but I have lost interest in the project. I would be a fairly toxic member and I don't want to ruin it. "And nothing of value was lost" is an understandable response. Good luck, I mean it.
>>22488963
I'm not a shitposter, but I am a hardcore racist and transmisia.
>>22488919
>>22488949
You can still go fuck yourself.

>>22488674
I said pretty explicitly that I don't think these projects are going to make any money:
>I don't personally see signs of either [cash or fame].
I was the guy doing the calculations in the last thread. My brief spergout about money was more directed at &amp where I'm dumbfounded about how this guy plans to last giving $50 to every writer for this high culture thing he's betting on. Unreal is honest about running in the red, plus they're decent for having a disclaimer at the start of Tales 2 about writers maintaining keeping their rights. I'm just conservative about that kind of thing I guess.

>>22488630
I can sympathize with that, but that's more a matter of being personally naive. Maybe I shouldn't have downplayed how frustrating it might be, but having your name exist in obscure association with (your own or others') bad work isn't a big deal as far as I'm concerned. My bigger point is that it's tough for projects like this to improve if things are operated like that indefinitely.

>>22488949
>>22488928
>>22488878
KEK. I'm amazed this got people so butt hurt. 10/10.

>>22488997
Thank you, would you believe me if I told you it's not even my first week at this?
Here I thought they'd ignore it given how little reaction I got to the fake store page but maybe nobody was on high alert yet
>$13.99
>"the penelties of meddling in witchcraft"
>Reading age : 9 - 12
>the fake double post with location censored
It's sad to see my masterwork overlooked
Right place wrong time

But there's gold left to mine with K.R. Fartley's Inturder and Heckin Real Witch

>>22488997
Kiss my arse kisd my fucking arse my life wife left me there’s more to life

my wife done and did it she kicked my arse out. I miss her I love my wife.

My wife's new boyfriend hates me he's respectable and got a good job.He can kiss my arse too. I'll win her back too much time at the club is my proble,m. Now kiss my arse I'm drunk

>>22489111
Liverpool > Man City

>>22488804
How about you kiss my arse Hartley. Aren't you supposed to be in jail anyway. Say what you want about Gardner being a coward, he's strong enough to know to not hit a woman.

Gardner won.

Gardner always wins. Now kiss my arse.

>>22489116
That was me Gardner sorry I am not relevant enough to be noticeable I just write shit books and work shit jobs while you retire in rich penthouses. lol Sorry for not being more noticeable.

>>22489130
Sounds like a you problem, have you ever thought about not being so fucking pathetic. Thought South America would have filled you in a bit.

>>22489135
aw shucks Gardner you're right I'm just a big ole loser, please don't send me a DMCA again I'll be good please Gardner!

>>22489138
Not sure why you keep calling me Gardner, but it must be lonely to think that all of us anons are your imaginary friends. No, I am not famous author F Gardner, but I respect the hell out of him unlike dead beats who fuck around in South America and Canadian wife beaters.

Doordash won't give me any more orders after Gardner filed a bunch of fake reviews. It's not fair bros..

>>22489142
aw gee Gardner how can I be more like you I know your him. I really like the guy and just hate being such a loser. Got any advice.

>>22489146
Yeah you can kiss my arse

>>22486665
what did Steve think?

>>22489177
He gave infinite money glitch by James Krake a 5/5 check it out

>>22489116
Gardner /can't/ hit a woman–that faggot only associates with surgically mutilated she-males.

Gardner won.

>>22489177
he's gay? wtf

>>22488797
No one doxxed Ari. He published stuff in &amp under his full name so he had willingly made that information publicly available already. The info that was posted about him was shit that anyone could find in ten seconds through a google search, none of it was private information. Its his own fault for being a Discord tranny with bad opsec.

>>22489142
>I'm not Gardner
Just keep telling yourself that. We wish you weren't Gardner, either.

>>22489291
>we posted pictures of him and his mom because it was easy

>>22489291
Psychotic post.

>>22489301
No one ever posted anything about his mom or his family.

>>22489305
>about
Very intentional wording you have there Melville.

>>22489309
Not your gay Discord friend. This is common sense, if you care that much about being anonymous then use a fucking pseudonym.

>>22489318
Of course, if you reveal anything about your personal life you deserve to be doxxed by a psychotic, disproportionately Jewish group of discord trannies (literal). It's just a coincidence that they all hated him. They'd have done it to anyone.

>>22489291
Is this Ari guy a Jew?

>>22489142
>I am not famous author F Gardner
lol lmao even

>>22489341
No, but the guy who doxed him is.

ngl I like the Unreal guys, they have a cool project
all the 'criticism' is nothing but whining

Guys, isn't this supposed to be about the authors? Not your petty discord feud? A dozen of our authors poured their blood, sweat and tears into propping you up and you repay the favour by using their work as a soapbox to shout about how doxing this guy and his family was actually a lawful good action? I'm starting to understand where >>22488289 is coming from.

>>22489359
What do you have against Jews Gardner

>>22489384
>doxing
lol public info
get new schtick

>>22488289
>I was published in one of the older Unreal anthologies
isn't this just 2 issues in?

>>22489425
No the older issues are irrelevant nobody read them

>>22489400
That's a dangerous precedent to set. You know that just about everything is public info in the U.S, right? Voting records, vehicle ownership, criminal history, debt owed, past and present residence, work history, the entire family tree. I could go on and on. You were unlucky in that your victim was Canadian, an area where public information provided by the government only extends to criminal record. But you're also unlucky in the fact that you have a fair number of Americans in your ranks, right?

>>22489439
If it's legally findable online then it's public record, bucko.

>>22489443
So it would be morally good if everyone from Unreal were doxed? What about the authors that gave you their stories? Assuming this doxer was using public information only, obviously.

>>22489470
>morally good
morally neutral
>gave you
I'm not with Unreal
>Assuming this doxer was using public information
All that's public is their names. See where they take you.

>>22489479
>I'm not with Unreal
Probably a good idea to distance yourself. I'd do the same. I'm not gonna be in the blast radius when one of our hundreds of unhinged anons catches wind of this ongoing debacle.

>>22489439
Irrelevant. If you don’t want people to find your public information then use a pseudonym. Simple as.

>>22489487
Unreal is going to be defunct within the next year lol these threads would have been 404ed immediately if they didn’t have unlimited discord raids

>>22489497
Let's hope whoever makes these authors his bitch has the same conveniently strict definition of public information.

>still no one talking about the stories
Holy shit. I feel so bad for these authors man. I almost want to post some reviews out of pity.

>>22486664
>pay homage to the pulp and golden age of science-fiction writing,
What exactly does that mean what sort of scifi stories would that be?

>>22489534
I suppose they mean this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Science_Fiction

>>22489376
>hey you have a typo
>actually you have a lot of typos
>let me rant you a novella about why said typos are the end of the world
The one ranting was me. Then there was the guy who turned out to be buttblasted because he later realized how much his own writing sucked and nobody fixed it for him (sort of a half legitimate issue). My critique was about more than just Unreal. They've got an okay release schedule and people who pitch in writing consistently, but they give up right at the end when it comes to polishing it. Even a polished turd is better than a regular one, and I do think that they'd really be taking a step up if they could clean up the editing.

The whole external community element of it also seems misguided based off the shit in here, like a weird clique.

>>22489487
>25 ips

>>22489497
I thought their whole thing was some kind of MAD agreement where everybody has doxxed everybody and that allows for this weird international peace. Rumor has it that they found an Italian anon's Furaffinity but so long as he does their formatting and AI prompting they won't tell his mom. Of course he doesn't realise that he's they only one who knows how to handle Amazon KDP, but because he's on Euro hours the Unreal folx just make sure to bump the threads off the board before he can check /lit/ and figure out their secret.

>>22489524
You should read one at random and post a review. It's boring when everyone starts with the same ones. I kinda want to know about Saccharine since an editor said it had some weird style which I may have trash-talked it for. Indulge my laziness is what I'm asking.

>>22489574
>Furaffinity
whats that?

Feels like Unreal aught to keep this isolated to their Discord. No one here seems to have any interest in anything but their drama, Unreal included.

Someone on this board needs to make a better magazine. NOW

>>22489620
let's do it anon

>>22489620
Crab Monthly

>>22489620
Gardner tried. He had raised a bunch of money from his parents, paid anons over $3k for content and design and had an issue ready to go. He had to shelve it because he got a pile of DMCAs from a certain someone, now no anons get to make money on their writing.

can someone submit a story about Lan fighting Dr. Wiley?

>>22489732
lies

>>22489741
Go ask him.

Started reading "I Waterboard Clowns for a Living" and it seems really funny. Pretty sure I read something else from Flower Shop before that was good, so I'm actually looking forward to this one. Luckily it's one of the full pieces included in my trial version of the the Tales 2: DRM Edition djvu file.

>>22489756
The story was dogshit and the pseudonym “Flower Shop” is fucking retarded.

>>22489777
Go to bed, Gardner, you're passe.

>>22489783
>anyone who criticizes us is Gardner
Kys

>>22486664
is it a cucked magazine, or a based magazine?

>>22489797
based

Remember when Unreal spammed cum tribute pics of an &amp contributor in every &amp and Unreal thread for months? No one should support them after the disgusting shit that they’ve done.

>>22489820
source?

>>22489822
I’m not posting links to that shit. Look in the archives at any Unreal or &amp thread from May or June, you’ll find it quickly enough.

>>22489820
we never doxed atlas
ari was the one behind that

>>22489820
lmao based

Gardner won.
Unreal lost.
The authors that contributed to Unreal lost even harder.

>>22489859
The only thing Gardner "won" is a bed in a mental hospital

>>22489899
checked

>>22489899
A bed in his parent’s (soon to be his) mansion, in a room that’s the same size as the trailer you grew up in. Cope seethe and sneed. You lost.

>>22489791
lol

>>22488807
The funniest thing is Melville (going by Vendred) is now soliciting poetry submissions for a poetry anthology. Why are these faggots allowed to do anything but slink away under some rock?

>>22489620
Crabs n Rags

>>22489620
I've started a zine in my city and engaged some /lit/ writers to submit for it. I would encourage anyone passionate about it to just DIY. It's literally never been easier to do, even just something digitally, with a bit of time and effort. Don't rely on people who thrive off sociopathic drama to give you an opportunity. Most major towns and cities around the world have zine communities, just get started.

>>22490079
You the ausfag who had Oggy sub to him?

>>22490064
homie's a chud. He'd post about raping girls in a makeshift dungeon and murdering random New Yorkers, and now they gave him a whole publishing platform kek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2Tf4uF4MyI&t=216s&ab_channel=BlackViewHD

>>22489574
You can find the post about Saccharine here >>22482979

This thread is proof that no one will ever give a shit about Unreal. It’s also proof that Unreal doesn’t give a shit about the people who contribute stories to them. I can’t imagine how the authors feel looking at this thread.

>>22489820
Reddit moment.

Take out an ad, you fugly troons

>>22490445
We're all celebrating the release in the discord you goofy ass nigga, no one is falling for this concern troll shtick

>>22490516
Yeah, I bet it’s a huge party over there. Everyone loves how no one is reading their stories.
>concern troll
What corner of Tumblr did you slink out of?

>>22490445
I’m not going to lie, it is very cathartic to watch Unreal fail this hard. It completely validates my terrible experience with them and shows me with 100% certainty that it was their fault no one read my story at the time. Though as great as that feels, it kills me to know that all this time later they’re putting another string of authors through that same bullshit. Just know that it’s not your fault guys. Your stories are fine, even if Unreal thinks they’re not as interesting as who doxed who and why.

IT'S UP!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9gXGJafAPQ

>>22490572
You know you’re narrowing yourself down to like four authors, right? You think that won’t be narrowed down to three, then two, then one?

>>22490621
>37 subs
Damn bro. My let’s play channel when I was a literal child had more subs then that.

>>22490629
Anon, those were pedophiles trying to groom you

>>22490701
A subscriber is a subscriber.

>>22490621
That was complete trash. Not a single one of you has any presence on the microphone and every "joke" felt like it was read off a script. Each time one of the guys (I can't tell you which one since none of you have any distinguishing features) started speaking I had to skip forward 10-15 seconds.

>>22490621
Stop sharing your videos here, you lisping faggy-voiced homosexual.

>>22488779
in the last &amp thread editor threw
ari under the bus and said he was lazy and a bad communicator. apparently they had a falling out and he cut off contact with ari and is working with atlas instead. editor also said he doesnt think that ari will ever finish the best of and that hes going to make his own version of it in 2024 instead

>>22490621
Fucking based can't wait for the full review

>>22491682
Samefag.

>>22490572
You were nearly sympathetic at the start, but you're so bizarrely bitter. It's okay to feel misled, but being utterly naive was a large part of that. As much as I may feel there are missing pieces to these projects, I don't think Unreal postures so much that you should have been viewing them as a career launcher. Like fuck, did you never peak at the the struggling hundreds of views they had on their Youtube channel? Who was the big name in the interview that wooed you? Did you practice zero due diligence? Maybe if you were in their first ever release it'd be understandable, but if not then you fall into the camp of people who submit blindly without any vested interest in what they're taking part in, which is a pathetic position in itself, especially if you're going to decry it now. How can you jeer at them after admitting how incapable you were? Don't you think someone could point and laugh at you?

>>22489732
I really hope that's true...just desserts after his own DMCA abuse.
FYI, you can download said book for free at https://files.catbox.moe/aw9gz2.pdf

>>22490460
they're giving the book away for free

>>22490709
>you literally whore yourself to pedophiles for subscribers

>>22491979
I still don't believe that DMCA shit wasn't staged along with half the other shit going on back then.

>>22490572
Lol completely mindbroken by the Unreal machine. It is hilarious to see. I skimmed your story because it was boring. No doubt Hartley gave you a RED in the review as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_vd0Xy1sPU&ab_channel=%26

>discord raid after the thread has been dead for hours
This will surely win people over.

>>22492012
some of us have jobs, NEET

>>22492045
This! The first thing I did after my last Door Dash delivery was write out my seething response. Miles pinging the entire Discord with a link to the thread was just a coincidence.

>>22491953
>How can you jeer at them after admitting how incapable you were? Don't you think someone could point and laugh at you?
Go ahead. I understand that I was naive. Looking back now, even I can laugh at myself. I wanted my name in print and ate crow for it. I should have realised that a group of midwits pretending to be bigshot writers had nothing to offer me but lies. Have you read anything by L.A? Legitimate question. It's embarrassing. The painful to read type of embarrassing. I wanted him to tell me my writing was good! I was a fucking moron!
But you know what? I've grown. I stuck to it and moved past my previous stupidity. Not only have I been published multiple times since, in real publications mind you(sad that I even have to specify this around here), but I have a job in the industry now. Not a shitty little penny-per-word rag but an actual salary with multiple layers of advancement. I'm in the process of making it... something that no one at Unreal can say.
So yeah, I give you full permission to laugh at the me of yesterday, just try not to interrupt me while I laugh at the Unreal of today.

Though I will admit, It's a bittersweet victory. What they're doing now is worse than what they did to me and I'm sat here watching half a dozen analogues of the previous me suffer it. I wish only the best for my fellow anon and it kills me to see any of them stumble into the same shit I have, knowing that shit like this >>22490625 may find them too.

>>22492219
neato

>>22492219
Lol
Not true btw

Also you are gay

>>22492219
so what did they do to you? what lies did they say?

>>22492249
I'll assume that's a supportive neato.

>>22492348
You're welcome to believe whatever you want. I have nothing to prove to you. I don't place an atom of my self worth on the opinion of a failure to launch fast food worker with a pathological need to dox at the slightest slight. You guys need to stop playing dress up and move on with your lives.

>>22492219
This is hilarious. Utterly seething. Please describe in what exact way your Unreal submission harmed you? How on earth could it be such a major mistake? Like your gay little story got put in a gay little PDF. The end. How can you be in here mega posting about the whole thing fucking LMAO at you.

>>22492378
>move on with your lives.
You're in here posting about it years later.

>>22492373
They didn't even read the story I sent in, published it with every mistake present despite promising proper editing from multiple people. This may sound petty, but as someone new to the art form at the time, it wasn't to me. If this was an outlier I'd likely have shaken it off, but now, seeing this, I can tell it's just one piece of an issue that is still ongoing.
Look at the state of this thread and tell me they care about our authors. Tell me that this is better, not worse than the issue I described above. The staff have put more effort into doxxing me then they have into promoting the authors. It's all about them and their ego.
This isn't about us. Unreal just want to dress up as something they're not. They have no passion for anything else.

>>22492395
I'm in here years later as a better person. You're not.

>>22492465
Faggot. If you sent in shit that was riddled with mistakes then you haven’t got a leg to stand on. If you were a decent writer you’d have edited your own shit and gotten rid of the mistakes before submitting. You made the mistakes, not Unreal. No one cares who you are, and no one is interested in doxxing you. We just want to write and read each other’s writing.

>>22492513
>If you were a decent writer you’d have edited your own shit and gotten rid of the mistakes before submitting.
Do editors just not have to edit now? Even when they promise to do so? I'll have to bring that up to my editor tomorrow, I'm sure he'll appreciate this industry secret you've been keeping to yourself all this time.
>No one cares who you are, and no one is interested in doxxing you.
Sure, just narrowing down who I am. Is it still on four suspects or are are you down to three yet?

>>22492219
Unironically if you want “/lit/ clout” the person you should be trying to impress is the fast-food failure to launch (which, if I have my lore correct, is Zulu and not LA). His actual writing is midwit (at best) but I’ve noticed the stuff he promotes tends to get traction. He was the first to pick up on Mixtape Hyperborea and convince everyone else to read it, and the stuff he promoted for &amp 017 was well-received. I don’t know if it’s because he has an eye for good writing or just an abundance of e-charisma or whatever but if he likes your stuff then you’re probably doing something right. Then again, /lit/ clout is a very pathetic thing to want for yourself.

>>22492513
This is the most immature bullshit take I have seen in a while.
I used to be the editor for a small news website. I know as well as any of you that writers put out unfinished shit work. I know, they suck. But when push comes to shove and the deadline is up my job is to make that shit readable, not to be the winner of an impromptu fucking popularity contest between me and the writer. Grow the fuck up and do your one job. Stop blaming your underling with your fucking chest puffed out like it makes you look hard. Larping faggot.

>>22492662
I want /lit/ clout.
How would i go about contacting Zulu?
What do i have to do to make him like and promote my work?
Would it involve sexual favours?

>>22492465
>published it with every mistake present despite promising proper editing from multiple people
I'm not defending the Unreal fags, but what the fuck are you doing submitting stories with mistakes? You have to fix those yourself before you submit it. Unreal fucked up by not noticing and not reading your story, but you fucked up by submitting an unfinished story. A normal publisher trashes stories with spelling and grammar errors.

>>22492772
small news website editing is a fundamentally different thing than literature editing
you're comparing being a fry cook with being a pastry chef

>>22492772
"grow the fuck up and do your job"
was daddy rough on you?

theres conflict brewing between the &amp and unreal discord trannies, prepare for an influx of shitflinging

>>22492897
Post caps.

>>22492842
>small news website editing is a fundamentally different thing than literature editing
Yeah, I'm sure you have a very convincing argument as to why throwing your authors under the bus is preferable to getting off your ass.
>you're comparing being a fry cook
Write what you know. I like it! Points deducted for the food analogy though.

>>22492904
nah but ill summarize. editornigger is simping for atlastroon, he announced that he left the /wg/ server in protest over her not being allowed in and said he wont go back until the unrealcucks unban her. then atlastroon spilled her spaghetti and posted this long unhinged essay in the &amp server defending herself. zulufag is trying to mediate.

>>22492935
Unreal are right. Atlas is a ticking time bomb that has already gone off two dozen times. She does good work on &amp but you'd be insane to interact with her beyond that.

>>22492935
>long unhinged essay
What she said was pretty measured IMO.

>>22492942
And you know this how?

>>22492935
No, now... She insulted him a little bit. She got a little out of order herself.

>>22492945
>And you know this how?
Am I wrong?

>>22492935
Someone post the Atlas copypasta.

>>22492951
Nah she didn't insult nobody

This thread is like an Unreal greatest hits album.
>threatening to dox
>defending previous doxxing
>throwing an author under the bus
>50 post argument with the author that you threw under the bus
>shilling personal Youtube channels
>pinging their discord with calls to raid
>shitting on Atlas for literally no discernible reason
The only thing we're missing is posting Atlas' or Ari's faces. Everyone would hit their bingo at that point.

>>22492977
It was revenge for Atlaspherea and a lot of other things. And there was nothing we could do about it. Atlas was a made man, and Ari wasn't. It was among the editors. Real canadian shit.

>>22492967
> I just want to make it clear that while I appreciate @&amp MagazineTM’s willingness to stand up for me, I did not ask him to leave /wg/ or to intercede on my behalf. I understand why I was banned and why people may be reluctant to trust me.

> I agree that his grievances are legitimate, but I want to make it clear that I confessed everything that I did several months ago, apologized, and have done my best to make amends. I don’t think it’s fair of Het to share screenshots of private DMs that we exchanged while I was in a moment of crisis in an effort to discredit me and cast aspersions regarding my sanity. I’ll add that he himself chose to initiate that DM conversation by reaching out to me and offering his advice about my situation. Also, he and other members of the Unreal server were far from innocent in what happened. They perpetuated the drama by posting inflammatory content in threads, and played a role in the mental health crisis I was dealing with by hounding me for months after the initial situation ended in February. It seems a bit unjust for me to be permanently banned for what I did, while others (I won’t name names) who did things that were equally detrimental to the community are permitted to stay.
>Also, let’s keep in mind that the individual who acted as the catalyst to all of the drama that I participated in is no longer involved with &amp or Unreal, meaning that there is zero incentive on my end for the drama to continue. I’m not a malicious actor who just seeks to stir the pot for fun; I acted the way that I did because I was dealing with a serious emotional crisis at the time. My intention was never to hurt anyone or to fracture Unreal, although that doesn’t fully absolve me of responsibility for what happened. I’ll also say that there were certain claims made about me in the Unreal server that were categorically false, and I was never given the opportunity to defend myself.
>I don’t think that it makes sense for Het’s personal judgement to outweigh all others or for him to have veto power. It seems like it would be more fair to put it to a vote. But of course, none of this is up to me, and I don’t want to rejoin the community if people resent my presence. I’ll leave it at that.

>>22492996
>I don’t want to rejoin the community if people resent my presence.
Do you need a notarised letter informing you of this? Read the room.

>>22492951
DeNiropilled

>>22493006
Heteronymic is benign and unimportant and has very little to do with the artistic output of past or future /unreal/ projects. His arguments against Atlaspherea are emotional and gay. He is either a faggot or a woman. The Amp editor is also a faggot for leveraging his influence on behalf of a woman. You all have one job: print stories and stfu

>>22489359
Buckley? or Heteronymic?

>>22492897
>>22492904
Here's the rundown.
In the very near future there will be a serious conflict and falling out that will make every other "incident" suffered by the press look like a mole hill. There are two sects that are currently using the Unreal Press name that are totally disconnected from each other.
Old Unreal consists of the original founders and was in charge of output up until Tales 2 which, due to its more niche subject matter and the ambitious output required the recruiting of more writers and editors. This resulted in people like Miles and Zulu and Slip coming into the picture. When lead Unreal editor RhymeAndGrind abandoned the scene there was a vacuum. Tales 2 was headed by Miles and what we'll call "New Unreal" while a separate literary anthology was being worked on concurrently by members of Old Unreal. There is little agreement between them, little communication, unity of values, or indeed intersection of members. Probably the only contributor with toes in both pots is LA Labuschagne and, problematically (and now quite pertinently) the newly returned RhymeAndGrind. The incoming disaster will consist of whoever gets to use the name of Unreal Press and its associated name weight and popularity. As of now there has been a tacit coexistence between the two groups, largely because of Old Unreal's belated and desultory output. But once they decide to put something out, that coexistence will end. I predict a splintering into Unreal Press and a new named press but beyond that I cannot foretell the consequences of the fall out beyond serious doxxing and life ruination.

>>22493532
RhymeAndGrind has abandoned his dream of becoming a literary kingpin and is now trying to open a roadside BBQ stand using his family's secret BBQ spice recipe passed down from generation unto generation. but word on the street is that F. Gardner caught wind of the idea and is also attempting to open his own restaurant while the iron is hot.

>>22493566
Now this is gay edrama worth chuckling about.

>>22493505
Melville. Though Het is also Jewish and did spread the dox around just as much. I suspect Het is the one who doxed Atlas, though he’ll probably blame Melville for that one as well.
Buckley is a Chinese furry and seems mostly innocent.

>>22493905
who are you?

>>22493921
Don’t worry about it.

>>22493186
It doesn’t matter how important he is. He’s right. Atlas is dangerous and unhinged. She’s the source of this drama and she’ll do it again.

>>22493905
>I suspect Het is the one who doxed Atlas
he's too far benign and unimportant to do something that relevant desu

>>22493936
>she’s the source of this drama
Didn’t you dox her for literally no reason? Fuck off Het.

>>22493950
He’s talked about doxing people in the past and says he knows how to. I believe he did it.

>>22493950
We know he has the motivation to dox her. Even someone as “benign” as Het can still dox someone. He is Jewish, right?

>>22493974
>He is Jewish, right?
i think he is chinese.

I don’t care. Atlas deserved to be doxed. If Het did dox her then that makes me like Het more, not less.

Here's the review no one asked for.

The Water Nymph: Comes across as a young teen's attempt at Poe-era Gothic. Unoriginal and predictable.
Vantablack: Voluminous details about the aftermath of a catastrophe, yet it never becomes interesting. A more feeble attempt at Gothic than the previous story.
Sleep of the Diviner: Another plotless, adolescent attempt at Poe-era Gothic.
Before They Fall: Some sort of apocalypse. For a change of pace, a degenerate incel's attempt at Poe-era Gothic.
Muriel's Intruder: At least there was some action, and it came across as written by a grownup, but the suspense and dramatic tension, in the end, went nowhere.
Colder Than Ice: Decent action and suspense, vivid descriptions, and not too bad of an ending (assuming I understand it).
Ruby Dagger: Unfocused and derivative. At least it was short.
Saccharine: Absolutely choked with bad grammar and odd word choice. Unreadable. (/unreal/ claims it's intentional, meant to evoke Eastern-to-Western translations errors. Seems borderline racist.) I'm not even sure what happened, and am not interested enough to find out. Why did this atrocity have to be so LONG?!?! As awful as F Gardner; he should sue for plagiarism.
The Trees: Uninteresting slice-of-life combined with schizo ranting. At least it was short.
Hecksin & the Real Witch: Not the most original premise I've encountered, but decently written, actually suspenseful, and actually held my interest. On the down side, the opening line should be submitted to Bulwer-Lytton. Also, Ozzy bit the head off of a dove; he merely put the bat into his mouth, and both only happened once, not "every night".
Portraits Of St. Kevin's: The young teen attempting Poe-era Gothic is back. At least it was short.
The Sub: A horny teen attempting Poe-era Gothic.
I Waterboard Clowns for a Living: Pretty much what the title says, but decently written, and a great metaphor for how awful it is to work for a living.
The Marlinspike: Average ghost story, but decently written.
Stampede of the Protestants: Average "Twilight Zone" episode. Random ending.
Nightshift: A loser's slice-of-life with a random ending.
Mouths: Average "Twilight Zone" episode.

>>22494277
Fuck off Boswell. Your reviews are not welcome or wanted. Work on your own writing instead of shitting on your superiors.

>>22494297
Haha you're wrong, again

When are you not

You fannies

>>22494306
You're not one of us just because you dislike Gardner. Get lost.

>>22494297
Literally who?

>>22492942
Editor trusts her, and so I trust her. She does a lot for &amp.

>>22493905
>>22493974
Ari was the one who doxxed her AFAIK.

>>22493994
Average sociopathic Unrealie moment. She didn’t deserve it.

>>22494325
>Ari was the one who doxxed her AFAIK.
No. That was a lie that Unreal spread around to take the heat off themselves.
Just think about it logically. Ari has known this girl from university for years. If Ari was going to dox her we'd have a lot more than a single photo that was linked her twitter. We don't even know Atlas' real name.

>>22494333
Her first name was on her Twitter.

Is there anyone at Unreal who isn't a complete piece of shit?

>>22494333
If Ari posted information about her that only he had access to, then it would be obvious to everyone that he was the one behind the doxxing. He grabbed a pic from her Twitter so that he could act innocent and blame the whole thing on Unreal. Think about this logically. None of us even cared about doxxing her. The person who hates her the most is Ari. He’s the only one with the motive to doxx her and then spread that cum edit around for months.

>>22494277
Ayy thanks for the good review my nigga

>>22494375
Sure, it's all one big conspiracy theory to make you look bad. Ari, who hasn't done anything to you at all (despite being doxed by you) is suddenly out to get you in the most convoluted way possible.
It's not that Atlas is a black woman who disrupted your discord for months on end, something that you blamed Ari for and used as your singular excuse for doxing him.

>>22494277
Checked and based

>>22494394
>Ari hasn’t done anything.
Wrong. Ari spent months dirsupting our discord by bitching about Atlas like a fag. He deserved what he got. We didn’t even know that she was black until he doxxed her.

>>22494394
fuck off ari coon

>>22494333
That does make sense. Ari would have had her full name, home address and a whole lot more. Would have likely had some saucier pics to share as well.
The fact that they only found out about her face because her Twitter account was found shows that it was Unreal who doxed her. After all, they do love their "public information".

>>22494431
Wasn't that Atlas and another guy who was doing that? Ari had nothing to do with it and you doxed him for nothing, right?

>>22494371
Me

>>22494449
>Ari had nothing to do with it and you doxed him for nothing, right?
This. And that's why you were mad enough to dox Atlas. She tricked you into doxing Ari. The fallout from that destroyed your brand and killed your podcast.

>>22494449
Wrong. Ari was in the discord and spent months complaining about his drama with Atlas incessently to the point that the jannies had to ban him from bringing it up. It was annoying as fuck. He had everything to do with it. You don’t know what you’re talking about.

>>22494474
>we doxed him because he talked about his stalker
You're not making yourself look any less insane.

>>22494478
fuck off ari
no one cares

>>22492996
All of this is pretty based.

Atlas is back. I guess that Editor forced the Unrealies to acquiesce to his demands.

>>22494654
>this just in guys, new updates from Discord
It genuinely makes me sad to think of how butthurt they made you. Tell me how it happened anon. Show me on the doll where unreal touched you.

>>22494732
What do you think this thread is about?

>>22494762
Honestly just once I'd like to read a thread about a project someone does here and enjoy seeing anons talk about the project, like old &amp threads.

>>22486664
>https://unrealpress.substack.com/

Hooray this one has one of my stories in it (Vantablack)

>>22494768
I wasn't around for the older Unreal threads. Was it always a shitshow of attention whores that buried any discussion of the authors or did Unreal have a passion for what they did at one point?

>>22486664

Hooray this one has one of my stories in it (Vantablack)

>>22494778
How do you feel about the fact that there has been more discussion surrounding the people Unreal doxed then there has been discussion around your story? It feels like there is zero interest in the works of our authors, whether it be from Unreal or /lit/ as a whole.

>>22494793

I suppose I'm just happy to be included

>>22494777
Eh, not really. Before the doxing saga they were mostly just a less effective Gardner. They'd post a thread shilling their latest release, it would get 5-12 replies and then it would die. No one really had any interest in it and the anthologies before Tales were no better than what Tales is now.

>>22494793
You just described /lit/ as a whole.
People here don’t read, they don’t like to read. They like to posture and larp and hate each other but they don’t know or care about books. Projects like &amp, Unreal, /lit/ quarterly, annotated Moby dick and the /lit/ renaissance are not for the mass of anons lurking this board, but for the 1% who actually cares about honing skills, engaging in discussion and has a thick enough skin to ignore the rest of this shithole. Fags will continue to seethe, but those one-percenters will keep trickling through and putting their work up here to general abuse and a bit of interest. That’s just how it goes and how it will always be

>>22494818
10/10 bait post.

>>22494777
I mean even in some of their old posts I remember them saying how they were always adamant that the Unreal Press itself be a place for bros to pub their work and have fun. Afaik they pretty rarely came into threads about their podcast and only posted about their books when they released or needed subs. Bought a lot of ads. I think spring was when all the gay Discord drama started leaking into threads. Imo it was weird to see almost out of the blue. Like just one day it was all over the board and it was so fucking gay. I still don't think anyone actually associated with the press were the ones sperging out, but I've been wrong before.

>>22494809
I guess Frater was a notable poster and his association with Unreal might've garnered some attention, as well as some of their podcasts, with Nesmer for example, but that was about it

>>22494820
Look, here’s one of the seethers now. He can’t resist shutting anything remotely
hopeful down with no gain to himself.
Never forget: people like this thrive here. This shithole is made for crabs like this. The rest of the world however belongs to the one-percenters

>>22494818
>Projects like &amp, Unreal, /lit/ quarterly, annotated Moby dick and the /lit/ renaissance are not for the mass of anons lurking this board, but for the 1% who actually cares about honing skills, engaging in discussion and has a thick enough skin to ignore the rest of this shithole.
Explain to me why the quality of the writers seems to have degraded with time if these modern contributors are the cream of the crop of these previous projects?
Compare Mody Dick or Tundra to the shit of today and drink that difference in. It is absurd how far we have fallen.
You are not the "1%". You a pale imitation of the past. A reminder of what was and will never be again.

>>22494843
It speaks volumes that Behead all Satans is still our best book. I remember it getting lambasted over 5 years ago and now it feels like a mark of accomplishment to our board.

>>22494843
>>22494848
Old good, new bad. Come on guys this is been standard since fucking Homer.

>>22494843
Keep reaching for straws, anon. No one gives a fuck. More importantly, if you DID give a fuck about quality of /lit/ works you’d be contributing instead of trying to tear everything down.
You’ve got a real sad grudge, m8. Think of all the things you could accomplish if you just stopped seething

>>22494848
nta, but, regardless of quality, I indeed remember BAS was usually viewed negatively a few years ago, probably because there was no real interest in reading some anon's work and it was considered spam, while now the whole /lit/ author is a thing, and so this one too is revisited. Likewise I wonder if /lit/ will ever again produce an anonymous collaborative work like those of old – it’s hard to imagine happening now.

>>22494793
Do you realise that all those posts you are referencing are made.by eternally seething anons who overdosed on the drama and are screeching about how bad Unreal is? You're doing it right now. You're to blame for why the focus is not on the stories. Unreal is not sitting in here, after announcing their project, screaming about Unreal. It's drama fags and discord lurkers.

>>22494277
I was annoyed at the Water Nymph as the ending was forced, not built up, and gay. The whole time he is LARPing carefully as a Lovecraft/Poe with his voice, presenting a measured and rational explanation of all the events, and then the last paragraph is just some throwaway incident where he states oh no actually I must meet my woman, I will have to go now and meet her! Like, if he had additional skill and attention to detail and the patience to really work on the piece, he could have made sure it reflected more derangement throughout to make it realistic.

>>22494953
What irked me about that story was that the narrator kept referring to his own father by his first name. It broke my immersion.

Shoutout to Charles Dearmore. Just buys the ads and keeps his mouth shut.

>>22494894
>Unreal is not sitting in here, after announcing their project, screaming about Unreal.
This would be a great excuse if Unreal weren't in this very thread fighting with previous authors and justifying their doxing of Atlas and Ari in multiple unhinged rants.

>>22495006
Half of those are me trying to rev that guy who is seething about there being typos in his story lol

>>22495006
We didn't dox Atlas. That was Ari. And that other guy was a fucking idiot. We don't have to edit his story. That's his job. He can't come to me crying about it 2 years after the fact waving his job in front of me and expect me not to shit down his throat. Fuck him and fuck you for thinking I'd care.

>>22495052
>we
If you’re with Unreal post with the trip. Why else would you have one?

>>22495067
Sorry anon but I'm the one narrowing down who you are, not the other way around.

>>22494654
Why is editorfag white knighting so hard for her? Cringe

>>22495082
There’s no need to narrow down who you are. You aren’t Unreal and you’re posing as Unreal. That’s all the info one needs

>>22495139
I appreciate the damage control but it's not necessary. I stand by what I said.

>>22495148
All you gotta do is put on that trip. Should be pretty easy if you are who you say you are

>>22495155
I am the unreal press. AMA.

>>22495098
Two words: JUNGLE. FEVER.

>>22495165
How do you feel about Krake being hired by that black conservative comic book guy?

>>22495174
I'm a huge fan of black republicans and of James Krake so I think it's great news.

>>22492378
>I'll assume that's a supportive neato.
of course

>>22486664
Probably a lil late on this, but how many submissions did this pull or how many submissions did you guys turn down? Getting the material is hard, so have things been improving with each release?

Ignore this part if you want to stir things up, but did controversy have any clear impact on submissions and purchases? I can kinda imagine it bumped up sales, but I don't know what to expect about how many stories you all got.

>>22495174
Eric July?

>>22495595
Most of our stories were just Ai generated

>>22495602
Yup. He posted about it in his Guilded server.

>>22495595
AFAIK they got ~40 submissions and published 17. And yes, the drama threads pump sales because these threads reach bump limit and stay up for 3 days, and even with 50 posters per thread many many more just lurk the thread, but everyone's in agreement that it's not at all worth it. Just a miserable environment and we would rather they talk about basically anything else.

>>22495838
If you don't like it maybe you should stop using your author's hard work as a soapbox to shout why doxing Ari and Atlas was such a super awesome idea. Just a small suggestion.

>>22495838
Really few people bother to read threads in full, so it's not too surprising that the response is effectively just "oh cool a book". There's always some number of totally fresh people checking out these things.

It's almost weird that the doxx shit was pretty much absent from the thread for so long (especially considering the one post right at the start). Woolston posting also picked up at a weird time, which looked like someone trying to bury the ranting. It's weird to read it all given how repetitive it is. Seeing the 49 ips now in comparison to the 23 I saw before makes me think the count is ballooned by specific posters, and while lurkers are going to be a way bigger number, it's probably a smaller ratio than most other topics.

When the whole cast seemed to fall apart in the spring I'd kind of expected that Unreal would just go silent and wait things out while working on things behind closed doors. Of course it was a pipe dream to think that things would simply blow over, but it was evidently a bad move for them to engage in that (and other things). Now it's a weird double edged sword with the popularity and the impossibility of discussion.

40 submissions sounds pretty good considering this had actual word count and theme requirements, even if it's been since February. It also opens up a cast of people who are now vetted and probably willing to contribute consistently.

Preaching vaguely to Unreal is obviously lame, but I think that they could almost be in a good position to go from if it's done right. Putting a focus on their current cohort and ditching any and all 4chan discussion for a while would be a good way to put together a tight release (and for fuck sake please edit it properly). Take off the pressure and keep it internal, even if that hurts the chan cred. Building a small catalog of things and then releasing at once later on could be one way to gain some legitimacy, but would probably hurt sales since anons will just pick and choose rather than buying it all. I kind of suspect that the damage is done though, and the weird signs of internal strife and wacked out allegiances sounds like a genuine death spiral.

>>22495954
We do not want to antagonize 4chan. In fact, a lot of people figure that it's so toxic that we shouldn't even bother
But this is where we're from, and the place where I've found the most interesting writers and people I'll probably ever know. I don't think the majority of tales sales are from these threads, probably not even half, but we make em because there are plenty of anons who are just looking for a project to contribute to that looks fun and is run by people who are somewhat similar to them.

Also, I gotta ask, what are your issues with the editing? People have made vague allusions ITT but I've just never heard anything bad about the editing in either issue. Now, in our prior anthologies? Tons. Non stop. Extremely hostile, especially from writers involved. But we've got a process down and we put in the effort to clean up stories. But they belong to their writers at the end of the day, and it's beyond our station to chop and screw someone else's work.

>>22495972
>We do not want to antagonize 4chan
I'm not saying you should ditch it, just that the current plan isn't working, and that a bigger catalog after a longer time might be more worthwhile to show off on /lit/ before trying to attract new people. I think you can keep it fun while trying to shed the weird mire you're stuck in in these threads.
>place where I've found the most interesting writers and people
Genuinely be careful who you hitch your cart to. As cool or interesting as people might be, you're dealing with strangers and have no system of accountability. I don't even mean this regarding doxx shit, just about who you allow to run or motivate things.
>editing
My honest basis for the editing critique of Tales 2 was finding two errors (or one error and one horrible sentence) in Saccharine immediately after jumping to random lines in it. I'm burnt out on /lit/ writing and when critiquing tend to quit after the first few errors pile up, so I didn't bother after that until looking at the Clown story. This all comes on top of my experience seeing errors pointed out elsewhere, like a big one on the first page (paragraph) of that Frater poem collection. You can say my experience is too shallow, and maybe you're right. I said earlier that I think things look mostly good (design, format), but clearing up the errors will set you apart. No need to do full copyediting, just scanning for errors and keeping things consistent (if punctuation or spelling gets weird, but that's not as important).

Or maybe those two errors I saw were the only errors in there and I should have gone further. You can just ignore me if that's really it.

I lumped you guys in with my critique of &amp, which was sort of out of place, but I'd venture to say also appropriate in a sense. I ranted enough before that I think you can at least glean the thesis of what I'm saying, even if you think it's excessive. Reign things in a bit and clean up the next one, maybe set some longer goals if you don't have any. It's just about tightening it up, I guess.

Sorry I'm rambling and not being more particular, but I have to split.

>>22496010
Fuck, came up with my real answer as soon as I posted:
errors matter because in my experience I tired of dealing with /lit/ writing full of typos and fuck-ups.
Any other consistent reader of /lit/ writing will probably reach a similar point where I'm at with ditching things if I don't think the bar was set high enough (spotting an error, first story is lame, etc.), and I think you need to avoid failing that, otherwise you're always just going to be going after new readers and not keeping repeats.
My experience may not generalize to everyone, but I think it's important.

>>22495954
>Putting a focus on their current cohort and ditching any and all 4chan discussion for a while
As bad as this sounds, not only am I seconding this, but I am extending it. Unreal as an arm of 4chan has failed. It hasn't just been ignored by the average 4chan reader, it has been outright and actively rejected.
Just stick with the group you have now, recruit from other places and advertise there. Branching out may have killed /lit/ quarterly but you have a solid base to branch out with. /lit/ Quartly couldn't say the same.

>>22496010
Do you frequent the /wg/ threads? Your writing style reminds me of posts that I’ve read there recently.

New thread >>22496372

>>22496021
But branching out, here, would mean… calling for generic genrewriters to submit (as Quarterly got generic "literary" writers)?

>>22496021
I'm not saying to drop /lit/ entirely, just to stay away for a bit. Frequent threads with shit discussion will seem somewhat cloying, so it may help their image to come back with more material; more material would lend them some legitimacy if it was all polished nicely.

Maybe these threads (and their 4chan presence) are doomed regardless of how long they wait. That's probably the case, and it's apparent there are people running or steering Unreal and &amp who think it's somehow worth it or at least unimportant.

I've tried to explain before why I think any "serious" project based on /lit/ is sort of doomed unless it grows away from it, But if it's just for fun and to provide people with an outlet, then it can pass, although that level of organization (especially off /lit/) may be antithetical to a certain spirit of 4chan and /lit/.