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Post by havekrillwhaletravel on Sept 2, 2022 8:13:40 GMT -6
This game is inspired by a Borges short story (The Approach to Al-Mu’tasim). Write a short, fictional review (the more hilarious the better) of the fictional book in the post above you. Then, write the synopsis of a fictional book (the more hilarious the better) for the next poster to review.
To start …
Title: Moby Dick - An Updated, Edited Edition
Author: Herman Melville
Synopsis: Ever wonder what Moby Dick would be like if the dull parts were taken out? So did Herman Melville!
In this newly discovered manuscript, Melville radically altered the text of his classic novel. Gone are the boring bits. That’s right. No more stuff about Ishmael and Captain Ahab. What remains is the stuff everyone loves: the engrossing, intricate sections on whaling.
Melville spent a decade revising this edition of Moby Dick, adding new (at the time) research and extensive footnotes.
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Post by Caulder Melhaire on Feb 13, 2023 16:14:44 GMT -6
I have not ready Moby Dick in YEARS, and I'm pretty sure I read the abridged version at that. Which probably serves me well for this challenge. 
Five Stars: 20,000 Leagues Across My Imagination!
As a mechanical engineer turned marine biologist because the math was just way too hard, I was delighted to begin my journey into the aquatic sciences with this gorgeously edited tale. The updated edition is reminiscent of Tolkien's Silmarillion, if his first couple ages had been dominated by pointy-eared belugas and a finback with a penchant for ugly gold jewelry. Melville completely scrapped Captain Ahab's tiresome lust for that white whale (get a room already, you two!) to focus on the historical bits that readers like myself really care about.
Gone is Ishmael vomiting his seasick way onto the Pequod, instead replaced by Dr. N. R. Wahl's riveting two-chapter lecture on the anatomy of the blowhole. Further on, we get three whole chapters on the science of polishing a spear for maximum aerodynamic efficiency! Indeed, this edit is filled with wonderful insights into the history of whaling, including the Five-Year Blubber Fires of 1846, and the Icelandic method of dropping massive stones through the ice to stun unsuspecting whales and make it easier for them to spear while they were shivering from all that cold.
My only complaint is that every few chapters are interrupted by pages of needless sea shanties, one of which appeared to be Missy Elliott's early 2000's smash R&B hit, Work It, edited into shanty format? I'm guessing it was just a copyediting error, or a quick fix for a coffee stain spilled over the original manuscript. Either way (again: Tolkein) I found myself flipping through the pages in aggravation to get back to stuff like the legends of sapphiregris, emeraldgris, and opalgris, which used to be commonly found inside of all whales until the ambergris whales attacked and killed off the genetic line.
Title: The Scarlet Letter: Vol. 2 Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne Synopsis: This thriller, ghostwritten by Nathaniel Hawthorne's cousin, takes us inside the world of Pearl Prynne, Hester Prynne's daughter. 20 years after her mother's death, Pearl has blown ever last ha'penny of her inheritance. In The Scarlet Letter: Vol. 2, she puts together a crew of Northeastern misfits for a heist that could turn all of their fortunes around. But what she finds along the way could prove to be more valuable than minted copper and gold could ever be...
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You add them to your profile as you do them around the forum.
