Your assignment for today is: think of the worst literary genre clash you can, and write a review for a hypothetical book that is the bastard offspring of these genres. I'll go first :-
Chick Lit/Sci Fi - "Darcie"
This book seemed to be a promising tale of a late twentysomething girl named Darcie. She first missed out on a promotion, and then lost her job as a reporter at a small local newspaper in America's heartland. Her longtime boyfriend Rich then dumped her, with the scathing remark that she is a golddigger. At a crossroads in her life, Darcie must decide whether branch out into new horizons in search of new life experiences, when she accidentally stumbles on a portal to a the universe in an abandoned mine. At this point, questions of her attitude towards men and the potential for starting a family go out of the window, as she is drawn into a tense confontation between two galactic superraces. As they become aware of the existence of human beings, the question becomes which race will be the first assimilate themselves with human DNA. Darcie's viability as a DNA donor arise as she is probed in every way imaginable. Meanwhile, the tension between the Lefties and the Righties, named for which side of the galaxy they inhabit, boils over into all-out war, fought with weapons that threaten to tear apart the very fabric of existence.
When I first picked up this book, that had somehow made its way past my wall of interns, my expectations were not high. This was good, as it is manages to somehow be trashy and a terrible example of both its genres. Put it all together, and the result is an incoherent mess. Why, for example, did Rich eventually side with the Righties, when he didn't even know about the Portal? This is total drivel, and truly awful fiction. My only regret in the digital age is that e-books can't be burned.
-The New York Times
