"The first time we meet Carol, she's in a Dallas Barnes & Noble reading from Bloodsongs of Wycaro, the fourth book in her wildly popular Wycaro series, which follows the adventures of the sand pirate Lucasia and the rogue who has captured her heart. The members of her audience technically aren't the living dead, but they all want a piece of the author. Carol, in turn, is barely able to mask her disdain even as she enjoys the spoils of their adoration."
"Romantasy was the fastest-growing literary genre in the world this year. As a category written primarily by and for women, it's also one that receives a lot of derision: for the cookie-cutter plots, the same-y writing, the repeated ideas. (The genre has been plagued by scandals in which authors have been caught using AI prompts in their work.) Romantasy is easy to mock, and Pluribus does it well."
Pluribus is a postapocalyptic drama where an alien virus absorbs people's personalities into a collective consciousness called the Others, erasing individuality. Carol Sturka is one of 13 immune people who must stay free from the Others while having survived a different 'zombie' encounter earlier. Carol appears at a Dallas Barnes & Noble reading from Bloodsongs of Wycaro, the fourth entry in her wildly popular Wycaro series, and reacts with disdain even as she benefits from fan adoration. The series uses Carol's role as the creator of romantasy worlds to critique formulaic genre conventions and AI-driven scandals. The narrative emphasizes critical thinking and resistance to hive-mind convenience.
Read at The Atlantic
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