The Eye Of Argon

Author: Theis, Jim
So infamously bad that's its good. This short story has been a running joke for the past several decades and is actually quite infamous at various science fiction conventions and among writers. There's a running debate about whether this is actually a real story written by an eager 16 year old, or if it's a satire on the genre written by a collective group of real, published authors. Apparently, it's so bad that people actually publish copies just to laugh at it! The book famously breaks just about every "don't do" literary rule in the book. The sad thing is that there are actually some real writers like Goodkind and Newcomb who come pretty close to actually writing stories that fall pretty close to the level of badness The Eye of Argon evinces. If you're curious, you can read the hilarious annotated online version here:  http://www.bmsc.washington.edu/people/merritt/books/Eye_of_Argon.html

Booklists having this book

The Worst Fantasy Books Ever

This list contains the books you should generally, in my opinion, avoid. Some of the authors who published this crap should never have been published, while the others should be... Read more

News