Fads in publishing

[steuard]

I've enjoyed reading a lot of David Weber's books over the past few years. They're not fine literature, but they're usually fun (well, not Storm from the Shadows: ugh). That being said, I just spotted the following description for his upcoming novel Out of the Dark:

Earth is conquered. The Shongairi have arrived in force, and humanity’s cities lie in radioactive ruins. In mere minutes, over half the human race has died.

Now Master Sergeant Stephen Buchevsky, who thought he was being rotated home from his latest tour in Afghanistan, finds himself instead prowling the back country of the Balkans, dodging alien patrols and trying to organize the scattered survivors without getting killed.

His chances look bleak. The aliens have definitely underestimated human tenacity—but no amount of heroism can endlessly hold off overwhelming force.

Then, emerging from the mountains and forests of Eastern Europe, new allies present themselves to the ragtag human resistance. Predators, creatures of the night, human in form but inhumanly strong. Long Enemies of humanity… until now. Because now is the time to defend Earth.

The description sounds like vintage Weber, right up until I broke down laughing in the middle of the final paragraph. Seriously, folks. Hasn't this particular fad run its course yet? (Also, this sounds typical of Weber to the point of parody: it's exactly the blurb I would have come up with if someone had jokingly asked what sort of vampire story he'd write.)

When I shared this with Kim, she was immediately reminded of an amusing brief story on the Onion recently: 'Minotaurs The New Vampires' Says Publishing Executive Desperate To Find New Vampires.

[It sounds like Out of the Dark was originally a short story. One reviewer described it as follows: "A fast-paced, well-written story up until the last two pages, when it goes completely bonkers with an ending that explodes the corn-o-meter. If you can swallow the premise of the finale, this is a fun story." Sounds about right.]