Ben Aaronovitch > Quotes > Quote > Jen liked it

This quote was from Rivers of London, NOT Midnight Riot

They're the same book...the American publisher's title is Midnight Riot, the British one is Rivers of London. I have no idea why they made the swap; Rivers of London is definitely a better title.

Carly wrote: "They're the same book...the American publisher's title is Midnight Riot, the British one is Rivers of London. I have no idea why they made the swap; Rivers of London is definitely a better title."

I know. It is a better title. I only put the original comment because i was annoyed that the stupid dropdown list to select the book its from didn't give me the option to select the original title rather than the US title.

I think the series itself has a different name here than in the US too, doesn't it?

Possibly...I don't know if the series even has a name in America. Actually, there's something significantly more disturbing about the American version: they whitewashed the cover to try to appeal to American audiences. WTF.

That's disturbing. They have a black president but they still can't show a black guy on the cover? Wtf?? Shows how messed up america still is on the issue of race.

Did a little checking and in america it's known as the "Felix Castor" series, whereas here it's the "Rivers of London" series.

Jonathan wrote: "That's disturbing. They have a black president but they still can't show a black guy on the cover? Wtf?? Shows how messed up america still is on the issue of race.

Did a little checking and in ame..."
Meh, I'm an American and although I think we have a serious problem with endemic racism--having a black president is a step forward, but it can't magically remove over two centuries of institutionalized discrimination and marginalization--I think the publishers underestimate the American people. Yeah... hard to imagine being able to underestimate the American people, but I think it's possible, especially by the American publishing industry.

They might call it the Peter Grant series here (talk about an awful series name)...Felix Castor is a different series, by Mike Carey (first book: The Devil You Know).

Peter Grant not Felix Castor lol. Getting myself confused. It's cause i've been looking at them both recently after you recommended them trying to decide which to read first lol.

I wasn't trying to tar all americans with the same brush, particularly bearing in mind the fact that the article you linked to was written by an american (as far as i can tell) and we have plenty of racism to go around over her too, just look at the BNP policies/MO but i can't imagine a publisher over here white washing a book cover. I didn't even know it happened until you showed me that article. It is disgusting that it happens though. Although as you say thats more the publishers being racist.

Personally i wish Obama could be the UK prime minister as well as US president lol. He would definitely be better than David Cameron, although that isn't really saying much considering that Mayor Joe Quimby from simpsons would make a better politician than David Cameron. Obama is seriously cool though lol.

haha no worries....probably like most Americans, mockery of our mother country is an enjoyable pasttime. Racism is indeed still alive in America, but I think it's really awful that publishers go out of their way to cater to such discrimination. It would be interesting to see whether other publishers do similar things to populations that their country discriminated against--e.g. the UK and India or Egypt. For comparison, consider the UNICEF teaching cartoon Meena, which used to be played everywhere in the "3rd world". Everyone person in Meena's world who acts as a mouthpiece of the wisdom of UNICEF (her teacher, her parents, the doctor, etc) have very, very light skin. I talked to someone who said that this was probably intentional, due to status/caste stereotypes in India and certain areas of South America--I guess that particular area of education wasn't a priority for UNICEF.

Heh, most of my news comes off the BBC and during the election, I found it hilarious when they were acting superior to us, saying that someone like Romney would never have been accepted by the British public. Really, is having a coalition government with Cameron and his little dog Clegg better than Romney? Really? I kind of see them as quite similar...

I dunno, like most people here I'm sort of depressed about politics. Obama is a great demagogue and he doesn't embarrass us on the world stage, but his policies aren't helping our economy and he hasn't fulfilled a lot of his promises. He's a politician, so that's to be expected, but one thing I deeply cared about was Gitmo, and despite swearing up and down that he would close it, it's still there....

I never saw the acting superior thing. Although i watched the results for the election on CNN rather than the BBC. There's a rather stuffy attitude towards politics by most British media. The Cameron Clegg bromance is hilarious because of their stupidity, so for that reason alone i'd keep them.

Virtually all reporting that i saw about Romney over here had a negative light, whereas Obama is always reported in a positive light. I'm sure that if i lived in the US and saw fairer reporting on Obama and Romney i wouldn't have been quite so sure who i wanted to win.

I didn't even realise than gitmo was still open. The last time i heard about it was in an article in the paper where it said Obama had ordered it to be closed. I guess that wasn't true.

I suppose at the end of the day a politician will always be a politician and they'll never change that much.

Jonathan wrote: "I never saw the acting superior thing. Although i watched the results for the election on CNN rather than the BBC. There's a rather stuffy attitude towards politics by most British media. The Camer..."
Welp, our media is relatively unflinchingly biased--they don't report about failures like Gitmo any more now that Obama is in charge. His "changed mind" about that and other campaign promises were reported sparingly in small print and back pages in the first few months, then never again. But for the issues I care about, I check occasionally.

I love the British take on their own politics--for all they laugh at everyone else's political leaders, they laugh more at their own. They even reported about Nick Clegg's Apology Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUDjRZ.... I gotta say, that's one way Clegg tops any American politician--catch our leaders apologizing for anything at all....