1/2 Star
Book 3 in the Ware Tetralogy
The following post will contain gross descriptions, etc. It was that kind of book so this will be that kind of post. There will also be frank discussions of sex and various fetishes. You have been warned appropriately.

Wheewoo, wheewooo, wheewooooo!
In my actual review I didn’t get too detailed because I was still dealing with the disgustingness of the book and didn’t really want to go there. But since these SaBB posts aren’t real reviews, but introspective lookbacks, I figure I can let it all out, kind of like the author did.
First off, I was actually enjoying this series back in 2014. Software and Wetware were of the “Weird” variant of SF and while it shouldn’t have worked for me, it just did. I have no idea why, but I was really enjoying something that was just plain Out There.
Then I got to Freeware and things went too far and it was the end of the line for me. Rucker had always had a thing for sex in his books, but in this one he really went into “get some therapy” kind of territory.
I’m not a fetishist kind of guy. Pretending to be someone I’m not, dressing up in costumes, pretending I’m an animal, wearing latex, none of that appeals to me. What also doesn’t appeal to me is pissing during sex or pooping in or on your partner. Or rubbing feces all over each other.
So when Rucker has some of his characters dress up in latex, use a clear latex sheet and then poop on each other, piss on each other and get turned on by it? Well, that is not just disgusting, it is also perversity of mind and body. Sex is like any other appetite and if not properly used and controlled, will spiral out of control. That is the part of the Fallen Nature of humanity but I don’t want my mind filled with sewage and so I cut the book off right away.
And I wasn’t even comfortable enough at the time to write all that out in my review. But obviously I haven’t forgotten it.
I’m just going to end this by saying, who thinks that any of that is a good idea? Who writes that and thinks it is a good idea? Who reads it and thinks it is a good idea?
- SaBB – An Enemy Reborn
- SaBB – Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
- SaBB – Shadows Rise
- SaBB – The Boy and the Peddler of Death
- SaBB – The Space Vampires
I really like that you’ve read it and told me about it, because I know it’s one I won’t touch – not even with the longest bargepole in history. Bits and pieces of such stuff, in discussions or off-stage, but not centre-stage.
thanks.
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Another victim prevented from harming themselves with a bad book.
Dun-da-dun!
My job here is done!
😉
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Sounds like a video that circled around years ago, that everyone got dared to watch.
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That whole fiasco should have seen everyone involved hunted down and “disappeared”…
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Read books 1 & 2 in the mid-90s, fully intending on reading this when it was released, and then completely forgot about it. PHEW
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Yeah, you dodged a bullet there! 😀
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Oh wow, yep, I’ll make sure to stay away from this one
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Yep, you do not want to go into this 😀
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Also, whoever thought it’d be a good idea to publish something like that?
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I know, right? It boggles the mind!
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So I read the phrase “get some therapy kind of territory” and thought, yeah I’ve read that… and then I read your description and realised that, nope, I’ve not read anything like that. Not even close. THANK GOODNESS. Don’t plan to either- because eww. Just eww. Also why does this exist- WHY??!?!?! Honestly a bit queasy now and mentally committing the name of this book to memory so I know to AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE. I haven’t got the faintest idea how you survived this one.
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I know I survived because I put it in a box deep in my mind and put the key away. It wasn’t until I was checking out my 1/2stars in Calibre that it all came rushing back. So in another month or 3 I’ll have forgotten all about it again 🙂
And doesn’t it boggle the mind that something like this ever gets out in public? I know that people are really messed up, reading any “personal” pages on sites like Craigslist will show you that, but in a book? Inconceivable! 😀
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Oh gosh I bet- it sounds like an absolute nightmare. I get what you mean- it takes a while to erase stuff like this from memory, but it does fade eventually.
haha I genuinely have *no idea*. Honestly, sometimes I don’t understand people at all. But maybe that’s because I haven’t ever gone on sites like Craigslist 😉 (that’s a rabbit hole I *do not* want to go down)
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Oh my – I feel like I need to ask if you’re okay. This sounds like a traumatic read!!
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I survived by Denial. My mind completely forgot that I’d ever read this. Until I went sorting through my 1/2star reviews in Calibre. Then it all came back.
But I should be just fine in a couple of months, once I forget it all over again 😀
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😮😮 omg….pooping on each other 😷
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Not sure if it indicates a lust for control or a jadedness that needs boundaries pushed ever farther and farther away.
Either way, it’s disgusting isn’t it?
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I can’t even imagine wanting to do that 😂😂 Yes, disgusting!!!!
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*throws up in mouth a little*
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Pretty much 😦
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When I saw you ‘biohazard’ warning I giggled, because I thought you were simply going to warn us about bad writing, nonexistent characterization or unforgivable plot holes. Then I reached the actual description and… well, I was even more dismayed than the Minion! 🙂
That author needs indeed some therapy. Right now…
Thanks for the warning!!!! 😉
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Yeah, that minion pix definitely portrayed how I felt!
You are welcome 🙂
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Wow. I should have heeded the warning signs and not read this so close before dinner.
It’s not likely that the book will cross my path again, but if it does I know to put some rubber gloves on first. And maybe a mask would not go amiss either.
Thanks for the warning. I hope you manage to recover from this soon.
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Yeah, it was my first, and I’m really hoping, my last, SaBB where I have to put up an actual warning. I had forgotten just how bad this was
😀
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You know, it’s books like these that make finding new sci-fi/fantasy such a pain. I like romance in my fiction WHEN IT IS ACTUAL ROMANCE and not some stupid, disgusting sex scene (or series of them) meant to do nothing but tickle the reader or disgust. There is nothing romantic or right or wonderful about scenes like the ones you describe, and like you, I have no idea why anyone would put this in fiction of any kind. Sometimes it is actually the editor who asks/ tells the writer(s) to put this garbage in. Seriously, why does this make sense? Grrr….
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Sadly, sex has come to mean romance in our culture, as twisted as that is. I can’t imagine trying to find stuff, so best of luck to you!
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I just had to look it up on Goodreads to see what it scored and was greeted by a five star review (one of several) using the words “…delicious continuation of family…”.
What the f…?!?!
Where is a shrink when you need one?
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It was bad enough that this was published, but for people to LIKE IT and PRAISE IT? Unbelievable, isn’t it?
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Lighting my flamethrower and backing away slowly…
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Light’em up!!!!!!
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wtf is that, I mean how the hell an editor/publisher thought it was a great idea? I am baffled, thanks for the warning!
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Just goes to show what evil lurks in the hearts of publishers as they skulk in dark alleyways 😉
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I can’t imagine you reaction reading about those paraphilias hahahahah I know that this is something I won’t check out. Another reason why erotica is not something I’d pick up either. I’m just assuming that things like this are explored in details in those (huge exaggeration, but it’s okay. :D). Glad you survived this though. Wouldn’t want Bookstooge to suffer from cardiac arrest due to some book called Freeware……..
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Well, part of it is that this wasn’t erotica. It was supposed to be “Weird SF”.
Yeah, sometimes I wonder how I survive 😉
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We had a massive laugh about this article. How is that kind of stuff even in a SF book? Beyond ridiculous.
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[…] SaBB – Freeware […]
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[…] SaBB – Freeware […]
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[…] SaBB – Freeware […]
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[…] SaBB – Freeware […]
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[…] Free Ware […]
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[…] SaBB – Freeware […]
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[…] the Ware tetralogy by Rucker. I did a “Surviving a Bad Book” post about the 3rd book, Freeware, and even now, it just grosses me […]
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