Chapter 482: 481 [Demons and Ghosts]

"Titanic" sold well in the UK, selling 800 copies in its first week. Don't think too little, the British economy is too bad, the book market is extremely depressed, and selling 800 books a week is already very impressive.

In order to engage in publicity and sales promotion, Gorenz also serialized "Titanic" in newspapers after obtaining Zhou Hexuan's consent. Serializing 1,200 words (words) every day, this guy plans to serialize to about 50,000 words, and at the same time sell "Titanic" at almost cost price.

This approach achieved good results quickly. Even during the Great Depression, the British still retained the habit of reading newspapers every day. Even homeless people would read newspapers in the garbage dump.

After reading several serials, many readers obviously couldn't bear the update speed, and ran to the bookstore to buy the whole set of "Titanic" home. As a result, Titanic's UK sales soared in its second week, reaching 3,000 copies in a single week - the top seller.

The literary section of "The Times" quickly gave a book review, and the famous literary critic and editor John Thomas highly praised the book: "In the past ten years or so, I have had enough of modernist literature. The text is full of criticism and depression, full of sharp reflections and meaningless stream of consciousness. But "Titanic" returns to the true colors of the novel, it tells a story very perfectly, its praise of love is simple and direct, and its It’s the nuanced portrayal of humanity, which is what I like most about it.”

Britain has produced many famous novels, such as "Wuthering Heights", "Jane Eyre", "Pride and Prejudice" and so on. But after the end of World War I, the modernist literary trend of thought began to rise in Britain. Novelists did not tell stories well, but showed their hopelessness, depression, bewilderment and pain after the war in literary works. Various criticisms and Reflection, all kinds of associations, metaphors, hints and stream of consciousness, readers without a little brain can't understand at all.

There are no novels that tell normal stories, but the quality is very low. They can only be classified as fast-food consumer goods, and they cannot reach the level of masterpieces handed down from generation to generation.

At this time, "Titanic" was published in the UK, bringing a classic love story that can entertain ordinary readers.

No fire!

Just as the American film industry prospered rapidly during the Great Depression, novels are also cheap entertainment products. You can read them repeatedly at home for a small sum of money, and discuss the plot with friends when you go out, party, or go to work. Romance novels like "Titanic" are undoubtedly the most suitable for entertainment, and it quickly became popular in the UK.

In just half a month, hundreds of letters from readers were sent to the publishing house, and there were even some British girls who boldly expressed their love to Zhou Hexuan.

Zhou Hexuan was sitting in the publishing house reading the letter at this time: "Wise Mr. Zhou from the Far East, my name is Catherine Milton, and I am the daughter of a baron. I like your "Titanic" very much, and I am looking forward to a passage Romantic and beautiful love. Sometimes, I feel like I am Rose in the book. My father went bankrupt in the Great Depression, and he forced me to marry an upstart, but this is not what I want...to be able to write For such a classic and great love work, I think Mr. Zhou must be a young and handsome gentleman. Will you take me away? I want to take a big boat and go to the mysterious and distant east. I hope to be your wife , we enjoy a beautiful love and spend a lifetime together..."

Zhou Hexuan put the letter back with a smile, and said to the capitalist Gollenz: "Congratulations, your sales strategy is very successful."

Gorenz shrugged: "But I sold it a little above cost price and made very little money, so I decided to raise the price of "Titanic" next week."

"A profiteer," Zhou Hexuan teased, "Aren't you afraid of arousing the anger of readers?"

Gorenz said with a smile: "There are now close to 3 million unemployed people in the UK. If anger is useful, Buckingham Palace would have been ignited by the anger of the people."

"Which book are you going to publish next?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

Gorenz squinted his eyes and said: "Of course it is "The Rise of Great Powers". This book predicts the world economic crisis, and I think readers will be very interested. As for your other books, to be honest, I am not optimistic. The current British book market I'm sluggish, and I'm likely to lose money by helping to publish it."

Zhou Hexuan said: "As long as "Titanic" and "Rise of Great Powers" sell well, then I will have a certain reader base in the UK, and no matter how poor the sales of the remaining books are, I will not lose much."

Gorenz laughed: "Haha, I hope."

Zhou Hexuan also laughed and said, "I thought you were looking for an excuse to lower the royalties of my works."

Gorenz actually thought that way, and now that Zhou Hexuan blocked the conversation in advance, he suddenly seemed a little embarrassed. He took out an invitation letter from the drawer, changed the subject and said, "This is from the Royal Academy of Art. You were in Oxfordshire at the time, and there was no way to contact anyone, so the Royal Academy of Art sent the invitation letter to the publishing house. "

Zhou Hexuan played with the academic exchange invitation letter and said with a smile: "I don't understand art, what does the Royal Academy of Art ask me to do?"

Golenz explained: "Because of the popularity of "Titanic", some students rehearsed a play of the same name at the Royal Academy of Arts, which received a very sensational response. In addition, you are very popular in the American theater circle, so the Royal Academy of Arts I just want to invite you to give an academic lecture on literature and drama. Of course, if you don’t want to attend, I can help you decline.”

"Make an appointment for me." Zhou Hexuan received the invitation letter.

Gorenz smiled and said: "No problem." As he spoke, this guy winked, "Zhou, I must remind you that there are many beautiful girls in the Royal Academy of Art, I think they are very happy to have an in-depth exchange with you. Don't miss this opportunity."

As expected of a guy with a double-figure mistress, Zhou Hexuan expressed his extreme contempt for his mind full of dirty thoughts.

Zhou Hexuan left the publishing house in a leisurely manner, and took a follower, Sun Yongzhen, to stroll through the depressed streets of London. Perhaps because he was well dressed in a suit and leather shoes, a homeless man came over immediately, stretched out his black hands and said, "Sir, please do me a favor, I haven't eaten for two days."

Zhou Hexuan fumbled in his pocket, only a few pennies in change, he stuffed it all into the hands of the homeless man, and blessed: "Good luck!"

The homeless man also had a smile on his face, and he drew a cross on his chest with the hand holding the money. He bent down in a very gentlemanly manner and said, "Sir, you are a good man, God will bless you."

"Kang ku ku ku ku..."

At this moment, there was a sound of orderly and loud footsteps in the distance.

Zhou Hexuan raised his eyes and saw more than 20 young men in black shirts striding forward with their arms swinging.

"Who are these people?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

"A member of the Imperial Fascist Union." The tramp simply explained, and ran towards the black shirts excitedly.

Zhou Hexuan also walked over curiously, and saw a young man in a black shirt, surrounded by other black shirts, holding up a tin horn and starting to give a speech: "Great Britain is the greatest nation in the world. Our ancestors had infinite glory. , Our ancestors once ruled the whole world...My friends, I stand here today, and I see countless British people who can't eat enough, and you are begging hard for a few pennies. When will our great British beg for money? Begging in the streets? It's a disgrace! It's an unforgivable disgrace...the root of everything is the jews, their greed for money brought about the great war in Europe, they control finance and commerce, they suck us all the time blood of..."

Zhou Hexuan was a little stunned, and then laughed. He was calling for a boycott of fascism a few days ago, but today he saw the British fascists alive and kicking. Fortunately, the British fascists were not as violent as the German ones. Otherwise, based on Zhou Hexuan's words and deeds, he would have been beaten or assassinated long ago.

Fascism is not a patent of Germany, Japan, and Italy. It includes the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and Spain, and the scale of its development in the United Kingdom cannot be underestimated.

As early as 1923 in the UK, the first fascist group appeared, and the founder was actually a woman—the granddaughter of former British Field Marshal Sir Simon. The group was called "British Fascists" and established its own infantry commandos, largely under the influence and encouragement of Mussolini.

What Zhou Hexuan saw at this moment was another fascist organization in the UK, the "Imperial Fascist Alliance", two of its founders had even become local MPs in the UK.

The so-called monsters come out of troubled times. Now that the situation in Europe is in chaos, all kinds of monsters and ghosts have jumped out.

The United States is not much better. Due to the impact of the Great Depression, some people even publicly shouted the slogan "Learn from the Russians" and wanted to carry out a red revolution to overthrow the federal government, which actually won the support of countless people at the bottom.