‘Romantasy' ball blasted as epic scam over false promises, sparse turnout: ‘Fyre Festival of BookTok'
A fantasy romance novel convention quickly went from Velaris to very messy.
Romantasy fans — the extremely popular book genre among millennials and Gen Z women that blends fantasy fiction with smutty romance tropes — were baffled when they arrived at the A Million Lives Book Festival in Baltimore on May 2 and 3. What was promoted as an immersive gathering of hundreds of book lovers, dozens of authors and publishers, and themed entertainment quickly devolved into what is being dubbed the 'Fyre Festival of BookTok.'
3 A Million Lives Book Festival sold only around 30 tickets.
TikTok/@stephdevourerofbooks
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Organized by Archer Management, A Million Lives promised author panels, romantasy cosplay meet-ups, a costume contest, a content creation room, a vendor hall stocked with new releases and bookish items, and a glistening ball taken right off the pages of Sarah J. Maas.
Author and attendee Stephanie Combs mockingly shared a video of her and her friends strutting through the hotel lobby wearing floor-length ball gowns.
'When you're going to a bookish fantasy-themed ball,' she wrote in a TikTok post before showing a sparsely populated convention hall with no decorations. 'And this is what you get.'
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Tables at the event were shockingly empty, with some lazily thrown fake rose petals and books on them. Guests dressed for a ball of epic proportions were sadly disappointed as they idled in the room, which didn't even have the lights dimmed.
'When you gotta laugh so you don't cry,' Stephanie joked. 'A million lives or a million lies? I was an attending author…at least we looked fantastic.'
Perci Jay, an author attending the event, showed off the 'absolute chaos' of the ball, which only attendees who bought the most expensive ticket had access to. The affair cost $250 and had no food, with water and drinks for purchase at a cash bar. The only music at the ball was from a small speaker a security guard had on him.
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'So yes, friends, that means the plan for this ball was for us to stand in the giant empty room, with no food, a cash bar and stand there in silence,' she said on TikTok.
Authors looking to sell their books were told that around 600 tickets were sold for the event.
3 The event's music was relegated to a small speaker in the corner.
TikTok/@percijay_fantasyauthor
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In reality, only about 30 guests attended.
Romance author Kait Disney-Leugers blasted the festival as the 'worst event' she ever attended, adding that she did not make any money at A Million Lives, a huge blow saying authors usually pay for their own tables
'I barely made enough to cover my fucking parking for two days,' Disney-Leugers said in a TikTok, adding that 'It felt like Fyre Fest of book festivals,' referring to the disastrous 2017 music festival whose ritzy advertising ended up being a multi-million dollar scam.
'Advertised as something really awesome, but the actual execution of it was horrible. We were told there were more than 610 tickets sold, I did not see those people.'
3 The event did not deliver on it's promises of a glamorous ball.
An author told The Cut that the conference's promise that authors' hotel rooms were comped was not met. Grace Willows, who organized the event, reached out to the author allegedly asking her to pay for her own room at a different hotel.
Willows, an author, apologized for the event — which is being compared to the woeful Willy Wonka Glasgow and the scam 'Bridgerton' ball that had stripping fairies instead of Regency waltzes across the ballroom.
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'I am wanting to issue a formal apology. I do understand that the ball tonight was not set up to standard,' she said in a TikTok video on Sunday. 'There were a lot of issues with getting set up, and it was not handled well. I'd like to apologize. If you would like a refund, please contact me and I will issue a refund immediately.'
Archer Management released a statement the next day saying that all attendees will be refunded by May 31.
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USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Internet celebrity Tiki is up for adoption. The waitlist is full.
Internet celebrity Tiki is up for adoption. The waitlist is full. Show Caption Hide Caption Foster dog Tiki's viral TikTok journey from fear to affection, and now, adoption Tiki, a rescue dog in Los Angeles, overcomes his traumatic past with love and patience. Now, he's ready for adoption, with hundreds of hopeful applicants. Tiki, who melted millions of hearts with his innocence and recovery, is now up for adoption, his foster Isabel Klee said. The plot twist, however, is that applications and the waitlist are both full after the 5-year-old dog received more than 100 applications in just the first hour alone. The pooch, who got a new lease on life after he was rescued from dire circumstances, became social media famous after Klee documented his journey on TikTok, with some of the videos garnering millions of views. "The response has been so heartwarming," Klee, a content creator and upcoming author based in Brooklyn, told USA TODAY. 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"Before I picked him up, ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) told us this dog was in really bad shape, and they didn't know if he was going to be able to be rehabilitated," Klee said. "We didn't know what his outcome would be. But Muddy Paws Rescue and I decided to pull him anyway, because I feel all dogs deserve the chance to get better, and a lot of dogs can't get better in a shelter environment, because it can be really stressful." Slowly but steadily, things started looking up. "Day by day, he did get better," Klee said. "I kind of just sat back and learned to exist with him. I didn't push him. I let him come out of his shell on his own." It started with Tiki first only putting his paw outside the crate. Then he started drinking water, then eating. "Every day it was something new, until eventually he was crawling into my lap and asking for cuddles," Klee said. "It happened really slowly, but day by day, he got braver and braver." Curious little pup Klee said it took almost 13 days for her to touch Tiki for the first time because of how hesitant he was. But when it finally happened, "it was well worth the wait." After more than a month in Klee's care, Tiki is now also getting warmed up to being around other people and pets. While he isn't entirely comfortable in their presence, like when Klee has people over, he does come outside and hangs out with them, observing everybody. "He is very curious," Klee said. "He met my mom and allowed her to give him kisses and pets. Every single day with every person he meets, he gets a little braver, and he comes out of his shell a little bit more." Tiki's favorite things As Tiki came out of his shell, one of his favorite things to do is sit with dirty laundry. "He's obsessed with our dirty laundry," Klee laughed. "It sounds really funny, but he'll go into the hamper and take out, like a shirt that I wore and cuddle with it, which is just the cutest thing. 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The content creator shared she's been fostering dogs since she was 25 but took a long break when she adopted Simon after fostering him. "Simon has a lot of complicated health issues so I stopped fostering for a number of years, and then picked it back up about two years ago," Klee said, adding the two have now fostered 20 dogs together. Depending on the dog's need, fosters have been as short as a few days and as long as two months. "It's been a lot, (but) I find it so rewarding," Klee said. "Of course, there are difficult moments, but I think the joyful moments far outweigh it." She added: "Tiki is such a great example. Four weeks (in) and he's a completely different dog. Just being that vessel for change and seeing them grow over a short amount of time is the most magical thing." Tips for fostering For anyone looking into fostering dogs, Klee's word of advice would be to have patience. 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Yahoo
an hour ago
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Funerals Bring Out The Absolute WORST In People, And These 21 WILD Stories Prove It
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When we were spreading his ashes at his funeral, a biker walked up to me, my mom, and my sister and said, 'I want him to always be with me,' then proceeded to eat a SCOOP of the ashes." —britwit3 3."My husband had a funeral director friend who got caught wearing the shoes that had been dropped off for the deceased. He proceeded to put his old shoes on the body." —pamelachandler965 4."Around the time one of my friends died, I was obsessed with AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell,' I even had it set as my ringtone. Normally, I keep my phone on silent, but the one time I didn't was at the funeral..." "While I was sitting there, my mom called and 'Highway to Hell' started blaring in the middle of a moment of silence." —gammydrew22 5."A funeral attendee grabbed the body out of the coffin and danced with it. I kid you not. We had to call the police." —triggerman375 6."We were doing a service for a lady, and her son gave me a CD to play with his original rap songs. 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He famously HATED Mormon children's songs." —em_treas 15."When my uncle was attending his son's funeral, he got a call in the middle of the service, stood up, and walked out..." "Come to find out, he was on the run from the cops with a warrant and got a call saying they knew he was at his son's funeral, so he fled." —71eaneryenial 16."I went out to open up the mausoleum for a funeral, when I walked in there, I found the funeral director's son and the deceased's granddaughter were 'involved.' Meanwhile, the family was already there, getting the casket out of the hearse." —celticblue2u_services 17."My mother let her pastor turn my dad's funeral into a full-blown church service. The typical asking for tithes, you're going to hell service. My dad rarely went to church. She just wanted attention for doing the 'right' thing." —chermypartyof4 18."Once everyone was seated at my grandfather's wake, my uncle stood up and started taking photos of him in his casket. 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Buzz Feed
an hour ago
- Buzz Feed
Unhinged Funeral Moments TikTok
As we all know, funerals are an emotional event. Of course, everyone processes grief differently, but there are some people who simply want to make the entire event about themselves, causing the day to become more difficult than it already was... That's why when TikTok user @madixfinn asked, "I work in a funeral home. Give me your most unhinged funeral stories..." Thousands of people shared stories from funerals that went COMPLETELY off the rails. From arrests to mishaps with ashes — here are 21 stories that prove funerals bring out the worst in people: "My grandfather's affair partner of 25 years came to his funeral, and my granny started firing a pistol at her in the MIDDLE of the service. Granny exited the funeral in handcuffs, and his affair partner left on a stretcher." —rosemaryfuhreal "My uncle was in a biker gang. When we were spreading his ashes at his funeral, a biker walked up to me, my mom, and my sister and said, 'I want him to always be with me,' then proceeded to eat a SCOOP of the ashes." "My husband had a funeral director friend who got caught wearing the shoes that had been dropped off for the deceased. He proceeded to put his old shoes on the body." "Around the time one of my friends died, I was obsessed with AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell,' I even had it set as my ringtone. Normally, I keep my phone on silent, but the one time I didn't was at the funeral..." "While I was sitting there, my mom called and 'Highway to Hell' started blaring in the middle of a moment of silence."—gammydrew22 "A funeral attendee grabbed the body out of the coffin and danced with it. I kid you not. We had to call the police." "We were doing a service for a lady, and her son gave me a CD to play with his original rap songs. Then he stood in front of the casket and gave a 10-minute performance." "Helped with a celebration of life on a schooner I used to work on. I told the mourners not to spread the ashes on the leeward side, but of course, they didn't listen." "Suffice it to say, the deceased's ashes blew in the wind, and a few seconds later, I heard someone scream, 'Grandma's IN my eye!' I tried so hard not to laugh."—poopsaget "My 75-year-old grandma showed up at her ex-husband's mother's funeral (who was a very religious woman) in a super tight black dress that barely covered anything and neon pink high heels." "My ex tried to get me to have sex with him in a bathroom stall at his grandmother's funeral, so that was something..." "When my ex-husband died, his wife of two years (they were also separated when he died) wanted some of his ashes. My adult children despised her, so they gave her ashes out of the fireplace." —user8858476137158 "I once went to a funeral where a woman was shaking the casket, crying, and acting a fool before she realized she was at the wrong place." "I hate to admit this, but when my pawpaw died, I was at the gravesite and there was an awful smell. Without thinking, I said, 'It smells like something dead out here!'" "I purchased a cheap ring for my deceased mother because I knew one of my siblings would try to steal it from the casket. Sure enough, my brother tried to take the ring, and when he did, it broke. We caught it all on camera." —angelgirlie7 "My aunt tried to start a fist fight with me at my grandpa's viewing because I refused to sing a Mormon children's song at his funeral. He famously HATED Mormon children's songs." "When my uncle was attending his son's funeral, he got a call in the middle of the service, stood up, and walked out..." "I went out to open up the mausoleum for a funeral, when I walked in there, I found the funeral director's son and the deceased's granddaughter were 'involved.' Meanwhile, the family was already there, getting the casket out of the hearse." —celticblue2u_services "My mother let her pastor turn my dad's funeral into a full-blown church service. The typical asking for tithes, you're going to hell service. My dad rarely went to church. She just wanted attention for doing the 'right' thing." "Once everyone was seated at my grandfather's wake, my uncle stood up and started taking photos of him in his casket. You could hear the camera clicking and the horrified gasps of attendees. My uncle said, 'What? He looks good in his uniform!'" —kaoskit "At my great-grandmother's after-funeral gathering, my aunt was being bossy and telling everyone what to do, so my dad turned around and said, 'Who died and made you queen?'" "When my little sister and I went to my paternal grandmother's funeral, we had a random screaming match and kept shouting 'I didn't die, you died' at each other. Our mom had to remove us from the church." "The deceased's girlfriend showed up inebriated, in short shorts and a tube top, kissed the corpse, climbed INTO the casket, sang, recorded a TikTok video, then got into a fist fight with the deceased's WIFE and daughter. Cops were called!" —mamacat62 Did any of these WILD stories surprise you? Have you ever attended a funeral that went off the rails? Tell us in the comments or answer anonymously using the form below!
