A series of erotic fantasy e-books portraying Māori as sexualised "savages" has sparked both outrage and hilarity alike online.
Architectural designer, writer and host of podcast Indigenous Urbanism Jade Kake posted a screenshot of the covers of e-books Captured by a Maori and Captured by an Indian on Twitter, with the caption "WTF is this".
Both books are part of a series by US writer 'Jen Berry', who describes herself on her Amazon author page as a "housewife and a mom who enjoys writing steamy erotic romances whenever she can".
After looking up Berry's other works, Kake pointed out that many of the author's erotic stories are about white women having sex with mythical beasts like werewolves and monsters, as well as historical figures like gladiators and pirates, and Indigenious men from various countries are lumped in alongside.
"White women need to be stopped," Kake stated on Twitter. "I thought erotica was supposed to be more ethical than pornography, but so much of it is dehumanising racist garbage written by white women."
A quick search on Amazon for Captured by a Maori Warrior reveals the "interracial erotica story" is part of Berry's 'Captured by the Historical Alphas' series.
According to the description, the book follows an English woman Mary, who goes off "searching for a new life in the New World".
"She didn't expect to become stranded on a tropical island, and definitely not on one filled with tattooed tribesman!" the description reads.
It's unclear if the 'tropical island' referenced is meant to refer to Aotearoa or a fictional island.
Screenshots from inside the e-book show the author often refers to Māori as "savages".
A focal point of the book appears to be the 'tribesman's' sexual 'need' for the "inexperienced" white woman, with the line "he had to have her" referenced twice within two sentences.
The accompanying novel Captured by an Indian appears to refer to a Native American or First Nations indigenous man, who again captures a white woman, this time named 'Meredith'.
The Amazon e-book description again includes Berry's favourite overused phrase.
"The Indian didn't expect to find anything other than a few horses that faithful day, but then he saw Meredith. The red-haired beauty was unlike any woman he had seen before. He had to have her!" it reads.
Both books appear to have mainly positive reviews from female readers based in the United States. One American woman called it a "very short fun story with a lot of heat between Mary and her warrior, a very sexy Maori who is loving and caring and also ravenous".
But when Kake's tweet went viral, racking up over 1000 likes, Aotearoa-based social media users were quick to question how the books even made it to print.
"I'm morbidly curious to know who reads these books," one person replied.
"This kind of thing gets published?" questioned another.
Others pointed out the illustration of the man on the front of the books didn't even appear to be an indigenous New Zealander.
"Is the Māori warrior hiding behind Trevor there?" one person joked.
"Is the guy on the cover the one who gets captured by a Māori warrior? Because he certainly isn't one," another pointed out.
"Oh my GOD, that Māori warrior. I'm actually in hysterics, what a cosplay creeper," added another.
Note: Newshub has published the book's title without the correct macron usage, as that is how it appears online. Instances where the book content is not reprinted include appropriate macron usage.
