Thanks to a viral tweet by “bigolas dickolas wolfwood,” Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone‘s 2019 science fiction novel This is How You Lose the Time War has enjoyed a renewed critical and financial success over the past few days. The Twitter user, who goes by the handle @maskofbun, is a self-described Trigun fan account whose name is a play on the character, Nicholas D. Wolfwood.
As of today, their tweet has amassed over 11,000 retweets, 124,000 likes, and 10.2 million views. This is How You Lose the Time War has also become a bestseller on Amazon as a result of the viral tweet, rising as high as second place in the Science Fiction category and third place in Print Books.
*grabs you personally by the throat* you will do this. for me. you will go to the counter at barnes and noble. you will buy this. i will be greatly rewarded
— bigolas dickolas woIfwood (@maskofbun) May 7, 2023
The viral tweet naturally caught the attention of both authors of the novella. El-Mohtar, who is also a science fiction and fantasy columnist for the New York Times Book Review, tweeted out her appreciation in a long Twitter thread.
I do not understand what is happening but I am incomprehensibly grateful to bigolas dickolas
— Amal El-Mohtar (@tithenai) May 8, 2023
She also posted a short blog post reacting to all the attention the novel has gotten recently, saying:
As far as I can tell, someone going by the name Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood runs a fan account for a 90s anime called Trigun which was recently rebooted, and tweeted about loving Time War with imperative enthusiasm, and somehow over the course of 24 hours that tweet went viral with people chiming in to say how much, how passionately, how violently they love the book, and it blew up, and despite the fact that Twitter Does Not Sell Books enough people bought our book in a short enough period that whatever algorithmic alchemy determines Amazon’s best-sellers took notice, and the upshot of it all is that corporate marketing people at Simon & Schuster now know the name Bigolas Dickolas.
Meanwhile, co-author Max Gladstone expressed his appreciation for “bigolas dickolas wolfwood” in another Tweet thread. He said that he’s interested in finishing the original Trigun anime series after watching a few episodes in the past.
OK that’s enough responsibility, now back to glorying with Amal in the rush and joy of all this! All honor and glory to bigolas dickolas wolfwood!
— Max Gladstone (@maxgladstone) May 11, 2023
El-Mohtar’s literary agent, Dongwon Song, also chimed in on the recent viral success of the novella, demonstrating his eagerness for the book to surpass two top rivals.
the only thing between us and the top slot is mother’s day and some jerk named link. pic.twitter.com/x2bytx6LLa
— dongwon 송동원 (@dongwon) May 11, 2023
The tweet caught the attention of Trigun Stampede producer Yoshihiro Watanabe and the novella’s Japanese publisher, Hayakawa Publishing.
Have I bought the book? Yes.
— Yoshihiro Watanabe (@crazynabe) May 10, 2023
【海外の話題】いまアマル・エル＝モフタール＆マックス・グラッドストーン『こうしてあなたたちは時間戦争に負ける』がバズっているらしいです。
こちらは日本語版。新★ハヤカワ・SF・シリーズから出ています。 pic.twitter.com/v1UmSHTxu6— 早川書房 翻訳SFファンタジイ編集部 (@hykw_SF) May 11, 2023
News of the viral tweet has so far been covered by Slate, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Anime News Network, Crunchyroll News, and many more outlets.
This is How You Lose the Time War was awarded as the Best Novella at the Nebula Awards in 2019, the Hugo Awards in 2020, and the Locus Awards that same year. Simon & Schuster describes the synopsis as:
Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandment finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading.
Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.
Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win. That’s how war works, right?
Source: @maskfobun Twitter account, Anime News Network