‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Parody Skewers the Erotic Hit

A new parody of Fifty Shades of Grey, the erotic hit that has sold more than twenty million copies since March, has just arrived in bookstores.

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Fifty Shames of Earl Grey by Fanny Merkin (a/k/a Andrew Schaffer), published by Da Capo Press, recasts the romantic story as one between Bill Gates’ adoptive son and the unsuspecting virgin Anna Steal.  

Unlike so many Fifty Shades parodies that are no more than quickie one-joke cheap ebooks, Earl Grey is a complete book from a traditional publisher. This is a full-length and thought-out piece of work. 

Earl Grey campaigns to stop drunk diving (that’s not a typo), loves Nickelback, Tom Cruise and Olive Garden, and engages in BDSM (and by that he means “Bards, Dragons, Sorcery and Magick”).

Schaffer, well-known in publishing circles for his hilarious faux twitter accounts, captures the rhythms of the original but exaggerates E.L. James’ literary ticks to great effect.

He also slyly tweaks Fifty Shades of Grey’s well-known Twilight fanfiction roots (After making love: “He is completely naked, and his skin seems to sparkle in the sunlight. Just like a — “) 

Schaffer doesn’t limit his targets to just Fifty Shades, picking on a wide range of pop culture topics.  Most hilarious, is Anna Steal’s constant references to (and endless love for) Snooki and Jersey Shore. Bullseye.

Fifty Shames of Earl Grey is the literary equivalent of a good Saturday Night Live skit and the perfect gag gift for anyone a little to obsessed (pro or con) with Fifty Shades.